Project brief: Design a new "PC" experience for university (international) students with a focus on hardware systems.
Research Approach
Literature Review + Empathy Exercises
Interviews + Participatory Activity
4 Activity Participants
7 Unstructured Interviews
12 Semi-structured Interviews
Data Synthesis + Design Direction
27%
27% back to school shopping spent on electronics
Top 5 Life Needs
Finance
Health
Housing
Entertainment
News of Home
U.S. Dept. of State Report of the Visa Office 2018; National Center for Education Statistics 2018; Mintel Back to School Shopping Report 2019
Participatory Activity: Users were prompted using six different words in the context of their experience in a foreign country through the lens of technology, they had to answer by picking photo(s) to go along with their experience and elaborate why.
Activity Protocol
Background Info
Activity
1. Navigating
2. Cooking
3. Communicating
4. Studying
5. Immersing
6. High/Low Point
Wrap up
WHAT USERS SAID
— FRANCE, 6 MONTHS ABROAD
“I felt lost in a sea of people when I didn’t have my phone”
OVERALL THEMES
Seeking Comfort within Chaos
The Struggle to Immerse
The Power of Human Kindness
Comfort in Familiarity
Opportunity Areas
Product use Abroad
Citations
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Jiang, Q., Li, Y., & Shypenka, V. (2018). Loneliness, Individualism, and Smartphone Addiction Among International Students in China. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 21(11), 711–718.
Sin, S.-C. J., & Kim, K.-S. (2013). International students’ everyday life information seeking: The informational value of social networking sites. Library and Information Science Research, 35(2), 107–116.
Park-Saltzman, J., Wada, K., & Mogami, T. (2012). Culturally Sensitive Mentoring for Asian International Students in Counseling Psychology. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 40(6), 895–915.
Bierwiaczonek1, K., & Waldzus1, S. (2016). Socio-Cultural Factors as Antecedents of Cross-Cultural Adaptation in Expatriates, International Students, and Migrants: A Review. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(6), 767–817.
Bender, M., van Osch, Y., Sleegers, W., & Ye, M. (2019). Social Support Benefits Psychological Adjustment of International Students: Evidence From a Meta-Analysis. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50(7), 827–847.
Akhtar, M., & Kroener-Herwig, B. (2019). Coping Styles and Socio-demographic Variables as Predictors of Psychological Well-Being among International Students Belonging to Different Cultures. Current Psychology, 38, 618–626.
Sin, S.-C. J. (2015). Demographic Differences in International Students’ Information Source Uses and Everyday Information Seeking Challenges. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41, 466–474.
Maffini, C. S. (2018). Campus Safety Experiences of Asian American and Asian International College Students. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 9(2), 98–107.