Things of Otherness - Pilot Studies 

     by Tharindi Dilshika

   

          "Things of otherness" became our thing, as we are using that as a context for our design project.

         We were asked to research inside the university using the guides and techniques taught by our lecturers. 

     We gathered up and started interviewing random people we met in our area. and not only interviewing but also many techniques, such as object biography, zines, and collecting memes about the university.

 As we were interviewing, we came across the same situations that our lecturer told us that will be happen. People don't say the exact truth when we ask questions, no matter how friendly we are. And that's totally normal.  

We tried to get their words and attitudes about what otherness feels like to them. Not asking directly, but asking about the things they don't normally do.

And we came up with a lot of pretty interesting facts.

  * We interviewed two women who came to sell some accessory things at the university. As we asked questions, they seemed a little uncomfortable at first because students only go to them to buy stuff. And we asked them two whether they knew each other before they started business together.  They said, "No, we met in business." And after a few questions, we bought some stuff and left, thanking them.

But after a few days, another two friends of mine went and interviewed the same two women, and then they said, "Yes, we are cousins," to the same question.

Why did that happen? Maybe they gained trust after the first interview we did, or the other guys did it very well. 

 And we were able to gather many ideas from people. how people consider some things or groups as othernesses. Even twe are also an otherness to them sometimes, as some security guards and ladies who work in the canteen say, "you are educated kids" always. 

* Observations weren't easy, even though it sounds fun. I selected one guy at the canteen, and he was kind of messy. But at that point, the A E I O U method really helped me out.

        A for activity

        E for environment

        I for interaction

        O for objects

        U for users

This chart really did help me out to make a proper observation map. And didn't miss a single fact, I guess. 

* Zines also give a journaling effect to our research. It is easy to do, and whenever we want to see what we found, these zines can get us to every fact we found.

Overall, researching things of otherness is not only an academic thing for me but also an aid to be closer to the various kinds of people and things.