01 Preface
Background
In 2013, The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design cooperates
with Research In Motion provides a cross-disciplinary project with Royal College of Art MA students. Therefore, students from Information Experience Design, Service Design
and Visual Communication are involved in this collaborative project, and work with different local communities in
London. The scope of this project is based in London, one
of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. This project
aims to explore cultural differences through the collaborations between students and communities, and the
company.
Participants
Royal College of Art
Service Design
Information Experience Design
Visual Communication
Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
RIM (Research in Motion)
Blackberry
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3
02 Introduction
How can digital technology
address different cultural
activities, aspirations and
attitudes?
Design team
(Irene) Yen-Hsuan Shih - Service Design
yen-hsuan.shih@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7925 842909
(Matt) Myoung-hwan Han - Service Design
myoung-hwan.han@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7447 242274
Partner Community: Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society
Hanna Lee- Information Experience Design
hanna.lee@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7557 261002
Blackberry and Helen Hamlyn Centre have collaborated
for years. As one of the most influential technology companies, Blackberry has been interested in interaction between people and technology. That is the reason why the
brief says: “How can digital technology address different
cultural activities, aspirations and attitudes?”
Abbie Vickress - Visual Communication
abbie.vickress@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7891 588154
Natasha Trotman - Information Experience Design
natasha.trotman@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7925 999748
There are five design teams that participate in this project
and each of them works with different local communities.
Our partner community is Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society, a Hindu temple located in Brixton.
Alice Czarnowska - Information Experience Design
alice.czarnowska@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7867 253765
4
Project Manager
(Irene) Yen-Hsuan Shih
Service Design
Polymath
UX and Product Designer
Visual Identity Designer
(Matt) Myoung-hwan Han
Service Design
Hanna Lee
Information Experience Design
Communicator
Natasha Trotman
Information Experience Design
Abbie Vickress
Visual Communication
Scholar
Alice Czarnowska
Information Experience Design
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03 Special Thanks
We sincerely appreciate the help and support from our
friends. During the past two months, this project directed
us to explore a beautiful culture and definitely did broaden our horizon. Thank you very much, all the members
from Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society, Indian students
and tutors from Royal College of Art and imperial College
London.
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The Elderly
The Youth
Vidur Dindayal
Roshni Richardson
Shruti Grover
Sabita Dindayal
Hetan Ajwani
Ritika Karnani
Kumarie Gheerawo
Nikhita Shivani Gupta
Upasana Divakar
Helen Aidatsarran
Srinivas Sivasubramanian
Sanya Rai Gupta
Ganesh Lall
Sunita Lochan
Swati Venkat
Nadir Khan
Vishal Lochan
Motie Sukhlal
Kareen Williams
Steve Niohammed
Sireita Mullings
Harold Narain
Akhila Krishnan
Rose
Roshan Sirohia
It’s all of you that helped us to accomplish this project. Thank you very much.
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04 Discovery
01. Research Plan
Our research plan for this project was based on the double diamond model. To begin with, we started this project
from desk research about Caribbean Hindu Cultural. It includes two parts; Hinduism and Indo-Caribbean heritage.
We suggested that we might have a better icebreaking
conversation with our interviewees if we prepare enough
background knowledge about the culture. That is the
beginning of our research. After that, we looked into our
partner community, interviewing the members and participating their events. Therefore, we have got profound
research about Caribbean Hindu culture from both primary and secondary research. The mission for the discovery
phase is to understand the expectation from our partner
community, the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society.
The mission for the discovery
phase is to understand the
expectation from our partner
community, the Caribbean
Hindu Cultural Society.
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02. The Caribbean Hindu
Cultural Society
Introduction
The CHCS has been the first Hinduism and Hindu culture
organisation in South London since it is established in
1959. The objectives of the CHCS is to promote Hinduism
and to achieve the advancement of education particularly
in Hindu traditions and philosophy, history, language, literature, art and music.
Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society
0208 674 0755
om@chcstemple.org.uk
16 Ostade Road, Brixton Hill London, SW2 2BB
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History and Background
The Caribbean is a region that includes of the Caribbean
Sea, its islands, and the surrounding coasts. Many of the
CHCS members are originally from Guyana, the country in
north of South America. Their Indian ancestors came to
Caribbean on 5 May, 1838. After years, their ancestors or
family moved to London and established the Caribbean
Hindu Cultural society in 1959.
Reference: Indian Arrival Day - 164th Anniversary “Those Indian Hands Fed Us All”
(Apendix A)
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Members and Events
According to the interview with the CHCS members, they
are from a mixed-culture environment. Their culture originates from Indian, and then become influenced by Caribbean and London. There are about 200 members in the
community, and most of them are pensioners. Basically,
they speak English as the common language and the main
purpose they join the CHCS is to socialize. They have regular classes and religious events.
For example, we frequently joined the Senior Citizens Club
on Wednesdays and the Hindustani Vocal Classes on Saturdays during this project. Also, they have weekly religious
event such as Havan on Sundays. The funding to main the
CHCS is from the Big Lottery Fund and members’ donation.
Take the Senior Citizens Club for instance, about 30 of the
members donated £10 per month to maintain the events.
Also, they sold tickets for special events. Furthermore, they
are organising two events for getting more young people
involved in their community: The Essay Competition and
the Youth Concert.
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03. Cultural Probes
In order to get insights from the CHCS membersm, we
came up with a series of cultural probes. It included a
questionnaire, a diary about different topics like society,
generations, and locations. They go with an envelope with
mail address and stamps. Also, we also provided image
cards, a map of Caribbean with stickers, a mock-up of a
smart phone, colourful labels about functions and imaginations for an ideal device. Besides, we personalized this
toolkit to fit different interviewees like the elderly, the educator and the young in the following research phases.
(Appendix B.)
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04. In-depth Interview
Firstly, we carried out the in-depth interviews with Vidur
Dindayal and Sabita Dindayal, and then interviewed Kumarie Gheerawo. Vidur is the rep from the CHCS and he
was an architect. Kumarie is an educator who has been
teaching for 50 years. By interviewing these three people
we did get a lot of insights and then understand the leading direction of this project.
The core finding from this interview is their intuition to
get young people involved in their community. Also, it’s
important to understand their attitudes toward their origin, culture, religion, technology, and the next generation.
Based on the interview, we decided to regard harmony as
the theme of this project after being inspired by Vidur and
Kumarie. How to pass down the traditional value of Hindu
culture, from the elderly to the next generation is the main
insight we got at this moment.
16
The interview with CHCS members
The interview with Educator
04/02/2013
Vidur Dindaya and Sabita Dindayal
020 8769 2671
dindayal@sky.com
No 73A Woodbourne Avenue.
Streatham SW16
12/02/2013
Kumarie Gheerawo
07961 175 598
kumariegheerawo@hotmail.co.uk
90 Hill Rise, Greenford,
Middlesex UB6 8PE
Belief
Technology
“The core belief of Hinduism is ‘Harmony’ because we think a same way. We do not look
alike. We do not think alike. How we are going to live and get through life if we would be
constantly fighting?” - Vidur
“Technology, like computers do change the way we
educate children......with both positive and negative
impact. For me, the purpose of education is help
children to find out the purpose of their birth and
to fulfill their life purpose.” - Kumarie
Origins
“Wherever you are, bring up your children to know
that your...ancestors were very important people,
were royalty and very important people.“ - Vidur
The Next Generation
“I think we are not doing enough to encourage young
people to be involved. It is our fault not them.” - Vidur
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Visit to Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society
13/02/2013 27/02/2013
02/03/2013 13/03/2013 01/05/2013
om@chcstemple.org.uk
0208 674 0755
16 Ostade Road,
Brixton Hill London, SW2 2BB
05. The Visit to Caribbean
Hindu Cultural Society
After the in-depth interviews, we visited the CHCS to
participate the weekly activities, such as the Senior Citizens Club. There were about 30 people participating this
event, and only 10 of them are female members. We met
and talked with them, hearing from their opinions, sharing
the ideas about the brief and technology. One of the key
findings is their attitude toward technology is conservative but they would be willing to use technology to keep
in touch with beloved family and friends. Also, the atmosphere of this community is very friend and open-minded
to different culture. However, they were hoping to have
more young people with them. That is the most important
thing at all.
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06. Summary
After going through the discovery phase, we understood
the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society members’ expectation for this project is to get more young people involved in
our community. According to this understanding, we took
further actions to achieve this goal.
The expectation from the Caribbean Hindu
Cultural Society is to engage more young
people in their community.
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05 Definition
01. Research Plan
Following up the expectation from the CHCS members,
mainly the elderly, we needed to think that how we could
get young people involved in their community. Therefore,
we had to understand young people’s attitudes and opinions. Therefore, we turned to research the young generation in the definition phase.
The mission for the definition phase is to explore the
thoughts and attitude from the young generation with
Hindu or Indian background.
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02. Target Group
Since it was a London based project and it focused on Hindu culture, we broadly defined our target group as people
with Hindu or Indian background, aged from 18-year-old
to 35-year-old. At this stage, we’d like to hear from their
voice, so that we prepared both paper and online questionnaires for young Indians with Hindu background.
03. Online Survey
We sent out the online survey as the starting point to
contact young Indian students around Royal College of
Art and Imperial College London. By doing that, we’ve got
many feedbacks and then this action also helped us to
take in-depth interviews with these people.
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Belief
“Fortunately my family is not orthodox so there are varying levels of
faith. For myself, I am ambivalent; I enjoy the mythology and art and
history and also practice religion in my own loosely defined way, but
would not consider myself devout. I guess it’s a case of ‘take what you
like and leave the rest.”
Swati Venkat - History of Design 1yr (swati.venkat@network.rca.ac.uk)
Family
“Religion is something that is more of a family culture thing rather
than a self initiated thing in our generation. ! Most festivals are deeply rooted on religion and the whole family celebrates them together.
Personally I try not to eat meat on Tuesdays as my grandparents feel
it’s a holy day. Religion is a good point of communication for kids and
grandparents (storytelling on festivals)”
Sanya Rai Gupta - IDE 1yr (sanya-rai.gupta@network.rca.ac.uk)
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04. In-depth Interviews
Next, we carried out in-depth interviews with 9 young
people with Hindu or India background. At this stage, we
gather insights from conversations and then reflect upon
on the CHCS members’ expectation. At first, we focused
on what’s the meaning of Hinduism for young people?
Therefore, we asked questions such as, if you are a Hindu,
how deep the religion is connected with your life? Could
you give us an example? Furthermore, we were trying to
compare the different attitudes and thoughts between
the elder CHCS members, and the young Indian people.
For the young generation, the meaning of Hinduism has
already got changed.
List of interviewees
Harish Kodi (Alice’s Indian friend)
Savio Mendonca (Alice’s Indian friend)
Roshan Sirohia - RCA IDE 2yr
roshan.sirohia@network.rca.ac.uk
Upasana Divakar - RCA Textile 1yr
upasana.divakar@network.rca.ac.uk
Sunita – CHCS member
Sunita06@hotmail.co.uk
Shruti Grover - RCA IDE 2yr
shruti.grover@network.rca.ac.uk
Akhila Krishnan - RCA Graduate (Artist)
akhila.krishnan@network.rca.ac.uk
Srinivas Sivasubramanian – Imperial MBA
srinivasa.sivasubramanian12@imperial.ac.uk
Ritika Karnani - RCA Design Products 2yr
ritika.karnani@network.rca.ac.uk
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Life
“Hinduism for me is ...... a way of life. You guys should look into a really
day of life, including of young people and the elderly.” - Shruti
Socializing
“Foe me, I don’t really celebrate these festivals...... But it’s a way people
connect to each other, sometimes especially for oversea people. This
bond becomes stronger. Look into Indian people in London. Location
is important. Go to some restaurants and grocery shops. That’s where
we meet up and socialize. Food is a good starting point.” – Akhila
Home
“I go to temples when I feel homesick because it’s what my mother did all the time
when I was in India. It makes me feel like
home.” - Ritika
Technology
“Only face-to-face events can bring people together, not technology.” – Shruti
Religion
Community
“Everything goes with reasons in Hinduism, but many people misunderstand the meaning nowadays… The purpose of many festivals is
to socialize, to meet people. For example, Diwali is for family reunion,
and Holi is for friends.” - Upasana
“I hope there would be more young people… but the
reason is they are too busy. My mother used to be
here so that’s the reason why I join CHCS. ” - Sunita
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05. Campus Campaign
After taking online survey and interviews with the young
generation, we would like to have an experiential design
prototype to try and see if we could communicate our
appeal, to promote Hindu culture with our target group.
Hence, we applied social media, setting up a twitter called
Hindu Stories, and then posted posters around colleges.
We would like to enhance people’s perception of Hindu
culture and tried to find the best way to connect the CHCS
members and the young generation.
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05. Summary
According to the research for the young generation, we
understood that the meaning of Hinduism had become
modern and even a family culture. Hinduism represented
their home, origins, even a way of life, more beyond the
religious meaning. Take the most important Hindu festival,
Diwali for example, BBC Religions said:
“The Times of India summed up the modern meaning of
Diwali: Regardless of the mythological explanation one
prefers, what the festival of lights really stands for today is
a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed commitment to friendship and goodwill, and a religiously sanctioned celebration
of the simple - and some not so simple - joys of life.”
Therefore, we focus on the “cultural religion”, including of
the elements like music, food, festivals and ceremonies,
not the traditional meaning of Hinduism after the definition phase.
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07. Problem Statement
After the first 4-week research, for the design team, the
relation between the CHCS members and the young people is like clients and customer, so we had to define the
problem, and then develop a way to make new communications happen. Eventually, we came up with our first
problem statement: How to create new communication
between the elderly, the youth, and other ethnic communities through exploring the beauty of Hindu culture?
How to create new communication between the elderly,
the youth, and other ethnic communities through exploring the beauty of Hindu culture?
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06 Development
01. Mapping
the Generations
After the discovery and definition phase, we did the insight gathering and brain storming, in order to unpack the
elements and tried to find something that has the capability to unite the generations, for example the same interest. Therefore, we went out to different Hindu temples
and Indian restaurants, where Indian people would like
get together. By spending time with both generations, we
concluded that music was at the heart of this community.
32
The mission for the development phase is to refine the problem
statement, and then develop the design concept with CHCS.
33
Govinda’s Radha Krishna Temple
24/02/2013
http://www.iskcon-london.org/
10 soho Street London,
Greater London W1D 3DL
34
ICHS Presents Holi 2013
Sanskriti Charity Dinner
13/03/2013
Princes Gardens
Imperial College Hindu Society
15/03/2013
Junior Common Room
Imperial College Hindu Society
35
Co-creation workshop with the Dindaya family
11/03/2013
Vidur Dindaya (78) – Grandfather (Participant)
Sabita Dindayal (76) – Grandmother (Participant)
Roshni Richardson (51) – Mother (Participant)
Sean Richardson (16)
Jody Richardson (15)
02. Co-creation Workshop
We tried to bridge the possibilities between different generations as we regarded that music played an important
role to unite the community. We observed that everyone
did enjoy music, from the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society, to college students in London. That’s our entry point
for this phase. We would like to hear from Vidur’s family
members and CHCS members if music exactly could bring
people together from generations.
We found that music is the common interest across the
various age groups in the community. Roshni still plays piano with her teenagers. Also, when we showed Vidur Youtube music on the Blackberry playbook, he was amazed
by this, but he felt the device is too complicated for the
elderly to use. Therefore, highlighting a need, the starting
point in regards to why we are thinking of designing a new
device for the elderly.
36
Common Interests
“I think music brings people together. My father, me, Jody and Sean……
we are all enjoying music. From traditional Indian instruments to piano and even guitar.” - Roshni
Technology Matters
“Who would you ask for help when your computer has problems?”
“I pray for god. There is no reliable way to get help. I bought Dell computer in 2006,
but I don’t know how to get the software (Microsoft Windows Office)…… They just
take it for granted even though we don’t understand how it works at all.” - Vidur
Access
“What we need is the access to the things to your hobbies.” - Roshni
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The Refined Problem Statement
This co-creation workshop leaded to the definition of our
refined problem statement: “How might we create new
communication between the elderly and young people via
the exploration of Hindu music?”
How might we create new
communication between the elderly
and the youth through exploring
Hindu music?
38
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03. Exploring
Local Communities
After refining the problem statement and building up the
initial design concept, we went back to Streatham, where
the CHCS is located in Brixton, doing research about the
surrounding areas by the Caribbean Hindu Culture Society. For example, Streatham is split by the A23, a very busy
main road. And there are beautiful parks along the road,
the Lambeth Rush Common Parks, which are maintained
by Lambeth Council and there sometimes are outdoor activities in this park during summer. Here could be a good
location for CHCS events. Also, we visited local communities and organisations. For example, 198 contemporary
Arts and learning provides art courses in Youth Lambeth
and they also focus on multicultural art exhibitions. We
met Kareen, head of creative learning, to talk about cooperative opportunities.
04. Summary
We were about to deliver our service at this moment, the
end of development phase. After the 6-week research, we
were considering how to propose a service design plan
to the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Community, also to the
potential partner community in Brixton. It would includes
business parts and design parts, considering how design
would be helpful for the CHCS to get funding and run the
service design model sustainably.
198 Contemporary Arts & Learning
14/03/2013
http://www.198.org.uk/
198 Railton Road, London SE24 OJT
020 7978 8309
Kareen Williams (Head of Creative Learning)
Sireita Mullings (Staff, Brixton resident)
40
Lambeth College
56 Brixton Hill, SW2 1QS
Rush Common Parks
Brixton Hill, SW2
41
07 Delivery
01. Service Proposition
We developed a campaign named “Show and Tell Companion”. It included of a digital device customized for the
CHCS members, a digital platform for young people, with
an online competition “Show and Tell: A Taste of India
in 60 Seconds” to share clips or music works. Eventually, there would be a pop-up cinema that brings different
generations together in the Rush Common Parks near by
the CHCS, to show all the works and tell your ideas with
participants’ family and friends.
After this competition, we would held an exhibition for the
“Show and Tell Companion” in the 198 contemporary Arts
and learning in Brixton, and this event would be possible
to create cooperative opportunities with the Youth Lambeth in regard of learning courses about Hindu music and
heritage. Hence, this service provided our partner community and their target group a platform that makes new
communications continually happen.
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02. Stakeholder Map &
Service Blueprint
We developed this stakeholder map according to field research. We have researched and contacted all the stated
organisations, such as 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning and the Imperial Hindu Society.
Also, we developed the service blueprint in order to deliver
our service proposition. Through six phases, from promotion, participation, competition, activities, maintenance,
and development, our service aims to unite two different
generations together through co-creating Hindu music.
44
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03. Visual Identity
Our visual identity was based on research. First, it kept the
idea of harmony, which we learnt from Vidur, and try to
create a balance between people, technology, and cultural. That’s the reason why we choose triangle as the visual
identity. Second, This competition aims to inspire to show
and tell their stories about Indian culture, so we combine
the textile into the colours. Moreover, our team members
have been to Holi, the festival of colours. This inspires us
to come up with vibrant and energetic colours, to keep the
taste of India.
46
# 6D2B85
PEOPLE
# EC6568
# 9EC64B
TECHNOLOGY
# D1388C
# 5AC3F0
THE HOLI FESTIVAL,
IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF LONDON
47
CULTURE
04. Digital Platform
We develop the website. This is just the starting point for
all the activities and events. We hope to provide a platform
where the youth and the elderly can enjoy, share, even
co-create music. First, click the button; you can listen to
the CHCS Hindu songs. Also, users could use the sounds
of instruments to compose your new songs, or upload
their own clip about Indian culture. This digital platform is
accessible for young people, but it challenges the elderly.
Hence, we developed a customized device for the CHCS
members and we would explain it in detail later.
48
49
50
1. The front page of “Show and tell Companion”.
Users can listen to the CHCS Hindu songs by clicking the button.
2. All songs are composed by different instruments,
and users could listen to a single sound of instruments.
3. Users could play with the sounds of instrument
and compose your own new Hindu songs.
4. Also, this website “Show and tell Companion” enable users
to upload clips and videos.
51
05. Competition
The core concept of “Show and Tell Companion” aims to
encourage young people to tell and show us what Indian
heritage means to you by uploading your 60 second clips,
hoping to challenge it’s audience by starting a new multigenerational conversation about Indian Heritage.
Show and tell us what Hinduism means to you by
sending us your 60 second clips.
This new conversation/"Fusion" will be documented and submitted digitally by anyone wanting to share
there views or experiences about Indian heritage and entries will be shown at the CHCS pop up cinema.
Show and Tell aims to inspire and build bridges of understanding between the varying 'voices'
within the community, creating feelings of solidarity and ownership by
giving every 'voice' a platform and encouraging all to work towards a common goal.
Show and Tell aims to challenge it’s audience by
starting a new multigenerational conversation about
Hinduism and Indian Heritage.
Show and tell can also be viewed remotely via a live stream demonstrating
that the 'Mela' celebratory essence transcends boundaries and
can be experienced by all irrespective of location or
religious beliefs.
This new conversation/”Fusion” will be documented and
submitted digitally by anyone wanting to share their views or
experiences about Indian heritage and entries will be shown at
the CHCS pop up cinema.
Show and Tell aims to inspire and build bridges of understanding
between the varying ‘voices’ within the community,
creating feelings of solidarity and ownership by giving every ‘voice’
a platform and encouraging all to work towards a common goal.
52
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Tumblr for show & tell”
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
CHCS ?
Established in May 1959, the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society was
the first Hindu Organisation in South London for the promotion of Hinduism and Hindu Culture.
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
Show and tell can also be viewed remotely via
a live stream demonstrating that
the ‘Mela’ celebratory essence transcends boundaries and
can be experienced by all irrespective of location or religious beliefs.
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Tumblr for show & tell”
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
Show and tell can also be viewed remotely via a live stream
demonstrating that the ‘Mela’ celebratory essence transcends boundaries and can be experienced by all irrespective of location or religious beliefs.
A TASTE OF INDIA IN 60 SECONDS
Show and tell us what Indian heritage means to you by uploading your 60 second clips.
Show and Tell aims to challenge it's audience by starting a newmultigenerational conversation about Indian Heritage.
“Show & Tell your taste of India”
kaleidoscope.designteam@gmail.com
http://showandtell60.tumblr.com
This new conversation/”Fusion” will be documented and
submitted digitally by anyone wanting to share there views
or experiences about Indian heritage and entries will be
shown at the CHCS pop up cinema. Show and Tell aims to
inspire and build bridges of understanding between the
varying ‘voices’ within the community, creating feelings of
solidarity and ownership by giving every ‘voice’ a platform
and encouraging all to work towards a common goal.
06. Digital Device
We mentioned about the reason why we design a simple
device for CHCS members to share within the community.
Therefore, we came up with a simple device that would be
user friendly for the elderly. The demystifying device only
has basic function: recording, playing, and sharing.
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07. Activities
Through this digital platform, and cooperation with local
communities or Hindu societies, such as Imperial College
Hindu Society. We are going to enjoy the pop-up cinema
in the Rush Common Parks and the exhibition in the local
gallery, the 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning. It would
be a prospective opportunity to enhance the visibility of
the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society.
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08. Development
After the presentation with all CHCS members in May, we
got very good feedback from these members and they
were considering to make this service design project into
a proposal. Now the CHCS Education Committee is taking action to develop our project to their education programme. Further more, in order to get funding from local
organisations, such as the Brixton Pound and Big Lottery
Fund, this project is highly possible to be developed to a
business proposal.
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08 Appendix
A. Indian Arrival Day - 164th Anniversary
“Those Indian Hands Fed Us All”
Source: Caribbean New Yorker, Friday, May 3, 2002
Author: Dr. Ramesh Gampat
May 5, 1838. To Guyanese, especially those of Indian ancestry,
this is a sa- cred day and date. It was on this fateful day, perhaps
around 2 –3 PM, that the Whitby, after a sea voyage of 112 days,
docked into the colony of Berbice with its precious cargo of 249
immigrants, bound for the sugar plantations of British Guiana.
Having landed 164 Indians at the estates of Davidson, Barclay
and Company in Highbury and Waterloo, the Whitby proceeded
to Georgetown. Another ship, the Hesperus, which left 16 days
after the Whitby, arrived in Guyana around the same time (either
the night of May 5 or early next morning). Let me reemphasize
this: Indians first landed in the county of Berbice, not Demerara
as is popularly believed. If a monument is to be built to honor the
“geographic landing” of Indians, as Parliamentarian Ravi Dev so
eloquently puts it, Berbice is the natural location for that is where
Indian feet first touched land since they left their native Bharat.
As expected, the gender balance of the original 396 immigrants
was heavily biased towards males – 368, or 93%, were males; 11,
or 3%, were females; 17, or 4%, were children (most likely under 10
years of age).
This distorted gender balance, dictated by the interest of planters
in profits, characterized the entire indenture enterprise, although
it was not as pronounced from the 1870s. When Indian immigration ended in 1917, about 238,960 Indians had crossed the kala-pani to slave on the Guianese sugar plantations and perchance
to uplift their life chances and that of their progeny. All of them did
not stay, though, for Bharat Mata pulled a good many of them
back, especially so given the atrocious living and working conditions of the colony. Those who exercised this option numbered
about 66,130 by the time Indian Immigration came to an end.
This meant that 172,836 of those who came to the colony stayed
on, assuming that those who died before their indenture was up
had decided to stay (and had no option). By the second decade
of the 20th century, Indians comprised about 44% of the colony’s population. When this fateful century ended, 162 years after
immigration began, the Indian population moved along the entire
trajectory of the demographic curve –from a sprinkling to numerical dominance to decline. At the end of the century, there were
380,000 Indians, comprising 48% of the total population, below
its peak of 52% in the early 1970s.
58
Indians were brought to the colony of British Guiana for one simple reason: experimentation demonstrated that they were the
only people who could have withstood the rigors of plantation
work and who could have provided an adequate, reliable and pliable labor supply. Was the venture a successful one? By the time
of Emancipation in August 1838, the sugar industry stood on the
verge of collapse. It was troubled by falling prices, a credit crunch,
rising costs of production, a in series of commercial crisis in Britain
during 1847-48, which constrained the supply of working capital, and the repeal of the Navigation Acts in 1849, which provided
British colonies with a protected market for their produce, including sugar. None of these by themselves threatened the viability,
and thus survivalability, of the sugar industry. That threat came
from the dire (but contrived) shortage of labor.
Prosperity retuned to the sugar industry in 1854 and lasted until 1884, brought to an end by stiff competition from (i) rival,
non-British colonies/ countries, such as Cuba, which, in addition to using slave labor, were geographically larger, more fertile
and employed “infinitely more advanced technology” (Williams,
1993:151), and (ii) countries, such as Germany, which produced
beet by employing more advanced science and technol- ogy in
both field and factory. The competition of Cuban cane and German beet, in combination with the incredibly selfish policy of the
British Government, pushed the West Indies to the brink of collapse in 1897. British Guiana economy was essentially a sugar
enclave. Destruction of the industry would have been equivalent
to destruction of the economy, which would have brought untold
misery to Africans.
The conundrum was solved by Indian immigration. With such a
durable solution in place, sugar barons began a process of consolidation and modernization of factories to improve efficiency
and push down costs.
For Indians, educational merit no longer brought opportunities for
higher studies abroad. Most of the successful Indian academics and
professionals today made it on their own, without any assistance from
the state. Aside from barriers to education, there was intense discrimination as regards employment (this author felt the pangs of this discrimination) as Indians were bypassed in preference to Africans.
59
What, then, was the purpose of an education if one could not find
a job – especially when less qualified persons from another ethnic group did not have difficulties finding a job? To young Indian
minds, this was a silly question. The fact that literacy rates of Indians lagged those of Africans bears testimony to this aspect of
discrimination. Besides the destruction of livelihoods and educational opportunities, Indians were also victims of the first attempt
at ethnic cleansing (the Wismar Massacre), political witch-hunting, victimization, cultural degradation and a crime wave.
From its birth in the 1950s (when it was used by the PNC to bring
down the PPP), crime blossomed into choke-an-rob, which soon
gave way to kick- down door crimes by gun-wielding African criminals, targeting Indians. To crown it all, it was the official policy to
create “one people” (which led to efforts to douglarize the population) and thus destruction of culture and identity. A virulent
ethnic crime wave, economic hardships, denial of opportunities
and access to resources, inability to influence national decisions
and the status of second-class citizens – these gave rise to the
second great Indian Diaspora. The third period began with the
second coming of the PPP and is still ongoing.
This period drove home a crucial lesson: the new intolerance of
dictatorship brought on by the end of the Cold War, the ethnic
composition of the population and the practice of ethnic politics
would thwart the political ambition of Africans. Led by the PNC,
resort was made to other means: large-scale violence directed at
Indians and political instability. Violence, now completely homegrown and politically motivated, is the prime instrument used to
catapult the PNC back to office (not power, which it already has).
In response, foreign capital inflows dried up. The economy, now
starved of investment, management and technology, slid into reverse gear, ending a remarkable period of growth.
The PPP is determined to create itself in the likeness of the PNC –
that is, to stay in office at all cost. The Stabroek News has even carried letters about the Jagdeo dictatorship (which the PPP deems
the dictatorship of the proletariat).
60
The strategy of the PPP is characterized by the following elements:
(i) massive rhetoric in the finest tradition of communists; (ii) widespread corruption and incompetence; (iii) victimization, including
murder, of Indians who dare to challenge the PPP; (iv) focus on
youth only that the youths are mainly African youths (some letter
writers in Stabroek News have even suggested this was just hot
air); (vi) inability, or perhaps unwillingness, to defend Indians as a
new and more virulent African crime wave threatens to decimate
them; and (vii) appeasement of Africans in an attempt to buy their
peace and votes.
The result is that the PPP has scored good marks in accelerating
the exodus of Indians to foreign climes. So Indians have been
living in Guyana for more than 160 years. Have they arrived? By
arrival, we understand, at the minimum, equality and justice, both
of which have been denied: Indians live as second-class citizens
at best; at worst, they are still seen as aliens (suggested by the
very notion of “indentured” laborer). Their attempt to gain political
power is seen as illegitimate for Africans deem themselves heirs
to the British. Indians have suffered at the hands of Africans from
the inception – from stereotyping, discrimination, victimization,
and violence to denial of op- portunities. Today Indians stand at
the edge of the precipice:
they are more threatened now than they have ever been since 1838.
Aside from brutality to their persons and minds, Indians are on the
verge of losing their identity. Fortunately, a concerted effort, thanks to
Swami Aksharananda, is being made to revive Indian culture.
National efforts by both PNC and the PPP to induce collective amnesia erasing memories of atrocities committed against Indians (for
example, May 26, Guyana’s Independence day, was the day of the
Wismar Massacre). The flag and almost all national symbols portray
African culture and heritage and are devoid of anything Indian. While
Africans have a National Holiday to commemorate their freedom, Indians have struggled for a holiday own without success. The cultural
center in Georgetown, built with money from the Indian immigration
fund, benefits mostly Africans. Its very location makes it inaccessible to
most Indians, who live in the rural areas.
The evidence thus suggests that the intensity of “Indian hating” bears
a direct functional relationship to time. The severe decline of the Indian
birth rate, rising death rates and a growing exodus will nullify the numerical dominance of Indians. When these are added to rising income
inequalities, growing economic ruin and cultural degradation, we have
a recipe for keeping Indians as second-class citizen. To ensure that
they cannot arrive.
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08 Appendix
B. Cultural Probes for Different Groups
CULTURAL INTERFACES
CULTURAL INTERFACES
CULTURAL INTERFACES
QUESTIONNAIRE
QUESTIONNAIRE
QUESTIONNAIRE
TEAM
TEAM
TEAM
TASK
TASK
TASK
For The Elderly
For The Educator
Royal College of Art | Helen Hamlyn Centre
Cultural Interfaces, Team 2:
Irene, Matt, Abbie, Hanna, Natasha, Alice
Contact: Irene Yen-Hsuan Shih
yen-hsuan.shih@network.rca.ac.uk
Tutor: chris.mcginley@network.rca.ac.uk
Action & Engagement
By building bridges of understanding,
Change the attitudes and behaviours
between the older and younger Hindu
generations and broader society, developing
and protecting the Caribbean Hindu Society
Culture for future generations.
Royal College of Art | Helen Hamlyn Centre
Cultural Interfaces, Team 2:
Irene, Matt, Abbie, Hanna, Natasha, Alice
Contact: Irene Yen-Hsuan Shih
yen-hsuan.shih@network.rca.ac.uk
Tutor: chris.mcginley@network.rca.ac.uk
Action & Engagement
By building bridges of understanding,
Change the attitudes and behaviours
between the older and younger Hindu
generations and broader society, developing
and protecting the Caribbean Hindu Society
Culture for future generations.
Royal College of Art | Helen Hamlyn Centre
Cultural Interfaces, Team 2:
Irene, Matt, Abbie, Hanna, Natasha, Alice
Contact: Irene Yen-Hsuan Shih
yen-hsuan.shih@network.rca.ac.uk
Tutor: chris.mcginley@network.rca.ac.uk
Action & Engagement
By building bridges of understanding,
Change the attitudes and behaviours
between the older and younger Hindu
generations and broader society, developing
and protecting the Caribbean Hindu Society
Culture for future generations.
For The Youth
62
63
Design team
(Irene) Yen-Hsuan Shih - Service Design
yen-hsuan.shih@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7925 842909
(Matt) Myoung-hwan Han - Service Design
myoung-hwan.han@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7447 242274
Hanna Lee- Information Experience Design
hanna.lee@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7557 261002
Abbie Vickress - Visual Communication
abbie.vickress@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7891 588154
Natasha Trotman - Information Experience Design
natasha.trotman@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7925 999748
Alice Czarnowska - Information Experience Design
alice.czarnowska@network.rca.ac.uk
+44 7867 253765
64