By hjensen95
A requirement for my program in Prague (Communications, New Media and Journalism) is to maintain an internship while I’m studying abroad. The internships range in roles but fall within the realm of journalism, new media and public relationships. I was lucky enough to land a tech internship. I’m interning at a co-working space called Locus as the User Experience intern. My primary role being a website re-design and online database revamp by the end of my time studying in Prague.
The owner of the co-working space is an ex-patriot who has been living in Prague for years. The members of the space range from Czech locals to international people. It’s been very cool to interact with people from all walks of life at the co-working space. This experience has been fulfilling so many of my intentions for study abroad. It’s such a unique opportunity to have an internship abroad.
Because I’m pursuing a special interdisciplinary major (SIM) in Interaction Design (IxD) I had to convince the panel back at GW to allow me to go abroad. I made the case that having a global frame of reference is imperative to succeeding in the Interaction Design field. The first step in developing good IxD is to have a thorough understanding of different types of users to design comprehensive interfaces for them.
In the Human-Computer Interaction course I took last fall, we learned the importance of cultural understanding within this field. Cultural differences and preferences are vital to understanding the intentions and usability of international users and their communication norms. The ultimate purpose of IxD/UX is to provide users with as natural of an interaction as possible. Understanding the culture of a user base is vital to providing a seamless interaction. While there is much research about interaction design, development, and de-sign methodology; there is not yet a thorough foundation of interaction design in non-western contexts. This becomes increasingly important as globalization leads to intercultural/cross-cultural collaboration.
So far, this intercultural communication course I’m taking has allowed me a more fluent understanding of cross-cultural differences. Being able to have hands-on experience working with an overseas tech and design community is such a unique opportunity and having this on my resume will certainly set me apart from other applicants.