Page 239 - Culture Technology Communication

222 Lorna Heaton

brief description of the overall context of CSCW design in Japan is
followed by detailed presentation of two research projects. The sec-
tion concludes with a discussion of general trends and characteris-
tics and relates them to cultural characteristics and beliefs, which
are intimately connected to designers’ views of their systems’ even-
tual use.

Japanese CSCW: Quality (and Quantity) of Work

CSCW in Japan is a development of the telecommunications, elec-
tronics and engineering industries and is thus closely identified with
a product, rather than a research orientation. A “hard” science ap-
proach dominates. Virtually all those involved in designing CSCW
systems in Japan are engineers or computer scientists. They identify
strongly with their profession, and building a good system, that is
one that works, is reliable, state-of-the art, and original, is both the
goal and a measure of their capabilities as engineers. Design work is
done exclusively in the labs, and any evaluation of prototypes takes
the form of controlled laboratory experiments. Designers are not
generally concerned with who will use their systems, or how they
will be implemented. Multidisciplinary collaboration is not consid-
ered, let alone practiced.
With so technical a focus, it is not surprising that the main jus-
tifications for design choices are technical ones. There is however,
another, more social, element to Japanese design choices, that of
Japanese culture. Professional engineering or scientific culture
notwithstanding, Japanese CSCW researchers, like most Japanese
people, clearly believe that Japanese culture and the Japanese way
9
of working are different from the Western ways. How to reflect or
cope with this difference in designing technology is a constant leit-
motif among Japanese CSCW researchers. Although most would
prefer to believe that science and technology are culturally neutral
or universal, they nevertheless recognize that, if use is a considera-
tion, designing a groupware system cannot be approached the same
way as designing a television.
The dean of groupware in Japan, Professor Matsushita, cites five
principal, specifically cultural reasons why groupware must be dif-
ferent if it is to be used in Japan: cultural differences in views on co-
operation and competition, negotiation style, degree of context, the
importance of human relations, and the relation of the individual to
the group. Even those who deny specifically cultural aspects in the