¶ … Cross Cultural Communication

In Bennett's interview with O'Bryan, the latter explained that cross cultural communication between two groups of designers was difficult, not only because the two groups spoke different languages, but also because the designers were located in two different spatial locations, and had to communicate through interactive media. O'Bryan describes how two groups of designers -- one from the U.S. And one from Cuba -- were able to work together collaboratively on a project regarding their dreams, the importance of their dreams, and what influenced their dreams. The intercultural aspect posed some problems, like the ones above, while also providing for some achievements, such as a product that reflected the unique cultural contributions of both groups. Viewed in light of Baldwin and Robert's chapter regarding shared meaning and the efficiency of communication, one can understand how the cross-cultural designers faced some problems. Because Baldwin and Robert discuss one theory, Semiotics, which suggests that a thing has no inherent meaning, that meaning must be given to a thing, it is easy to understand that the Cubans and the Americans did not share meaning. What induced certain responses in one culture did not necessarily do so in another culture, making collaboration different. For this reason, the Americans and Cubans probably did have to use some of the techniques proposed by Shannon and Weaver to simplify communication in order to communicate at all. Despite the fact that communication between these two groups may have been difficult, and that coming together in order to form one design project produced by such culturally diverse designers may have resulted in the portrayal of mixed messages, some theorists contend that this does not matter. Indeed, it is only the "reader's" impression upon interpreting the text that matters. In the case of O'Bryan's designers, the reader is the Toni O'Bryan, and the other founders of the project. Thus, because of this concept -- called "The Death of the Author" -- the mixed messages that the Cubans and Americans may have revealed would be overshadowed by the reader's interpretation. Thus, Bennett and Robert propose a variety of theories and ideas that have to do with the process of communication, but as O'Bryan's interview suggests, many of these concepts can be amplified in cross-cultural communication.