| With the development of economic globalization, more and more people are immersed in a cross-cultural community. United States hosts the largest number of international students in the world. The cultural diversity of American college campuses makes them full of opportunity to learn about and from each other. However, huge portion of international students experience American colleges as culturally challenging. The cultural identities of international students are often stereotyped or misunderstood, causing barriers between students. Online questionnaires and analyzing related literatures suggests that the problem of stereotyping is a broad issue that is worth studying. Interaction design is a possible solution to help connect students on campus. However, as a communication medium, its application to solve the stereotype problem is still very limited. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to explore how interaction design can foster cultural awareness and address stereotyping on college campuses. The "Stereotype Filter" was designed by developing a digital interface. Testing the prototypes of the design showed that the design effectively promotes cultural understanding among people of various backgrounds. It suggests that interaction design is a possible intervention to the cultural barriers that international students experience. |
