Comments for Material for thought

Comment on Shanghai World Expo: Chinese people and queues by Christophe Bruchansky

Christophe Bruchansky — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:28:47 +0000

Many thanks for sharing your experience Tiffany! I’m sorry to hear that it was not so good. Chinese people living in big cities such as Hong Kong are acting in a more polite way I think. So it is maybe another idea for your next travel to China, which has still a very uneven exposure to the world, you’re right. All the best!

Comment on Shanghai World Expo: Chinese people and queues by Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:48:48 +0000

It’s interesting how you view your experience at the Shanghai World Expo in a positive light, because I definitely didn’t see it the same way as you did! I never felt the mood was “playful” when queuing in line. It was downright horrible for me! What does the slogan, “Better City, Better Life,” mean when there’s trash everywhere in the queue lines, people are shoving your back to the point where your feet are off the ground (you’re right, it’s typically the middle-aged to old little women), un-flushed toilets, and people letting their kids defecate on the walkways? Why are they attending this if they’re not even getting the message?

I am an American-born Chinese with a closer connection with Taiwan. This was my first trip to China, and was very disappointed with the mannerisms of the people there. I got into a little spat with a tiny old lady who stood up to my shoulder, even though that’s socially unacceptable in the Chinese culture… But my reason was that she was shoving my dad’s back.

Maybe I set myself up for this disappointment though. I had expectations already in place for China, and they were not met when I went to the Expo. The people in China, as a whole, really need to be educated about the world. I’m hoping the best for China next time I visit, which will probably be in another 10 years!

Glad that you had a great time though!

Comment on Shanghai World Expo: Chinese people and queues by Christophe Bruchansky

Christophe Bruchansky — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:16:51 +0000

Thanks for your feedback! The queues are probably shorter now than when the Expo started, don’t worry. The national pavilions with the longer queues were the Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, UK, Russia, and the China one of course. I didn’t visit them all but I believe that they have the biggest, expensive ‘wow’ stuff to see. My favourites from the ones I visited at the Expo where the Netherlands (no queues), UK, France and Canada. And the less crowded Urban best practices area is probably the most educative scientifically, even though it is less dramatic. But I probably missed many great pavilions and everyone has its own favourites, so don’t rely too much on this list!

Comment on Shanghai World Expo: Chinese people and queues by Sophia

Sophia — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:34:24 +0000

Thanks for your post! I am in Shanghai now and will be going to the World Expo today. I have heard about the queues at the expo but had no idea what I am getting myself into. Thanks a lot for the heads up, I really needed that, at least to know how I can stay in position. I don’t know which country I will go to yet, where did you go? What are your favorite? I will visit the expo for at two days. Thanks!

Comment on For successful employee engagement in your intranet by IntranetLounge

IntranetLounge — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:24:39 +0000

For successful employee engagement in your intranet | The blog of Christophe Bruchansky…

This article has been submitted, Thank You – Trackback from IntranetLounge…

Comment on For successful employee engagement in your intranet by Christophe Bruchansky

Christophe Bruchansky — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:40:35 +0000

Thanks for your presentation, it was great! And by the way, you also did a very good job for your @gentry tweets from PICNIC, I remember they were spot on.

Comment on For successful employee engagement in your intranet by Gentry Underwood

Gentry Underwood — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:24:20 +0000

Great post! I give a lot of talks about our system at IDEO and the underlying philosophies behind it and rarely do I feel like a blogging summary does it justice… Too often it sounds like a bullet point list jotted mindlessly by someone writing a book report. In contrast, this was inspiring to read.

Finding solutions that simultaneously meet the needs of the organization while motivating individual participation is hard work. At IDEO we feel we’ve still got a long way to go in this respect, but we know there’s no possibility of a successful system otherwise.

Comment on Anthropology on Disney World: consumerism, postmodernism and decontextualisation by Christophe Bruchansky

Christophe Bruchansky — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:08:34 +0000

You can find a new article I have written about Walt Disney World and Heterotopia on http://curatedmatter.org/the-heterotopia-of-walt-disney-world-post-modernism-and-consumerism/

Comment on Anthropology on Disney World: consumerism, postmodernism and decontextualisation by Christophe Bruchansky

Christophe Bruchansky — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:39:16 +0000

Thanks for sharing this experience Aries! Whatever Disney parks tried to achieve, personal memories are unique and have their own meanings. The parks are designed for visitors to live predefined stories and to get predefined desires. But reality is different and it would be interesting to hear what is the story people have to tell about their visit. How it differs from the ‘standard’ consumption of the Disney product.

Comment on Anthropology on Disney World: consumerism, postmodernism and decontextualisation by AriesAshkuff

AriesAshkuff — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:06:32 +0000

Furthermore, though?
I suppose it IS a little screwed up that some of my earliest childhood memories include incessant advertisements for “Kodak.”
Heh.