Cultural Probes

I found the Cultural Probes project very interesting because it somewhat reflects what my group has been doing with our mad libs. Although very complex, the cultural probes were simply meant to start a dialogue between groups of people that do not know each other.

This is a very ambitious aim but I think they were successful. By creating probes which were personal, hand made and friendly, they invoked a personal response.

Personal response cannot be successfully achieved by way of sleek, mass-produced questionnaires and pamphlets. Why do you think people throw out their junk mail? It is impersonal, sterile, cold and shows no emotion.

We do not feel the need, nor do we desire to respond to machines. There must be a person on the other end that the recipient feels connected to for a response to be personal and worthwhile.