vide enough feedback to reach a definitive conclusion.

Japan is legendary among Westerners for its alternative toilet experience, whether it’s heated seats (pleasant in a Tokyo hotel room; essential in a wood-heated cabin in the mounta ins), privacy-creating sound effects, deodorization cycles, and various bidet/spritz/wash/clean features. San Francisco’s Brondell has been selling an Americanized version of this for a few years now, positioning it as a luxury product, which seems to be its only way to get over the tricky barriers to adoption. This is a new way of doing a private, taboo activity. Brondell seems to want to “ educate the customer”; its high-end positioning provides some emotional motivation to help people agree that they do, in fact, need to be educated (“Oh, this is how the rich wipe their asses!”). Despite their renown for introducing advanced technology into the toilet marketplace (who hasn’t heard of the Japanese toilet that will analyze body waste and provide health status information?), the squat toilet is still very common in public spaces. Knowledge of how to use a Western toilet is of limited value when faced with a squat toilet. Judging from the condition of the ones I saw in subways and markets, they may not be designed for user accuracy.

While renting a house in Bali, one evening we found that the toilets would not stop running. An investigation revealed that in each toilet tank there was a piece of lime, presumably to keep the water as fresh as possible. Lime in my water, sure. Lime in my toilet water, bit of a surprise!

In Bali (as in many other places

such as Korea and Egypt), people typically clean up without toilet paper, instead using a combination of hand wiping and water. Toilet paper may not be available in public restrooms, and even though travelers are used to carrying their own roll, here’s the

Two ways to flush.

May + June 2008

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without the fee, provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy other wise, to republish, to post on services or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. © ACM 1072-5220/08/0500 $5.00

interactions

fun part: The plumbing wasn’t designed to accommodate toilet paper and you’re encouraged not to flush it. Instead, bathrooms have a wastepaper basket of some sort. The containers we saw were narrow, with small lids. Imagine the horror of trying to cleanly transport a crumpled or folded (as you prefer) portion of soiled paper into a rubbish bin that isn’t really wide enough.

But let’s acknowledge that most of the discomfort in doing or even contemplating these different tasks is cultural. In some parts of the world, people go to the bathroom where there is no bathroom, where other people can see and hear. That might be in an American prison or an Indian slum. In the former, one must

adjust; in the latter case, that is considered normal, and our rejection of the idea is simply based on our own taboos and social norms. One can make a rational argument for hygiene in some cases, but that’s not the full driver behind what makes us anxious.

All of these experiences, whether private or public, can serve as powerful learning moments. If I’m able to triumph over my own inexperience, I feel very cool. If I get tripped up, I’ll inevitably begin to see the models (be they mental, cultural, or transactional) emerge, and that is tremendously exciting. Anytime I can learn how another culture does something (even, and perhaps especially, something everyday), it’s a thrill. That process of realizing that they do it this way and here’s why is a thrilling journey.

Even though I may find some of these interactions frustrating at times, I try hard to keep in mind that I’m not the intended user. We would do well to allow ourselves to seek out and even enjoy these interaction failures that we encounter outside our own culture, because it’s an opportunity to learn something about whom an interaction is designed for. What could be more pleasurable than to uncover an elegant match between a revealed user need and a revealed design?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steve is the founder of Portigal Consulting, a boutique agency that helps companies discover and act on new insights about themselves and their customers. He is an accomplished instructor and public speaker, and an avid photographer who curates a Museum of Foreign Grocery Products in his home. Steve blogs regularly for All This ChittahChattah, at www.portigal.com/blog.