See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/254012468

Cultural Computing: A Case Study of Northern Indian Culture

Article · October 2011

DOI: 10.1109/Culture-Computing.2011.35

CITATIONS READS
0 593

3 authors, including:

Anju Sharma
Thapar University
22 PUBLICATIONS   86 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Green Cloud Framework for energy efficiency View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Anju Sharma on 28 June 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Cultural Computing: A Case study of Northern Indian
Culture

Bhupinder Kochhar1, Anju Sharma2, Ashish Jolly3

1
Bhupinder Kochhar, Chitkara University, Punjab,
bhupinder.kochhar@chitkara.edu.in
2
Anju Sharma, Thapar University, Punjab, anju.sharma@thapar.edu
3
Ashish Jolly, Chitkara University, Punjab, ashish.jolly@chitkara.edu.in

Abstract. Cultural Computing is the most important area in research in these

days. By taking this concept this paper presents a case study of northern Indian
culture based on Hindu & Sikh religion. It is associated with the conscious and
unconscious states of human mind. A prototype model of an AI based
interactive narrative system going to be developed. This model is reflecting the
Northern Indian culture and religious aspects of Hindu & Sikh religion. The
implementation details of 5 stages considered in the prototype model have been
described in this paper.

Keywords: Art & design, AI, Cultural computing, Cultural determinants, HCI,
ZENetic computer.

1 Introduction
Cultural Computing is a method to compute essential cultural aspects using
images, videos and sound [1]. It provides a new direction to Human Computer
Interaction (HCI) by using computer technology to compute the effect of culture on
unconscious state and self conscious state of human mind [2]. Cultural Computing is
an enabling technology for social transformations [3]. To carry out this concept an
effort has been made in the field of user experiences and cognitive sciences [4].
Various cultures do exist in this area for example in Japan to represent Japanese
culture ZENetic computer is developed. ZENetic computer is an innovation table top
application to address cultural computing in the East [5]. ZENetic computer brings a
kind of awakening within user’s self consciousness and strives to stimulate their
unconscious imagination. The main effort of ZENetic computer is to classify the
user’s personality based on the composition of her sansui landscape design [6]. It
generates a story for the user, drawing her into an alternate world through a user
interface.
In this paper a case study of Northern Indian culture has been considered which
addresses the issues of psychology, brain and cognitive sciences, interaction design
using art and media, spirituality, religion and thought. Here it is important to
understand one’s cultural determinants and how to render them during the interaction.
2

Prototype model of this case study has been presented in section 2 and 3. The major
focus of prototype implementation is to concentrate on these aspects of cultural
computing which provides an interface to Indian culture. It presents an approach to
computational narrative based cognitive cultural aspects of northern Indian culture. It
is associated with user’s unconscious mind, conceptual blending, metaphor and
narrative [7]. It has been implemented in cultural computing using multimedia
semantics, human-centered interface design and digital media art practice. In
particular, a prototype model of an AI based interactive narrative system going to be
developed with the affiliation of northern Indian culture and religious aspects of
Hindu and Sikh religion.

2 Proposed case study for Northern Indian Culture

As India is a country having versatile cultures. Here focus has been given on
Northern Indian culture. This case study is enabling particular cognitive and
emotional responses from the user as reflections on and of his/her inner, subliminal
consciousness. It has been not only integrating cultural aspects into the interaction but
also allowing the user to experience an interaction that is closely related to the core
aspects of his/her own culture. This case study has been having 5 stages as described
below:-
 Stage 1:
In the 1st stage culture is described having various attributes such as beliefs, thoughts,
values, behavior, religion, customs, language, interests and experiences etc. Cultural
determinants belong to user which are considered in this case study are described in
Table1.

Table 1 Cultural determinants considered in case study

Sr. No. Cultural determinants Values
I. Personal Information Name, Sex, age, qualification, profession,
language etc.
II. Religion Sikh, Hindu
III. Customs and Beliefs Questioner has been decided in the next
version of this paper
IV. Thoughts & Values It is directly proportional to 3rd determinant.
V. Behavior It is directly proportional to 4th determinant.
VI. Interest & experiences Questioner has been decided in the next
version of this paper

 Stage 2:
In the 2nd stage an interface has been designed by taking the values of determinants
that are selected by the user. This interface will represent user’s unconscious state of
 Cultural Computing: A Case study of Northern Indian Culture 3

mind in the form of images, sound and videos. It provides an environment which
always liked by user but he himself never conscious or aware about that.
 Stage 3:
In the 3rd stage religious dialogues related to Sikh or Hindu beliefs has been delivered.
It discourses related to body, mind, intellect, soul and spirit. After going through the
stage 3 user’s mind will be prepared to enter into the next stage i.e. Stage 4.
 Stage 4:
In this stage conversational session has been developed. It will be based on two way
communication between user and the system. This conversational session has been
based on spiritual exercises to make user aware about self and GOD.
 Stage 5:
When user enters at the 5th stage he/she will feel relaxed.

All the aforementioned stages are reflected in the prototype model given below:

Fig. 1. Prototype model to implement North Indian culture

Ideas flow from user’s

unconscious mind

Interface
Design
According to the
attributes
selected by the
user

User at the stage which

is most liked by user’s
unconscious mind

Religious dialogues delivered

User gets self awaked and

prepared for the next stage.

Conversational session with user

Relaxatio
n
4

The next section explains the prototype implementation of the proposed case study.

3 Prototype Implementation of proposed Case Study

To implement this case study .NET as a front end and SQL Server as a back end has
been used. Various multimedia, art, designing and animation software has been used
for developing user interface. The description to implement the various stages is given
below:
In the Stage 1 a survey has been conducted. As India is a land of versatile religions in
survey hypothesis only two religions Sikh and Hindu from the North India has been
considered. Online and offline both kind of survey can be conducted using a
questioner.
To implement Stage 2 a user interface is designed that is based on survey analysis of
stage 1. An environment is implemented with the help of art, design and animation.
This environment reflects the liking of user’s unconscious mind.
In the process of implementation of Stage 3 an animated video has been implemented.
It has been consider religious dialogues as per the user’s religion (Hindu or Sikh) and
beliefs. These dialogues have been related to human mind, body, intellect, soul and
spirit so that user can try to express his/her self unconsciousness and consciousness.
To implement Stage 4 two way communication system will be develop for the
conversion between user and system. This conversation has been based on Who am I
concept. As in Linux there is a command Who am I and if we write $ whoami It gives
output as user id. Same way if we ask this question to ourselves initially the reply will
be related to our name or designation. But, after going through this system all the
stages of the system have been trying to awaken user’s self consciousness. One often
wonders as to what or who am I, from where I have come, what for and where shall I
go after death? These are very complex questions. Just as it is not easy to define God,
in the same way it is not easy to define I. Different persons have come up with
different answers to this question. Each may be right in his own way but there is no
general consensus over what am I.
This system provides an environment, prepare mind, and take the user at the last
Stage which is Stage 5 to give user relaxation.

4 Conclusion & Future work

Basic idea behind this case study is taken from ZENetic computer in which
Japanese culture has been depicted. This case study has been depicting North Indian
culture. It provides an interface to cultural computing in which we are trying to
compute user’s unconscious state of mind. It has been provided a survey and
implementation of North Indian culture in which main impact is own user’s self
realization and spirituality. To realize these objectives various cultural determinants
have been considered. In this paper a prototype implementation of the case study is
 Cultural Computing: A Case study of Northern Indian Culture 5

described. This prototype has been 5 stages. In stage 1 various determinants of

Northern Indian culture has been considered. In stage 2 a user interface has been
designed which represents user’s unconscious state of mind. In stage 3 religious
dialogues has been delivered. In stage 4 conversation session has been covered. Stage
5 has been a final stage where user feels relaxed.

As a future work actual implementation of proposed case study is considered. In

future more cultural determinants and religions of India can be added in this
prototype. Comparative study on based of spiritual exercises and assignments can be
added.

References

Matthias Rauterberg Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherland Bosenick T.,

Hassenzahl M., Müller-Prove M., Peissner M. (Hrsg.) “How to Assess the User’s
Experience in Cultural Computing”: Usability Professionals 2006

Matthias Rauterberg2, Ryohei Nakatsu1 1School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin
University, Sanda, Japan 2Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of
Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, “ Kansei Mediated Entertainment” Ben Salem1*,

J. Hu, C. Bartneck, B. Salem, and M. Rauterberg, “ALICE's Adventures in Cultural

Computing” pp. 102-118, 2008.

Christoph Bartneck, Jun Hu, Ben Salem, Razvan Cristescu and Matthias Rauterberg, “Applying
Virtual and Augmented Reality in Cultural Computing” The International Journal of Virtual
Reality, 2008, 7(2):11-18

Naoko TOSA Entertainment Computing Laboratory / MIT CAVS, Nishijin IT Roji Room 9, 97
Kaimoricho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8061 JAPAN naoko@mit.edu Seigow MATSUOKA
Editorial Engineering Laboratory / Tezukayama Gakuin University, 7-6-64 Akasaka,
Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052 JAPAN, “Cultural Computing: ZENetic Computer”

Tosa, N. Chapter 19: Expression of emotion unconsciousness with art and technology,
“AFFECTIVE MINDS,” ELSEVIER, pp. 183-201 2000. Liu, Y. Davis, P. “Dual
synchronization of chaos”, Physical Review E, 61 pp. R2176-R2179 2000

Sheldrake, R. (1981). A New Science of Life: The Hypothesis of Formative Causation.

View publication stats