Understand Local
Dan Szuc from Apogee took a moment with Ketut Sulistyawat from Somia CX and to get her perspectives and observations on this question:
What does it mean to understand local?
This will be the first in a series of mini interviews with Reach partners from around the world.
Getting close to local
This may be in different forms — such as having conversations and interactions with the locals, visiting and immersing oneself in places and activities done by local, learning skills related to local including language, culture and history.
Similarities and differences
Sometimes as a local, it is hard for someone to articulate one’s local context as the concept is too internalised.
But it is easier for someone who is local, and has been away and has exposure to different context (other locals), to notice the differences. Or for someone who is completely new from outside the context to notice local nuances.
This is where rich observations and conversations between different perspectives (locals vs outsiders) help to better understand local.
Through these exercises, the local may unearth a deeper understanding about her local that she may not have realised before.
Being away and then coming back
Reflecting from my experiences being away and now back to my home country, I put in different lenses when looking at local phenomena as I have other references to draw from.
Global research projects
In global research projects, I feel the research finding discussions from across the countries are what makes the local context more meaningful, as we are then able to realise how we are similar or different to other countries. This is even true when we do research multi-cities in Indonesia.
Photos in this post were taken as part of Somia CX’s independent research on Pasar Badung, the biggest local market in Bali.
