>		Naoto Fukasawa
>		Fumi Masuda
>		Shunji Yamanaka
Fumiyo Kojima
Interaction Design Group of RICOH Inc (+):

		Fumiyo began her talk by introducing RICOH and its products. RICOH is most famous for their copier machines but they produce a wide spectrum of document management and imaging products ranging from photo copiers, fax machines and printers through document management software to digital cameras and DVD burners. Fumiyo defined RICOH as an image communication company. Their aim as a company is to provide a total solution for managing imagery and documents -which they view as a type of an image- in digital form and reproducing them on paper. The RICOH product range can be broken into three categories: Workgroup Solutions including software for managing document collections, format conversion and printing, printers, copiers, fax machines and cameras. Print Shop Solutions consisting of high volume printing and copying machines Enterprise Solutions providing tools to better manage the utilization of the various software and hardware such as printers and copiers a large organization might have. To illustrate the complexity of the concept Fumiyo drew up a number of graphical icons in the form of a turtle, rabbit and other entities on the drawing board and asked the participants to describe what they are and what they represent to them. The aim of the exercise was to show how context and culture influence the interpretation one gives to a particular item. The exercise also highlighted the difficulties facing the interaction design group at RICOH who, as a global corporation, need to design solutions that would serve the needs of customers located around the world; their products therefore have to function well in a variety of settings and serve the needs of people from various cultural backgrounds. To achieve their intercultural design objectives RICOH employs a design approach that stresses interoperability of products and interfaces with a global scope in market research and interface design. They seek ideas for improvements to existing products and inspiration for new products by close interaction with their clients in order to asses where a solution is needed or where an interface could be improved upon. Research is conducted in a variety of countries to explore the needs and requirements of different people and to see how a particular idea might manifest itself in different contexts and in different cultural settings. When developing interfaces and modes of interaction, RICOH tends to look at the entire product range and not at a specific device. This allows them to increase the usability of their products through the standardization of interface elements. Once a product is manufactured, supporting technical communication and advertising is designed in a similarly consistent manner to maintain and support the look and feel beyond the product line itself. Following her presentation Fumiyo showed several videos illustrating the facilities of the interaction design group and the collaborative environment the developers share. She noted that although the majority of product development occurs in Japan all localization efforts take place at local offices using local staff members and supporting technical staff from Japan to assure the specific needs of the local market are served. In large markets such as the US and Europe, RICOH maintains research and development facilities which engage in independent product development. The senior members of all RICOH offices meet once a year for a week in order to exchange experiences and ideas. During the question and answer period at the conclusion of the talk Ron raised an interesting issue when he asked whether RICOH maintained a database of all the cultural and contextual information the company collects through its development efforts. Fumiyo replied that the localization team has developed a database of phrases in 80 languages which they use in localizing interfaces but that they have not yet developed a knowledge management solution to encapsulate the knowledge they acquire through their design process primarily due to the difficulty of collating all of the disparate bits of information and the effort involved in keeping the database up to date. Fumiyo's talk presented the participants with an interesting glimpse into the design methodology of a major Japanese electronics conglomerate faced with the challenge of addressing the needs of a global client base thus complementing the theoretical work engaged by most of the participants.