By Dr. William F. Smith

(Photo caption: Dr. Geoff Bell, Associate Professor at Champlain College MS-EM Shanghai with ICS-TV Culture Matters host Ms. Alison Watts.)

Recently Dr. Geoffrey Bell—Associate Professor in the Shanghai MS-EM program, appeared on the International Channel Shanghai (ICS) TV program, ‘Culture Matters’, as a guest expert and was interviewed about the mobile app industry. Dr. Bell described the iterative design process while emphasizing the need for designers to become empathizers who must consider the needs of customers in an increasingly changing media landscape. Later in the program, Dr. Bell was joined by the founder and CEO of Bumblebee, which created the mobile app of the same name, that efficiently connect taxis and clients in Shanghai and Beijing. The two experts discussed some of the cultural differences between mobile app users in China and the rest of the world while highlighting the challenges of localizing western apps in China.

Left: Bumblebee CEO & Dr. Geoff Bell. Right: On the set of ICS-TV.

This was a wonderful opportunity for our program to receive some good PR and brand recognition in China. According to ICS-TV, ICS reaches 4.4 million families in Shanghai through the cable network, IPTV, and broadband TV. It broadcasts 19 hours continuously everyday, 7.5 of which is original programing. All are in English or Japanese, along with Chinese subtitles. 8 formats are: news, information, fashion, entertainment, family, sports, talk shows and foreign TV shows and movies.

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Dr. William F. Smith is Academic Program Director for the Champlain College MS in Emergent Media program in Shanghai, China. Smith received his PhD in Media & Communications from the European Graduate School in 2011 and has extensive experience in multicultural teaching at universities throughout Asia. He also has a background in academic research and professional media communications work.