It’s what you know: 10 years as a cultural correspondent
Mar 11, 2016 · by Irene Hotz Glanzmann
Do you remember the time before YouTube? Our use of the internet has exploded since 2005, the year YouTube launched. And soon after that, in 2006, I started as a Cultural Correspondent with Argonaut. I hope I’ve added something to the richness of the internet during that decade as I’ve shared insights into Swiss culture in Argonaut’s intercultural e-learning during those years.
Soft landing
I came to London for a training with the Argonaut team in spring of 2005. At the time I didn’t know so much about the role of cultural correspondent. It was a pretty informal situation at first. Being a Cultural Correspondent is a voluntary role, but it brings me into collaboration with a great network and enables me to use Argonaut’s cross-cultural assessment with my intercultural training and coaching clients, which is one of the big benefits.
I had already been working in international human resources for many years. Using Argonaut was one of the ways I built my career in in intercultural competence into a specialism.
What Cultural Correspondents do
As a Cultural Correspondent for Argonaut I get a few assignments a year to create a short text on my area of expertise, usually Swiss culture, or to update existing Swiss content. The brief from the Argonaut team and the editorial process are quite structured and straight forward, but there is good flexibility with time, so it fits my schedule well.
This is why
I have a strong business interest, of course, in being deeply connected with a leading tool for intercultural management training. But there are other benefits which may not be so obvious.
I enjoy the assignments we get as Cultural Correspondents. Many of the topics we write about require research, reflection and some comparative knowledge about the aspects which make my own culture unique. The topics are not always standard cultural advice like tipping or punctuality. The topics can give an unusual perspective, such as national heroes or colours or books & films which throw new light on the culture.
I enjoy the learning, the writing and the interaction that’s involved with creating the content for Argonaut. I’m the expert of course partly because of what I know, but also because I am committed to learning more, and sharing that knowledge!