Abstract:

User interfaces (UIs) reach across culturally diverse user communities. UI designers are reconsidering the applicability of psychological-social models by identifying cultural preferences and value orientations that differ globally. This one-day tutorial provides detailed information about cultural models and practical, hands-on experience in designing UIs for specific target cultures.

Learning objectives:

Participants will learn new terms and concepts to understand culture, Geert Hofstede’s dimensions of culture (power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation), and have these dimensions relate to the design of user-interface components (metaphors, mental models, navigation, interaction, and appearance). In addition we shall introduce additional dimensions that must be conducted in relation to culture (persuasion, trust, intelligence, cognition). Finally, we shall examine the practice and tradeoffs of several multi-national companies’ Web efforts.

How tutorial will be conducted:

Illustrated lectures introduce the issues of globalization, localization, and culture, then define each of the dimensions of culture and show examples from the Web. Group exercises with paper and pen provide direct experience in understanding the hidden content of cultural messages, in analyzing the impact of culture dimensions on the components of user interfaces, and in synthesizing an initial Web page design targeted for a particular culture. Participants work in teams of 5-8 people during most of the exercises.

Detailed Description of Material Covered by Tutorial and a Schedule of Events

Introduction to Instructor and Tutorial (15 minutes)

This will be the time to introduce the presenter and to discuss how the techniques that will be discussed fit into the user-interface development process, including an introduction to globalization/localization issues. We’ll show several examples of questionable cross-cultural communication and discuss several cultural anthropological theories briefly. We’ll ask for participants’ own experiences in difficulties of communicating across cultural boundaries.

Introduction to Cultural Models and Examples from the Web (60 minutes)

Illustrated lectures will introduce each of Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture: (power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term time orientation. For each dimension, we shall explain the characteristics and their potential impact of work, education, and family life, and show examples of Websites from different countries, but with the same subject matter that demonstrate indigenous cultural characteristics.

Applying Cultural Models to Design of Mobile Phones (15 minutes)

Illustrated lecture will summarize the research of Dr. Pia Honold, Siemens Corporation, in using cultural models to predict how German and Chinese consumers gain information about mobile phone usage. This information impacts the design of documentation, online help, etc. Dr. Honold’s presentation shows how the results of her study generally fit the predictions, but offer some surprises, also.

Exercise 1 (45 minutes)

Each group in the tutorial will study one of approximately eight cross-cultural textual dialogues and attempt to understand the hidden cultural messages. Then, the participants will examine the explanation of what is happening between two people and report their findings and their misconceptions to the rest of the participants. Discussion will follow depending on the findings.

Exercise 2 (45 minutes)

Each group in the tutorial will study one of the cultural dimensions and analyze how this dimension might affect fundamental UI components (metaphors, mental models, navigation, interaction, and appearance). They will report to the rest of the participants on their findings. Discussion will follow depending on the findings.

Exercise 3 (45 minutes)

Each group in the tutorial will be assigned one target culture and design a home screen and one or two other screens that demonstrate awareness of the impact of culture on aspects of functions and data. The Website is intended to be a medical information Website provided by the government for its citizens.

Each team will report to the rest of the participants about their intentions and their results. Where possible, comparisons will be made with actual Websites from different countries. Discussion will follow depending on the issues that arise.

Cross-Comparison of Corporate Vehicles (45minutes)

We shall examine several major businesses and consumer Websites for multi-national corporations from several countries (USA: McDonald’s, Coke; Korea: Samsung; Germany: Siemens) and discuss the apparent tradeoffs of “universal” vs. localized solution for user-interface components per culture dimensions.

Closing Discussion (15 minutes)

The presenter will solicit feedback and questions from the audience.

Instructors' Biographies

Mr. Marcus is an internationally recognized authority on the design of user interfaces, interactive multimedia, and printing/publishing documents. Mr. Marcus has given tutorials at SIGGRAPH and SIGCHI conferences, and at seminars for businesses and academic institutions around the world. Mr. Marcus was the world‚s first professional graphic designer to be involved full-time in computer graphics and received the National Computer Graphics Association Industry Achievement Award for contributions to computer graphics.

Samuel K. Ackerman brings to AM+A extensive online publishing, marketing, and product development experience. He holds a Bachelors of Philosophy from Miami University's School of Interdisciplinary Studies. There, his research focused on "Directing Resources in the "New Paradigm of Business to Create Social Change." Furthermore, he briefly studied Urban Sociology through the interdisciplinary programs at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research has focused on developing innovative business models that help us move towards a society of sustainable systems. This research and personal interests have allowed him to explore and develop understanding of dimensions of cultural diversity and the utilization of diversity in business contexts.

At AM+A, Samuel utilizes this understanding to create dynamic, international, interdisciplinary teams of Designer/Analysts to address the wide range of work in which AM+A engages. Furthermore, through his role as Projects Manager, Samuel helps to ensure that aspects of cultural diversity are considered throughout appropriate processes in his work with AM+A. He has managed projects for clients including: The J. Paul Getty Trust, Samsung Electronics, Visa, Microsoft, and the US Federal Reserve Bank. Samuel is also a regular presenter of AM+A lectures and tutorials on a variety of subjects.

Sam has presented culture lectures for IWIPS 2002, Bay UPA, Silicon Valley Web Guild, and many other organizations.