Culturability: the merging of culture and usability Thank You to NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology for Partial Funding and Support

Culturability: the merging of culture and usability

Thank You to NISTNational Institute of Standards

and Technologyfor Partial Funding and Support


Culturability

The Merging of Culture and Usability


Culturability: An Introduction

Motivations behind Culturability Why is this Important? Theoretical Framework Methodology and Results Future Iterations


Motivations behind Culturability

Situated and State Dependent Learning

-Effects Memory Performance in

recognition and recall

-Environmental & Contextual Cues

-Cultural Context 8th Annual GVU WWW User Survey


Motivations Behind Culturability

Graphics, Visualization & Usability Survey: Cultural Issues Questionnaire

Cultural differences and preferences are perceived as important

Some Examples


Cultural Issues Questionnaire

Most commonly selected problem: not being able to read the site (77%)

24% try to interpret; 28% look for translation 27% review briefly & exit; 17% exit immediately

German & French most likely to say that translations show respect for other cultures Italian that translations are useful


More Examples:

American Images: Chinese, French, & German were most likely to find them offensive

Italian & German most likely to think American images make computers harder to learn and use

Colorful Sites: Chinese most likely to strongly favor color; German & Spanish to dislike color


A Few More Examples:

Link Color: Blue was most commonly selected; Of the other color choices: English, German, Italian - red; Spanish - red & green Chinese - red & purple

Spanish was most likely to strongly like audio Dutch & Italian most likely to dislike audio


Why is this Important?

Enables a Better Understanding of Global Interface Development

Emphasizes the Cultural Component of Usability for International Web Design

Facilitates the Implementation of Culturability Guidelines and Tools*

*NIST


Theoretical Framework

Culturability - the emphasis & focus on international culture in the context of usability for the WWW

Culture influences peoples’ behavior & practices in the physical world and can influence behavior, preferences, & practices in electronic mediums


Three Questions

Are there design elements which can be identified as culturally specific?

Are there design elements which can be identified as genre specific?

What, if any, relationship exists between culture and genre as reflected in WWW design?


Methodology: The Culturability Inspection Method

Foraging - identify & examine design standards & conventions that represent different potential cultural markers as manifested in existing web pages

Cultural Marker Identification - determine patterns that distinguish cultural markers

Pattern Identification - categorize patterns by cultural marker and genre/domain


Foraging Results

18 Countries 13 Languages 9 Genres 168 Web-Sites in Native Language


Cultural Markers

HTML Specific - tables, frames, # of lines, links

Icons/Metaphors - books, newspapers, clocks, pages

Colors - background, dominant, flags Orientation - centered, left - right, right -

left


Cultural Markers

Flag - native, foreign, multiple Geography - maps, outlines, globes Regional - animals, foliage, water,

desert Architecture - houses, city-scapes, state

buildings, churches


Specified Sample of High Frequency of Flag Cultural Markers by Genre

Country Flags GenreAndorra Andorra, Spain

France, U.KGermany

Government

Lebanon Lebanon GovernmentBrazil Brazil GovernmentMexico Mexico, Canada

Trinidad,Nicaragua

Government


Generalized Sample of High Frequency Cultural Markers by Country

Lebanon Japan Brazil Francenational flag architecture

cityscapesnational flag orientation

centered

icon - cedartrees asbullets

groupingenclosure

geography colors - red,blue, white

lightgraphics;more text

frames heavygraphics

motion


Some Conclusions:

Cultural differences are important Patterns are emerging that reflect

cultural practices & preferences in the web

Interplay between cultural markers and genre

Ex: Lebanon - light graphics overrides heavy graphics typical of Travel genre


Future Iterations of Culturability

Comparative analysis of native and non-native language web sites

Comprehensive analysis of cultural markers by genre

Guidelines and automated tools to aid international web design

Native language subjects identify markers Experiments with native speakers to verify

whether or not markers impact user performance

Documents

Culturability: the merging of culture and usability Thank You to NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology for Partial Funding and Support