Cross-Cultural Differences in Understanding Human-Computer Interfaces
Vanessa Evers
Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University, Milton Keynes
Walton Hall, MK7 6AA
ABSTRACT
This PhD research performed at the Open University investigates cross-cultural understanding of human-computer interface design. The main research will involve observation sessions with users from several cultures and will focus on metaphorical aspects of interface design. A pilot study and a literature review are carried out to form a basis for the research.
KEYWORDS:
Interface design, metaphors, cross-cultural user understanding
INTRODUCTION
As software markets become global, more and more software producers sell their products overseas. The research discussed in this paper deals with cultural localisation of software products and culturally diverse users' understanding of interface design features. The study suggests that although much research has been done in cross- cultural attitudes towards computers and interface localisation, there is a need for investigating what are the differences in interpreting interface design features and why these differences occur. From the literature it can be deduced that culture indeed impacts understanding of interface design features (Evers and Day, 1997; del Galdo and Nielsen, 1996; Fernandes, 1994; Interacting with Computers, 1998). Therefore, it is important to find out in what way understanding differs and how this is linked to the users' cultural background.
RESEARCH APPROACH
A thorough review of the literature in this area has been performed and a pilot study for the main research project has just started. The aim of the pilot study is to find out how the meaning of interface design aspects (i.e. colours, pictures, text) varies across cultures and which interface design features are most culturally sensitive. This will be undertaken through observational studies in which students from several cultural backgroundsevaluate the web site of a virtual university campus. The pilot study will investigate how the meaning of interface design features varies across cultures. In other words, when people from different cultures look at an object in an interface (this could be a picture or a name-tag of an icon), will they have a different understanding of what it represents or means?
Also, if people do indeed have different understandings of interface aspects (for example a picture of a book) then why is that? It could be because of their traditions, education, physical environment and so on.
The interface to be evaluated is the web site of DirectED virtual campus ( http://www.directed.edu/core.html). This site will be evaluated in individual, half hour sessions, using groups of 6 to 8 young adults from several cultural backgrounds (possibly English, American, Japanese, Dutch and Indian). The pilot study will
provide us with information on how interfaces are perceived across cultures and which interface design features are most culturally sensitive.
So far, research carried out in this area has mostly used self-reported data. As observation is likely to provide more accurate in depth information the main research will also involve observational experiments, probably on a larger scale. The information from the pilot study should provide background for designing the main research project. In the mean time, an ongoing literature review is investigating cross- cultural understanding of metaphors in interface design as a focus for the main research project.
REFERENCES
Evers, V., and Day, D. (1997) The role of culture in interface acceptance. In S.
Howard, J. Hammond and G. Lindegaard (Ed), Human-Computer Interaction
INTERACT'97, London: Chapman and Hall.
Fernandes, T. (1995) Global Interface Design. London: Academic Press. del Galdo, E., and Nielsen, J. (Ed) (1996) International User Interfaces. New York:
Wiley.
Shared Values and Shared Interfaces, Special issue of Interacting with Computers,
No. 4-6, vol. 9.
