Workshop:
Challenges in the Multicultural
HCI Development Environment
Globalisation
The trend is
towards globalisation. It is a phraseterm, which
nowadays can beis found everywhere. The globalisation
process is very closely connected linked with the
increaseing
use
ofin
computer based work places, a process which that has set in
in all industrial branches including the production technology, were
I still working inthe area I am working
in.
The demands
on the users operator of a modern machines and on
the machine itself are becoming increasingly complex.,
and
tThe
globalisation
trend towards
globalisation involves the needcalls for a
globally applicable presentation of information for in user
interfaces. This involves includes also the
question whether the
same industrial standards can be employed in otheracross all
culture areas, or whether there are local peculiarities (or differences).
As an For Eexample: compared
to European countries, the Asian countries those in East Asia have
a totally quite different culture compared to European
countries. Since a culture generally developss
over centuries and has
an influences on thinking, life, thinking
and work of the people, the European way of thinking
and behaviour cannot beis not applicableed
to Asian countries. Considering that Asians think and live differently, why
should they not also work in a differently way to
Europeans? Following this chain of reasoning to its endone step further,
one might ask, how Asians can can operate
machines successfully and satisfactorily which were designed and produced for
Europeans?
The iInformational Aspect
To make
enable
communication between individuals possible one
has to follow certain rules have to be followed. The iInterpersonal
communication is based on cultural and social influences, and has developed
over millennia into many regional communication forms. In the same way as
in interpersonal communications, the human machine communication
needs defined rules, so that the information displayed by
the machine expresses the current process state of the process in an understandable
way..
As anFor Eexample: TThe anthropological aspect is already not
even taken into consideration since most machines can be adjusted in height. However, Oone should not
only consider the differentce in culture and consequently the different
way of thinking of the Asians but also the question of the
difference in presenting information and its processing by
Europeans and Asians. Is it therefore justifiable to export information
processing to Asia when if it was has been optimised
according
tofor
the European way of thinking and working? This question is especially of
importance in the area of design of user -interfaces
and the development of user philosophies for machines.
Multicultural Communication
With
tThe
globalisation process starts has developed the need for communication that
goes beyond the borders of countries and cultures. The global interaction
between different cultures shares the values of the interaction partners and who sometimes they
define their own communication culture to interact (Honold, P., (1999). A
former single-culture user (familiar with rules and values of his their own
culture) becomes to a multi-culture user (familiar with
rules and values of more than one culture). It isWe need
therefore interesting to know more about the
similarities and differences in user philosophies, e.g. of European and Asian
culture.
Questions: Is it possible
to create a global design in an era of multi-cultural users, and where are the limits of such a global
design? What is the optimum of a global design for all? And Wwhen doid
we need a local designs?
Useware
and Use cases
Useware, is being after hard- and
software the third component, after Hard- and
Software. It describes the Uusability of Aappliances, in my this particular case
of industrial Aappliances.
In tThe Ssoftware
developing process are contains a lot of usually parts areas (subsystems),
where the
developer must have bear in mind the cultural differences in his mind,
e.g. language and data formats. It The product must
be adaptable for different users, i.e; the task
aim is
to create a multi-cultural
user interface. Since
cCulture has an influenced effect on the whole life of a userthe user, and the interaction
of human and computer is strongly influenced by human habits an himselfe.g. capabilities of learning, problem
solving and information retrieval,. Therefore,
the human -computer -interaction
is influenced from directly by the culture., because the
interaction of human and computer is strongly influenced from
the habits of the human,
e.g. his facilities of learning, problem solving,
information retrieval. However, these so-called soft facts are usually a
lot of not (or difficult) to measurable. softfacts
influenced the user.
Questions: Is it enough
sufficient
to translate and changed symbols, and
colours and
other measurable points? What are the “culture soft facts” and how do they
influenced the human
computer interactionuser interface? If there are different facts how
influenced the human-
computer-interaction and, especially in terms of the information
coding and information presentation?,
Is it possible to
categorise and
weigh these
soft facts for
their does exist a categorisation for the different
influence
strength of influence?this facts? (like a
hierarchy with weight factors)
Applications
In
the field of oOffice appliances applications there
are a lotcontain tasks with a high level of similar
tasks for the user. I think there is a task similarity for the user nearly
(typically
70-80 %), if
you look on differentacross all cultures. What is does the
situation look
like in the area of industrial Appliancesapplications?
The ccomparison of different technical
devices and
technologies
shows reveals a a
great difference between themdifferent picture:. These differences
based on technology specialities. T the task
similarity for the end -user is
much lower than in office appliancesapplications.
This fact is especially important for the information handling. For a global
design is it necessary to have reach a task similarity nearly of 70 %.
Questions: Does it this mean that
there is no chance for a global design in this application area of application?
?
How important is the local technical knowledge for the usability of a
user-interface? Which developer experiences are would be transferable
from the office applications to industrial
applications? Where
are gaps in the
developers’ knowledge gaps in the areaterms of multi-cultural design?,
especially developer of industrial applications?
I will
would
like to stop on at this point. Multi-cultural user -interface
design is a huge research field with constant challenges always and everywhere.
A
special point of this research field is theIt requires an
inter-disciplinarity approach with.
input from There
are engineers, computer scientists, psychologists, sociologists, linguists, product
designers etc and
so on. That is necessary for that really complex
challenge. Only an integral attempt it the key for to lasting solutions.
With
Tthis
position paper I has triedis an attempt to
describe my view on the challenges and problems of this area. I look forward to
a lively discussion and an interesting workshop to this topic.
References
Choong, Y.; Salvendy; G.(1998): Designs of icons for use by Chinese in mainland China. In Interacting
with Computers: The interdisciplinary Journal of Human-Computer-Interaction,
(Vol.9) February 1998, pp. 417-430. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
E. M. del Gado & J. Nielsen (1996): International User
Interfaces. John Wiley & Sons: New
York.
Honold, P. (1999):Focus
groups: A qualitative method to elicit culture-specific user requirements. In Bullinger, H.-J.; Ziegler, J. (Eds.): Human-Computer Interaction: Communication,
Cooperation, and Application Design. (Vol. 2), Proceedings 8th International
Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI International ’99, Munich, Germany, August 22-26), pp.3-7.
Marcus, A.; Frank, V.; Armitage J. & Guttman E. (1999): Global User-Interface Design. In Bullinger, H.-J.; Ziegler, J. (Eds.): Human-Computer Interaction: Communication,
Cooperation, and Application Design. (Vol. 2), Proceedings 8th
International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI International ’99, Munich, Germany, August
22-26), pp.772-776.
Bourges-Waldegg, P.; Scrivener, S. A.R. (1998): Meaning, the central issue in cross-cultural HCI
design. In Interacting with Computers: The interdisciplinary Journal of
Human-Computer-Interaction, (Vol.9) February 1998, pp. 287-309, Elsevier
Science.
Piamonte, D.P. T.; Abeysekera, J.D.A.; Ohlsson, K. (1999): Testing Videophone Graphical Symbols in Southeast
Asia. In
Bullinger, H.-J.; Ziegler, J. (Eds.): Human-Computer Interaction: Ergonomics and User Interfaces. (Vol. 1), Proceedings 8th
International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI International
’99, Munich, Germany, August 22-26), pp.793-797.
Prabhu, G.; Harel, D. (1999): GUI Design Preference Validation for Japan and China – A Case for
KANSEI Engineering? In
Bullinger, H.-J.; Ziegler, J. (Eds.): Human-Computer Interaction: Ergonomics and User Interfaces. (Vol. 1), Proceedings 8th
International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI International
’99, Munich, Germany, August 22-26), pp. 521-525.
Zühlke, D.; Romberg, M.; Röse, K.(1998):
Global demands of Non-European Markets for the design of User-Interfaces.
(Proceedings of 7th IFAC/IFIP/IFORS/IEA
Symposium, Analysis, Design and Evaluation of Man-Machine-Systems Kyoto,
Japan 1998 ‑ 09 ‑ 16-18). Kyoto: IFAC, Hokuto Print: Japan, pp. 143-147.