Culture and Usability: Will Design Patterns ease Problems of Context?

Speaking at the 2nd HCI and Culture Workshop at the University of Greenwich last month, Chris Lawson at the University of Luton described his work, supported by Shailey Minocha and Pat Hall of the Open University, comparing the usefulness of guidelines and design patterns for developing artefacts over different cultures.

'The [developer] organisation will simply wish to make the least amount of changes possible to make the existing product acceptable to the target culture,' he said, explaining the background to his evaluation.

He then quoted Shneiderman and his eight golden rules of interface design that Shneiderman claims are 'applicable in most interactive systems'. The first of these is to strive for consistency. However, Lawson pointed out that guidelines were themselves a product of a particular culture, and that consistency was a construct likely to be identified and to appeal in America, which is the second most universalist culture in the world (according to research by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner).

Showing that other guidelines could be made to yield to cultural analysis, he concluded that this did not invalidate them, but suggested that they might be more effective in some places than others.

He advocated the development of design patterns that could be substituted for each other as a product had to be adapted for new markets. Using the format of problem, context, solution, he briefly demonstrated that the same problem could be given a different solution, according to the context specified.

Discussing contexts, the audience commented that specific industries have their own cultural similarities, which cross other boundaries. Specialists from different countries might all go through the same training, or even the same training institutions, for instance. Therefore, some software would need to be more locally influenced, such as for schools, while other contexts within the same country, such as marketing, would share global characteristics.

'Internet addiction' linked to Depression
Source: BBC, 9 February 2010
 
There is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, UK psychologists have said.

Could *You* be more Usable?
Source: UN, 8 February 2010
 
Bet you could.

Stowe Boyd on 'Steampunk' thinking about the Future of Computing
Source: Stowe Boyd's blog via Experientia, 6 February 2010
 
Are established metaphors of user experience holding us back from new ways of structuring our interaction through computers?

Nokia's User Experience Programme
Source: UN, 5 February 2010
 
Nokia has put together a rich and informative website covering the key elements of user experience.

Interfaces magazine: latest issue available now
Source: HCI News Service, 4 February 2010
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available in pdf format, free from the Interaction Website.

A Lighter Brigade of Chargers
Source: UN, 3 February 2010
 
Lots of gadgets, one charger. At last.

Mobile Touch Screens could soon Feel the Pressure
Source: MIT Technology Review, 2 February 2010
 
A quantum switch could add pressure sensing to mobile screens.

Usability, Usability, Usability: why the iPad will Succeed
Source: Econsultancy, 1 February 2010
 
The tech critics love it, hate it, love it again, shrug it off. What do usability experts say?

British Airways - at last some good news
Source: Loop11, 30 January 2010
 
In a recent website usability study for the world's leading airlines, the British Airways website proved to be the most user friendly, with Malaysia Airlines and Virgin Atlantic having the lowest user experience rating.

Computation of Emotions in Man and Machine
Source: Royal Society, 29 January 2010
 
Advances in computer technology now allow machines to recognise and express emotions, paving the way for improved human-computer and human-human communications.