1. Towards Designing Localized
Websites
PhD Public Defense
Abdalghani Mushtaha
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Department of Computer Science
Research Group WISE, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Abdalghani.mushtaha@vub.ac.be
September 2012
2. Agenda
• Background
• Problem Description
• Aims of the Thesis
• Research Approach
– Phase One: Culture and Cross-culture Evaluation
– Phase Two: Website Localization in Practice
• Contributions and Concluding Remarks
• Future Work
• Questions
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4. Globalization
Globalization: is the process of converting a
website to different languages and
communities.
Website Globalization
Website Internationalization
Localize Localize Localize
for for for ...
Country A Country B Country C
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6. Internationalization
Internationalization: it is philosophy of making website
portable to other localities (extracting language and
culturally dependent elements).
Website Globalization
Website Internationalization
Localize Localize Localize
for for for ...
Country A Country B Country C
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8. Localization
Localization: Adapting a website by making it usable
and culturally acceptable for a particular locale
target audience.
Website Globalization
Website Internationalization
Localize Localize Localize
for for for ...
Country A Country B Country C
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9. Some Items May Not
Always Be Acceptable
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14. Website Usability and User
Culture
• Localisation: Adapting a website by
making it usable and culturally acceptable
for a particular locale target audience.
Website usability
Culturability
User culture
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15. Website Usability
• “The extent to which a product can be used by
specified users to achieve specified goals with
effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a
specified context of use.”
– The importance of some usability attributes may be
different depending on the website domain.
– Every single website has its own usability
attributes(e.g., time)!
– A website may be usable for you, but not for me.
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16. User Culture
• People from different countries are different;
every country has its own culture, and the
people of the same country think, understand
and act in a similar way.
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18. Models of Culture
• Cultural differences have been studied
and researched by many anthropologists:
– e.g., Hofstede, Hall, Victor…
• HCI researchers use models of culture to
provide a better understanding of the
target culture that the website is being
localized for.
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19. Cultural Consideration in
Website Design
• HCI researchers reported obvious
cultural sensitive website design elements
to be localized for target culture
audiences:
– icons, colors, measurement units, date & time
format, etc.
• Red color in China represents happiness, beauty
and success, while in South Africa it represents
sadness.
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20. Cultural Sensitive Website
Design Elements
• HCI researchers reported obvious
cultural sensitive website design elements
to be localized for target culture
audiences.
Cultural markers, Cultural fingerprints, or
Cultural attractors
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22. Love From the First Sight
• In 2005, I joined the one-year project
“MultiWeb”.
• The aim of the project was:
– To examine the research activities done in the
context of website localization.
– To identify the issues needed to be
considered when designing localized
websites.
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23. A New Research Question
• The research results leaded to the
question
… whether localization of websites
is still needed?
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26. Problem
Description
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27. Anthropological Models and
Website Design
• Most of the anthropological models of
culture had been formed some time ago
and for a specific domain.
– It is not clear to which extent it is valid to use
anthropological models of culture for
designing localized website.
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28. Localized Websites Design
Guidelines
• HCI researchers are using the
anthropological models of culture to
offer guidelines and standards for
designing localized websites.
– But they do not offer a roadmap to build
localized websites!
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29. Localized Website Design
Methods
• Current practical website localization
methods are:
– Very (too) general in assisting a website
developer to integrate culture into the website
design process (e.g., Al-badi, Hsieh, Smith,
etc.).
• Existing website design methods usually do not
provide explicit support for designing a localized
website (e.g., Hera, WSDM, etc.).
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30. Issues Affecting Designing
Localized Website
• There is a focus on social culture.
– No attention for different types of culture.
• It is not clear yet to which extent existing
local websites give a clear understanding
of the home culture.
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31. Aims of the
Thesis
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32. Aims of the Thesis
• To study the relationship between website
design and user culture.
• To propose culture-centred guidelines for
the localization of websites.
• To provide a localized website design
advisor tool
– Providing specific advice on how to localize a
particular website.
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33. Research
Approach
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34. Research Approach
Phase One Phase Two
Culture and Cross-culture Evaluation Website Localization in Practice
Objective: Identify the website Objective: Putting the output of phase
cultural markers and the one into practice.
anthropological cultural dimensions To achieve the objective: The 5
that should be taken into groups are organized as levels in a
consideration when designing pyramid based on their importance for
localized websites. localized website design.
To achieve the objective: 7 research Outcome:
studies have been performed. - A design method for cultural-
centered website design
Outcome: 5 different groups of - The Cultural Conceptual Model
cultural markers and anthropologist (C2M) for different purposes
cultural dimensions. - The LWDA tool: generates cultural-
centered website design guidelines
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36. Phase One
Website User Evaluation
• Cultural markers in local website interfaces [2 research studies, published in
2006]:
- To study the extent to which local website homepages reflected Hofstede’s
score assigned to their country for different cultural dimensions.
• Cultural Understanding of Website [2 research studies, published in 2007]:
- To explore and evaluate the influence of the users’ cultural background on
understanding and acceptance of website content and interface.
- To determine the most important anthropological cultural dimensions for local
website design.
• Website localization preferences [1 research study, published in 2009]:
- To determine the extent to which websites from the same country provide
similar cultural markers and share the same distinctive identity.
Cultural Usability Evolution
• To determine the different types of website design cultural markers and the
anthropological cultural dimensions that are appropriate to be used for website
localization [2 research studies, published in 2009].
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37. Cultural Markers in Local
Website Interfaces (1) [2 research studies]
• Methodology: PDI IDV MAS UAI
-------------- -------------- -------------- --------------
– 16 Belgian student.
Malaysia USA Japan Greece
Each dimension was
Guatemal Australia Austria Portugal
examined by 4
Panama Great Britain Venezuela Guatemala
students.
Philippines Canada Italy Uruguay
Mexico Netherlands Switzerland Belgium
– Within one dimension,
Venezuela New Zealand Mexico Salvador
each student examined
10 university Arab Italy Ireland Japan
homepages. countries Belgium Jamaica Yugoslavia
Equador Denmark Great Britain Peru
• 5 universities at least
3 of the seven highest ….. ….. ….. …..
ranked countries. Switzerland Peru Portugal India
Finland Costa Rica Chile Malaysia
• 5 universities, from at Norway Pakistan Finland Great Britain
least 3 of the nine Sweden Indonesia Yugoslavia Ireland
lowest ranked Ireland Colombia Costa Rica Hong Kong
countries. New Zealand Venezuela Denmark Sweden
Denmark Panama Netherlands Denmark
– In total, 40 homepages Israel Equador Norway Jamaica
were analyzed per Austria Guatemala Sweden Singapore
dimension.
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38. Cultural Markers in Local
Website Interfaces (2) [2 research studies]
• Results: were inconsistent with
previous similar studies described in
the literature.
– Sometimes, huge design differences among
homepages from one single country.
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39. Cultural Markers in Local
Website Interfaces (3) [2 research studies]
• The experiment was repeated with students from a
different culture and for a different type of websites:
newspaper websites.
– With the aim to validate the results of the first study!
• Results:
– To some extent the results of the second study confirm the
results of the first study.
– Local homepages did not actually reflect the local culture, as
Hofstede’s theory predicted.
• BUT, some cultural values for cultural dimensions exist in some websites.
– Some domains may be more sensitive to cultural difference than
others.
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40. Phase One
Website User Evaluation
• Cultural markers in local website interfaces [2 research studies, published in
2006]:
- To study the extent to which local website homepages reflected Hofstede’s
score assigned to their country for different cultural dimensions.
• Cultural Understanding of Website [2 research studies, published in 2007]:
- To explore and evaluate the influence of the users’ cultural background on
understanding and acceptance of website content and interface.
- To determine the most important anthropological cultural dimensions for local
website design.
• Website localization preferences [1 research study, published in 2009]:
- To determine the extent to which websites from the same country provide
similar cultural markers and share the same distinctive identity.
Cultural Usability Evolution
• To determine the different types of website design cultural markers and the
anthropological cultural dimensions that are appropriate to be used for website
localization [2 research studies, published in 2009].
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41. Cultural Understanding of
Website (1) [2 research studies]
• Methodology: A comparative study was
carried out involving Palestinian and
Belgian students:
– To measure understanding and acceptance of
some pre-selected E-learning portals (WebCT
and Collaborative Learning Centre).
– 16 cultural dimensions were involved.
– A multi-method approach was used.
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42. Cultural Understanding of
Website (2) - Results [2 research studies]
• This part measures the understanding of the two
portals
Meaning Icon Expectation Matching Expectation Matching
[Ps.] [Ps.] [Be.] [Be.]
Homepages 77% 0% 84% 0%
Calendar 86% 41% 81% 62%
Chat 93% 89% 90.5% 92%
Syllabus 62% 2% 52% 0%
Links 23% 0% 43% 0%
Mail 79% 37% 100% 32%
Discussion 19% 23% 62% 14%
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43. Cultural Understanding of
Website (3) - Results [2 research studies]
International Trade and Communication
Face-Saving
Experience of Technology
Specific vs. Diffuse
Affective vs. Neutral
Achievement vs. Ascription
Universalism vs. Particularism
Uncertainty Avoidance Belgium
Power Distance
palestine
Gender Roles
Context
Authority Conception
Time Orientation
Internal vs. External Control
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Human Nature Orientation
0 1 2 3 4 5
Rating scale 1 to 5 : 1= strongly disagree … 5 = strongly agree
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44. Cultural Understanding of
Website (3) - Observation [2
research studies]
• There is a convergence in some cultural values between
students of both countries.
– However, there are still differences in some of cultural
dimensions.
• Some cultural factors are still important and should be
taken into consideration when do localization.
• Thanks to modern communication: cultural gap between
the two groups seems to decrease.
• New culture seems to appear.
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45. Phase One
Website User Evaluation
• Cultural markers in local website interfaces [2 research studies, published in
2006]:
- To study the extent to which local website homepages reflected Hofstede’s
score assigned to their country for different cultural dimensions.
• Cultural Understanding of Website [2 research studies, published in 2007]:
- To explore and evaluate the influence of the users’ cultural background on
understanding and acceptance of website content and interface.
- To determine the most important anthropological cultural dimensions for local
website design.
• Website localization preferences [1 research study, published in 2009]:
- To determine the extent to which websites from the same country provide
similar cultural markers and share the same distinctive identity.
Cultural Usability Evolution
• To determine the different types of website design cultural markers and the
anthropological cultural dimensions that are appropriate to be used for website
localization [2 research studies, published in 2009].
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46. Website Localization
Preferences [1 research study]
• Methodology:
– Research has been conducted where we re-
examined, validated and compared local
websites from the same country.
• Results:
– Many differences between local websites from
the same country.
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47. Phase One
Website User Evaluation
• Cultural markers in local website interfaces [2 research studies, published in
2006]:
- To study the extent to which local website homepages reflected Hofstede’s
score assigned to their country for different cultural dimensions.
• Cultural Understanding of Website [2 research studies, published in 2007]:
- To explore and evaluate the influence of the users’ cultural background on
understanding and acceptance of website content and interface.
- To determine the most important anthropological cultural dimensions for local
website design.
• Website localization preferences [1 research study, published in 2009]:
- To determine the extent to which websites from the same country provide
similar cultural markers and share the same distinctive identity.
Cultural Usability Evolution
• To determine the different types of website design cultural markers and the
anthropological cultural dimensions that are appropriate to be used for website
localization [2 research studies, published in 2009].
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48. Cultural Usability Evolution
(1) [2 research studies]
• This research was built upon the existing
body of research in website design and
anthropologists’ cultural dimensions:
– Cultural markers evaluation: re-evaluate some
pre-researched websites.
– Evaluation & ranking of 16 anthropologist’s
cultural dimensions.
The findings were evaluated and compared against
earlier research results!
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49. Cultural Usability Evolution
(2) – 1st study [2 research studies]
Comparison of cultural markers in current and earlier versions of the
same website (22 websites).
Evaluation and comparison focused on five main
design components:
(1) Text density, size, orientation, style, and type;
(2) Page layout;
(3) Colors;
(4) Pictures, graphic elements, and sound;
(5) Interaction and navigation.
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50. Cultural Usability Evolution
(3) - Findings [2 research studies]
• Some cultural markers disappeared, some
are new, while others are still used.
Cultural markers Cultural markers
Cultural markers
appeared in old only appear in
only appeared in
and current current website
old version
website version version
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51. Cultural Usability Evolution
(4) – 2nd study [2 research studies]
• 19 experts participated to evaluate 16
cultural dimensions.
– More than 6 years of experience in the field of
user-interface design, localization, or
translation.
The Participants were asked for:
– Their opinion about each cultural dimension ;
– To rate it from 1 to 5, according to its importance for
local website design.
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52. Cultural Usability Evolution
(5) – Findings [2 research studies]
• Cultural dimensions according to their importance for
local website design [two research results]:
Aaron Marcus research results Current research results
1 Context Experience of Technology
2 Technological development Context
3 Uncertainty avoidance International Trade and Communication
4 Time perception Gender Roles
5 Authority conception Uncertainty Avoidance
6 Affective vs. neutral Human Nature Orientation.
7 Face-saving Power Distance
• The findings indicate that anthropological cultural
dimensions are still considered to be important for local
website design.
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55. Every Culture, Website and
Time have its Own Meaning
• The culture of Web users changes and
shifts with the understanding of the Web!
• Websites from the same country provide
different cultural markers!
Social
• .Two kinds of culture
Digital
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56. Different Cultural Markers
for Local Website Design
• Identifying absolute and clear-cut cultural
markers or using a dedicated
anthropologist cultural model for designing
localized website is not possible.
Cultural markers Cultural markers Markers appear
Cultural markers
appear in old and only appear in from using the
only appeared in
current website current website Internet and new
old version
version version technology
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59. Phase Two
Phase Two
Website Localization in Practice
Objective: Putting the output of phase one into practice.
To achieve the objective: The 5 groups are organized as levels
in a pyramid based on their importance for localized website
design.
Outcome:
- A design method for cultural-centered website design
- The Cultural Conceptual Model (C2M) for different purposes
- The LWDA tool: generates cultural-centered website design
guidelines
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60. Pyramid of Cultural Markers
Vista Fully-localized (5)
Variable Highly-localized (4)
Social cultural markers
Broad Localized (3)
Stable Semi-localized (2)
Digital cultural markers e-culture Globalize (1)
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61. Pyramid of Cultural Markers
• Each level considers markers of:
– Website design elements
• (1) Text on websites
Vista
• (2) Colors
Variable
• (3) Layout and Organization
• (4) Pictures, Graphic Elements, and Broad
Sound Stable
• (5) Interaction e-culture
• (6) Navigation
– Anthropological cultural
dimensions.
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62. E-Culture Level (1)
• This group contains the
cultural markers that come
from using the Web and new Vista
technology (some cultural Variable
Broad
markers are not related to
Stable
the user’s social culture): e-culture
– Digital Cultural Markers.
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63. E-Culture Level (2)
• Three digital cultural markers groups:
– Web Digital Markers (WDM): e.g.,
the home page icon.
Vista
– Domain Digital Markers (DDM): Variable
e.g., shopping basket in an e- Broad
commerce website. Stable
e-culture
– Country Digital Markers (CDM):
e.g., Franco Arabic is used between
Arab Web users (Writing Arabic with
the Latin alphabet).
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64. E-Culture Level (3)
Design Markers (requirements and advices)
Element (R): required, (A): Advice
Text on - The website content text needs to be Vista
websites translated to the local target language (R) Variable
[T]
- Use text orientation and font size as Broad
required by the domain or context (R) Stable
- …… e-culture
- ……
Colors [C] - Red, green, black, white, orange and blue colors
are culturally sensitive colors. Avoid using
…..
culturally sensitive colors in this level. It is also
….. ……….
…..
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65. Stable Level (1)
• This level includes all cultural
markers that were clearly
emphasized and found in many Vista
previous researches, as well as Variable
those confirmed by my research Broad
studies. Stable
e-culture
• It considers
– Website design elements &
– Anthropological cultural dimensions.
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66. Stable Level (2)
Design Markers (requirements and advices)
Element (R): required, (A): Advice
Text on - Adjust the amount of text to the target culture
websites [T] Vista
(R)
Variable
- Adjust the level of formality of website text to
the target culture (A) Broad
- …. Stable
- ….. e-culture
Colors [C] - …..
Layout and - …..
organization - …..
[L]
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67. Stable Level (3)
• Anthropologists cultural
dimensions to be considered
for the stable level are: Vista
Variable
– Context
Broad
– Experience of technology
Stable
– Uncertainty avoidance e-culture
– Power distance
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68. Stable Level (4)
• Context, “The degree of
direct and explicit
information needed in a Vista
website”. Variable
Broad
• This dimension affects the Stable
following website design e-culture
elements:
T L C GS I N
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69. Broad Level
• The Broad cultural level
includes the website design
markers and the Vista
anthropological cultural Variable
Broad
dimensions that were:
Stable
– discovered in my research. e-culture
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70. Variable Level
• The Variable level includes
the cultural markers and
anthropological cultural Vista
dimensions that were: Variable
Broad
– discovered in previous
Stable
research and were not
e-culture
confirmed in this current
research.
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71. Vista Level
• The Vista level contains all
the other anthropological
cultural dimensions that Vista
were: Variable
Broad
– not mentioned neither in the
Stable
current nor in previous others
e-culture
research studies.
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72. Using the Cultural Markers
Pyramid Levels
• Website Globalisation
– only the “e-culture
level”, should be
Vista Fully-localized
considered.
Variable Highly-localized
Broad
• Bottom-up Website Localized
Localization Stable Semi-localized
– Levels should be e-culture Globalize
applied bottom up.
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73. A Design Method for
Cultural-Centered Website
Design
Plan The Website
Website Website domain Degree of
Target country Language
domain Related Localisation (1 to 5)
Vista
Compose the Required Cultural Model
Variable
Anthropological cultural dimenstions Website design elements
Broad
Stable
Cultural Specification
e-culture
Investigating the target local culture Interviewing local cultural experts
Localized Website Design Elements Specification
Layout and Pictures, graphic
Text Colors Interaction Navigation
organization elements and sound
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74. Observation
• The cultural markers pyramid only
provides generic guidelines
– Which still need to be instantiated for a certain
culture (e.g., navigation depth accepted by
target culture group).
• The proposed Cultural Markers Pyramid is
useful for technical users who are familiar
with anthropological cultural dimensions.
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75. Phase Two
Cultural Markers Pyramid
Putting the Cultural
Markers Pyramid into
Practice
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76. Putting the Cultural Markers
Pyramid into Practice
Phase Two
Website Localization in Practice
Objective: Putting the output of phase one into Practice.
To achieve the objective: The 5 groups are organized as levels
in a pyramid based on their importance for localized website
design.
Outcome:
- The Cultural Conceptual Model (C2M) for different purposes
- The LWDA tool: generates cultural-centered website design
guidelines
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77. Cultural Conceptual Model
(C2M)
• The Cultural Conceptual Model (C2M) is a
formal description of the Cultural Markers
Pyramid.
• Easy to be shared by experts and provides a
central and unique source of knowledge:
– Can be used to maintain, testing and enhancement
this knowledge.
• The conceptual model can be used by different
applications and systems to provide different
kinds of support.
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78. Cultural Conceptual Model
(C2M) Overview
Object-Role Modelling
(ORM) for Conceptual
Knowledge
Representation.
The conceptual model
has been tested and
several improvements
have been applied
before I obtained this
final model.
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80. Putting the Cultural
Conceptual Model (C2M)
into Practice
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81. Building a Localization
Ontology from C2M
• C2M is an ontology describing a
particular domain which is website design,
with the focus on the special purpose of
cultural localization.
• Mapping:
– ORM into Ontology Inference Layer (OIL),
– Mapping OIL and XML Schema into OWL.
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82. OWL Code Generated from
Mapping the XML Schema
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83. Mapping ORM into a
Relational Schema
• It is possible to create a corresponding
database
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84. Putting the Cultural Markers
Pyramid into Practice
Phase Two
Website Localization in Practice
Objective: Putting the output of phase one into Practice.
To achieve the objective: The 5 groups are organized as levels
in a pyramid based on their importance for localized website
design.
Outcome:
- The Cultural Conceptual Model (C2M) for different purposes
- LWDA tool: generates cultural-centered website design
guidelines
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89. Target Localized Website
Specification Guideline (1)
Localized Website Design Advisor “LWDA”
Localization level 3, Broad:
>>> BroadWebsiteDesignElements:
•BroadWebsiteDesignElements contains BroadColors.
•BroadWebsiteDesignElements contains BroadInteraction.
•BroadWebsiteDesignElements contains BroadLayoutAndOrganization.
•BroadWebsiteDesignElements contains BroadNavigation.
•BroadWebsiteDesignElements contains BroadPicturesGraphicAndSound.
•BroadWebsiteDesignElements contains BroadTextOnWebsite.
BroadColors:
•BroadColors is an instance of StableColors.BroadColors use SensitiveColors (Inherited from
StableColors) .
• SensitiveColors used in WebsiteDomain [Kids,News and Health].
{Expert note:
- White: Do not use this color. This color is a symbolism of death and mourning.
- Red: Use this color. This color is a symbolism of good luck, celebration and summoning
- Blue: Use this color. This color is a symbolism of immortality
}
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90. Target Localized Website
Specification Guideline (2)
BroadNavigation:
•BroadNavigation is an instance of StableNavigation.BroadNavigation is concerns on CategorizationLinkGrouping (Inherited
from StableNavigation) .
{Expert note:
- Chinese website users prefers website interfaces extremely busy, links everywhere
}
•BroadNavigation is concerns on NumberOfLinksInaGroup (Inherited from StableNavigation) .
{Expert note:
- the average between 8 to 30. The fact that Chinese pages are more dense, does not translate into shorter pages, but
into higher amounts of items shown simultaneously to the website user.
}
•BroadNavigation is concerns on InformationAccessibility.
• InformationAccessibility meets experience of TargetCultureGroup [China].
{Expert note:
- The home page presents all sections of the website. This gives website users a quick peek of the content
- Chinese website users prefer different paths to arrive to the same information
}
•BroadNavigation is concerns on NavigationalStyle.
• NavigationalStyle meets TargetCultureGroup [China].
{Expert note:
- Chinese website because they are web pages are so clustered
- Links opened in the new browser window
}
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92. Concluding Remarks (1)
• Relying on only one theory of anthropological
model of culture is not desirable:
– The more anthropological models of culture are
involved in a study, the more insight there is into the
user social culture preferences.
• New technology and Internet experience
have slightly decreased the gap between the
cultures for many people who are using the
Web.
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93. Concluding Remarks (2)
• Some anthropological cultural dimensions
are important and should be taken into
consideration to understand the social
culture of the website target audience.
• Some website domains may be more
sensitive to cultural difference than others
(e.g., news and learning).
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94. Concluding Remarks (3)
• Local websites from the same country
does not always provide similar cultural
markers.
• Web users are using two different types of
cultures to understand a website:
(1) Digital culture
(2) Social culture
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95. Concluding Remarks (4)
• Three different groups of digital cultural
markers exist:
– Web Digital Markers “WDM”
– Domain Digital Markers “DDM”
– Country Digital Markers “CDM”
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96. Concluding Remarks (5)
• When a website user is facing an unknown
website design element in a website (e.g.,
a picture, icon), then
the website user uses a specific way for
understanding the meaning of this element, in
which the digital culture and social culture both
play an important role.
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97. Concluding Remarks (6)
• The seven experiments showed that it is
difficult to establish an absolute and clear-
cut set of cultural markers to be used for
designing localized website.
– For this reason, this research has argued the
need for different groups of cultural markers
for local website design and localization.
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98. Contributions (1)
• Five cultural markers
groups are
organized as a Fully-localized
pyramid targeting Highly-localized
five different levels of Localized
website localization. Semi-localized
Globalize
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99. Contributions (2)
• The Cultural Conceptual Model (C2M) is
provided.
– Formal representation of the cultural markers
pyramid’s guidelines.
– Transformed into two different technical
specifications: (1) a Localization Ontology and
(2) a Relational schema.
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100. Contributions (3)
• As proof of concept for the theory developed in
the thesis, the Localized Website Design Advisor
(LWDA) was developed.
– Dynamically generates specific website localization
guidelines by given a target country, language, level
of localization (1 to 5), and website domain.
• Two cultural markers information repositories
were created:
– Localization Ontology
– Cultural knowledge base
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101. Future Work
Adaptive Cultural-centered
Websites
A Methodology for user cultural-
centered Localized Website Design
Building a Cultural Database
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102. Future Work - Personalized
Culture-centred Websites
• Suppose that a person is 30 years old:
– Currently he has been living in Belgium for 10
years, and he is form China where he lived for
20 years.
What kind of website localization should we
offer for this person?
To which cultural group does this person
belong (e.g., Belgium or China)?
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103. Future Work - A Methodology
for user cultural-centered
Localized Website Design
• Future research Plan The Website
may focus on Website Website domain Degree of
Target country Language
extending and domain Related Localisation (1 to 5)
enhancing the
proposed Compose the Required Cultural Model
method.
Anthropological cultural dimenstions Website design elements
• Or integrate the
proposed model Cultural Specification
with other exist
Investigating the target local culture Interviewing local cultural experts
website design
methods (e.g.,
WSDM) Localized Website Design Elements Specification
Layout and Pictures, graphic
Text Colors Interaction Navigation
organization elements and sound
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104. Future Work - Building a
Cultural Database
• Database storing all website cultural markers
to be used for:
- Website Localization - Website Globalization.
Culture and
Cross-culture
Database
• In this respect, my student Rasha Tolba did
some efforts:
– She has gathered the social cultural markers of three
website domain: news, health and learning for Jordan.
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105. Questions
Thank You !!
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106. Summary and Main
Contribution
• Phase 1: 7 research studies to study the relationship between
websites design and user culture.
– The culture of Web users changes with the understanding of the Web!
– Websites from the same country provide different cultural markers!
– Two kinds of culture: Social and Digital.
– One list of cultural markers to be used for designing localized website is
not possible.
• Phase 2: put the research findings in practice:
– Five cultural markers groups are organized as a pyramid targeting five
different levels of website localization.
– Transformed the cultural pyramid into the Cultural Conceptual Model
(C2M), to be used for different purposes.
– The Localized Website Design Advisor - LWDA – tool was built to
dynamically generate localized website specifications guidelines.
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Notes de l'éditeur
-Thank you for being here and for your time to judge my PhD thesis.- Study the relationship between website design and user culture.- The outcome of my research are, local website design guidelines, and a tool. All were proposed to assist website developer to design localized website.
Global Website is One Website Fit all Users
International Website is a Core Template Website
Doesthisculturalacceptable?For some people is not acceptable!
These local websites should be usable, understandable and acceptable…This is just in EU…. If you need making profit you need to speak the language and meet the expectation of local people!
makingwebsiteusersfeelsthiswebsite is made forme…
Interface design elements and features that are preferred, shared, well understood and accepted within a particular cultural group.
the results of the project was not as expected!And, for this unexpected result, this thesis is for
*** They translate the cultural dimensions into local website design guidelines…*** “do” and “do not do” it is vital to have clear guidelines to assist website developer in designing localized websites
The effect of cultural models on website design markers
Homepages, example
The Belgians insist on follow the rules whenever possible.For the Palestinians, relationships are more important than rules.
The Web itself is transformed from a so-called "Read-only Web" to a "Read-Write Web".“Digital natives“: New ways of information absorption.
What are the cultural markers in the earlier & current website version?2. When looking at cultural markers, are there significant differences in the current and earlier versions of the website a. If so, what are those differences?4. What are the cultural markers similar on both versions of the website?
As an example of some cultural markers used before in an earlier website version that do not appear in current version, we can mention the website of the Universiti Utara Malaysia. Empirical research carried out by Gould (Gould et al., 2000) has shown that the website of the Universiti Utara Malaysia presented and focused on authority figures and contained power symbols. In their investigation they found that, this Malaysian website contained links on the home page to website administration, pictures and symbols focusing on the country itself rather than featuring photographs of individuals. Moreover, black background, monumental buildings, top level menu selection focused on symbolism and information about the leaders of the University, which correlates well with Malaysian cultural background. By contrast, the current version of the Malaysian university website focuses on individuals. The website now contains pictures of students and teachers, the black background has disappeared, no pictures of monumental buildings anymore and the website’s menu is more focused on students. But still there are some cultural markers available in the current website version. As an example, the current website contains a picture in the homepage of a girl wearing a scarf, which is a symbol for Muslims girls
studied the relationship between website design and the user’s culture
As all the previous researchers are predict…
- Different levels of website localization. --- One single cultural model for localized website design could, in fact, be a poor choice because different levels of localization may be needed in different situations.
Social culture: customs, traditions, morals, and values that affects everyone from their physical environment, such as: family, friends, religion, etc.Digital culture” is powered by the use of the Web and digital technology. Currently, people can do most of their daily activities using new forms of technology, for example students can study, write, read news, get information and interact in ways that are very different from previous generationspeople who are using the Web are likely to be faced with different types of websites coming from various countries, which results in new understandings and new experienceWeb and other digital communication technology has an impact on culture, as well as that it creates a culture of its own
Franco Arabic
For example, in order to localize “website text element” using this level of localization, two things are required: (1) translate the website text to the target language, and (2) investigate if there are specific font size and text orientation requirements from the domain or the context that need to be taken into consideration. Note that for this level, it is not required to consider the issues such as the amount of text, the font type and formality of the text.
hence the name “stable”
the amount of text needed and the formality of the text are both culturally sensitive and need be considered at this level. Thus, the amount of text and the formality of the text need to meet the expectations of the target culture (e.g., some societies are expecting to find more information and require more explanation, while other society’s prefer quick and direct information).
This is because the markers in a level must be read as cumulative; each level depends on each lower level.This is because this level contains the digital culture, which is shared and understood by all Web users, bypassing the cultures.
We do not have the intention to provide a detailed localized website design method, although we do see the need for such a method. However, is should be possible to integrate the method into existing web design methods
Is a conceptual representation of the Cultural Markers Pyramid.
- ORM is easy to understand by non-computer technical users.- ORM is easy to be shared, exchanged, tested, validated and maintained.- There are many tools support drawing ORM.- ORM can be translated into pseudo natural language statements.
TransformC2M into a practical format: To be useable in practice, it is best to translate the C2M into a format that can be implemented easily. This transformation will be described on this section
An alternative to the use of an ontology for creating our knowledge base is the use of a relational database. That relational database could be used for storing all relevant in-formation that is needed to design a localized website
Localization Ontology: is used for providing abstract cultural specificationsCultural markers knowledge base:Is used for storing the values and the description of these specifications for a particular website domain, a particular target country, and a specific website localization level.
--First talk about the availability of cultural markers in the knowledgebase, then about the un-availability !-- (separation between the marker itself and the value of the marker)
Accordingly, it is not possible to build up an understanding about the target culture requirements by take some of local websites from the target country as example for localizing another local website for that country.we promote the idea that in order to design a localized website, it is necessary to consider two kinds of cultural markers: social and digital cultural markers
An interesting finding observed from two research studies (see section 6.2.3) was that if a website user is facing an unknown website design element in a website (e.g., a picture, icon), then the website user uses a specific way for understanding the meaning of this element, in which the digital culture and social culture both play an important role.
Another valuable contribution is the
We have distinguished between these two cultural information repositories because each one has its own contribution and role.
