Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Case Study: Cross-Cultural
Preference of UI Language
Components, Cultural
Markers
8.1 INTERVIEW AND RESULTS ANALYSIS
Our findings show there is a strong influence of globalization on the cultural markers,
mainly through the use of common software platforms. In spite of that, we found still
many important culture-specific differences in both groups that are related to: spatial
organization of information (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006), shapes, direction of
reading, motion, color, color combinations, semantic organization of content, use of
icons and metaphors, user's preferences for different types of media, preference for
culture-specific content and for cartoon imagery, trustworthiness of the content, nav-
igation tools, and visible and interaction grammar of menus and commands. Almost
half (22) of our hypotheses were fully supported by the results from individual ques-
tions, 17 were partly supported (e.g., the result came second with a small difference in
percentage after the first answer), 14 hypotheses were not supported, although useful
information could be extracted, and 2 hypotheses were impossible to verify due to
lack of data. In the following subsections, we provide a summary of the hypothe-
ses that were supported by the data, those that were not, as well as other interesting
insights and comments. The summary is divided by the main themes of our research.
8.1.1
P
ERSONAL
D
ATA
Our population sample consisted of 20 respondents, evenly split between females and
males. The Chinese respondents had a mean age of 23 years, while the Czechs had a
mean age of 26 years.
1) How old are you?
Results summary.
The majority of the Chinese respondents (76%) were aged between 22 and 23 years.
Their average age was 23 years. The majority of the Czech respondents (55%) were
between 19 and 26 years of age. Their average age was 26 years. (See Figure 8.1.)
2) What is your gender?
Results summary.
Both Chinese and Czech respondents were split exactly in half between males and
females. (See Figure 8.2.)
87
Search WWH ::
Custom Search