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Colors, Buttons, Words and Colors, Buttons, Words and CultureCulture
Designing Software for the Global
Community
Susan M. JohnsSusan M. Johns1997 CODI Conference1997 CODI Conference
Pittsburg State University
Axe Library
Pittsburg KS USA
February 6
April 12
April 23
May 5
May 17
July 10
Definition of CultureDefinition of Culture
Culture is the beliefs, value system, norms, mores, myths,and structural elements of a given organization, tribe, or society
More than mere language translation– Nakakoji
Cross-Cultural Cross-Cultural CommunicationCommunication
Develop user interfaces for products with a global market
When outsourcing to other countries, we work and communicate with people we have never met in person
Work culture values and views differ from our own
Technology As Cultural Technology As Cultural AmplifierAmplifier
“Although technologies transform culture and thought to amplify human productivity...a system’s functionality... is often unconsciously affected by the underlying traditions of the system designer’s culture.”– Nakakoji
““Sundials perform as clocks in Sundials perform as clocks in sunny climates -- they are moresunny climates -- they are moreuseful in Phoenix than in Bostonuseful in Phoenix than in Bostonand of no use at all during theand of no use at all during theArctic winter.”Arctic winter.”
Herbert Simon, The Sciences of the Herbert Simon, The Sciences of the Artificial, MIT Press, 1981Artificial, MIT Press, 1981
The Tale of Three InterfacesThe Tale of Three Interfaces
54 Americans 35 English-speaking citizens of other
nations 43 Males 46 Females
The Tale of Three Interfaces The Tale of Three Interfaces Designed ForDesigned For
(Design 1) English-speaking European adult male intellectuals
(Design 2) Caucasian-American women (Design 3) generic English-speaking
consumers of an “international-style”
The Tale of Three Interfaces The Tale of Three Interfaces Moral of the StoryMoral of the Story
There are no generic cultural guidelines Issues cannot be solved by using overly
generalized characterizations of user populations, and ...
The Tale of Three Interfaces The Tale of Three Interfaces Moral of the StoryMoral of the Story
Do users know what they want? Do users recognize what they have
designed (or requested)? Is the user the best indicator the vendor
has for developing the best design?
““Don’t boil the ocean.”Don’t boil the ocean.”
Malcolm Frank, Malcolm Frank, Be Quick or Be Dead, Be Quick or Be Dead, Software Magazine, March 1997Software Magazine, March 1997
Cross Cultural DevelopmentCross Cultural Development
Culture exists across professions End-users and developers share
cultural understanding Should users be able to state their
requirements clearly and precisely a priori when they simply do not have the knowledge to do so?
Cross Cultural DevelopmentCross Cultural Development
Software engineering and application domain knowledge work together
Develop knowledge among stakeholders
Exploit opportunities to establish successful cross cultural collaboration
The International NeedThe International Need
Customers want systems that use their own language and meet their own cultural conventions
Some countries require products to reflect their culture and language
Internationally competitive companies must consider cultural preferences of their customers
PeopleSoft Goes GlobalPeopleSoft Goes Global
Identify common processes around the world
Deliver languages and localizations Add global complexity with manageable
implementation
PeopleSoft Goes GlobalPeopleSoft Goes Global
Architecture for core functionality Understand local functions and cultures Use Customer SIGs
PeopleSoft Goes GlobalPeopleSoft Goes Global
Shorter implementation Customization times diminish Ongoing maintenance is reduced
PeopleSoft Goes GlobalPeopleSoft Goes Global
Global customers have more in common than differences
Vendor must understand what is different and what is similar
Everybody (vendors) is “Embarking”
What is InternationalizationWhat is Internationalization
The process of providing a computer system that handles a variety of language, country, and cultural conventions
Internationalization (I18N)Internationalization (I18N)
Eliminate cultural specifics Design culture-independent user
information and interfaces
User InformationUser Information
User Manuals Error Messages
Menu Labels Sound Messages
GraphicalRepresentations
Icons
What is LocalizationWhat is Localization
A locale is an operating system database of language and country conventions
Developing software to support multiple locales is Localization
Localization (L10N)Localization (L10N)
Localization of product for each user culture
Language, date and number formats Graphical representations/icons Color Physical flow of objects
System I18NSystem I18N
Uses multilingual products instead of monolingual or bilingual products
Allows switching between different locales and languages
Provides software that meets international standards
System I18N ChallengesSystem I18N Challenges
Treat English as just another language Use one program source for all
languages to reduce costs for maintenance and documentation
System I18N ChallengesSystem I18N Challenges
Plan for extra disk space needed. To save space, ship only the languages purchased by a customer
What is the delay from when the package is available in the vendor’s local country to when it is available in other languages?
System I18N ChallengesSystem I18N Challenges
Monitor acronyms and mnemonics for negative meanings in different languages
Understand differences among U.S., British, and global English
Be aware of different dialects in the same language
System I18N ChallengesSystem I18N Challenges
Use care when sorting lists Use numeric indexes instead of sorted
alphabetic indexes whenever possible Keep illustrations, tables, and figures
simple Verify translations back into English
Standards and the World of Standards and the World of Uni- and Zed-Uni- and Zed-
Unicode UNIMARC Z 39.50 Z 39.69 Z 39.70 Zzzzz...
History of UnicodeHistory of Unicode
ASCII, a “U.S.” Standard (ISO 646) DBCS - double byte character system
(some chars 1 byte, some 2 bytes) Unicode - all chars 2 bytes (16 bits)
History of UnicodeHistory of Unicode
Unicode is a subset of ISO 10646, as are ASCII and Latin-1 (8-bit ASCII)
Unicode eliminates duplicate Han characters in Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK)
ISO 10646 stores chars in 4 bytes; Unicode stores chars in 2 bytes
Definition of UnicodeDefinition of Unicode
The Unicode standard is a fixed-width, 16-bit character encoding system that contains codes for every character needed by the major writing systems currently in use in the modern world, along with codes for a full range of punctuation, symbols, and control characters (Davis et al.)
Definition of UnicodeDefinition of Unicode
Punctuation marks Diacritical marks Uppercase, lowercase, and uncased
letters Characters used to represent digits Control characters
Unicode ProblemsUnicode Problems
Universal standards for dates, measurements, and money
Simplified encoding of Chinese characters does not depict “classical” Chinese
Storage (twice as much?) Transmissions (twice as long?)
UNIMARC DefinitionUNIMARC Definition
implementation of ISO 2709 for the structure of records containing bibliographic data
intended to be a carrier format for exchange purposes
does not stipulate form, content, or record structure of data *within* individual systems
UNIMARC ProblemsUNIMARC Problems
Software developers must rewrite their existing software
the existing MARC formats use a unique definition of extended ASCII
How do you convert 40 million MARC records without anyone noticing?
UNIMARC BenefitsUNIMARC Benefits
Allows addition of foreign titles without transliterating the data
Users able to search library catalogs in all languages rather than just by call number or ISBN
Assumes software/virtual keyboards and other input devices needed to generate the CJK characters
Sorting and Conditional Sorting and Conditional FormattingFormatting
English: A-Z, a-z German: Characters with an umlaut sort
directly after characters without an umlaut
Swedish: Ö sorts last in the alphabet after Z
Spanish: double characters (ll and ch) that sort as single characters
Other IssuesOther Issues
Upper and lower case, subtract 32 no more!
Wild card symbols in search/find boxes Hyphenation of long words and word
breaks Gender in language Tense and case
Message CatalogsMessage Catalogs
Files used to store program input and output strings
All program strings used interactively by the user should be contained in one or more message catalogs
Messages stored in database locales Makes messages more customizable
Menu SpaceMenu Space
30-200% extra space depending on the number of English characters
Ex: “Preferences” translates “Bilschirmeinstellungen”
Boxes should be self-sizing and movable
Conventions and Format Conventions and Format DifferencesDifferences
Dates: May 12, 1959 is– 12/5/59 5/12/59 1959-05-12
Calendars: Gregorian, Hebrew, Islamic, Japanese Imperial Era
Times: 8:32 p.m. is– 20:32 20,32,00 20.32 KI 20.32
Conventions and Format Conventions and Format DifferencesDifferences
Numbers: – 3,912.45 3.912,45 3 912,45
Currency: – $2,456.78 2,456,78 DM 2.456$78– Don’t forget yen and pound symbols
Paper sizes: A3, A4, A5, JIS-B4 JIS-B5 Punctuation : << >> ; ¡ ¿
Formats for PatronsFormats for PatronsZ39.69 and Z39.70Z39.69 and Z39.70
NISO standards for patron personal data and patron transaction data
I14N and L10N aspects of patron data need to be considered
Not limited to address, postal code, phone, ID#, and confidentiality issues around the world
Color, Music and SoundColor, Music and Sound
Color combinations Color balance (theme and secondary) Color association (appropriateness based
on abstract concepts) Music and sound more easily linked to a
photograph than an icon Music associations highly dependent on
culture
IconsIcons
Trashcan icon can look like a postal box in Britain
If you use books, make sure they open in the proper direction for the target market
Email icon of a rural post box with a red flag has no meaning outside rural America
IconsIcons
Colors within icons may be culturally insensitive
Try not to use text: think in terms of international driving symbols
Think: what is the symbol for ISBN other than ISBN?
