CULTURABILITY:

L’INFLUENZA DEI FATTORI CULTURALI

NELL’USABILITÀ DEL WEB

UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PAVIA

FACOLTÀ DI LETTERE E FILOSOFIA, SCIENZE POLITICHE, GIURISPRUDENZA,

INGEGNERIA, ECONOMIA

CORSO DI LAUREA SPECIALISTICA INTERFACOLTÀ IN

EDITORIA E COMUNICAZIONE MULTIMEDIALE

ANNO ACCADEMICO 2010/2011

RELATORE: PROF. MARCO PORTA

CORRELATORE: PROF. MASSIMO CELLARIO

TESI DI LAUREA DI

ARIANNA RICOTTI

Usability

“… the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to

achieve specified goals with effectiveness (task completion by users),

efficiency (task in time) and satisfaction (responded by user in term of

experience) in a specified context of use (users, tasks, equipments and

environments)”

(ISO 9241-11)

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Usability

“Web Usability is the art of creating a website where people move at

ease and effortlessly find what they need. Web usability is clarity,

speed, ability to communicate and provoke a response”

(Jakob Nielsen)

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Culturability

Culturability = culture + usability

(Barber & Badre)

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Definitions of Culture

“Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes

the members of one group or category of people from another”

(Geert Hofstede)

“Culture is the software of the mind”

(Geert Hofstede)

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Geert Hofstede: the five cultural dimensions

Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV)

Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS)

Power Distance (PDI)

Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)

Long-term vs. short-term orientation (LTO)

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Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV)

The presence of people or groups and their relationship with the

represented product

o High IDV = individualism: few or no person in the websites

o Low IDV = collectivism: the presence of a greater number of

people represented in the websites

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Pepsi USA - IDV: 91 Coca-Cola USA - IDV: 91

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Pepsi China - IDV: 20 Coca-Cola China - IDV: 20

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS)

The presence of people according to gender differences

o High MAS = masculinity culture: only males depicted in

websites

o Low MAS = femininity culture: only females or people of both

genders depicted in websites

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Pepsi Japan - MAS: 95 Coca-Cola Japan - MAS: 95

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Pepsi Sweden - MAS: 5 Coca-Cola Sweden - MAS: 5

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

Power Distance (PDI)

Age differences

o High PDI: adult or older people represented in websites

o Low PDI: young people represented in websites

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Pepsi Slovakia - PDI: 104 Coca-Cola Slovakia - PDI: 104

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Pepsi Austria - PDI: 11 Coca-Cola Austria - PDI: 11

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)

The amount of information shown in the homepage

o High UAI: many subsections simultaneously

o Low UAI: very simple navigation menu

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Pepsi Belgium - UAI: 94 Coca-Cola Belgium - UAI: 94

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Pepsi Denmark - UAI: 23 Coca-Cola Denmark - UAI: 23

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

Long-term vs. short-term orientation (LTO)

The presence of links to the “history” section

o High LTO = cultures oriented to long term: interest in past,

present and future events

o Low LTO = cultures oriented to short term: focus on the

present, not on past events

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Pepsi Japan - LTO: 80 Coca-Cola Japan - LTO: 80

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Pepsi Czech Republic - LTO:

13

Coca-Cola Czech Republic -

LTO: 13

Case studies: Pepsi and Coca-Cola

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Acculturation

Preparing and adapting a product to other markets and nations, and

for use by

different cultures

Two possibilities:

Internationalization

Localization

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Internationalization Localization

One website to be used

anywhere

Result: interface adapted for

use in various countries and

languages

Advantages:

o Reduced time and costs

o Fewer resources

o More efficient architecture

Adaptation of the website for

specific or “local” markets

Text translated for the specific

country

Sense of belonging and

identification of the user

Advantage: access to more

markets

Internationalization and Localization

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Amazon Last.fm

Internationalization and Localization

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Cultural markers

Factors that influence the culture

Elements of interface design found in Web pages

Significant elements highly prevalent or common in a particular

cultural group

Language, colours, spatial organization, icons, symbols

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Language Symbols, icons and images

Speech used by a particular

group of people

Principal component to

acquire information from a

website

Accessible website if available

in the language of the users

Plain text, common words and

avoiding jargon

Misunderstandings or

misinterpretations up to

offend

Different meanings for

different cultures

Potentially sensitive issues:

religious symbols, human

body, women, hand gestures

Cultural markers: language, symbols, images

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Cultural markers: colour

Highly communicative and connected to people’s feelings and

cultures

Use of colour perceived as negative or positive in different cultures:

o Red = happiness in China

o Red = death in South Africa

o White = funeral in Eastern

o White = wedding in Western

Colour and religion:

o Judeo-Christian = red, blue, white and gold

o Buddhism = saffron yellow

o Islam = green16/4/2012Arianna Ricotti

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Cultural markers: colour

Websites in Saudi Arabia and the UAE: preponderance of Islamic

green or desert colours (yellow, brown and orange)

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Asian languages: vertical

orientation

Arabic languages: written

horizontally from right to left

Cultural markers: page layout

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Conclusions

It is easy to create a website from a technical perspective

It is complicated to create a website for effective communication in

the global market

Culture is important

Adapting the main cultural markers

Very different people

Marketing strategies: impossibility to meet the cultural criteria

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