Cultural Dimensions of Multimedia Design for Instruction

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Cultural Dimensions of Multimedia Design for
Instruction

• NECC Conference
• June 30, 2003
• Seattle, WA
• Davina Pruitt-Mentle
• Educational Technology Outreach
• http//www.edtechoutreach.umd.edu/

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What does culture have to do with education?
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Definitions of Culture

• Many definitions of culture and few agree as to
  the exact definition
• RE multicultural interface/multimedia design
• Culture stands for the way of life of a people,
  the sum of their learned behavioral patterns,
  attitudes and material things (Edward Hall, 1959,
  The Silent Language)
• Culture is the collective programming of the
  mind, which distinguishes the members of one
  human group from another (Hofstede, 1980).

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What Does Culture Have To Do With Education
Related to Technology Design and Utilization?

• What are the consequences for students from
  different cultures working with US educational
  software?

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Cultural Expectations

• The different backgrounds of people may cause
  them to have different expectations and attitudes
  towards different interfaces. The different
  expectations affect the way they learn to use and
  understand the technology.

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Research

• Research indicated that culture does influence
  interface acceptance (Evers and Day, 1997)
• Acceptance of interfaces was related to the
  users cultural background and users from
  different cultures were found to not only have
  different preferences in interface design but
  also use different processes of acceptance (Evers
  and Day, 1997 Choong and Salvendy, 1998
  Griffith, 1998)
• Design preferences that were especially related
  to culture were colors, menus, input devices,
  sounds and multimedia.
• Research indicated differences in acceptance,
  anxiety and attitudes toward computer use (Collis
  and Williams, 1987 Marcoulides and Wang, 1991
  Igbaria, 1996 Weil and Rosen, 1994 Allwood and
  Wang, 1990 Omar, 1992 Sensales and Greenfield,
  1995 Makrakis, 1992 Hall, 1959)

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Drawing from International Business Cultural
Miscues

• When Coca-Cola first went to China and wrote
  their name phonetically using Kanji, the
  characters spelt out bite the wax tadpole.
  Coco, a perfume by Channel, is the word crap in
  Portuguese. Dogs are thought of the lowest form
  of life in some cultures. In the Middle East,
  calling somebody a dog can be a powerful insult.
  This is also true in countries such as Spain and
  Portugal. Having the image of a dog on the
  computer screen is part of the interface (Apple
  moof, PowerPoint dog, Word help icon) would not
  be advised for those markets (Fernandes, 1996)

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Business Cultural Models

• Globalization
• Internalization
• Localization
• Technical Localization
• National Localization
• Cultural Localization

Jacob Nielson (1994)
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Drawing from International Business Cultural
Miscues

• Globalization
• Product is neutral
• One size fits all
• Removing all culturally specific features from
  the software
• Changes at the interface level--not functionality
  
• Internationalization
• Same as globalization
• But culture limited to national boundaries
• e.g., Globalization Hispanic
  Internationalization Mexico, El Salvador
• Culture is not bounded by nations
• One culture in many nations
• One nation with many cultures

Fernandes.Global Interface Design. 1995
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National Localization

• The new product is able to fully support all
  written spoken language, punctuation, and
  formats and to solve the particular needs
  associated with a given group.
• Translating text, date, time, number formats
  other aspects such as images, symbols, icons, and
  pictures are localized

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Cultural Localization

• Targets other issues such as appeal, correctness,
  quality and taste
• Modifies flow of information and functionality
• Produces designs that are appropriate for a
  culture's values , tastes and history
• Attractive
• No undesired messages
• Intuitive

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Localization in US Educational Arena

• Even though many of our students come from
  different countries (increasing immigrant
  population) few educational resources redesign
  their products to relate to this particular
  population

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US Bias

• Educational software used in the US has been
  designed using real world examples around North
  American culture and therefore many consider to
  cultural bias

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Cultural Dimensions to Multimedia

• Making learning resources more accessible and
  flexible to a wide range of learners is a major
  concern of educators today.

• In order to do this- ...educators must recognize
  that their ways are ways that are usually based
  on values and principles that may differ then
  others. And others ways are just as important.
  Brislin Yoshida (1994) call this process
  ethnorelative

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The way to deal with diversity is not to deny it
or ignore it, but to learn about differences so
they dont impair communication
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The first step in effective intercultural
communication is acceptance of diversity

• Examine your own values
• Examine values of others
• Look at the implications of these values for
  education
• Determine where the differences lie
• Determine how to best overcome the differences

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Cross-Cultural Cross Wiring

• Language
• spoken
• written
• symbols
• Non-verbal communication
• body
• facial expression
• gestures

• Symbols
• company logos
• religious images
• flags

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Spoken Written Language

• All languages have a number of forms/styles and
  different registers for different types of
  situations
• Diglossia/multiglossia-custom of using different
  languages for different purposes (Fishman, 1971a)
  
• Spanish ? English
• formal ? informal
• colloquial ? regular
• Different dialect/ different sub-cultures
• American vs. English (British)
• Northern vs. Southern vs. Cajun vs. street

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Spoken Written Language Language Reflects
Environment

• Amazon area - no word for snow
• Americans - snow, powder snow, sleet, slush,
  blizzard, ice
• In Northern Germany, ein Glas Weisswein bitte
  (a glass of white wine, please) or specify
  Moselwein or Rheinwein
• In Southwest Germany- expected to specify type of
  wine, vineyard and year

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Spoken and Written Language We Translate
Concepts That Fit Our Priorities

• Navajo do not have a word for late (time is
  relative)
• Mandarin Chinese, one word (qing) represents
  various hues of blue and green
• Americans tomorrow means midnight to midnight
• Spanish-speaking mañana means in the future
• Chinese do not have a word for communication
• letter exchange
• transportation traffic
• Administration (educational setting)
• American ? superintendent/ dean
• French ? upper-level clerical staff

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Written Communication

• Understand Patterns of Organization
• East Asian cultures organize material based on
  relationships rather than on linear progression
• Canadians like to have recommendations at the
  beginning of a report

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Written Communication Dates

• American - May 6, 2010 or 05/06/2010
• German - 6. Mai 2010 or 6.5. 2010
• International (increasing usage) 2010 May, 6 or
  2010, 05, 06

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Spoken and Written Language High-Context vs.
Low-Context

• Edward Hall, distinguished cultures on the basis
  of the role of context in communication
• High-Context - less words more other clues (ex.
  Japan)
• Low-Context - words, words, words (ex. German
  Swiss)
• US middle of the Low-context range

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High - Context

• View word-level-only messages as unsophisticated,
  childish, and rude
• Prefer-allusion to classical texts, parables and
  proverbs, understatements and antiphraxis (saying
  something in terms of what it is not) Asian
  thought pattern - negative space
• I have some small experience in that-
  world-famous mathematicians life work

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Spoken Language Why is this important for
educators regarding multimedia?

• Verbal (audio) now part of multimedia
• Like Assistive technology - can choose
  gender/dialect
• Translator difficulties
• order of words varies in different languages
• translation can not interpret formal vs.. informal

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Non-Verbal Communication

• Body
• Facial Expression
• Gestures

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Non-Verbal Body Language

• Rules regarding standing and position distance
• Face-on for Arabs
• 45 degree angle for Anglo-Saxons
• Side-to-side for Chinese

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Non-Verbal Communication

• Smiling in Japan is strongly associated with
  nervousness, social discomfort, or sorrow

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Non-Verbal Body Language

• In Buddhist Thailand never cross legs
• The sole of the foot is the furthest part from
  heaven and the least sacred. To show the bottom
  of the foot to someone is to show disrespect

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Non-Verbal Communication

• In Asian and Middle-eastern cultures it is
  appropriate for the same sex to walk hand in hand
  but not the opposite sex

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Symbols/Icons
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Symbols/Icons
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Symbols

• China, death is not mentioned even by homonyms
  (words that sound like other words)

• El Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is a
  fiesta with deep meaning to Mexicans

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Symbols Hand Gestures emblems

• V-for victory in US is obscene in some European
  countries

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Symbols, Idioms and Metaphors

• Americans use militaristic origin terminology
• Many cultures choose a more cooperative approach

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Symbols, Idioms and Metaphors

• Sports have provided U.S. with numerous metaphors
• Many cultures do not understand baseball/football
  terms like

• Bases are loaded
• Got to first base
• Out in left field
• Third down, nine to go

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Hofstedes Dimensions of Culture

• Dutch cultural anthropologist
• 1978-1983
• Rated 53 countries
• Identified 5 cultural dimensions
• Rated on indices for each dimension
• Normalized to values (0 to 100)

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Hofstedes Five Dimensions

• Power Distance
• Individualism vs. Collectivism
• Masculinity vs. Femininity
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Long- vs. Short-Term Time Orientation

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Power Distance

• High Power Distance cultures believe that the
  more powerful people must be deferred to and not
  argued with, especially in public
• Based on gender, age, seniority, position
• Low Power Distance cultures believe ideas/people
  are assumed to be equal

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Power Distance
http//www.brainpop.com/

• High Power

http//www.pbs.org/
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Power Distance
http//www.education-world.com/index.shtml

• Lower Power

http//www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/index.h
tm
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Individualism vs. Collectivism
http//www.gowcsd.com/master/ghs/math/furman/linsy
stem/call_me.htm

• Individualist WebQuests

http//www.tctc.org/schoolinfo/CLUEm/Chartsandgrap
hs.htm
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Individualism vs. Collectivism
http//www.softcom.net/users/dteach/beautiful/

• Collectivist WebQuests

http//u2.lvcm.com/esullivan/webquest.html
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Masculinity vs. Femininity

• Masculine roles
• assertiveness
• competition
• toughness
• Feminine roles
• home and children
• people
• family

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Masculinity vs. Femininity
http//www.amaisd.org/nheights/zennadi__james_pro
ject.htm
http//liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/history/VonBr
aun/SpaceAge.html

• High masculinity
• WebQuests/Games

http//www.cartoonnetwork.com/play/index.html
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Masculinity vs. Femininity
http//projects.edtech.sandi.net/mission/iss/

• Femininity
• WebQuests/Games

http//64.70.189.55/games/d_fashion.shtml
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Uncertainty Avoidance

• The extent to which uncertainty and ambiguity are
  tolerated

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High Uncertainty Avoidance
http//www.mjh.isd194.k12.mn.us/mwalker/
http//webquest.sdsu.edu /
http//www.dmrtc.net/embrys/aesindex.htm
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Low Uncertainty Avoidance
http//www.powayschools.com/projects/dolly/
http//www.education-world.com/index.shtml
http//school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
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Conclusions

• Become familiar with your own values
• Explore and recognize the values of others
• Understand the implications of these values for
  education
• Determine where the differences lie
• Determine how to best overcome the differences
• Expose students to diverse resources
• Choose diverse examples
• Examine cultures within your school
• Consider/double check your design strategies

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Different students/cultures require different
technology/web designs and strategies for optimal
learning
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Contact Information

• Davina Pruitt-Mentle
• Director, Educational Technology Outreach
• College of Education
• University of Maryland
• 2127 Tawes
• College Park, MD 20742
• [phone]
• dp151_at_umail.umd.edu
• Presentation available at
• http//www.edtechoutreach.umd.edu/conferences.html