[ieee comput. soc 2003 joint conference on digital libraries - houston, tx, usa (27-31 may 2003)]...

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Cross-Cultural Usability for Digital Libraries Nadia Caidi Faculty of Information Studies University of Toronto, Canada caidi@fis.utoronto.ca Anita Komlodi Department of Information Systems University of Maryland, Baltimore County [email protected] Abstract The scope and reach of digital libraries (DL) is truly global, spanning geographical and cultural boundaries, yet few scholars have investigated the influence of culture as it pertains to the design and use of digital libraries. This workshop will examine cross-cultural issues around the use and development of DLs, especially as they relate to sup- porting cross-cultural usability of DLs. 1. Aims and Objectives The advent of information and communication technolo- gies (ICTs) is said to have precipitated the blurring of geo- graphical boundaries and made us into a ’global village.’ Yet, few scholars have investigated the ways in which dig- ital libraries have been used across cultures. Previous re- search on the use of online public access catalogs [1] and Internet search tools [2] have shown differences in how users from different cultural groups searched for informa- tion. These differences in behavior have implications for the usable design of DLs. Like any socio-technical system, a digital library embod- ies the values, beliefs and practices of its producers along with their broader social and cultural contexts. A user with different sets of beliefs and assumptions about the organi- zation of the content, the categories assigned or the user in- terface design may find it hard to interact with the system. Lessons learned from cross-cultural usability and interna- tional user interface design are thus important for the design of DLs. Equally important is the study of the information- seeking behavior of users from various cultural groups. The goals of this workshop are: 1) to increase aware- ness about the area of cross-cultural usability in the digi- tal library community, 2) to identify new tools, techniques and methodologies for cross-cultural study of user behav- ior in DLs and international user interface design, and 3) to provide a forum for generating new research directions and cross-disciplinary collaboration. The format will be highly interactive. In addition to reviews of actual projects being undertaken, attendees will be asked to contribute real ex- amples of successful (and/or poor) interfaces and website designs. The outcome of the workshop will be the estab- lishment of a road map for this type of research, which includes the identification of key issues/questions around cross-cultural usability (e.g., user interface design guide- lines, methodological considerations, etc.). All information will be posted on the workshop’s website. Papers will be reviewed by a panel of experts consisting of: Christine L. Borgman, UCLA, Andrew Dillon, Univer- sity of Texas, Austin, Elke Duncker, Middlesex University (UK), Elaine Toms, University of Toronto (Canada), Noriko Kando, National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, (Japan), and Preben Hansen, Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista (Sweden). 2. Workshop Organizers Nadia Caidi is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto. Her research interests are social and community informatics. She teaches and is involved in cross-cultural and comparative studies, researching the influence of culture on the creation, access and use of information and its technologies. Anita Komlodi is an Assistant Professor at the Depart- ment of Information Systems, UMBC. Her research inter- ests are at the intersections of human-computer interaction and information retrieval (IR). She is especially interested in the design and usability of IR interfaces. She also re- searches the information-seeking behavior of users from various cultural backgrounds. References [1] E. Duncker. Cross-cultural usability of the library metaphor. In Proceedings of the JCDL, pages 223–230, 2002. [2] M. Iivonen and M. D. White. The choice of initial web search strategies: A comparison between finnish and amer- ican searchers. Journal of Documentation, 57(4):465–491, 2001. Proceedings of the 2003 Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL’03) 0-7695-1939-3/03 $17.00 © 2003 IEEE

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Page 1: [IEEE Comput. Soc 2003 Joint Conference on Digital Libraries - Houston, TX, USA (27-31 May 2003)] 2003 Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, 2003. Proceedings. - Cross-cultural usability

Cross-Cultural Usability for Digital Libraries

Nadia CaidiFaculty of Information StudiesUniversity of Toronto, Canada

[email protected]

Anita KomlodiDepartment of Information Systems

University of Maryland, Baltimore [email protected]

Abstract

The scope and reach of digital libraries (DL) is trulyglobal, spanning geographical and cultural boundaries, yetfew scholars have investigated the influence of culture asit pertains to the design and use of digital libraries. Thisworkshop will examine cross-cultural issues around the useand development of DLs, especially as they relate to sup-porting cross-cultural usability of DLs.

1. Aims and Objectives

The advent of information and communication technolo-gies (ICTs) is said to have precipitated the blurring of geo-graphical boundaries and made us into a ’global village.’Yet, few scholars have investigated the ways in which dig-ital libraries have been used across cultures. Previous re-search on the use of online public access catalogs [1] andInternet search tools [2] have shown differences in howusers from different cultural groups searched for informa-tion. These differences in behavior have implications forthe usable design of DLs.

Like any socio-technical system, a digital library embod-ies the values, beliefs and practices of its producers alongwith their broader social and cultural contexts. A user withdifferent sets of beliefs and assumptions about the organi-zation of the content, the categories assigned or the user in-terface design may find it hard to interact with the system.Lessons learned from cross-cultural usability and interna-tional user interface design are thus important for the designof DLs. Equally important is the study of the information-seeking behavior of users from various cultural groups.

The goals of this workshop are: 1) to increase aware-ness about the area of cross-cultural usability in the digi-tal library community, 2) to identify new tools, techniquesand methodologies for cross-cultural study of user behav-ior in DLs and international user interface design, and 3) toprovide a forum for generating new research directions andcross-disciplinary collaboration. The format will be highly

interactive. In addition to reviews of actual projects beingundertaken, attendees will be asked to contribute real ex-amples of successful (and/or poor) interfaces and websitedesigns. The outcome of the workshop will be the estab-lishment of a road map for this type of research, whichincludes the identification of key issues/questions aroundcross-cultural usability (e.g., user interface design guide-lines, methodological considerations, etc.). All informationwill be posted on the workshop’s website.

Papers will be reviewed by a panel of experts consistingof: Christine L. Borgman, UCLA, Andrew Dillon, Univer-sity of Texas, Austin, Elke Duncker, Middlesex University(UK), Elaine Toms, University of Toronto (Canada), NorikoKando, National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, (Japan),and Preben Hansen, Swedish Institute of Computer Science,Kista (Sweden).

2. Workshop Organizers

Nadia Caidi is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty ofInformation Studies, University of Toronto. Her researchinterests are social and community informatics. She teachesand is involved in cross-cultural and comparative studies,researching the influence of culture on the creation, accessand use of information and its technologies.

Anita Komlodi is an Assistant Professor at the Depart-ment of Information Systems, UMBC. Her research inter-ests are at the intersections of human-computer interactionand information retrieval (IR). She is especially interestedin the design and usability of IR interfaces. She also re-searches the information-seeking behavior of users fromvarious cultural backgrounds.

References

[1] E. Duncker. Cross-cultural usability of the library metaphor.In Proceedings of the JCDL, pages 223–230, 2002.

[2] M. Iivonen and M. D. White. The choice of initial websearch strategies: A comparison between finnish and amer-ican searchers. Journal of Documentation, 57(4):465–491,2001.

Proceedings of the 2003 Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL’03)

0-7695-1939-3/03 $17.00 © 2003 IEEE