IntroductionIt is common knowledge that computer interfaces in different cultures vary. Interface designers present information in different languages, use different iconography to designate concepts, and employ different standards for dates, time, and numbers. These manifest differences beg the question of how easily an interface designed in one country can be used in and transferred to another country. Are the challenges involved in adaptation merely cosmetic or are they shaped by more profound forces? Do all cultures respond to interfaces in similar ways, or does culture itself shape user comprehension? If culture is a factor in explaining varied user reactions to comparable interfaces, what specific cultural dimensions are responsible for the divergences? Do differences reside mainly at the level of national cultures, or do they depend on other vanables such as class, gender, age, education, and expertise with technology? In the face of a potentially large number of explanatory variables, how do we delimit a workable concept of culture and yet remain cognizant of other factors that might shape the results of culture and interface research?Questions such as these have been asked in the ergonomics community since the early 1970s, when the industrialization of developing countries created a need for more research on cultural differences (Honold, 1999), resulting in an increased interest in the universal applicability of ergonomic principles. This trend continued after the reunification of Germany and the emergence of market economies in Eastern Europe (Nielsen, 1990). In the mid-l990s, as markets outside the U.S. rapidly expanded, it became necessary to develop appropriate user interfaces for non-Western cultures in order to facilitate international cooperation. This fresh impetus for research led to the development of practical guidelines and a body of case studies and examples of possible solutions. Most recently we have seen attempts to provide a theoretical foundation for cross-cultural usability engineering and experimental comparison studies (Honold, 1999).The literature on international issues in human-computer interaction consists of three major types: 1) design guidelines, pointing out 258 Annual Review of Information Science and Technology issues of which designers should be aware when creating an interface for use in a foreign country, 2) theoretical works on cultural differences, which attempt to evaluate how cultural models from other fields can be applied to interface design, and 3) empirical research, dealing with various aspects of interface design in selected countries.Design guidelines are the largest group and concentrate on culturally acceptable screen elements such as date and time formats, text flow, collating sequences, and numeric formats. These elements, if not used appropriately, may impair understanding of the interface features and functions. But design guidelines do not provide much understanding of how users from different cultures interact with computers, or any similarities and di...
