Cecilia Oyugi

A resource kit for participatory socio-technical design in rural kenya

We describe our approach and initial results in the participatory design of technology relevant to local rural livelihoods. Our approach to design and usability proceeds from research in theory and practice of cross-cultural implementations, but the novelty is in beginning not with particular technologies but from community needs, and structuring technology in terms of activities. We describe our project aims and initial data collected, which show that while villagers have no clear mental models for using computers or the Internet, they show a desire to have and use them. We then describe our approach to interaction design, our expectations and next steps as the technology and activities are first introduced to the villages.

Augmenting usability: cultural elicitation in HCI

This paper offers context and culture elicitation in an inter-cultural and multi-disciplinary setting of ICT design. Localised usability evaluation (LUE) is augmented with a socio-technical evaluation tool (STEM) as a methodological approach to expose and address issues in a collaborative ICT design within the Village e-Science for Life (VeSeL) project in rural Kenya. The paper argues that designers need to locally identify context and culture in situ and further explicate their implications through the design process and at the global level. Stakeholders’ context, culture, decisions, agendas, expectations, disciplines and requirements need to be locally identified and globally evaluated to ensure a fit for purpose solution.

Exploring local cultural perspectives in user interface development in an indian offshoring context: a view from the UK

In this paper, we present the results of an exploratory case study on the impact of culture on software development in an offshoring context in India. Our research aims to understand the role of culture in outsourced software development. We interviewed human-computer interface professionals such as frontend developers, user interface designers and usability specialists working for a software development outsourcing vendor in India. The interviews were analysed for occurrence of common themes. Thereafter the cultural models of Hofstede and Hall were used to make sense of these emerging themes.. Our results indicate that cultural influence occurs and has an overarching influence in software development. Three proposals are made in response to the cultural issues highlighted.

The centre for internationalization and usability: enabling culture-centred design for all

The Centre for Internationalisation and Usability within the School of Computing and Technology at The University of West London aims to enhance understanding of cultural differences in international software development. A particular focus is the development and usability of ICT products in a global market, both in terms of international software development and economic, community and social development. We host a number of researchers and PhD students working in topics such as usability evaluation and culture, sociotechnical participatory design, internationalization attitudes of software engineers, mobile learning and library cognitive design.