Nouf Khashman

Measuring Cultural Markers in Arabic Government Websites Using Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

This study examines the design characteristics of government web interfaces from three Arab countries using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Organizational and graphical elements from 30 ministry websites from Egypt, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia were examined using content analysis. Element frequency scores were correlated with Hofstede’s dimensions and interpreted based mainly on the model developed by Marcus and Gould. The results suggest that Hofstede’s model of culture does not fully reflect the design characteristics of Arabic interfaces.

Image retrieval behaviours: users are leading the way to a new bilingual search interface

Purpose – This paper aims to present the results of the second stage of a research project aiming to develop a bilingual interface for the retrieval of digital images. The main objective of this phase was to investigate the roles and usefulness of search characteristics and functionalities for image retrieval in a bilingual context. Design/methodology/approach – A bilingual (English and French) questionnaire containing closed and open questions was developed and administered to two groups of participants: 20 English-speaking and 20 French-speaking respondents. The quantitative data was analysed according to statistical methods while the content of the open-ended questions was analysed and coded to identify emergent themes. Findings – This study shows that the image search process still presents difficulties and frustration from the image searchers point-of-view. The findings established that keyword search remains the main method compared with the use of predefined categories or searching with a similar ...

A Study of Cultural Reflection in Egyptian Government Websites

Culture is arguably an important consideration when designing websites because it influences users needs and expectations as they come to the site. Ten government websites from Egypt were evaluated in 2010 and 2014, before and after the break of the Arab Spring. By utilizing Hofstedes model of cultural dimensions, the objective is to identify whether cultural-specific design elements have changed over time. The results suggest that the designs of these websites have changed and that they did not fully reflect design characteristics inferred from Hofstedes model.

Arabic Website Design: User Evaluation from a Cultural Perspective

The cultural background of web users may play a key role in the way they interact with and perceive the usability and usefulness of websites. Twenty Arab participants evaluated and compared 2 websites from 2 countries within their culture to identify their preferences and expectations of the design of Arabic websites in order to examine whether these preferences are consistent with their cultural-specific attributes as described and predicted by Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions. The results suggest that these participants showed an overall preference for one website over the other.

Two solitudes revisited: a cross-cultural exploration of online image searcher's behaviors

This paper presents and discusses the results of the second phase of the project that aims to investigate the roles and usefulness of search characteristics and functionalities used for image retrieval in a bilingual context, from the users point of view. The difficulties encountered by image searchers are described. Finally, suggestions to be integrated in a search interface model are presented. This exploratory study provides an understanding of how users with different linguistic and cultural background search for images.

Cultural design analysis of Arabic websites

Culture is argued to be one of the attributes affecting the usability of interfaces. This study examines the design characteristics of government websites from five Arab countries using Hofstedes cultural dimensions. Organizational and graphical elements from ministry websites from Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates were examined using content analysis. Element frequency scores were correlated with Hofstedes dimensions and interpreted based mainly on the model developed by Marcus and Gould. The results suggest that Hofstedes model of culture does not fully reflect the design characteristics of Arabic websites.

A Second Life for TIIARA: From Bilingual to Multilingual!

Multilingual controlled vocabularies are rare and often very limited in the choice of languages offered. TIIARA (Taxonomy for Image Indexing and RetrievAl) is a bilingual taxonomy developed for image indexing and retrieval. This controlled vocabulary offers indexers and image searchers innovative and coherent access points for ordinary images. The preliminary steps of the elaboration of the bilingual structure are presented. For its ninitial development, TIIARA included only two languages, French and English. As a logical follow-up, TIIARA was translated into eight languages—Arabic, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, German, Hindi and Russian—in order to increase its international scope. This paper briefly describes the different stages of the development of the bilingual structure. The processes used in the translations are subsequently presented, as well as the main difficulties encountered by the translators. Adding more languages in TIIARA constitutes an added value for a controlled vocabulary meant to be used by image searchers, who are often limited by their lack of knowledge of multiple languages.

Arabic web interface design through the eyes of Hofstede

This study examines selected design characteristics of government Web interfaces from ten Arab countries using Hofstedes cultural dimensions. Organizational and graphical elements from 100 ministry Web interfaces from Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman were examined using content analysis method. The results suggest that Hofstedes model of culture does not fully reflect the design characteristics of these interfaces.

Digital inclusion for children in the social context of HIV/AIDS awareness

Digital technology brings a new opportunity to develop education, culture, and knowledge in less-developed communities. Researchers deal with issues related to digital inclusion for indigenous communities since it can provide people with the chance of better communication and faster access to information in all formats. A research team with the International Visual Methodology for Social Change Project initiated the AIDS prevention and awareness program and aimed to effectively serve as a form of social and digital inclusion in underprivileged communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The significance of this project is highlighted by adopting digital technology and the engagement of children, youth, and students in playing active roles in addressing HIV and AIDS through the photovoice research method. This method teaches children and youth how to document their lives and activities in schools and within the community through photography. They are then asked to describe what they see on the photos and to share their thoughts and feelings relating to issues surrounding HIV and AIDS. In this way, more than 3000 photos have been collected from the rural areas, taken by the children and youth of this region. To build a digital archive, the project went through the followings: photo selection, a scanning protocol, a database protocol in Greenstone software program, metadata protocol, and web site development. We described the entire visual data set based on Dublin Core. Two additional elements for captions were added, one for comments by librarians or metadata managers and the other for users personal comments related to a specific picture to further enhance their participation in the project. Rural communities face challenges in HIV/AIDS health care and education, and access to HIV/AIDS information is essential for the disease caregivers. Working together and understanding the social effects of digital inclusion is a key area of our research.

TIIARA: A Language Tool for Bridging the Language Gap

This paper presents and discusses the results of the second phase of the development of TIIARA (Taxonomy for Image Indexing and RetrievAl), a bilingual taxonomy dedicated to image indexing and retrieval. TIIARA offers indexers and image searchers innovative and coherent access points for ordinary images. Initially developed in French and English, the taxonomy has been subsequently translated in 8 languages. The preliminary steps of the elaboration of the bilingual structure are briefly described. The process used in the translation of TIIARA in Arabic language is presented, as well as the main difficulties encountered by the translator. Adding more languages in TIIARA constitutes an added value for a controlled vocabulary meant to be used by image searchers who are often limited by their lack of knowledge of multiple languages.