Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Mohd Isa

Assessing the accessibility and usability of Malaysia Higher Education Website

The awareness of the importance of usability and accessibility in Malaysia is demonstrated with the setting-up of usability laboratories from local universities and agency and studies in different applications. This study share the interest on creating awareness of the importance of accessibility and usability criteria by investigating the accessibility and usability level of Malaysia Higher Education Website. This study used 120 samples of higher education institution websites from the online portal of the Ministry of Higher Education (http://www.mohe.gov.my). The accessibility evaluation was done by using automatic evaluation to access the accessibility level according to WCAG 1.0 guideline. Usability evaluation was also done on page size, speed and broken link. The study revealed several accessibility and usability issues revolving Malaysia Higher Education website. We end our study with few recommendations for further improvement of the website usability and accessibility towards better improved online services and information for normal and disabled user.

Incorporating the cultural dimensions into the theoretical framework of website information architecture

Information Architecture (IA) has emerged as a discipline that is concerned with the development of systematic approaches to the presentation and organization of online information. The IA discipline has commanded significant attention from professional practitioners but lacks in the theoretical perspective. In our effort to formalize the knowledge of the discipline, we report on the extension of our initial work of formalizing the architectural framework for understanding website IA. Since the web is not a culturally neutral medium, we sought to delineate the cultural dimensions within our formed framework of website IA with the incorporation of the cultural dimensions of Hofstede and Hofstedes (2005), Halls (1966), Hall and Halls (1990) and Trompenaars (1997). This attempt contributes towards the progress of putting a sense of cultural localization to the IA augmentation for local and international website design. In addition, to avoid theoretical aloofness and arbitrariness, practical design presumptions are also reflected.

Cultural Prescription vs. User Perception of Information Architecture for Culture Centred Website: A Case Study on Muslim Online User

This paper reports the overview for the understanding of Islamic culture from the perspective of Islamic experts and Muslims based on the commonalities found in Hofstedes cultural dimension and Islamic worldview values. The understanding was gained from Wan Abdul Rahim et al. (2008) and a replication survey of VSM `94. We used this understanding as the benchmark for conducting experimental study to examine the time performance of Muslim online user in searching and purchasing books from two separate websites. The two websites were imposed with Islamic dimensions based from; (1) religious interpretation and; (2) user perception. The results of the paired-samples t-test showed that website imposed with Hofstedes dimension from religious interpretation is the better ones. Thus provide the indication that website that displays the cultural dimensions based on the religion prescriptions, will has a positive affect on the performance level regardless the current changes of the state of culture.

Muslim User Interface Evaluation Framework (Muslim-UI) for Islamic genre website: A quantitative approach

There is a strong emphasis towards preserving the unique cultural characteristics of Muslim communities. Rather than to follow what the online technology norms and limitations dictate the way Muslims behave and conduct their activities online, the requirements of our distinctive features should be defined towards a betterment of Islamic cultural understanding to web developers and technology creators, who mainly come from western countries. This study reports an initial investigation on the presence of Islamic identity, traits and usability in Islamic websites by using a Muslim User Interface Evaluation Framework (Muslim-UI) adapted from Islamic genre website Checklist established by Wan Abdul Rahim, Shafie and Nor Laila (2006). Samples of 100 websites were identified and selected by using convenient sampling from Islamic portal at http://www.2muslims.com. The evaluation process was done by using personal observation and the adapted checklist as the research instrument. The study revealed several issues concerning the characteristics of Muslim User Interface (Muslim - UI) for Islamic Genre Website. We end our study with a few recommendations for further improvement of the Muslim User Interface for Islamic Genre Website.

The Information Architecture of E-Commerce: An Experimental Study on User Performance and Preference

Too often, designers of e-commerce web sites use models, concepts, guidelines, and designs that focus on the artifacts while ignoring the context in which the artifacts will be used. Furthermore, the link between culture and usability in web site IA phenomenon is still considered as uncharted area, as it lacks much theoretical consideration. In an effort toward addressing the aforementioned issues, our study provides a theoretical and empirical link between cultural and usability through the application of ‘Venustas’ (Delight) drawn from the architectural field and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. We use Islamic culture as the case study and report on the experiment to investigate the effect of the IA designs based on the cultural dimensions on e-commerce web sites. The result provides partial empirical support to the theorized link between culture and usability based on the usability measurement on user performance and preference. In addition, practical web site IA cultural design prescriptions are also provided.

Culture influences to website information architecture: An empirical investigation

This study explores the relationship between culture and website information architecture (IA) that is under-represented in the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) literature. Our study drew from the works of Wan Abdul Rahim et al. (2006, 2007, 2008), who provided the IA framework from architectural perspectives and later incorporated Islamic cultural dimensions into the context of website IA. In this study, we enrich their framework by conducting empirical investigation to test the hypotheses linkage between culture and website IA. The research method involves using Islamic culture as the case study and web-based survey on 427 Muslims from Islamic countries. The result of the ordinal regression analysis suggests culture does influence website IA. This result contributes to the growing body of IA literature and has both substantive and methodological implications for future research.

A relationship model of playful interaction, interaction design, kansei engineering and mobile usability in mobile learning

Mobile learning is a new technology embraced in the educational environment. In general, mobile learning can be described as teaching and learning activities by using mobile technologies. Designing interactivity with mobile learning is important for learners and educators. The requirements and different perspective towards mobile learning need to be explored. The demographic profiling of the user may also affect the usage and usability of mobile learning. Designers may need to identify the elements and relevant methodologies when designing interactivity of mobile learning. This main objective of this paper is to conceptualize the relationship model of (i) playful interaction, (ii) interaction design, (iii) kansei engineering and (iv) mobile usability in mobile learning. The model from this study may provide the motivation and prescription to designers in designing mobile application for teaching and learning.

Culture Design of Information Architecture for B2C E-Commerce Websites

Culture is widely treated as an essential factor for the success of e-commerce, yet the concept itself is still clouded in bewilderment. Furthermore, there has been little research on usage behavior in the context of developing countries; e.g., Islamic countries. By using Islamic culture as the case study, this study highlights the website information architecture practical design indication and reports the partial analysis of the investigation on how culture design of information architecture (IA) for B2C e-commerce website will has a positive affect to the user performance tasks (browsing, searching and purchasing books activities). Analyses of one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of variance (one-way MANOVA) and paired-samples t-test were performed. The result showed that the task time performance of the Middle East and the Malaysian users are different and faster when using the culture centred e-commerce website. Thus, provides empirical evidence on the positive influence of culturally design website to performance.

A Theoretical Framework of Playful Interaction in Mobile Learning

Mobile Learning is becoming an essential tool for educators in the ubiquitous learning environment. With estimated 20 to 23 million mobile users in Malaysia, there is an anticipation of rapid growth of M-Learning in education. The main objective of this study is to provide a theoretical framework of playful interaction in mobile learning through lens of theoretical analysis and deductive reasoning approaches. The incorporation of the dimensions from the dimensions of (i) pedagogical, (ii) playfulness and (iii) kansei engineering are adopted from the work of well-known theories from education and human-computer interaction disciplines. The theoretical framework with injection from kansei engineering will be prescribed as a guideline to construct a fun, joyful and quality learning experience. Future work involves empirical verification of the framework with experts and experimental procedure with M-Learning users.

Evaluating the Usability of Homestay Websites in Malaysia Using Automated Tools

Usability evaluation is an imperative phase in the development of user-centred product design. There are growing numbers of usability research being conducted for different types of websites in Malaysia. However, little research has been done to investigate the usability level of homestay websites in Malaysia. The main objective of this preliminary study is to evaluate the usability of homestay websites in Malaysia by using various automated tools. The study has evaluated 347 homestay websites in Malaysia from the Cari Homestay portal website by using automated tools such as Web Page Analyzer (from Website Optimization) and Dead Link Checker tool. The data were analyzed by using descriptive analysis. The descriptive analysis showed that there are existences of usability issues such as violation of usability guidelines in terms of (i) page size, (ii) broken links and (iii) download speed. Relevant recommendations that can be used by the web developer to improve the website were also being provided. Future work may include series of interviews with real users to share experience on the interaction and perceptions towards the websites.