MEANING, THE CENTRAL ISSUE IN CROSS-CULTURAL HCI DESIGN

In this paper, we focus on the design of systems intended to be shared by culturally heterogeneous users (e.g., users of Computer-Supported Go-operative Work, (CSCW) and Internee applications). We discuss the l imitations of current approaches to designing interfaces for culturall y diverse users - such as internationalisation and localisation - befo re describing a study conducted to elicit and understand culturally de termined usability problems, in which a World-Wide Web (WWW) system wa s evaluated. It is concluded that culturally determined usability prob lems converge in the understanding of representations the meanings of which are rooted in culturally specific contexts. We explain why exist ing approaches are inadequate for dealing with this issue. In conclusi on, we outline an HCI approach, called Meaning in Mediated Action (MMA ), designed to tackle this problem. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Sci ence B.V.