Technology and culture: Despite the apparent universality of technology, it's a mistake to ignore differences, not only in culture but also in age and gender, when working on UI and design.

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by Geoff Koch, writer. Intel Corp.

From San Francisco to Singapore, Helsinki to Hyderabad, devices such as the cell phone and laptop computer are familiar icons of modern culture. But despite the apparent universality of technology, it's a mistake to ignore differences—not only in culture, but also in age and gender—when working on user interface (UI) and design.

"Any good design or UI requires some sympathy with the culture in which the device will be used," said Genevieve Bell, an Intel social scientist who studies how cultures make sense of technology.

Countless design examples defy common sense, at least when seen in different cultural contexts. Consider the case of wireless routers, most of which are designed to blanket the average U.S. home with a Wi-Fi signal.

The problem is that average in the United States—approximately 2,200 square-feet—is palatial in Europe and Asia, where more densely packed homes average 1,000 and 800 square feet, respectively. A new wireless router in a Berlin or Beijing home often booms its signal out to several neighbors, as well.

Given that a router's throughput is divided by its total number of users, the customer who was happy to install Wi-Fi for her family of four might grumble to learn she is instead supporting 16 or 20 nearby wireless Web surfers—especially if a few of them are bandwidth-hungry teens.

Metaphors lead to different results

Around the world, people are hungry for contact and communication with friends and family, a near universal human quality that helps to explain the cell phone's popularity. Cell phones do not require keyboarding skills or even literacy. Most people still use cell phones to talk to others in their own language—an activity that translates well across cultures.

In contrast, the simple act of e-mailing does not always bridge the cultural divide. Bell recalls of story of an Indian man who tried to send an e-mail to his daughter only to receive a bounce-back message from the postmaster.

The man, relatively unfamiliar with personal computers, assumed that a flesh and blood postal official had replied. So he began an e-mail negotiation of sorts, continuing to appeal to the postmaster for help in reaching his daughter and continuing to have his e-mails returned. By the time the man figured out his daughter's correct e-mail address, he was enraged.

This rage might provoke laughter in the United States. However, Bell considers the story to be poignant and the man's behavior to perfectly reasonable.



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