Localization of Web Sites: Is there still a need for it? Abdalghani Mushtaha WISE lab International Workshop on Web Engineering Hypertext 2004

Overview Localization Purpose of our Research The Pilot Experiment Constraints and Limits Method Results Discussion of the Pilot Experiment Webmaster Survey Discussion Further Research © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Localization Adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and give it a local ‘look-and-feel’ Localization not only about translation but also the adaptation to culture is considered important Most work in (software) localization is based on Hofstede’s theory Geert Hofstede collected and analyzed from 1967 to 1973 data from over 100,000 individuals from 53 countries. he identifies 5 primary dimensions to differentiate cultures power distance collectivism-individualism masculinity-femininity uncertainty avoidance long and short-term orientation © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Localization of Web Sites Usually based on Hofstede’s theory Marcus and Gould , Dormann and Chisalita apply the cultures dimensions to global web interface sites. (detect the existence of culture markers. Apply those dimensions to global web interface design). Several studies which investigated the impact of culture dimensions on web interface design. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Purpose of our Research We also assumed that web interface designs would be influenced by the culture in which they originate. Small-scale action research to verify this However, the results were different! © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

The Pilot Experiment Purpose: To determine the extent to which the homepage design of local web sites reflected the Hofstede score assigned to their country for different cultural dimensions. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

The Pilot Experiment Constraints and Limits Only 4 of the 5 cultural dimensions: Power Distance: degree of equality, or inequality, between people in the country's society Collectivism-Individualism: degree the society reinforces individual or collective, achievement and interpersonal relationships Masculinity-femininity: The traditional masculine work role model of male achievement, control, and power. Uncertainty Avoidance: level of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within the society - i.e. unstructured situations. Only one application domain: University web sites Evaluation of only the homepage Focus on the visual parameters (images, symbols, logos, etc) and design elements (color, lay-out, etc) © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Method(1) 16 student. Each dimension was examined by 4 students. PDI -------------- Malaysia Guatemal Panama Philippines Mexico Venezuela Arab countries Equador ….. Switzerland Finland Norway Sweden Ireland New Zealand Denmark Israel Austria IDV USA Australia Great Britain Canada Netherlands Italy Belgium Peru Costa Rica Pakistan Indonesia Colombia Guatemala MAS Japan Jamaica Portugal Chile Yugoslavia UAI Greece Uruguay Salvador India Hong Kong Singapore 16 student. Each dimension was examined by 4 students. Within one dimension, each student examined 10 university homepages. 5 universities at least 3 of the seven highest ranked countries. 5 universities, from at least 3 of the nine lowest ranked countries. In total, 40 homepages were analyzed per dimension. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Method(2) Students filled out a questionnaire, which asked to: Give a general impression of the homepage check the adjectives they felt to be relevant to the homepage (attractive, formal, simple, clear, nice, dark…) Rate from 1 to 5 the cultural values extracted from Hofstede’s theory, for the homepage 1 = not applicable ... 5 = strongly applicable. Rate from 1 to 5 if the homepage reflected the expected (high or low) score. Describe the main differences in design between the 5 high-score homepages and the 5 low-score homepages. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Results - Quantitative Results(1) Number of ticks and the scores. Power Distance: No significant differences in the adjectives ticked. No significant difference in the score of the cultural values. An average score of 2.5 for homepages from high power distance, and an average score of 3.4 for homepages from low power distance. Collectivism-Individualism: No difference in the adjectives ticked. For individualistic countries’ homepage: individual interests prevail over collective interests. An average score of 2.95 for individualistic and of 3.05 for collectivist countries. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Results - Quantitative Results(2) Masculinity-Femininity: The adjective “nice” was ticked more often for feminine countries. No significant difference in the score of the cultural values. An average score of 1.45 for homepages from Masculinity counties!  hardly reflected any masculinity An average score of 3.25 for homepages from feminine countries. Uncertainty Avoidance: No significant differences in the adjectives ticked. An average score of 2.6 for High Uncertain Avoidance and of 3 for Low Uncertain Avoidance . © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Results - Qualitative Results The students had to indicate how they perceived the expected cross-culture differences Findings: They mainly based their evaluation on the homepage’s pictures, graphical elements, size and positions. Sometimes, huge design differences among homepages from one single country. In power distance homepages, 8 of the 20 university homepage portrayed (laughing) students. In collectivist homepages, pictures of buildings or groups were found more prominently than in ‘individualistic’ homepages. Masculine homepages display some feminine values(10 of the 20). No difference in the complexity of the homepage between low and high uncertainty avoidance countries. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Discussion of the Pilot Experiment Except for the dimension collectivism-individualism, the cultural value orientations were not clearly ascertained by the students in the analyzed homepages Possible reasons: Random selection of web sites: some were too plain to evaluate Could our participants’ findings be ascribed to their own cultural background? Only focus on the visual elements (no content). Selected domain, university web sites, may had an impact on the result: target audience young and web site may display deliberately an international character. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Conclusions of the Pilot Experiment Two new hypotheses: Our students were unable to recognize culture-specific characteristics. Evaluated local homepages did not actually reflect local culture, as Hofstede’s theory would predict. So… We decided to query webmasters of university web sites. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Webmaster Survey (1) Objective Finding out the extent to which web development teams draw inspiration from existing web sites when (re)designing the university web site An online survey was sent to 233 webmasters. Several types of questions to mask our objective. We obtained 45 responses. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Webmaster Survey (2) Results Inspired by the design of other existing websites: 36% often, 58% occasional, and 6% never. 94% declaring that they are receptive to external influences: 54% claimed that they looked at in-country web sites 46% checked web sites of various origins. Most webmasters visit web sites from the same language countries. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Discussion (1) Our findings looks inconsistent with previous research findings Possible explanations limited scope of the study Concentrate on visual parameters. Comparison of two opposite poles of countries, but not of countries individually. Restricted to 4 of the 5 dimensions of Hofstede Only one application domain. The Web is ‘an international medium and inspiration comes from all over’ could imply a certain homogenization of cyberspace Hofstede’s theory is more than 30 years old. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Discussion (2) Possible Conclusion the Web seems to promote the emergence of a cosmopolitan online culture A hybrid culture With characteristics different from those of the traditional cultures The existing Web culture is the outcome of the communication and interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004

Further Research Will web sites really better fit users’ expectation if web developers take Hofstede’s cultural dimensions into account? More research is needed to revise the existing methods and guidelines for localization of web sites. To consider: What will be the attitude of the Internet User in the future? Some domains may be more sensitive to cultural difference than others. © Hélène Stengers, Olga De Troyer, Martine Baetens, Frank Boers, and Abdalghani N. Mushtaha 2004