Global Information Architecture Workshop

Slide 1: ASIS&T IA Summit Pre- Conference | asis@asis.org Global Information Architecture Workshop. Peter Van Dijck – April 11, 2008.

Slide 2: Today 1. Introduction. 2. Categories are cultural. 3. What happens when classifications go global? 4. Classifying people & work. 5. Developing locales. 6. Break. 7. Locale switcher. 8. Global gateway. 9. Content availability indicator. 10. Alphabetical order. 11. Translating taxonomies. 12. Intercultural user research. (tag: globalia)

Slide 3: What is culture? 1. Culture comes in layers: 1. Visible products of culture. (symbols, laws, products, practices, …) 2. Values and norms, that become invisible. 2. Culture shows up at different levels – Countries, regions – Generations – Gender – Social class – Professional groups – Religions – … 3. Everyone belongs to multiple cultures.

Slide 4: Myths about culture & technology. 1. The myth of globalization as cultural standardization. – People give meaning to artifacts & practices. 2. The myth that there is one path of technological evolution. – Technology and culture interact, are co- created.

Slide 5: Biga Peula (Kiriwina, New Guinea) Potentially disruptive, unredeemable true statements. Categories are cultural.

Slide 6: The continents Seven Continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, ● Oceania, South America. ●Seven Continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, Australia, South America. (in USA) ●Six Continents: Africa, Antarctica, Oceania, Eurasia, North America, and South America. ●Six Continents: Africa, America, Antarctica, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. ●Five Continents: Africa, America, Oceania, Antarctica, Eurasia. ●Five Continents: Africa, America, Oceania, Europe, Asia. (in Europe and South America) ●Four Continents: America, Oceania, Antarctica, Eurafrasia.

Slide 7: Let’s organize this mess once and for all.

Slide 8: Dewey Decimal System • 210 Natural theology • 220 Bible • 230 Christian Theology • 240 Christian moral & devotional theology • 250 Christian orders & local churches • 260 Christian social theology • 270 Christian church history • 280 Christian denominations & sects • 290 Other and comparative religions – 294 Religions of Indic origin • 294.3 Buddhism

Slide 9: Why hasn’t it been updated? 1. Categories become embedded in infrastructure. 2. There is no one categorization that works for everyone.

Slide 10: The Maori

Slide 12: The Craigslist mistake

Slide 14: Bias.

Slide 15: Recap: categories are cultural • Categories are cultural • Dewey’s lessons: – Categories are embedded in infrastructure. – There is no taxonomy that works for everyone. • The Craigslist mistake. • Don’t be afraid of bias.

Slide 16: Kyoikumama (Japanese) Mother who pushes her children into academic achievement [noun] What happens when classification systems go global?

Slide 17: Introducing IA archeology • Geoffrey C. Bower & Susan Leigh Star researched the ICD, a long lived, global taxonomy, from a social science point of view.

Slide 18: ICD examples

Slide 19: The ICD. • Worldwide: every country of the world uses some version of the ICD. – The ICD is ubiquitous in medical information systems. • Long lived (origins in the late 19th century), and still used today. • Multiple audiences. Used by different groups: doctors (MD’s), statisticians, insurance companies, … – It’s taught to medical practitioners.

Slide 20: Multiple audiences worldwide • Countries: gathered in developed & less developed countries. • Cultures: differences in culture cause different classifications. • Audiences: different needs of doctors, epidemiologists and statisticians. – Used by states, hospitals, insurance companies. – More interested parties: industrial firms & pharmaceutical companies, …

Slide 21: Standards & workarounds • The divergence in worldviews is dealt with by standardizing … • Which is responded to with workarounds. – The “other” category becomes very useful, or the first or default choice. • There is no perfect solution for this tension between central and local.

Slide 22: Recap: classification systems that go global: Touch more audiences … • – with their own priorities & worldviews. • Attempt to standardize … – which is responded to with workarounds.

Slide 23: Classifying People & Work.

Slide 24: Classifying people. 1977: 1997: • Please choose your race • Please choose your race (only one): (one or more): - White - American Indian or Alaska - Black Native - American Indian and Alaskan - Black or African American Native - Native Hawaiian or Other - Asian and Pacific Islander Pacific Islander - White • Please choose your - Some Other Race ethnicity: - Hispanic • Please choose your ethnicity - Non-hispanic (only one): - Hispanic - Non-Hispanic

Slide 25: Classifying work. • Work classification is used for lots of purposes: – accounting, quality management, recordkeeping, business processes, legitimization of work practice, etc…

Slide 27: Recap • Consider the consequences when classifying people (& work). – Careful with limiting categories. • Don’t assume your local classifications of people & work will globalize easily.

Slide 28: Maya (Sanskrit) The mistaken belief that a symbol is the same as the reality it represents. [noun] Developing locales.

Slide 29: Language complexity • Most countries have multiple languages and some languages are spoken in many countries. • UK: – Native languages: Welsh, Scottish, Cornish, Manx, Irish. – No official language (as the USA). – English reaches everyone. • Belgium: – French, Dutch and German official languages. – French & Dutch required. • Local version preferred but not required. • Switzerland: – German, French, Italian and about 1% Romansh. – International written versions of these are ok, although locally spoken versions are different. • China: – Lots of languages and dialects, Mandarin is the most common. – 2 versions of written language: Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. – For PRC (Mainland China) or Singapore: Simplified Chinese. For Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau: Traditional Chinese (with a few differences for Hong Kong and Macau).

Slide 30: Languages spoken • Yiddish linguist Max Weinrich: “A language is a dialect with an army and a navy” • Most people in the world are native speakers of more than 1 language. • India: – Over 100 languages spoken (427 total). – English and Hindi are the most universal. – Provinces have local languages (Malayalam for Kerala). – Indian English is quite different from American or British English. ("Dear Sir, with reference to your above see my below.“) • Africa: – 1000s of languages • Nigeria has 516 spoken languages. Congo 216. – Most people speak 2, 3 or 4 languages natively. – Trade languages include Swahili, and since colonization French (West Africa) and English (East Africa).

Slide 31: Global languages • English, Spanish, Portuguese and French (and others) are spoken in many countries, but have different versions. • English: British and American English separate (esp. for consumers), but use American if you have to choose, unless you’re based in the UK. – Indian English is very different (“You're going, isn't it?”, “I am understanding it.”). (Like Black English, but Indian English has an army and a navy.) – Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa probably prefer British English. • French: European French is somewhat different from Canadian French, but not much. • Spanish: each country has its own variant, but you can use "Latin American Spanish” for Latin America and European Spanish for Spain. – USA Spanish becomes Spanglish. – “Universal Spanish” is also possible. • Portuguese: Brazilian and European Portuguese are so far apart that you need two separate versions.

Slide 32: What are locales • Terminology: internationalize & localize. • A locale is traditionally a country-language combination. • User expectations are going up: – average website in John Yunker’s report is localized in 20 languages. Google search is available in 117 languages.

Slide 33: How to get started Look at locale structure • Think markets, not languages •

Slide 34: Typical example

Slide 35: Which languages? • English is the new trade • Easy recipe: language. – Latin languages first: English & Spanish. • Top 10 spoken languages: – Next: French, German, 1. English Portuguese (they’re easy). 2. French – Next: Russian & Hindu-Urdu (not 3. Spanish (Latin America) easy markets to enter though). 4. Russian 5. Arabic (middle east) – Next: Mandarin & Japanese 6. Chinese (harder to localize for). 7. German – Next: Arabic (hardest to localize 8. Japanese for – left to right!) 9. Portuguese (Brazil) 10. Hindu-Urdu (India) • Most internet users: 1. China 2. USA 3. Japan 4. Germany 5. UK

Slide 36: Locale structure Translate the UI .com Template site. .com .co.uk .be .cn Separate sites .com .co.uk .be .cn

Slide 37: When to use: • UI translated. Content is the Translate the UI same (either all translated or – Social networks not, for user generated (Myspace, Flickr, …) content). – Simple brochuresites. Templated site. • Central templates with local – Intranets adjustments. – Product companies (Dell, …) Separate sites: • UI can diverge over time. Content is local. Categories – Marketplaces (eBay, can be different. Craigslist, Amazon)

Slide 38: Hyperlocalize • Specialized, very local locales that have a large population and often a lot of pride in their localness.

Slide 39: Overlapping locales • Locales have a strong tendency to float and overlap.

Slide 43: Domain names • Everything under mysite.com, or local domains (mysite.co.uk, mysite.fr, …). – Don’t use domain names for language locales, use fr.mysite.com or mysite.com/fr/ instead. • Don’t necessarily translate myword.com into monmot.fr – Legal consequences: hosting locally, availability of domain names, … – Think about your markets, and don’t be afraid of a mixed strategy. • Translate branding domains (advertising campaigns, …). • International domain names are coming (2009 - …).

Slide 44: Business.

Slide 45: A word about effect on business strategy. • Business processes • Marketing & branding • Revenue: – Top 3 users of Orkut: 66% in Brazil, 10% in the USA, 7% in Iran. – Advertising (USA) versus digital goods (Asia) for social networks. • Don’t go global, go regional. – Effects on business (offices, business processes, adjustments in product offerings, …) tend to scale to regions, not global.

Slide 46: Recap: locales Languages. • Locale structure. • • Hyperlocalize. • Overlapping locales. • Domain names. Effects on business & strategy. •

Slide 47: Exercise: Latin America locales • You’re at a social network X (competes with Facebook & such), currently US English only, and you need to come up with a strategy to expand to “Latin America” (no detail was given).

Slide 48: Break.

Slide 49: Locale switcher.

Slide 50: The basics • Locale naming: – Use “Français” instead of “French”. – Careful with flags. • Show current locale. • Let user switch. • Remember settings.

Slide 53: Kulikov (Yiddish) Legal judgment made for pragmatic reasons. [adjective] Global Gateway.

Slide 54: Basics See locale switcher, plus: • Just the locales; 1 page. • Still keep locale switcher on site. • Two styles: gateway first, or homepage first. Gateway Site Gateway Site

Slide 60: Content availability.

Slide 61: Content availability indicator • Shows other available languages for content. • Use when: – User is not seeing content in their language, but other languages are available. – User may want to see alternative options.

Slide 62: Alphabetical ordering.

Slide 66: Fucha (Polish) Using company time and resources for your own ends. [verb] Translating taxonomies.

Slide 67: Translating taxonomies. • Taxonomies depend on content, users & context. • Ambiguity of the taxonomy affects translatability: – technical terms -> country list -> subject category. – Unambiguous … -> ... Very ambiguous.

Slide 68: Issues with translating taxonomies 1. Semantic overlap 2. Differences in granularity 3. Differences in hierarchy 4. Untranslatable concepts

Slide 69: 1. Semantic overlap Very few words match up exactly between two languages. Context is needed to clarify. GIRL: Girl = niña, chica, joven or hija. A female child. An immature or inexperienced woman, especially a young woman. A daughter: our youngest girl. Informal. A grown woman: a night out with the girls. A female who comes from or girl belongs to a particular fille place: a city girl. Offensive. A female servant, such as a maid. A female sweetheart: cadets escorting their girls to the niña ball.

Slide 70: 2. Differences in granularity • Germans don’t have a word for skidding, but they do have two words, Rutschen and Schleudern, for skidding forwards and skidding sideways. skidding n/a rutschen schleudern Skidding sideways Skidding forwards

Slide 71: 3. Differences in hierarchy livesto betail • French hierarchy: Betail > gros betail > boeuf ck English hierarchy: livestock > — > cattle Gros n/a betail banana boeuf cattle n/a n/a platano platano banana

Slide 72: 4. Untranslatable concepts • Some concepts don’t have a translation but can be explained, others cannot be explained completely. – Also between different user groups (doctors and patients, for example).

Slide 73: Being practical 1. Develop centrally, translate and adjust locally if needed (the Dewey Decimal approach). 2. Develop in each locale (the eBay approach).

Slide 74: Zwischenraum (German) The space between things. [noun] Intercultural user research.

Slide 75: Team composition – Nepalese antropologist Rajendra Pradhan: “Believe believe believe, that’s what everyone here talks about.” – Researcher (elderly black lady): “People told me they opened up to me because of my color and grey hairs”. • Recognize that you have blind spots, and think about your team composition.

Slide 76: Gut feel. • Jorge Arango: “It looks too dry”. • You can’t rely on gut feel to evaluate for other cultures.

Slide 79: The usefulness of culture shock • “Studying culture without experiencing culture shock is like practicing to swim without water.” • Test for “angry”, with locals.

Slide 80: Adapting your methodology • UX methodology is US/Western centered. • Evaluating content for immigrant students. – English & Spanish versions. – Different content. • Talk out loud is a typical problem. – Bollywood technique (invented by Apala Lahiri Chavan).

Slide 81: Recap 1. Team composition • Recognize that you have blind spots, and think about your team composition. 2. Gut feel • You can’t rely on gut feel to evaluate for other cultures. 3. The usefulness of culture shock • Test for angry 4. Adapting your methodology • UX methodology is US/Western centered.

Slide 82: Kekau (Indonesian) To awaken from a nightmare. [verb] Recap of today & discussion.

Slide 83: Recap & discussion 1. Introduction. 2. Categories are cultural. 3. What happens when classifications go global? 4. Classifying people & work. 5. Developing locales. 6. Break. 7. Locale switcher. 8. Global gateway. 9. Content availability indicator. 10. Alphabetical order. 11. Translating taxonomies. 12. Intercultural user research.

Slide 84: Wei-wu-wei (Chinese) Conscious nonaction; the act of not acting. [verb] Thank you.

Slide 85: Recommended books • Sorting things out – classification and its consequences. – Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star. • Riding the waves of culture – understanding diversity in global business. – Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner. • Keywords – a vocabulary of culture and society. – Raymond Williams. • Word on the street – debunking the myth of a “pure” standard English. – John McWhorter • Women, Fire and Dangerous Things – What categories reveal about the Mind. – George Lakoff • Cultures and organizations – software of the mind – intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. – Geert Hofstede. • They have a word for it – a lighthearted lexicon of untransltable words & phrases. – Howard Rheingold. • Redefining global strategy – crossing borders in a world where differences still matter. – Pankaj Ghemawat • The platypus and the mermaid – and other figments of the classifying imagination. – Harriet Ritvo