Dotan, Zaphiris - 2010 - A cross-cultural analysis of Flickr users from Peru , Israel , Iran , Taiwa

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Int. J. Web Based Communities, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2010

A cross-cultural analysis of Flickr users from Peru, Israel, Iran, Taiwan and the UK Amir Dotan and Panayiotis Zaphiris* Centre for HCI Design, School of Informatics, City University London, Northampton Square, EC1V 0HB London E-mail: sbbc739@soi.city.ac.uk E-mail: panayiotis.zaphiris@cut.ac.cy *Corresponding author Abstract: In this paper, we describe a study exploring cultural differences in user-generated content websites using Flickr, a popular social photo-sharing site, as a case study. The increased popularity of socially driven websites has created new challenges with regard to cross-cultural system design and localisation. This research aimed to identify some of these challenges and help bring cross-cultural usability studies up-to-date with the latest trends on the internet. It also sought to explore the usefulness of Geert Hofstede’s popular cultural model for studies of this sort. Findings reveal differences as well as similarities regarding tagging patterns and use of language to annotate content between the five chosen national cultures. These insights could inform the future localisation and internationalisation of user-generated content driven sites like Flickr and You Tube. Keywords: culture; localisation; cross-cultural design; CMC; Web 2.0; UGC; Peru; Israel; Iran; Taiwan; UK. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Dotan, A. and Zaphiris, P. (2010) ‘A cross-cultural analysis of Flickr users from Peru, Israel, Iran, Taiwan and the UK’, Int. J. Web Based Communities, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp.284–302. Biographical notes: Amir Dotan is a Researcher at the Centre for HumanComputer Interaction Design, School of Informatics of City University London. Prior to joining City University, he worked as a Lecturer, teaching web development, interface design and HCI as part of an undergraduate multimedia arts degree programme. His research interests lie in HCI with an emphasis on interaction design, social and cultural aspects. Panayiotis Zaphiris is an Associate Professor in the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts of Cyprus University of Technology. Panayiotis has a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from Wayne State University, USA. He also has an MSc in Systems Engineering and a BSc in Electrical Engineering both from University of Maryland, College Park, USA. He has worked for a number of years at the Centre for HCI Design of City University London where he reached the rank of Reader in HCI. His research areas are in the area of Human Computer Interaction, Social Computing and Inclusive Design with an emphasis on the design of interactive systems for people with disabilities and the elderly.

Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.


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