Descripción de la propuesta final

Research  has  indicated  that  why  and  how  users  use  SNSs  is  affected  by  cultural  norms,   codes  and  values  prevalent  in  their  cultures  (Arola,  2010).  Comparing  U.S.  and  Korean  college   students’  motives  and  patterns  of  using  SNSs,  Kim  et  al.  (Bray,  2005;  Yoojung  Kim  et  al.,  2011)   find  that,  although  the  major  motives  of  using  SNSs—connecting  to  friends,  seeking  social   support  entertainment,  information  and  convenience—are  similar  between  the  two  cultural   groups,  the  value,  or  weight,  they  assign  to  these  motives  differs.  For  instance,  while  Korean   users  tend  to  use  SNSs  more  often  to  seek  support  from  existing  relationships,  which  requires   deeper  involvement  and  commitment,  U.S.  users  tend  to  use  SNSs  for  casual  relationships  or  to   seek  entertainment.    

The  differences  in  SNS  users’  motives  and  usage  that  connect  to  their  cultures  exist  even   in  cultures  that  share  a  common  origin  or  are  closely  related.  Comparing  U.S.  and  European   users,  Vasalou  et  al.  (2011)  conclude  that  culture  is  a  factor  that  influences  users’  “true  

commitment”  to  using  a  certain  SNS,  manifested  in  activities  through  which  users  create  value   and  content,  stay  active  and  loyal,  and  involve  others.  In  this  particular  case,  the  authors  note,   the  factor  of  culture  even  has  greater  impact  on  users’  activities  than  their  experience  with   technology,  or  technological  literacy,  in  general.    

At  the  same  time,  studies  have  shown  that  designers  in  different  cultures  have  

intentionally  or  unintentionally  designed  SNSs  that  reflect  the  cultural  values  and  norms  of  their   intended  users.  For  instance,  interview  responses  of  users  of  Cyword,  a  Korea-­‐based  SNS,   suggested  that  Cyword’s  design  supports  users  to  maintain  relationships  transferred  from  the   offline  world  in  Korea’s  collectivist  culture  (2010).  SNS  designers  in  different  cultures  design   rhetorical  styles  customized  so  that  they  are  culturally  appropriate  and  effective  for  their  target   users  (K.-­‐H.  Kim  &  Yun,  2008).  In  a  comparative  study  between  the  U.S.-­‐based  SNS  Facebook   and  the  Japan-­‐based  Mixi,  for  instance,  the  researchers  find  that  the  style  of  persuasion   designs—rhetorical  practices  that  aim  at  motivating  users  to  take  specific  target  actions—for   these  two  websites  mirror  their  cultural  values  and  norms  (Fogg  &  Iizawa,  2008).  As  Facebook’s   persuasion  design  tends  to  be  more  assertive  and  mechanistic,  Mixi’s  appears  to  be  subtle  and   indirect  (Fogg  &  Iizawa,  2008).    

The  literature  review  above  shows  that  with  the  growth  of  SNS  use  across  the  globe,   especially  in  cultures  other  than  that  of  Europe  and  North  America,  there  is  a  need  in  the  design   of  SNSs  to  consider  the  cultural  contexts  of  use.  On  the  other  hand,  understanding  the  deep   connection  between  design  and  its  cultural  context  opens  up  opportunities  for  developers  and   designers  to  improve  SNS  design  for  users.  Despite  the  need  for  knowledge  and  practice  of  a   culturally  conscious  approach  to  SNS  design,  not  much  research  has  been  done  to  further  our  

understanding  of  culture’s  role  and  influence  in  shaping  the  design  of  SNSs  besides  the  pieces   aforementioned  in  this  section.  In  the  next  section,  I  review  the  literature  in  general  website   cultural  usability  research  to  lay  out  the  foundation  for  the  present  study,  and  further  discuss   the  gaps  in  the  existing  research  as  well  as  the  need  for  new  research.    

Technical  and  professional  communicators  have  carried  out  research  to  explore  the   impact  of  national  or  ethnic  culture  on  website  design  and  user  experience  since  the  late  1990s   (Fogg  &  Iizawa,  2008).  Arnold  pointed  out  the  increasingly  diverse  cultural  backgrounds  of  web   users  at  the  time  compelled  technical  communicators  to  start  paying  attention  to  designing   web-­‐based  content  with  the  consideration  of  users’  cultural  diversity  (Arnold,  1998;  St.  Amant,   2005;  Zahedi,  Van  Pelt,  &  Song,  2001).  Terms  such  as  “culturability”  and  “cultural  usability”  are   used  to  call  attention  to  culture’s  influence  on  website  usability  as  well  as  the  usability  of   software  for  international  use  (Arnold,  1998).  

Empirical  research  in  website  cultural  usability  shares  two  main  objectives,  as  identified   by  Badre  (Badre,  2000;  Barber  &  Badre,  1998).  The  first  is  to  “identify  and  study  design  

standards  and  conventions  that  distinguish  cultures  as  manifested  in  existing  Web  pages”  and   the  second  is  to  “understand  how  cultural  influences  lead  to  variations  in  peoples’  behaviors   and  practices”  (2000).    

To  achieve  the  first  objective,  researchers  carry  out  studies  in  which  they  analyze   features  of  websites  designed  in  different  cultures  and  identify  what  Barber  and  Badre  (Badre,   2000,  p.  3)  call  “cultural  marks,”  or,  “interface  design  elements  and  features  that  are  prevalent,   and  possibly  preferred,  within  a  particular  cultural  group”  (par.  3).  Barber  and  Badre  (1998)   argue  that  a  cultural  marker,  such  as  a  national  symbol,  color,  or  spatial  organization,  for  

example,  denotes  a  conventionalized  use  of  the  feature  in  the  web-­‐site,  not  an  anomalous   feature  that  occurs  infrequently”  and  thus  “signif[ies]  a  cultural  affiliation”  (par.  3).  By   identifying  cultural  markers  on  websites  designed  in  a  particular  culture,  researchers  and   designers  can  develop  guidelines  for  designing  the  same  type  of  websites  for  users  within  this   culture  (1998).    

Another  approach  to  website  cultural  usability  research  focuses  on  the  relationship   between  the  user’s  culture  and  how  they  use  the  web  and  perceive  design.  Researchers  taking   this  approach  observe,  analyze,  and  compare  users’  attitudes  about  web  design  and  how  users   use  websites  in  different  cultures  (Amant,  2005;  Cyr  &  Trevor-­‐Smith,  2004;  Fraternali  &  Tisi,   2008;  Nitish  Singh  &  Pereira,  2005).  Research  has  shown  that  users  from  different  cultures   respond  differently  to  concrete  and  abstract  representations  and  that  thematic  and  functional   structures  and  their  performance  can  be  improved  through  learning  even  when  using  website   not  designed  to  their  preferences  (Arnold,  1998;  Choong  &  Salvendy,  1999;  Sapienza,  2008).   Others  show  that  users’  cultural  backgrounds  play  a  substantial  role  in  determining  website   design  preferences  and  attitudes,  and  the  effectiveness  of  website  cultural  customization  is   affected  by  how  strong  the  user  identifies  with  her  ethnic  culture  (Choong  &  Salvendy,  1999).    

Many  studies  in  cross-­‐cultural  web  design  and/or  web  cultural  usability  have  used   Hofstede’s  cultural  dimensions  theory  and  Hall’s  cultural  contexting  theory  as  discussed  in  the   previous  section  (Hall,  1983,  1989;  Hall  &  Hall,  1990;  Hofstede,  2001;  Hofstede  et  al.,  2010).   Some  of  these  studies  are  design-­‐focused,  and  rely  on  the  assumption  of  conventions  and  use   actual  websites  as  objects  of  inquiry  (Ackerman,  2002;  Cyr  &  Trevor-­‐Smith,  2004;  H.  Kim  et  al.,   2009;  Marcus  &  Gould,  2000;  Nitish  Singh  &  Pereira,  2005).  These  studies  often  analyze  

elements  on  websites  designed  locally,  i.e.,  designed  in  the  geographically  local  location  and  by   designers  from  the  local  culture,  and  summarize  the  patterns  of  design  and  conventions  found   on  websites  designed  in  and  for  certain  cultures.  Other  studies  test  user’s  performance  in  the   lab  setting  or  examine  users’  perception  on  certain  designs  or  design  elements  that  are  

representative  of  characteristics  considered  typical  to  certain  cultures  (Badre,  2000;  Gevorgyan   &  Manucharova,  2009).    

Previous  research  in  website  cultural  usability  has  established  the  importance  of   considering  users’  cultural  backgrounds  in  website  design,  but  its  narrow  focus  on  the  visual   presentation  of  information  limits  its  application  on  exploring  the  impact  of  culture  on  the   design  of  SNSs  in  the  Web  2.0  era.  For  instance,  Badre  (Callahan,  2006)  has  listed  “colors,   spatial  organization,  fonts,  shapes,  icons  and  metaphors,  geography,  language,  flags,  sounds,   and  motion”  as  design  elements  that  “contribute  to  the  design  and  content  of  a  Web  page,   which  directly  affects  the  way  that  a  user  interacts  with  the  site.”  These  are  the  design  concerns   of  many  researchers  in  cultural  usability  (Badre,  2000,  p.  2).  Others  examine  the  connection   between  culture  and  the  design  architecture  of  websites,  such  as  superstructure,  chunking,  and   navigation  (Callahan,  2006;  Cyr  &  Trevor-­‐Smith,  2004;  Nitish  Singh  &  Pereira,  2005).  The  central   concern  of  these  studies  is  how  information  is  presented,  rather  than  how  information  and   activities  are  mediated  through  design.  As  Sun  (McCool,  2006)  has  pointed  out,  website   localization  specialists  often  focus  their  attention  on  the  “delivery  aspects  of  technology”  but   neglect  the  complexities  of  the  actual  practice  and  activities  users  carry  out  when  interact  with   technology  and  with  each  other  through  technology  in  a  certain  cultural  context.  The  research,   thus,  is  mainly  concerned  with  what  Hoft  (2006,  p.  460)  calls  “general  localization”  rather  than  

“radical  localization”  that  “incorporates  cultural  differences  that  affect  the  way  users  think,  feel,   and  act,  above  and  beyond  the  superficial  differences.”  Accordingly,  in  these  studies,  

researchers  focus  narrowly  on  the  design  of  graphical  user  interface  (GUI),  and  neglect  other   important  components  in  the  UI.  For  instance,  Johnson  (1998)  argues  that  rather  than  the   “covering”  of  the  system,  the  interface  “can  consist  of  the  materials  that  explain  a  system’s   functions,  like  instructional  materials  or  documentation”  (p.  27).  In  the  case  of  SNSs,  function   features  and  network  regulations  and  policies  that  stipulate  users’  rights  are  particular   important  components  of  the  UI.  

To  bridge  this  gap,  I  conduct  a  comparative  study  of  the  design  of  microblogging  SNSs   Twitter  designed  in  the  United  States  and  Sina  Weibo  designed  in  China  to  answer  the  following   research  questions:  

1. Whether  the  designs  of  Twitter  and  Sina  Weibo  indicate  changes  in  the   identity  of  microblogging  SNS  when  it  is  transferred  to  and  localized  in  China?   2. What  are  the  implications  of  the  findings  in  the  impact  of  culture  on  

technological  identities  of  SNSs  as  well  as  usability  research  and  practice?   By  answering  these  questions,  I  hope  to  further  the  understanding  of  culture’s  impact   on  SNS  design  and  their  identities  as  they  are  transferred  across  cultures.  At  the  same  time,  I   want  to  offer  a  point-­‐in-­‐time  comparison  between  the  designs  of  the  SNSs  in  the  two  countries   when  the  two  markets  are  not  yet  completely  integrated,  which  will  offer  a  reference  for  future   studies  in  the  effects  of  a  globalized  economy  on  cross-­‐cultural  technology  transfer.    

Methodologically,  I  propose  a  new  method  of  user-­‐centered,  function-­‐oriented,   qualitative  analysis  of  SNS  design,  informed  by  the  user-­‐centered  cultural  usability  approach  

and  the  theory  of  technological  identity.  With  this  method,  the  focus  of  the  analysis  of  the  SNS   design  will  be  the  design  elements  of  both  functions  and  user  interface  that  support  users’   activities  on  the  SNS  and  affect  users’  experience  of  using  the  SNS.  This  methodological   approach  broadens  the  scope  of  the  research  in  cultural  usability  from  visual  elements  to   functions,  and  from  instrumental  and  operational  affordances  to  social  affordances.  

Theoretically,  I  hope  to  introduce  the  theory  of  technological  identity  to  technical   communication  as  a  research  paradigm  in  web  cultural  usability  research,  and  to  enrich  the   theory  of  technological  identity  by  introducing  a  user-­‐centered  technology  perspective.