Abstract

Culture shapes most human behaviour, including interaction with computers.
In much Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research, culture is assumed to
impact design preferences. However, many cultural variables identified in the
general literature have no clear link to design preferences. In this thesis, we
develop a new model, the Diamond Model, to structure a wide range of
cultural variables. This is used to organise a literature review of cultural
variables and their impact in HCI, as well as to identify instances of Jordanian
cultural variables, which is the focus of field studies in this thesis. The
balance and range of cultural variables in the Diamond Model suggests that
culture should have impact beyond design preferences, and should also
influence how users react to, explain and evaluate difficulties when using
computers. To investigate whether this was the case, a series of field studies
was carried out to explore the balance between the impact of culture on
design preferences and on reactions to usage difficulties. Each field study
found Jordanian instances for cultural variables in the Diamond Model, but
also added further cultural variables that had not been identified in either the
general or the HCI literature. In the process, we identified more cultural
variables that influenced reactions to usage difficulties in Jordan than
influenced design preferences. This thesis presents the Diamond Model,
applies it to existing literature on culture and HCI, and uses it to structure
analysis of results from three field studies. The result is an extended
Diamond Model with specific Jordanian instances of cultural variables.
However, this alone may not help software developers to understand how
culture impacts HCI in Jordan. To complement the Diamond Model, we
developed a novel approach called “Dramatic Sketches” to communicate
impact of cultural variables on HCI. We present example Dramatic sketches
and conclude with guidance on developing software for Jordanian contexts.