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Abstract:
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Users of computers and the Internet now vary widely in terms of language, values, traditions, and other dimensions of culture. However, much of the software that allows us to interact with computers (and to some extent each other) was designed by and for Westerners in the US or Western Europe. To what extent do these designs limit the use of, and insight from, computer systems for individuals who, because of their culture, may not interact with the computer in ways that the designers expect or intend? This paper will suggest and support the notion that culture could play a larger role in the design of graphical (geo)data representations for worldwide users. This paper develops a research framework that is rich with testable and important hypotheses concerning the influence of the cultural background of target users of graphical representations of geostatistical data for the internet.
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