Lee, Jung-Joo, and Salil Sayed.” Culturally Sensitive Design.” Design Connections, Helsinki (2008), 54-63.

I was tipped off to this article by Paul Wyss, Distance Librarian at MNSU. Design Connections is a publication of the University of Art and Design--Helsinki. Not surprisingly, it primarily focuses on design from an artistic standpoint. However, Paul advised me to examine even the most tangentially related journal articles for possible inclusion into my research, as one never knows what interesting nugget of information lies within an article.

This article by Lee and Sayed outlines the drawbacks of traditional methods for user-centered design, and suggests alternate ways to make human-centered design more culturally sensitive. The authors prefer the term "human-centered design" over "user-centered design", as the term "user" detracts from the human-ness of activity, whatever it may be. The authors mention that observations of cultures provide only snapshots of the particular culture. These snapshots may not hold true over time, as cultures are constantly changing and evolving. Snapshots also don't reveal "hidden" factors of a culture.

Traditional research methods for human-centered design include focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, and experiments. Adapted or innovative methods include observational research, ethnographies, and creative methods like card sorting, visual diaries, design workshops and cognitive mapping. The authors suggest that adapted or innovative methods can reveal richer results that engage the user in the design process. The user is now empowered, and provides the same level of contribution as the researcher or designer.

The concept of putting the work of the end user or participant at the same contribution level as the researcher is especially of interest to me. This seems like the best, most culturally sensitive way to develop materials, including visuals. In this sense, a technical communicator forms a true partnership with the user, and respects the knowledge that the user brings to the project.

Using visuals to make health materials more clear

Osborne, Helen. “In Other Words…Using Visuals and Other Creative Tools to Make Health Messages Clear.” On Call Magazine (May 8, 2008). http://www.healthliteracy.com/article.asp?PageID=7409 (accessed March 21, 2011).

In this artice from the now defunct On-Call magazine, health literacy expert Helen Osborne describes real-life examples of how different cultures perceive visuals differently. One example she cites involves a Peace Corps volunteer who used a projector to teach residents in a rural village in Columbia about the dangers of malaria. He showed several enlarged images of mosquitoes to the villagers. At the end of his presentation, the villagers told the volunteer they didn't have a problem with mosquitoes because the ones they had were not as big as the ones shown using the projector.

Osborne also cites practical methods that writers and educators can use to make their visuals more effective to the end user. Osborne suggests teaching end users what the visuals mean. Simply creating a visual and giving it to a user can lead to misinterpretation, which can have harmful results in the field of healthcare. Osborns also recommends using line drawings rather than photographs, as photographs often contain too much information that can overwhelm and distract the audience. Combining visuals with another method, such as songs, radio announcements, and contests help users better understand and apply what they have learned. These methods also reach users outside of the target audience, which can help reinforce the concept being taught (children hearing a health message on the radio may ask their parents for more information, and the parents may teach the child about the concept).

Helen Osborne is a nationally well-known health literacy expert, and has written 5 books regarding the importance of health literacy, and how best to communicate with patients. She used to write a column for On-Call magazine, published by the Boston Globe. Her personal website is full of articles and poscasts designed for health professionals and writers. This article is useful to my research as it cites specific examples of how people with low literacy, or people from different cultures understand visuals differently. While it doesn't specifically mention participatory design, she describes methods for creating visuals that involve the end user.

Cultural Differences in Perception: Observations from a Remote Culture

Davidoff, Jules, Elisabeth Fonteneau, and Julie Goldstein. “Cultural Differences in Perception: Observations from a Remote Culture.” Journal of Cognition and Culture, no. 8 (2008): 189-209.
This journal article examines perceptual similarity in a remote culture (the animal-herding Himba of Africa) compared to that of a Western culture (native English-speaking graduate students at Goldsmith’s University of London). In this study, researchers presented both groups with optical illusions. Study participants were judged on their ability to accurately judge the size of an object within the illusion. The study found that Western participants were more susceptible to the illusion, and that the Himba were more likely to gauge the size of the object. The study also noted that cultural aspects impact cognitive perception of visuals. The researchers stated that collectivist cultures pay more attention to the entire visual display, while individualistic cultures (for example, Western culture), pay more attention to objects within visual displays. The researchers theorize that collectivist cultures are even more susceptible to misjudging the size of an object within an optical illusion. This article is fairly current (published approximately 3years ago), and was published in a peer-reviewed journal. The researchers employed a number of data analysis methods, such as ANOVA, F-tests, and P-tests. This article, while very narrow in scope, could prove useful for my research question. It provides evidence that culture affects how one perceives visual images. This would lend support to my research question that visuals developed by a specific culture for their own use are better suited than visuals developed by someone outside of that culture.