Dhriti Dhaundiyal
Anirudha N. Joshi
ABSTRACT
A knowledge of cultural values of users is implicit to developing personas for HCI research. Hofstede's dimensions have been a prominent model in tracing cross-cultural influences in HCI but there has been significant criticism for treating culture as monolithic and reducible to a few statistics. In this paper we investigate two of Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions, namely Power Distance and Masculinity. Is popular literature an accurate reflection of the cultural values of its intended audience? Through the viewpoint of the modern, English-educated Indian, we conducted a qualitative inquiry, with a focus on elements like characters, events and reflections that bring out the Power Distance and Masculinity in popular fiction from the UK, by authors Arthur Conan Doyle, J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling. We conducted workshops with expert readers familiar with the work of these authors and analyzed the data to formulate an evolution of power disparities and social predilections in the UK society over the past century. We gathered insights into the evolution of societal values and how authors contrast the mainstream with the exceptional to create a diegetic universe that is cogent with the life and times of the audience they are written for. As the first probe in a larger study, we reflect on the methodological learnings from this inquiry, reflecting on the mechanisms of conducting post factum inter-cultural studies and biases. Our conclusions discuss the feasibility of using popular literature as a barometer of cultural values of society, and its potential role in developing user personas.
- Hofstede, Geert. 1984. Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Vol. 5.Sage.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
- Ewa Callahan. 2005. Cultural Similarities and Differences in the Design of University Web sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11, 1: 239–273. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.tb00312.xGoogle ScholarCross Ref
- Dormann, Claire, and Cristina Chisalita. "Cultural values in web site design." In Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics ECCE11. 2002.Google Scholar
- Aaron Marcus and Emilie West Gould. 2000. Crosscurrents: cultural dimensions and global Web user-interface design. Interactions 7, 4: 32–46. https://doi.org/10.1145/345190.345238Google ScholarDigital Library
- Robbins, Stephanie S., and Antonis C. Stylianou. 2002.A study of cultural differences in global corporate web sites. Journal of computer information systems 42.2 (2002): 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2002.11647480Google Scholar
- Hofstede, Geert. 2003. Cultural dimensions. www. geert-hofstede. com, consulta 13 (2003). http://my.liuc.it/MatSup/2016/A86047/3%20Multicultural%20schools.pdfGoogle Scholar
- Hui‐Chun and Peter Miller. 2003. The generation gap and cultural influence – a Taiwan empirical investigation. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal 10, 3: 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1108/13527600310797621Google ScholarCross Ref
- Bradley Jorgensen. 2003. Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y? Foresight 5, 4: 41–49. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636680310494753Google ScholarCross Ref
- Luo Lu and Shu-Fang Kao. 2002. Traditional and Modern Characteristics Across the Generations: Similarities and Discrepancies. The Journal of Social Psychology 142, 1: 45–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540209603884Google ScholarCross Ref
- Thuan Si. Nguyen. 2015. Using Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions to describe and to analyze cultural differences between first generation and second generation Vietnamese in the Vietnamese Church in America. Nyack College, Alliance Theological Seminary, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015. 3707879. PDF from ProQuestGoogle Scholar
- Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, (Eds.) 2006. The post-colonial studies reader. Taylor & Francis, 2006. ISBN 9781138237254 Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- Andy Smith and FahriYetim. 2004. Global human–computer systems: cultural determinants of usability. Interacting with Computers 16, 1: 1–5.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intcom.2003.11.001Google ScholarCross Ref
- TorkilClemmensen and Kerstin Roese. 2010. An Overview of a Decade of Journal Publications about Culture and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). In Human Work Interaction Design: Usability in Social, Cultural and Organizational Contexts. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 98–112. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11762-6_9Google Scholar
- Brendan McSweeney. 2003. Is ‘National Culture’ A Myth?, Background papers for Research Seminar, 12th November 2003, Royal Holloway, University of London, www.rhul.ac.uk/Management/News-and-Events/seminars/mcsweeney.pdfGoogle Scholar
- ApalaLahiriChavan, and Girish V. Prabhu. 2011. Innovative Solutions: What Designers Need to Know for Today's Emerging Markets. CRC Press Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
- John Pruitt and Jonathan Grudin, 2003. Personas: Practice and theory, in DUX '03: Proceedings of the 2003 conference on Designing for user experiences June 2003 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/997078.997089Google ScholarDigital Library
- John Pruitt and Jonathan Grudin, 2002. Personas, participatory design and product development: An infrastructure for engagement. Proceedings of Participatory Design Conference, Palo Alto, 2002, 144 – 161 http://www.ece.uvic.ca/∼aalbu/CENG%20412%202009/scenarios%20and%20personas.pdfGoogle Scholar
- Cynthia Putnam, Beth Kolko, and Siri Wood. 2012. Communicating about users in ICTD. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development - ICTD ’12.https://doi.org/10.1145/2160673.2160714Google ScholarDigital Library
- Lene Nielsen. 2010. Personas in Cross-Cultural Projects. In Human Work Interaction Design: Usability in Social, Cultural and Organizational Contexts. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 76–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11762-6_7Google Scholar
- Daniel G. Cabrero, Heike Winschiers-Theophilus, and José Abdelnour-Nocera. 2016. Reconceptualising Personas Across Cultures: Archetypes, Stereotypes & Collective Personas in Pastoral Namibia. In IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. Springer International Publishing, 96–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50109-3_7Google Scholar
- Mansour Javidan, Robert J House, Peter W Dorfman, Paul J Hanges, and Mary Sully de Luque. 2006. Conceptualizing and measuring cultures and their consequences: a comparative review of GLOBE's and Hofstede's approaches. Journal of International Business Studies 37, 6: 897–914. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400234Google ScholarCross Ref
- Ana Maria Soares, MinooFarhangmehr, and Aviv Shoham. 2007. Hofstede's dimensions of culture in international marketing studies. Journal of Business Research 60, 3: 277–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.10.018Google ScholarCross Ref
- Michael Jones. 2007. Hofstede-culturally questionable? Oxford Bus Econ. Conf., Vol. 2007, pp. 24–26, Jun. 2007. https://ro.uow.edu.au/commpapers/370Google Scholar
- Edward Hall. 1976. Beyond Culture. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1976 Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
- Charles Hampden-Turner and FonsTrompenaars, “Riding the waves of culture: understanding diversity in global business,” Choice Rev. Online, vol. 32, no. 03, pp. 32-1622-32–1622, 1994. Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- Geert Hofstede,Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov. 1991. Cultures and organizations: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. Software of the Mind London: McGraw-Hill (1991). Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
- Sunil Venaik and Paul Brewer. 2010. Avoiding uncertainty in Hofstede and GLOBE. Journal of International Business Studies 41, 8: 1294–1315. https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2009.96Google ScholarCross Ref
- Geert Hofstede. 2002. Dimensions do not exist: A reply to Brendan McSweeney.HumanRelations, Vol. 55, no. 11, pp. 1355–1361, 2002. PDF From Sage PublishingGoogle Scholar
- Rachel F. Baskerville. 2003. Hofstede never studied culture. Accounting, Organizations and Society 28, 1: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0361-3682(01)00048-4Google ScholarCross Ref
- Andy Smith, Liam Bannon, and Jan Gulliksen. 2010. Localising HCI Practice for Local Needs. https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/ihci2010.15Google Scholar
- Neil Gaiman. 2016. View from the cheap seats: selected nonfiction. Hachette UK, 2016. Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- Milton C. Albrecht. 1954. The Relationship of Literature and Society. American Journal of Sociology 59, 5: 425–436. https://doi.org/10.1086/221388Google ScholarCross Ref
- Lewis A. Coser (Ed.) 1972. The sociology of literature.Paladin, 1972.Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- John G. Cawelti. 1972. The Concept of Formula in the Study of Popular Literature. The Bulletin of the Midwest Modern Language Association 5: 115. https://doi.org/10.2307/1314918Google ScholarCross Ref
- Reed Way Dasenbrock. 1987. Intelligibility and Meaningfulness in Multicultural Literature in English. PMLA 102, 1: 10. https://doi.org/10.2307/462488Google Scholar
- H. Paul Grice. 1975. Logic and Conversation, in Speech Acts, P. Cole and J. L. Morgan, Eds. New York: Academic Press, 1975, pp. 41–58. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross Ref
- Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, and Christopher Noessel. 2014. About face: the essentials of interaction design. John Wiley & Sons 2014.Google BooksGoogle ScholarDigital Library
- Mary Beth Rosson and John M. Carroll. 2009. Scenario based design, in Human‐computer Interaction., p. pp.145-162., bocaraton, FL. 2009. Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- Jenny Preece, Yvone Rogers, Helen Sharp, David Benyon, Simon Hollandand Tom Carey 1994. Human-computer interaction. Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd., 1994. Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- Andrew Horton. 1999. Writing the Character Centred Screenplay. L.A., University of California Press, 1999. UC PressGoogle Scholar
- Lene Nielsen. 2002. From user to character: an investigation into user-descriptions in scenarios.In Proceedings of the 4th conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques, pp. 99-104. 2002. PDF from acm.orgGoogle Scholar
- Lene Nielsen. 2018. Design Personas–New ways, new contexts. Persona Studies, 4(2), 1-4. PDF from deakin.eduGoogle Scholar
- Alan Sinfield. 1994. The Wilde Century: effeminacy, Oscar Wilde, and the queer moment. Columbia University Press, 1994.Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- Santanu Das. 2002. Kiss Me, Hardy: Intimacy, Gender, and Gesture in First World War Trench Literature." Modernism/modernity 9, no. 1 (2002): 51-74. doi:10.1353/mod.2002.0005.Google Scholar
- Joseph A. Kestner. 1997. Men: Masculinity, Conan Doyle, and Cultural History,Scolar Press, 1997. Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- John Tosh. 2007. A man's place: Masculinity and the middle-class home in Victorian England. New Haven, Conn. London: Yale University Press, 2007. Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
- Tom Shippey. 2002. J.R.R. Tolkien: author of the century, vol. 39, no. 11. HMH, 2002.Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- Ken Gelder. 2004. Popular Fiction: The Logics and Practices of a Literary Field, vol. 39, no. 2. Routledge, 2004.Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- FredericJameson. 2002. A singular modernity: Essay on the ontology of the present, vol. 86, no. 3–4. Verso, 2002.Google BooksGoogle Scholar
- Drayden BCR. 2016. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling.The Deakin Review of Children's Literature 6, 2.https://doi.org/10.20361/g22c9gGoogle Scholar
- Martha Craven Nussbaum. 2010. Not for profit: Why democracy needs the humanities. Vol. 2. Princeton, NJ: Princeton university press, 2010. Google BooksGoogle Scholar
Recommendations
SIDEKICKS AND SOCIETY: A study of the generational evolution of values in UK's Society through minor characters in popular English literature
IndiaHCI '20: Proceedings of the 11th Indian Conference on Human-Computer InteractionUsing an etic lens, this study deals with identifying and deliberating upon culture in the United Kingdom as represented in the literary works of Arthur Conan Doyle, Roald Dahl and JK Rowling. We posit that literature is an art form that invariably ...
Developing a localisation indicator for chain hotel websites: a Greek case study
Web visitors differ across regional, linguistic and country boundaries and their requirements are strongly influenced by their local cultural perspective. The localisation of a website is the process of adapting it to a particular language, culture and ...
Comments