[Asis-l] Cross-cultural usability workshop at JCDL 2003

[Anita Komlodi]

Apologies for cross-posting


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JCDL 2003 Workshop: Cross-Cultural Usability for Digital Libraries

http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/faculty/caidi/JCDL03.html


When: May 31, 2003
Where:  Rice University, Houston
For more info about JCDL'03 and Registration, check:
http://www.rice.edu/jcdl03/

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES:

The scope and reach of digital libraries (DL) is truly global, spanning
geographical and cultural boundaries, yet few scholars have investigated
the influence of culture as it pertains to the design and use of digital
libraries. This workshop will examine cross-cultural issues around the use
and development of DLs, especially as they relate to supporting usability
of DLs. This workshop brings together researchers from a variety of
disciplines to present current projects and contribute to a collaborative
research agenda. The goals of the workshop are:

1)	to increase awareness about the area of cross-cultural usability
in the digital library community;
2)	to identify new tools, techniques and methodologies for
cross-cultural study of user behavior in DLs and international user
interface design;
3)	to provide a forum for generating new research directions and
cross-disciplinary collaboration.

FORMAT OF WORKSHOP:

The format will be highly interactive. Discussions about the position
papers submitted will be complemented by reviews of actual projects being
undertaken. Attendees will also be asked to contribute real examples of
successful (and/or poor) interfaces and website designs. The outcome of
the workshop will be the establishment of a road map for this type of
research, which includes the identification of key issues/questions around
cross-cultural usability (e.g., international user interface design
guidelines, methodological considerations, etc.). All papers and links to
relevant information will be posted on the workshop's website.

SUBMISSION AND DEADLINES:

You are invited to submit a position paper by May 8, 2003.
Papers should be 2-4 pages long, and address issues relevant to the
overall topic of the workshop such as (but not limited to): case studies
of systems design for culturally-diverse end users; innovative user
interfaces; virtual community formation and development; information
seeking behavior of users from various cultural groups; co-construction of
meaning; language and translation issues; local vs. global considerations
and conventions; cultural attitudes toward technology, teamwork, power,
etc.

All submitted papers will be peer-reviewed by the review committee below.
We ask contributors to use the ACM SIG Proceedings Templates for
formatting submissions:
http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html.

Send submissions in MS Word or PDF format to: Nadia Caidi
(caidi at fis.utoronto.ca) and Anita Komlodi (komlodi at umbc.edu) by May 8,
2003.


REVIEW COMMITTEE:

Nadia Caidi, University of Toronto
Anita Komlodi, UMBC
Christine L. Borgman, UCLA, USA
Andrew Dillon, University of Texas, Austin, USA
Elke Duncker, Middlesex University, UK
Preben Hansen, Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Kista, Sweden
Noriko Kando, National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, Japan
Elaine Toms, University of Toronto (Canada)