Cross-cultural Understanding of Metaphors in Interface Design

Current cross-cultural interface research addresses cross-cultural attitudes towards computers and some cross-cultural interface design issues. However, it does not address cross-cultural perception and understanding. Much of this work is based on surveys and self reported evidence which does not provide the empirical data that is needed to understand this area of research. This paper outlines the main literature and proposes a study that aims to evaluate users' perception of interface metaphors. This will be done by observing users working with an interface in their everyday environment. The research seeks to provide evidence for the fact that understanding of metaphors differs cross-culturally and hopes to provide better insight into cross-cultural user perception and understanding.