Conclusion

Culture works as a design construct. It is apparent that there are many factors operating to make this happen. First, the nature of culture in design is dynamic and maintains an interactive relation with its parts. Second, the inclusion of culture must be a design decision from the onset. Third, producing culture-based ICTs means that the needs of the many and the few are considered throughout the design process. Finally, designing with culture in mind is a creative process.

Case Study in Game Design

The global game industry expects substantial growth in the next decades. Massive multiplayer online games (MMOG) are expected to skyrocket from the $3.8 billion reported in 2006 to $11.8 billion by 2011 (Olausson, 2007). The video game industry is expected to grow at an annual rate of 9.1%, or from a $31.6 billion in 2006 to $48.9 by 2011. Serious games are the new growth area. These games are reportedly not for entertainment purposes and are being developed by and for industries such as government, education, health, and business (Scanlon, 2007). Given these figures, the role of game design will have global implications for groups of people around the world. Therefore, design and development must meet the challenges of this technological revolution.

CBM Learners

The Learners (L1-L10) area centers on the needs of learners and learning. These design factors assist in providing a dynamic learning environment that is supportive of the learner’s cultural frames of reference and seeks to meet the learning outcomes of the project. The design factors are adaptive to learners on multiple levels including intellectual, motivational, and educational, thereby providing opportunities for individualized instruction. Other design factors in this area focus on meeting the needs of the target audience through a variety of strategies including providing opportunities to extend learning beyond design requirements; differentiating learning opportunities; empowering and engaging learners; instilling proactive learning; identifying educational objectives; enculturating the learner; and incorporating culture-based instructional strategies.

CBM Inquiry, Development

Inquiry (11-16) monitors development, automates the internal flow of the design process, and functions as internal sensors. This monitoring checks and rechecks that the process is executing properly1. It is interactive and always operational if used by the design team. Inquiry provides a series of questions to be asked and answered during preproduction, production and postproduction. These questions outline the design of the product and allow for a review of the product before, during, and after production; this is a surface assessment. The list of questions is not exhaustive, but they provide a broad selection of questions meant to focus on the needs of the target audience, enable the design process, and screen for bias. These questions are reviewed and reiterated throughout the design process to keep it active.

The Culture-Based Model Framework

The incorporation of culture in the design process is not a simple task. It is one with multiple layers of depth and complexity. But it is also not impossible. CBM captures the nature of culture in design by providing designers with guidance in creating, replicating, modeling, planning, understanding, monitoring, researching, analyzing, integrating, enhancing, communicating, managing, and assessing culture in ICTs.

Case Study in E-Learning

The future of e-learning is wide open in terms of innovations in software, hardware, instructional content, and teaching practices. Recent innovations in software have been instrumental in the development of rapid e-learning that allows the creation of podcasts and vodcasts (video podcasts) in 2 to 3 weeks versus 4 to 5 months (Weekes, 2007). Hardware such as PDAs, mobile phones, and pocket PCs provide new avenues in mobile e-learning. Businesses view e-learning as a way to train employees locally and worldwide. Student enrollment in distance education courses in U.S. colleges and universities increased from 2.3 million in 2004 to 3.2 million in 2006 (Allen & Seaman, 2006). It appears that the delivery of instructional content through elearning will continue to be another growth area in the new millennium.

CBM Elements III

This chapter continues with CBM Elements and the design factors related to the anthropology of culture. Cultural demographics and Cultural environment are covered in their entirety. Cultural demographics provide the characteristics of a population for a geographic area. Geographic areas are identified by levels such as nation, state, city, county, tracks, blocks, province, and so forth (U.S. Census Bureau [USCB], 2005). This information is usually statistical. Demographic data provide mostly a quantitative picture of a population and aid in predicting economic or market trends. Through the use of demographic data, predictions about populations can be made in reference to increases in the demand for food, clothing, educational achievement, entertainment, housing, insurance, investments, health services, and so forth. Examples of Westernized demographic trends include: baby boom years, single parent families, two income families, and nuclear families. Demographic data are also culture-specific and can not be generalized to other populations. A culture-specific example is data from Japan’s 2000 census that calculated the total population of males at 62,110,764 males to 64,815,079 females. The number of females outnumbers males by 2,704,315 (Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2000). The collection of demographic data is unique to each society or culture. What works for one culture may not work for another. Or the collection of such data may not be operational due to other social, political, or economic factors. The characteristics of a population might include data based on the following: age, assets, birth, death, density, disease, educational achievement, ethnicity, family, growth, housing, incarceration, income, language, marital status, migration, mobility, occupation, race, sex, and size (USCB, 2005). All of these characteristics are described in this chapter. The collection of demographic data could begin with an examination of characteristics in a population such as “age” and multiple characteristics of a population, such as sex, income, household, geographic areas, disease, marriage, and so forth. Therefore, the data collection might look at age and its relation to sex, or age and income, or age and household. The guiding questions, in this section, focus on human beings; however they can be adapted to other species and entities.

CBM Elements II

This chapter continues with CBM Elements and the design factors related to the anthropology of culture. Cultural communications is covered in its entirety. Cultural communications is the exchange or transmission of information. This exchange can be between human beings, other species or entities. Cultural communications serves a purpose; these purposes maybe to report, inform, persuade, warn, direct, or induce a response. However the ultimate goal is to convey meaning from the information source to destination or sender to receiver (Meadow, 2002). Cultural communications can be applied to cultures, target audiences, and other species. In terms of societies and cultures, cultural communications looks at the forms of communications or communication systems that exist. Cultural communications in relation to a target audience looks at language (nonverbal, verbal); writing; spatial, temporal, and visual cues; and semiotics (signs & symbols).

CBM Elements I

Elements (E1-E25) facilitate content development. These Elements are intended to be comprehensive in providing the fundamental total of which all culture is composed. Most of those things that formulate a culture are included in the 25 Elements. The tangibles and intangibles define the Elements. Tangibles have material qualities and intangibles nonmaterial qualities (see Table 7.1). The meanings of the terms culture and society can overlap, but they should be viewed separately within the space of design. A society is a group of people who share commonalities that are understood by all and collectively inhabit a particular physical area (Germain & Bloom, 1999; Segall, Dasen, Berry, & Poortinga, 1999). Every society has a culture or ways of being, doing and thinking. This culture shapes societies behavior (Ember & Ember, 1996; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). In understanding a culture, there must also be an understanding of its past and present histories and the histories of its people (Kim & Park, 2006). The Elements are divided into three sections: the anthropology of culture, the psychology of culture, and the science of culture. These divisions are consistent with research in the disciplines of cultural anthropology, cultural psychology, and science; however, there are modifications to provide application of these concepts as design constructs. An overview of each section is provided as context for the Elements. Then each design factor is defined, described, and illustrated through relevant cross-cultural examples. A set of guiding questions for the design process are offered that are specific to the culture and the target audience.

The Nature of Culture in Design

There have been many definitions of culture hypothesized by theorists and scholars as a way to understand human beings, other species and entities; human nature; Mother Nature, and artifacts (Giles & Middleton, 1999; Hall, 1996; Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1966; Williams, 1958). Culture has been characterized as being descriptive, historical, normative, psychological, structural, and genetic (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1966). Kroeber (1948) theorized culture as “how it comes to be” versus “what it is” (p. 253). Therefore, culture is socially constructed. Geertz (1973) interpreted culture as a “historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life” (p. 89). Hofstede (1991) proposed that culture is learned; it is not part of one’s genetic makeup. In the area of cultural studies, culture is concerned with how meanings are interpreted and created in a society (Gray & McGuigan, 1997; Hall, 1997). Williams (1958), a cultural theorist, believes that “culture is ordinary” (p. 74). It is made in the human mind, making possible effort, examination, and explication. This means culture is what is known (tradition) and what comes to be known through investigation and invention (creativity). Baumeister (2005) argued that culture is not innately human. Other species (e.g., monkeys and chimpanzees)show patterns of learned behavior that is passed on from generation to generation. Culture is artificial; it is civilization. (Kroeber, 1948). A simple question-and-answer scenario about culture might proceed as follows: What is culture? Culture is everything human made and nature made. What is the purpose of culture? The purpose of culture is to serve humans. How does culture function? Culture functions as directed by humans. When will culture end? When humankind ends, culture will end. Where is culture? Culture is everywhere. Why do we need culture? We need culture to tell our history.