Comments on: Our Local Web Audience is International http://stevenclark.com.au/2007/10/16/our-local-web-audience-is-international/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:41:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: steven http://stevenclark.com.au/2007/10/16/our-local-web-audience-is-international/comment-page-1/#comment-119 steven Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:47:22 +0000 http://stevenclark.com.au/2007/10/16/our-local-web-audience-is-international/#comment-119 The issue is that a lot of people in the business will tell you that only ENGLISH matters, and only our version of english. They dismiss internationalisation, take gov't for example, as irrelevant when multiculturalism is a dynamic in both our countries. How many english as a second language, or maybe not even as a language, do you have in Britain? When we opt to choose to ignore the existence of a local large Sikh community (because they're meant to be foreign not local in that paradigm) then there are a whole bunch of assumptions we can inadvertently make as a follow on. Like not using clear and simple language (re: WCAG), or putting up a promo picture that happens to offend a bunch of our audience without us ever getting the feedback. So I'm just trying to bring awareness of this to people. I'm not saying we all necessarily need to jump in and internationalise today - a lot depends on your market I guess and budget and time. Gov't and services would be a prime example of where this is applicable. It also pushes over into subcultures like the old, the people in your local council flats and different generational issues. The idea is to get to know who the user is and if your local gov't finds that 20% of people have a predominant second language or culture then that needs to be addressed right from the beginning. The osterich strategy that I hear in - we're all just like me - kind of pisses me off sometimes I guess. One of my pet hates. :) Its like general accessibility, a lot of it is about understanding there might be an issue for different groups and not putting barriers. So you don't have to build directly for other cultures but you do have to consciously keep an eye that you don't create cultural / accessiblity barriers. Thanks for commenting Matt, I think its more the frustration I have in convincing people that we aren't all whiteys anymore! :) The issue is that a lot of people in the business will tell you that only ENGLISH matters, and only our version of english. They dismiss internationalisation, take gov’t for example, as irrelevant when multiculturalism is a dynamic in both our countries. How many english as a second language, or maybe not even as a language, do you have in Britain?

When we opt to choose to ignore the existence of a local large Sikh community (because they’re meant to be foreign not local in that paradigm) then there are a whole bunch of assumptions we can inadvertently make as a follow on. Like not using clear and simple language (re: WCAG), or putting up a promo picture that happens to offend a bunch of our audience without us ever getting the feedback.

So I’m just trying to bring awareness of this to people. I’m not saying we all necessarily need to jump in and internationalise today - a lot depends on your market I guess and budget and time. Gov’t and services would be a prime example of where this is applicable. It also pushes over into subcultures like the old, the people in your local council flats and different generational issues. The idea is to get to know who the user is and if your local gov’t finds that 20% of people have a predominant second language or culture then that needs to be addressed right from the beginning.

The osterich strategy that I hear in - we’re all just like me - kind of pisses me off sometimes I guess. One of my pet hates. :)

Its like general accessibility, a lot of it is about understanding there might be an issue for different groups and not putting barriers. So you don’t have to build directly for other cultures but you do have to consciously keep an eye that you don’t create cultural / accessiblity barriers.

Thanks for commenting Matt, I think its more the frustration I have in convincing people that we aren’t all whiteys anymore! :)

]]> By: Matt Robin http://stevenclark.com.au/2007/10/16/our-local-web-audience-is-international/comment-page-1/#comment-118 Matt Robin Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:30:57 +0000 http://stevenclark.com.au/2007/10/16/our-local-web-audience-is-international/#comment-118 Good, long, post mate...I can tell this is something that's got under your skin a bit (hasn't it?!) Being aware of all the possible users for a web site certainly extends to culture and ethnicity too - and not allowing for that (or the opposite: excluding it deliberately) in it's design is a very poor approach, limiting effective marketing to the widest audience. To date, I haven't personally been involved with any projects that relied significantly on having a cultural awareness - usually making designs that sort of bypass that aspect altogether - but if the need arises, then I'm still aware of it. Good post mate. Good, long, post mate…I can tell this is something that’s got under your skin a bit (hasn’t it?!)

Being aware of all the possible users for a web site certainly extends to culture and ethnicity too - and not allowing for that (or the opposite: excluding it deliberately) in it’s design is a very poor approach, limiting effective marketing to the widest audience.

To date, I haven’t personally been involved with any projects that relied significantly on having a cultural awareness - usually making designs that sort of bypass that aspect altogether - but if the need arises, then I’m still aware of it. Good post mate.

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