Multicultural adaption framework in Geographical Information System (GIS) Interface Design

Interface is a medium of interaction between users and computer devices. The effect of multicultural adaption has been influencing interface design process in the last few years. In reality, it is impossible to design the interface that satisfies different users from various culture backgrounds. When the users are not satisfied with the interface, they could avoid from using it for the next time. In UKM, the students come from different culture backgrounds who are local and international students. This research focuses on the multicultural adaption that influences the user interface design for directional kiosk. The main objective is to investigate the cultural background of these international students of UKM and how it can be applied to improve the interface design for directional kiosk. This is to increase the usability level and improve user satisfaction. This research also aims to investigate the persona of local and international students as a part of the proposed framework. The study of cultural background is based on Hofstede´s cultural dimensions model. The research methodology began with the process of conducting the questionnaires for local and international students. This method was done in order to find out the characteristics of the interface design that meets their requirements. Besides that, it would also reveal their preference pattern and attributes. After conducting the questionnaires, a multicultural interface design framework would be proposed based on the result of the questionnaires. The prototype would be developed based on the proposed framework. The next phase would refine and validate the proposed framework. The second questionnaires are conducted to get the users opinions about the prototype´s interface design. Later on, the proposed framework would be refined based on the second questionnaires. The outcome of this research is the GIS based multicultural user interface design framework for various students in UKM with different cultural- - background.