Standardization Supporting Cultural Diversity: Multicultural aspects of good ICT design for Mobiles

Transcription

1 Standardization Supporting Cultural Diversity: Multicultural aspects of good ICT design for Mobiles Martin Böcker BenQ Mobile (ETSI STF 285 and 300)

2 Overview Language and cultural diversity Text input Voice commands User guidance Summary 2

3 Language and Cultural Diversity Language is arguably one of the most central aspects of cultural diversity Modern ICT threatens the citizens cultural identity by restricting their use of the own language: The ability to spell their own name The ability to send messages in their own language The ability to use the full character set of their own language The ability to address ICT devices and services via voice commands in their own language The ability to learn about ICT devices and services in their own language 3

4 Text Input The problem: Before ES , there was only a standard on assigning A to Z to the 12-key keypad. The assignment of other Latin, Greek and Cyrillic characters was not standardised. ES defined the assignment of major European languages to the 12-key keypad and defined sorting orders. Languages covered were those of the European Union countries (status 2006), candidate countries (Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey), and the countries of the European Free Trade Area EFTA (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein) as well as Russia. 4

5 Character Repertoires and Ordering 5

6 Text Input Languages not covered so far but to be covered by STF 300: Official languages of the remaining countries (e.g. Croatian and Ukrainian); Official minority languages of European countries (e.g. Welsh and Sorbian); Important, but not officially recognised European minority languages (e.g. Basque and Breton); Important immigrants languages spoken in Europe (e.g. Arabic and Urdu); Other languages of interest to manufacturers (e.g. Hebrew and Pinyin). 6

7 Text Input Co-operate with key industry players and recognized experts Update ETSI Standard Character repertoires, ordering rules and assignment to the 12-key telephone keypad (European languages) 7

8 Text Input Devices with telecommunication functionality the largest consumer product segment in the world Cultural and linguistic diversity one of the key strengths of Europe Easy, correct and efficient text input, search and retrieval via the telephone keypad a basic user requirement Takes into account work previously performed in ETSI, ITU-T, CEN/TC304 and ISO/IEC JTC1 8

9 Text Input Method Identify list of languages to be covered Initial proposal based on studies Industry consensus meeting Initial international round of comments Voting according to ETSI procedures 9

10 Text Input Letter repertoires and ordering Language-independent repertoires and ordering (e.g. Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic) Language-specific repertoires and ordering Keypad assignment of digits and letters Language-independent keypad assignment (e.g. Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic) of digits and letters Language-specific keypad assignment of digits and letters 10

11 Text Input Principles for repertoires and ordering Principle 1: Combine repertoire and ordering information in one table, Provide language-independent tables per script (e.g. Latin, Cyrillic, Greek) Principle 2: Describe letters in terms of standardized identifiers (GSM bit coding, ISO/IEC 6937 coding) Principle 3: Provide language-independent tables per script (e.g. Cyrillic, Arabic) including a minimum Latin subset 11

12 Letter Repertoires and Ordering 12

13 Text Input Principles for repertoires and ordering Principle 4: Language-specific repertoires (including letters essential to the language and letters commonly used in writing the language, but not essential for it) 13

14 Text Input 14

15 Text Input Principles for keypad assignment Principle 5: The keypad assignment tables contain the following information: Key, Letter, ISO/IEC (Unicode) identifier and name Principle 6: Letters with diacritical marks are assigned to the same key of the 12-key keypad as their respective basic letters (if existent), i.e. "ä" is is assigned to key "2" because "a" is assigned to "2" according to ITU-T E.161 Principle 7: Non-Latin-based repertoires (e.g. the Greeklanguage repertoire and the Cyrillic-script repertoire) are assigned together with the minimum Latin-script repertoire 15

16 Text Input Principles for keypad assignment Principles 8: Latin-script letters are assigned in the following order: 1. Letters assigned to that particular key according to ITU- T E.161 (e.g. "abc" to key "2") 2. The digit for the respective key according to ITU-T E Type A letters according to the tables in Section 6 (e.g. "ä" on key "2" for German) 4. Type B letters according to the tables in Section 6 (e.g. "à" on key "2" for German) (e.g. the resulting assignment for key "2" for German is "abc2äà") 16

17 Text Input 17

18 Text Input Principles for keypad assignment Principles 9: Non-Latin-based letter (e.g. Greek-script and Cyrillic-script letters) are assigned in the following order: 1. Letters assigned to that particular key in alphabetic order (e.g. "абвг" to key "2"), alternative assignments have been discussed and discarded 2. The digit for the respective key according to ITU-T E Latin letters assigned to that particular key according to ITU-T E.161 (e.g. abc to key "2") For example, the resulting assignment for key "2" for Russian is "абвг2abc") 18

19 Text Input 19

20 Text Input ETSI Standard offers character repertoires, sorting orders and keypad assignments for the major European languages. STF 300 will update the standard to also cover further European and non-europen, Latin-based and non- Latin scripted languages including important minority languages. The standard is an excellent example of work funded by the Commission of the EU, hosted by ETSI and realised by indstrial consensus. 20

21 Voice Commands ETSI STF 182 Voice-recognition technologies become mature also for mobile ICT devices and services There previously was no standardised set of voice commands for ICT devices and services The EC and ETSI saw the opportunity to define a set of voice commands in a number of important languages The approach was based on empirical results consensus-based co-operation with key players in the industry 21

22 Voice Commands ETSI STF 182 members: Bruno von Niman (STF Leader/ Ericsson), Catriona Chaplin (Ericsson), Jose-Antonio Collado-Vega (Telefonica) Lutz Groh (Siemens) Scott McGlashan (PipeBeach) Wally Mellors (WM Services) David van Leeuwen (TNO Human Factors) 22

23 Voice Commands ETSI STF 182 approach: Definition of languages covered Definition of commands covered Empirical data collection Consultation and publication 23

24 Voice Commands Definition of languages covered: English French German Italian Spanish 24

25 Voice Commands Definition of commands covered: Context-independent common commands (e.g. Options, Main menu, Standby) Context-dependent common commands (e.g. Help, Repeat) Core commands (e.g. Yes, No) Digits Name and digit dialling (e.g. Dial, Call) Basic call handling and supplementary services (e.g. Answer, Busy) 25

26 Voice Commands Definition of commands covered: Media control (e.g. Play, Pause) Browseable list for navigation (e.g. Next, Previous) Editing commands (e.g. Edit, Delete) Device setting (e.g. Choose network, Sound off) Word spotting mode (e.g. Wake up) 26

27 Voice Commands Empirical data collection: Spontaneous generation of potential command words (generate an inventory of words that users would intuitively use, given the task that they want to complete) Confidence rating of the found potential command words (ensure that the words found are considered likely to complete the task when a test subject is given the choice to use the word) Phonetic discrimination (ensure that the command words that can be active simultaneously in a dialogue context can be recognized correctly by the speech recognition system 27

28 Voice Commands 28

29 Voice Commands The next step is to expand the languages covered from five to 28: EU incl. recent enlargement plus candidates EFTA countries Russian 29

30 User Guidance ETSI STF 285 analyses the end-user requirements for user education and the current practice of manufacturers and service providers of offering user education defines a minimum standard for user guides provides guidelines for user education using different media. addresses user education for elderly and impaired users gives concrete advice for the evaluation of user education. 30

31 Why user guides matter They are a part of the overall user experience They contribute to the user s perception of the product quality They help the user discover and understand new functions Like the product itself they are designed according to user needs They are one of the means for expressing brand values and messages A function that is not known or understood will not generate ARPU They are required (legal and regulatory requirements) 31

32 Who needs them No need for user guides if the UI is sufficiently self explanatory Yes, but mobile ICT products: are highly complex are difficult to set up have miniaturized input and output devices become even smaller even if screen resolution increases evolve fast are used by non experts 32

33 Who needs them? No need for user guides if the UI is sufficiently self explanatory Yes, but mobile ICT products: UI concepts are inadequately borrowed from PCs They interact with PCs and other devices (e.g. for synchronization) Many feature concepts aren t understood Services are often presented seamlessly The source of errors (device, service, network) is often unclear 33

34 Who needs them? Users are heterogeneous Previous knowledge about features and UI concepts differs They range from power users to one-feature-only users Users differ in their cultural background, but use ICT products that are produced for a global market without large differences Users differ in their physical and psychological needs and abilities (e.g. immigrants with limited local-language skills, low-literacy users, elderly or handicapped users) 34

35 When is user education needed? User education is needed throughout the product life cycle Re-purchase/ Upgrade Pre-purchase/ Pre-subscribe Ow nership Purchase/ subscribe Pascale Parodi (2005) 35

36 Wider problem context Some typical problems users have: Users fail to set up their device Users don t know about their personal subscription User guides are needed in first-time set up and in error situations Some features (e.g. Call Forwarding) are complex and have consequences Little or no information available on tariffing for services Re-purchase/ Upgrade Pre-purchase/ Pre-subscribe Ownership Purchase/ subscribe 36 Pascale Parodi (2005)

37 Wider problem context Problems with current user guidance: User guide is incomplete The information cannot be found The language used is inadequate The structure of the guide is inadequate The explanation is too abstract The user guide is written without a specific user in mind The information cannot be perceived adequately The functionality or SW implementation is not frozen at the time the user guide has to be completed The technical writer describes a product s/he doesn t really know 37

38 Cost-benefit trade-offs Some relevant cost-benefit trade-offs related to providing user education are: Frustration with failure to fully being able to use a product leads to reduced ARPU and low brand loyalty Insufficient user education can lead to costs in customer care centres Written user guides are often not up to date at time of print Sometimes even the product is out of date at time of shipping (SW updates) Products are sent in as faulty because users don t understand how they work 38

39 Current practice In spite of cost-benefit trade-offs: Cheapest, minimum effort solutions Very small fonts for cost saving Symbols to save space for text and costs for translating Reduced volume to save paper and reduce box sizes Wrong assumptions about what the users know User-guide related activities are outsourced No effort spent of user education for handicapped users Too little time for adjusting user guides to product changes Not all procedures are mentioned in detail Functions are described without preconditions Usability tests of user guides are the exceptions Same text different target groups and products 39

40 STF 285 The deliverable ETSI DEG covers: An analysis of the role of user education for ICT products Generic (media-independent) guidelines Specific guidelines for paper-based user guides for terminal-based user guides for screen-based user guides for user guides on portable media for audio user guides Other ways of providing user education User education and design for all Usability evaluation of user guidance 40

41 Media-independent guidelines Requirements of the development process Content and structure Content Management Systems (CMS) Language and terminology Illustrations Localisation General customer requirements 41

42 Media-independent guidelines 42

43 Paper-based user guides Format and layout Formal structure Consistency and logical structure Main and secondary guides Legal and regulatory requirements The printing process 43

44 Terminal-based user guides (Support in the Device) Support in the device is available in many forms: Help texts Demonstrations Interactive tutors / avatars Tips Setup / configuration wizards 44

45 Screen / Web-based user guides Advantages Content can be updated in real time Text can be read in the dark Text can be searched for easily Text can be varied in size for partially sighted users The reader can be automatically led through the text The screen can be interactive Disadvantages Everyone can read a book Computers are not always available for use Computers are not always connected to the web Computers are normally in a fixed location Prolonged reading can produce eye strain Readers scan information rather than read in a linear fashion as they do with text 45

46 Other ways of providing user education User guides on CD-ROM Audio user guides User groups and fora 46

47 User education and Design for All User education for Elderly users Visually-impaired users Hearing-impaired users Users with cognitive impairments Low literacy users Users with communication impairments Children 47

48 Usability evaluation of user guides Issues addressed Method Test sample Questionnaires Analysis Reporting Focussing on the specific requirements of testing user guides 48

49 Outlook ETSI DEG is available as a stable draft and will be finalised in May 2006 and published in September Prior to publication, the document is reviewed with experts from industry and academia. 49

50 Thank you for your attention