Relationship between affordance and cultural conventions in the design of IVR systems for oral users

Abstract

This paper addresses the significance of affordance in association with cultural conventions in the design of voice user interfaces (VUI) for orally grounded users in the global South (i.e., developing countries of the world). The paper demonstrates that sensitivity towards cultural conventions which subsequently bring about affordance has more credence than the objective usability measures of effectiveness and efficiency as defined by the International Standards Organization (ISO). This demonstration is done with the aid of two case studies of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems that were developed for users in developing countries of Southern Africa. The paper specifically presents the concept of taking into consideration the shift between the standard cultural norm and the situational norm experienced during the usage of the IVR system. We have established that orally grounded technology users prefer a VUI that allows them to transfer easily from their standard cultural norms to the situational norm that is determined by the context of use of the presented technology.