Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  The International Children’s Digital Library: A Case Study in Designing for a Multi-Lingual, Multi-Cultural, Multi-Generational Audience (15 Sep 2004) Designing a digital library for an international, intergenerational audience is a challenging process, but it is hugely rewarding. We are continually amazed with feedback from users all over the world thanking us for making books available from their countries, from teachers who use the library as a resource for lesson planning, from parents who have discovered a new way to read with their children, and from children who are thrilled to discover new favorite books that they can’t get in their local library. One of the most important lessons we have learned is that an international, intergenerational team is an absolute necessity. Simply having users and testers from other countries is not enough; their input is valuable, but comes too late in the design process to influence major design changes. Team members from different cultural backgrounds offer perspectives that an American-only team simply would not think to consider. Similarly, team members who are children understand how children like to look for and read books, and what interface tools are difficult or easy, and fun or not fun. Our enthusiastic advisors and volunteers are also a crucial resource. We don’t have the time, money, or resources to address all of the issues that surface, and our advisors and volunteers are key resources in our development process. Article URL: ftp://ftp.cs.umd.edu/pub/hcil/Reports-Abstracts-Bibliography/2004-24html/2004-24.html Read 32 more articles from University Of Maryland sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: Asynchronous discussion groups as Small World and Scale Free Networks     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy