July 7, 2015 call featuring Ilona Buchem, Professor for Digital Media & Diversity Beuth University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Germany http://etherpad.badgealliance.org/HigherEducationWG2015-July7 "Cultural localisation of open badges - insights from the German community” Cultural localisation is the process of adapting the linguistic and cultural content of a design for a specific local culture. The aim of this talk is to explore cultural localisation of open badges from two perspectives. The first perspective is the cultural localisation of skills with the help of open badges. The second perspective is the cultural localisation of open badges as a system itself. My talk will include insights from a German qualification project for migrant academics, in which badges have been applied to enhance employability, as well as insights from the process of building an open badges community in German-speaking countries. My intention is to develop a framework for cultural localisation of open badges and I would like to discuss some considerations for such a framework.

1. Cultural localisation
of Open Badges - Insights
from the German Community
Prof. Dr. Ilona Buchem
Twitter: @mediendidaktik
Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin
Professor for Digital Media & Diversity
Open Badges in Higher Education / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

2. OBHE Working Group:

3. My Open Badges Projects
+ University project BEUTH BADGES
+ Qualification programs CREDIT POINTS + BEUTH BONUS
+ European project BADGE EUROPE + DACH Usergroup
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

4. • Culture “consists of traditional ways of doing
things, traditional objects, oral traditions and belief
systems that are taken for granted” (Martin et al.,
1997).
• Culture is “the learned pattern of thinking, feeling,
acting and values, which are specific to a group or
category of people” (Hofstede, 1997).
• Culture is “how people from certain cultural
orientations view and interpret specific images and
messages” (Sheridan, 2009).
Concepts of culture
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

5. • Cultural localisation “is the process of adapting the
linguistic and cultural content of an
internationalised web design for a specific target
audience in a specific locale” (Al-Badi & Mayhew,
2010).
• Cultural localisation “raises questions related to
translatability, comprehension and loss of meaning,
as well as to the possibility of establishing new
identities in the indeterminate space of cultural
translation” (Di Marco, 2007).
Cultural localisation
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

6. Cultural glocalisation
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Video: https://vimeo.com/11736109
“I think there's both fusion and tension between the local and the global, and I call it the ‘glocality’".
“We now have “streaming culture,” as sounds and images from
around the world flow into home computers” (Kurin, 2002).

7. Cultural localisation
of skills with OB
Example: Qualification Programms “Credit Points”
and “BeuthBonus” for migrant academics

8. Project Credit Points
http://creditpoints.beuth-hochschule.de/
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

9. Project Beuth Bonus
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
http://beuthbonus.beuth-hochschule.de/

10. Approach to microcredentials
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

11. Types of competencies
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

12. Local language
Describing competencies in a local language
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Capturing and describing so far not
documented competencies in
German language taking cultural
aspects into consideration.

13. Local skills
Translating foreign skills to local skills
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Certifying competencies which are
meaningful and valuable for the
German audience (especially
potential employers).

14. Local instruments
Using local instruments to capture competencies
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
ProfilPASS is a method (biographical, developmental and holistic approach) and an
instrument (a set of questions for self-reflection and self-assessment accompanied by
expert consulting/coaching on formulation of own goals and professional orientation) to
capture individual competencies from formal, non-formal and informal learning contexts.

15. Cultural localisation
of the OB system
Example: The German-speaking Open Badges Usergroup
OB-DACH USERGROUP

16. OB-DACH Usergroup
Twitter:
@DACHbadges
Google+
https://goo.gl/t3fFAz
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

17. Local symbols
Seepferdchen / Sea Horse (Early Swimmer Badge)
Image: http://sportthieme.scene7.com/
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

18. Local language
Badge Canvas translated to German language
German Badge Canvas:https://ibuchem.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/german-canvas-final2.pdf
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

19. Local beliefs & conventions
Need for local OB services and a pool of OB in DE
Image: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/images/prism_hannover_dpa/8427142/2-format43.jpg
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
“Local culture may become a refuge from or vehicle of resistance to
globalising forces” (Kurin, 2002).

20. Towards
Cultural Glocalisation
of Open Badges

21. • Davis (1994) Technology Acceptance Model (TAM):
• system design features
• perceived usefulness
• perceived ease of use
Acceptance …
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
… and Usability
• Nielsen (1994) usability = learnability, efficiency, memorability, satisfaction.
• Preece et al. (1994) usability = ease with which a system can be learned or
used, safety, effectiveness, efficiency, the attitude of its users towards it
• Shneiderman (1998) usability = easiness of learning, speed of task
performance, subjective user satisfaction, user retention over time

22. Overt (objective) and covert (subjective) elements:
• Overt (objective, tangible, straightforward,
publicly observable elements, e.g. date, time,
character sets, reading and writing direction,
punctuation, translation, units of measures and
currency.
• Covert (subjective, intangible, depend on
special knowledge, e.g. graphics/visuals,
colours, sound, metaphors, mental models (Yeo,
1996).
Cultural localisation elements
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

23. OB glocalisation issues
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
General
issues
- language, jargon
- conventions, standards
- beliefs, religions
Domain
issues
- educational domain
- business domain
- public domain
Usability
issues
- ease of learning
- user attitudes
- user satisfaction
System
issues
- system design elements
- perceived usefulness
- perceived ease of use
Interface
issues
- symbols, visuals, colours
- font type, text alignment
- placement of elements

24. • What type of cultural localisation is needed to
ensure acceptance and use in different countries?
• Which design elements are culture-specific and
may lead to cultural misinterpretation?
• Which design elements are universal and can be
exploited for intercultural & global use?
• What key factors are involved in the cultural
localisation of Open Badges?
Cultural glocalisation research
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

25. Master thesis #1
OB localisation research
at Beuth University
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Perceived
usefulness
from employer
perspective
Master thesis #2 Master thesis #3
Competency
assessment
from HR
perspective
Design
preferences
from user
perspective

26. • Al-Badi, A. & Mayhew, P. (2010). A Framework for Designing Usable Localised Business Websites. IBIMA, Vol. 2010, ID184405. AL-BADI,
A. H. 2005. A Framework for Designing Usable Localised Websites. PhD Thesis, University of East Anglia.
• Davis, F. D. (1993). User Acceptance of Information Technology: System Characteristics, User Perceptions and Behavioral Impacts. Int.
Journal Man- Machine Studies, 38, 475-487.
• Di Marco, F. (2007). Cultural Localization: Orientation and Disorientation in Japanese Video Games. University of Perugia, Italy.
• Hofsteade, G. (1997). Culture and Organization: Software in the Mind, London, McGraw-Hill.
• Kurin, R. (2002). The Globalization and Localization of Culture. Smithsonian staff publication In: Bermuda Connections: Homecoming.
Hamilton: Ministry of Community Affairs & Sport, pp.6-13.
• Martin, J. N., Nakayama, T. K. & Flores, L. A. (1997). Readings in Cultural contexts, California: Mountain View: Myfield Publishing
Company.
• Nielsen, J. (1994). Usability Engineering, London, Academic Press.
• Preece, J., Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., Benyon, D., Holland, S. & Carey, T. (1994). Human-computer interaction, Workingham, England,
Addison-Wesley.
• Shneiderman, B. (1998). Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Boston, MA, Addison-Wesley.
• Sheridan, E. F. (2009). Cross-cultural web site design: Considerations for developing and strategies for validating locale Appropriate on-
line content. MultiLingualComputing, Inc.
• Yeo, A. (1996). World-Wide CHI: Cultural User Interfaces, A Silver Lining in Cultural Diversity. SIGCHI, 28, 4-7.
References
Open Badges in Higher Education / Ilona Buchem / 07-07-2015 / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0