Sustainable software development

Authors:
Heike Winschiers;Barbara Paterson
Affiliations:
Department of Information Technology, Polytecnic of Namibia, Private Bag 13388, 13 Storch St, Windhoek, Namibia;Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Directorate of Scientific Services, Private Bag 13306, Windhoek, Namibia
Venue:
SAICSIT '04 Proceedings of the 2004 annual research conference of the South African institute of computer scientists and information technologists on IT research in developing countries
Year:
2004

Citing 4
Cited 5

Ethnocritical heuristics for reflecting on work with users and other interested parties

Computers and design in context
Crosscurrents: cultural dimensions and global Web user-interface design

interactions
Shaping Web usability: interaction design in context

Shaping Web usability: interaction design in context
The Cultural Component of Designing and Evaluating International User Interfaces

HICSS '99 Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences-Volume 3 - Volume 3

Ingimp: introducing instrumentation to an end-user open source application

Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
A bush encroachment decision support system's metamorphosis

Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction: Designing for Habitus and Habitat
The Art of Cross-Cultural Design for Usability

UAHCI '09 Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Addressing Diversity. Part I: Held as Part of HCI International 2009
Assumptions considered harmful: the need to redefine usability

UI-HCII'07 Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Usability and internationalization
Interpretation of a cross-cultural usability evaluation: A case study based on a hypermedia system for rare species management in Namibia

Interacting with Computers

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) transfer to so-called developing countries has failed to fulfil its promises. In order to harvest the benefits of ICT, the potential for local software development must be enhanced. Considering the resource constraints, Namibia and other African countries should strive for sustainable software development. This, however, can only be achieved through a cultural appropriation of the software development process itself, meaning that methods, concepts and project goals need to be redefined within the local context. Here we use a usability evaluation case study to demonstrate how Namibian cultural variances should be considered in such a process. Once software modules have been evaluated locally, re-use and community appropriation should be promoted to foster sustainability.