Designing for Culturally Sensitive Cultural Change: A case study of designing for the visibility of Saudi women in the digital media

Abstract

Online self-presentation is recognized as a global phenomenon largely influenced by and sensitive to users’ cultural norms. However, incorporating cultural understanding into the design process can be challenging. Designing for culture creates dilemmas between designing for a pre-existing cultural ‘status quo’ or for cultural change. We argue that culturally sensitive design should not be a tool for (i) perpetuating existing cultural inequalities or (ii) empowering the individual isolated from their wider cultural milieu. We propose “designing for culturally sensitive cultural change”—a process in which we support creating a trajectory departing from the status quo, to bridge the gap between people's aspirations and practices related to cultural change. We demonstrate this in a case study on designing for Saudi women's self-presentation in digital media. We conclude with reflections on cultural sensitivity in designing for cultural change and broader implications for HCI.