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 ĝ€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.