Research Takes UPEI Student to Africa
Marcus Trenton, UPEI double-major in Mathematics and Computer Science, will travel to Namibia for the month of May and into June to research how different cultures approach and learn from websites.
"I'm astounded that I'm going to Africa. I always pictured Computer Science would let me explore the world from my living room. Now, I'm going to Namibia to connect with students there. I'll be experiencing their culture first-hand. When I first started university I would've never imagined this opportunity," says Trenton.
Trenton designed and built two versions of an AIDS awareness websiteand#151;one geared to Canadians and one to Namibiansand#8213;based on research on their cultural preferences. He has already presented the website to Canadian students at UPEI and will now do the same with students at the University of Namibia.
"Usually when a website is revamped for another culture the language and a few symbols would be changed," says Trenton. "I'm researching whether it would be worthwhile to do more in-depth changes to websites to localize them to specific cultures."
For example, he is looking at fundamental changes in the contentand structure of the website such as different photos, stories, and the overall tone and how all of this combines to affect learning in different cultures.
Accompanying Trenton is Professor David LeBlanc, Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology at UPEI. Trenton's work is part of Professor LeBlanc's ongoing research program into cross-cultural interface design. The ultimate goal of this program is to develop a system to automatically translate interfaces such as websites, office software, or computer games from one culturally based design to another.
Trenton and Professor LeBlanc chose to build AIDS awareness websites because of the practical use it would have in Namibia. The websites contain information on the causes of AIDS and ways to prevent contracting the disease. They plan to give a copy of the website to the University when they leave.
