Professor of Sociotechnical Design from the School of Computing and Engineering (SCE) at the University of West London (UWL) José Abdelnour Nocera gave his inaugural professorial lecture at the University on Thursday 23 January. The title of the lecture was ‘What’s culture got to do with IT? 25 years of research ramblings on Information Technology Design.’

Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Woodman welcomed attendees to the lecture saying, “Professorial lectures are always very special, but this is one is perhaps a little bit more special because José is one of those colleagues who I’ve seen develop over the last 13 years to becoming a professor.”

The lecture was about the intersection of culture and technology in the IT industry and how cultural factors influence the development and implementation of IT solutions. José explored what it means to design IT for different cultures, balancing global frameworks with indigenous practices. He shared many examples of doing this from around the world including projects in China, Indonesia, South Africa, India, Kenya, and Venezuela.

Jose explored the three different ways in which he has used the concept of culture in his research: as an explanatory tool, as a sense-making device and as a critical lens. Using culture as an explanatory tool makes it predictive and easier to inform design but is reductionistic and potentially biased. Employing it as a sense-making device enables designers to navigate and interpret users’ cultural language and practices. Using it as a critical lens uncovers systemic inequities and domination within design practices.

“We need to look at the social context and the technical context and try to make it as bottom up as possible. To approach users as persons embedded in a cultural context,” explained Professor Abdelnour Nocera.

“We must make sense of how we can design interfaces or technology that is meaningful and useful to local indigenous users. Understanding culture from a more critical perspective allows us to uncover systemic inequities and domination within design practises.”

In the time for questions after the lecture, Vice Chancellor and President Professor Peter John CBE commented to Jose: “You used some very unusual units of analysis, and you can see the complexity that comes out of it. You need to be applauded for that. It is a very unusual way of using disciplines in a highly creative way.”

One attendee commented, “It was a reflective and honest lecture of a researcher who has learned not only from successes but also from when things didn’t go to plan.”

“Professor Abdelnour Nocera has the ability to develop interdisciplinary research through a combination of diverse research domains and methodological perspectives,” said another attendee.

Professor Abdelnour Nocera is Head of the Sociotechnical Centre for Innovation and User Experience at UWL