User localization success of text messaging is unqualified and fragile: some participants reduced use when costs rose or alternatives appeared¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2006 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The localization success of text messaging occurs only at the user's site, and fieldwork already showed some participants reducing use when promotions ended or other technologies became available. → Huatong Sun 2006

Evidence¶

Huatong Sun 2006¶

Huatong Sun. (2006). The Triumph of Users: Achieving Cultural Usability Goals With User Localization. Technical Communication Quarterly, 15(4), 457-481. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15427625tcq1504_3

q2 · i? · qualitative · r3

Observations from the second-stage interviews and shadowing in the comparative case study. The author reports that "some participants reduced the use of text messaging during the second stage" due to cost and available alternatives, supporting the claim that success is unqualified.

"Some participants reduced the use of text messaging during the second stage. A few American participants found that text messaging technology was too expensive after their service provider's promotion ended. And several Chinese participants found other technologies were available to them (e.g., e-mail)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• American and Chinese users showed distinct messaging use patterns: fun-oriented short exchanges in the US versus informing and long in-depth chats in China — related
• Users successfully localized the hard-to-use mobile text messaging technology into their daily lives despite poor developer localization — related
• Problematic one-way links between production and consumption processes impede the technology's circulation, with only one manufacturer responding to users