WITH THE INTERNET TUCKING INTO EVERY CORNER of the globe, products and services that were once local have become global. This ubiquity begets a need to sharpen our tools and learn how to conduct user experience research apart from our cultural comfort zone; it requires new tactics and refinement of old methods. Our perspective is one of a consulting firm that conducts usability tests abroad for US firms and in the US for non-US firms. Organizations that routinely conduct testing across borders will resonate with our thoughts below and can likely think of anec- dotes to accompany them. When thinking of multinational testing, several things come to mind. Obvious issues of language and culture spring to the fore, but many of the challenges are more subtle. We will expose both types of issues as well as share lessons learned. Our starting point is the organization that needs to test globally but is looking for where and how to begin. WHY HIRE ONE FIRM TO COORDINATE TESTING GLOBALLY? Why would an organization not simply find and contract with local usability practitioners in each country? Just as consistency within design may be under investigation, consistency within the testing procedures and final deliverable format are essential when con- ducting studies in multiple countries. Thus, having one editor or arbiter of the study script and the results is necessary. Second, many organizations do not have the resources to locate quality vendors in multiple countries, submit RFPs/RFQs, evaluate the bids, ensure consistency and interact with several firms. This activity is a time sink. Another reason for hiring a single firm is to have “one throat to choke” if some- thing goes wrong. Using one firm, in the role of a general contractor, should bring established relationships and ensure quality and faster recovery when things go wrong. The final result should be a single point of contact for all activities across all countries. Organizations would be advised to pick firms who have prior experience and strong contacts in the target countries. QUALITIES OF LOCAL PRACTITIONERS. An obvious requirement is to have usability practitioners with proper credentials who live in the test country and speak the native language do a “critical mass” of testing. Even if one is fluent in the lan- guage of the test country, native speakers understand subtle phrases and local nuances that are essential to capturing the user experience. The popular author Bill Bryson describes the UK and the US as “two countries separated by a common lan- guage.” How true. Not only are there nuances between the languages, there are inherent cultural issues that are not advisable to infuse into the testing situation. MINIMIZING THE LOSS OF INFORMATION. Once you have chosen a usability firm to help with the testing, the next step—preparation—is critical. Take the time to :/ 28 interactions / november + december 2005  Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without the fee, provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on services or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. © ACM 1072-5220/05/1100 $5.00 Overcoming the Challenges of Multinational Testing Agnieszka Bojko > User Centric, Inc. > abojko@usercentric.com Gavin S. Lew > User Centric, Inc. > glew@usercentric.com Robert M. Schumacher > User Centric, Inc. > rschumacher@usercentric.com