A Case Study: Creating and Designing a Bilingual Resource Web Site for Somali Immigrants

Abstract

This chapter addresses the design and procedural variables of creating a bilingual Web site information portal for an audience of culturally diverse immigrants. A Web site developed as a resource for a diverse Somali community (http://www.somaliresource. net) is used as a case study for this chapter. The Somali community, which includes immigrants, refugees, and asylees, faces difficulties associated with language barriers. They struggle with the adjustment of life in a completely new system in Minnesota. The aim of this resource is to address some of the Somali’s informational needs in the form of a one-stop bilingual Web site. It is our goal to describe our design process, and offer recommendations on design and procedural variables for working with the Somali cultural group. We envision that graphic designers and other researchers will find it useful to reference this material when they address design issues related to different cultural groups.