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This article describes how the VeSeL project which involves a distributed team of technologists and users from different cultural backgrounds is attempting to manage the process of user involvement and participation. In this case the developers are distributed but linked by a number of communication technologies while the users have very few technological means of communicating with the developers. It describes how the contrasting social and community issues of both the developers and the users can be understood and managed.

The paper considers the effects of cultural differences on software development of international information systems, particularly human factor issues and user involvement. A questionnaire-based instrument was used to investigate the cultural differences in a group of trainee software designers and especially to consider how the concept of locus of control relates to software design. It was concluded that internal/external locus of control could be related to cultural differences that affect responses to user centered design and team work.

The Logical User Centred Interface Design (LUCID) method has been shown to provide a development approach which is both user-centred and which, with respect to selected usability criteria, leads to the identification of the optimum interface. Previously published evidence has focused on factors internal to the design of the interface itself. In this paper, the authors show how Taguchi techniques for total quality management, which are integrated within the method, can be extended to analyse external factors such as diversity within the user groups of shared interfaces. Application of the method to global, international and local interfaces is discussed.