In a five-year period, between 1993 and 1998, the number of Internet sites grew 200-fold. Accordingly, there are now an estimated 304 million global Internet users, an increase of 78 percent from 1999. Another appreciable trend is who is using the Internet and from where. Recently released research found that the United States and Canada now account for less than 50 percent of total user growth. This is a trend that most researchers believe will continue during the next decade. This belief is also strongly supported by research conducted by the World Economic Forum. The WEF Task Force on the Global Digital Divide Initiative issued a report to the Kyushu-Okinawa G-8 Summit in June disclosing research and suggestions for action. The WEF report noted that "Market-oriented policy reforms, local entrepreneurial efforts international community significantly increase the deployment and usability of telecommunications, Internet and related technologies in many countries across Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East". It is apparent that design plays a significant role in effective communication. The Italian designer Lidia Guibert Ferrara noted that, "The goal of cross-cultural design is to respect the subtleties of one's audience, an effort that requires constant questioning of both the designer's personal beliefs and the troubling misconceptions that might be lurking in the assignment". The major concerns addressed here may seem common place. In practice, however, designers and usability experts continue to overlook basic communication considerations as noted by example throughout this paper.
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