This paper proposes an alternative to the office metaphor for African users unfamiliar with the office environment. The objective of the research was to identify users for whom the African Village metaphor is better than the office metaphor. Five widely used African cultural objects were identified for the design of user interface icons for the African Village metaphor. Computer Science and Information Technology staff members from four universities in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire requested participants to identify icons from the current office metaphor, identify the five African objects, to indicate their traditional use, associate these objects with computer actions, and indicate their level of support for the African Village metaphor. Participants were grouped according to age and culture. The data were analysed using proportions, means and correlation analysis. Results indicate that in all age groups a larger proportion of African users support the African Village metaphor compared to users from other cultural groups, and that support is almost null among young users from other cultural groups. On the ability to associate African objects with computer actions, older African users performed better than younger Africans, but younger users from other cultural groups performed better than their peers. On the knowledge of African cultural objects, young African participants performed worse compared to young participants from other cultures. A significant correlation was found between knowledge of cultural objects and ability to associate computer actions with cultural objects. The research results show the African Village metaphor is more suitable for older African users than the office metaphor. The paper assesses the effectiveness of a possible alternative to the office metaphor, capable of improving usability especially for African users and contribute towards improving computer literacy for this group of users.
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