Groupthink: ICT Design with Culture in Mind

The study took a novel experimental approach from the field of cognitive linguistics to quantitatively describe the impact of culture on the use of mobile information and communication technology (ICT) in the context of peace and conflict. Beginning with the hypothesis that ICT reflects a mono-cultural perspective for collecting and organizing information, this study tested how a failure to adapt at a cognitive level resulted in distorted narratives. This has implications for democratic participation and data aggregation initiatives for policy-makers. Findings also present avenues for software development and security. This paper presents key findings from a larger study.