Design Feedback

I guess I haven't thought very critically about web design within the context of American society. I'm in Costa Rica working to co-create (i.e. hopefully with the influence of others) a social network for non-gov'tal organizations. Recently I've been seeking feedback about the site in face to face meetings, because I haven't been getting any though digital means (email, chat, feedback forms). I'm realizing that I have culture googles on. So I'm learning that looking at the forefront Web 2.0 standard-creating designers in the States (or other Northern countries) is perhaps not the only inspiration I should seek to design here, in Costa Rica. A lot of NGOs that do have websites have sites that look pretty old, I'm talking Geocities-era. If these are my peers, and the audience I work with is used to navigating these kinds of sites, I better pay more attention to them, and see how I can emulate Geocities within a Web 2.0 framework.

It's an interesting issue. Here's an example, the default tabs created by Drupal and the Zen theme are pretty standard, at least from my perspective. (Take a look)However, recently a professor at a national university told me that if he sees these tabs, he thinks that the "Editar" section is grayed out because it's unavailable -- so he wouldn't bother to click it. I had never thought of it that way.

Another prominent example I've heard a few times is genearl unfamiliarity with the Google Maps. Being pretty tech saavy, I take this fluency for granted, and I know what happens if you scroll with your mouse placed over the map. I haven't seen anyone here use Google Maps as the American designers intended them to be used.

Not to mention that the idea of a "social network" is much different than navagating the web more like a book, with a linear lay out and table of contents you can reference. My advisor calls being able to navagate something like a social network "branching literacy". Apparently, this skill isn't very developed in Costa Rica.

Just some food for thought. If you have any tips to suggest, please do!