The global ideography of computer applications:

a functional language that transcends cultures in cyberspace

Abstract

The estimate made by McLuhan that computers provide an “inside out” Tower of Babel show us signs of becoming a reality. Not only because many languages can be translated automatically, facilitating communication, but also because one can already perceive the configuration of an operational language capable of being understood and used by users from various cultures and nationalities. This has been made possible by means of software that use graphic interfaces that help build this very “tower”. They are applications that range from text publishers, and programs of vector design, through to the most advanced software for creating documents for the web. These ones are produced, sold and pirated worldwide and their language is composed of visual, verbal and sound signs which are of easy cognitive assimilation. Inserted in the context of cognitive ergonomics and usability, the functional language of these applications seems to compose a global ideography which has spread throughout the global network of computers, due to its facility of hypermedia production and reproduction.