Abstract: The concept of culture has been an attractive one for producers of computer systems interested in designing useful and relevant solutions to diverse users. This presentation discusses different approaches to cultural research in information technology design and evaluation, with a special emphasis on bottom-up approaches. The main learning points from these approaches are highlighted by looking at different perspectives in the social sciences and human-computer interaction. The case is made for these approaches to be combined with top-down conceptions of culture in order to produce technology that meets the requirements and expectations of the people to whom it is aimed. A case study illustrating the practical implementation of these ideas in the elicitation of context and culture in an inter-cultural and multi-disciplinary setting of ICT design is presented. Localised usability evaluation (LUE) is augmented with a socio-technical evaluation tool (STEM) as a methodological approach to expose and address cultural gaps in collaborative design within the Village e-Science for Life (VeSeL) project in rural Kenya. Stakeholders’ context, culture, decisions, agendas, expectations, disciplines and requirements need to be locally identified and globally evaluated to ensure a fit for purpose ICT solution.