PaperChains: Dynamic Sketch+Voice Annotations

In this paper we present a novel interface for collaborative creation of evolving audio-visual documents. PaperChains allows users to sketch on paper and then augment with digital audio, allowing both the physical and digital objects to evolve simultaneously over time. The technique we have developed focuses on affordability and accessibility in its design, using standard cameraphones and telephone connections, which allow it to be used in regions where literacy, technological ex-perience and data connections cannot necessarily be taken for granted. The main use-case that we focus on in this paper is for collaborative storytelling, an area which has been well studied and previously proven to be of value in resource constrained environments. To investigate the relevance of the approach in these contexts, we undertook two usability evaluations in India and South Africa. Results from these investigations indicate users ’ ability to both create and interpret stories using the software, as well as demonstrating high overall usability and enjoyment. We end with a discussion of the implications of our design and opportunities for use in other contexts. Author Keywords Sketching; audio; photographs; cameraphones

Using Video as a Replacement or Complement for the Traditional Lecture/Demonstration Method in Agricultural Training in Rural Uganda

This study explored the effectiveness of video as a tool to either complement or replace existing lecture-demonstration training for small farmer groups. The effectiveness of video in decreasing the knowledge gap among farmers who differ by gender was also evaluated. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through a quasi-experiment including a pretest and a posttest design with three experimental groups. Results showed that video could be an effective complement and replacement for the traditional lecture-demonstration training method. Video alone or video plus traditional lecture-demonstration was as effective as traditional training in increasing learning. The training method that included both video and traditional lecture-demonstration was especially effective for groups with relatively low prior knowledge of the training topic. However, video only was not as effective as traditional training or traditional training plus video in decreasing gaps in learning between men and women. Video has advantages in rural areas because it does not require face-to-face presentation by skilled trainers. Video might be an attractive alternative or supplement if the production cost is low enough, or if traditional lecture-demonstration cannot meet the demand for training. Using local actors, shooting video in the local environment and using local languages add to video’s advantages for training purposes. When used to demonstrate a farming technique or practice in a group setting, videos were found to enhance interaction (e.g. discussion and peer learning) among farmers

Eyes-Off Physically Grounded Mobile Interaction

This thesis explores the possibilities, challenges and future scope for eyes-off, physically grounded mobile interaction. We argue that for interactions with digital content in physical spaces, our focus should not be constantly and solely on the device we are using, but fused with an experience of the places themselves, and the people who inhabit them. Through the design, development and evaluation of a series ofnovel prototypes we show the benefits of a more eyes-off mobile interaction style.Consequently, we are able to outline several important design recommendations for future devices in this area.The four key contributing chapters of this thesis each investigate separate elements within this design space. We begin by evaluating the need for screen-primary feedback during content discovery, showing how a more exploratory experience can be supported via a less-visual interaction style. We then demonstrate how tactilefeedback can improve the experience and the accuracy of the approach. In our novel tactile hierarchy design we add a further layer of haptic interaction, and show how people can be supported in finding and filtering content types, eyes-off. We then turn to explore interactions that shape the ways people interact with aphysical space. Our novel group and solo navigation prototypes use haptic feedbackfor a new approach to pedestrian navigation. We demonstrate how variations inthis feedback can support exploration, giving users autonomy in their navigationbehaviour, but with an underlying reassurance that they will reach the goal.Our final contributing chapter turns to consider how these advanced interactionsmight be provided for people who do not have the expensive mobile devices that areusually required. We extend an existing telephone-based information service to support remote back-of-device inputs on low-end mobiles. We conclude by establishingthe current boundaries of these techniques, and suggesting where their usage couldlead in the future

Exploring Low-Cost, Internet-Free Information Access for Resource-Constrained Communities

Rural developing regions are often defined in terms of their resource constraints, including limited technology exposure, lack of power, and low access to data connections (leading to an inability to access information from digital or physical sources), as well as being amongst the most socio-economically disadvantaged and least literate in their countries’ populations. This article is focused around information access in such regions, aiming to build upon and extend the audio-based services that are already widely used in order to provide access to further types of media. In this article, then, we present an extended exploration of AudioCanvas —an interactive telephone-based audio information system that allows cameraphone users to interact directly with their own photos of physical media to receive narration or description. Our novel approach requires no specialist hardware, literacy, or data connectivity, making it far more likely to be a suitable solution for users in such regions. </jats:p

The Ability of Training Approaches to Reduce Agricultural Knowledge Gaps between Men and Women in Rural Uganda

This study explores the effectiveness of three training methods (traditional lecture-field demonstration, lecture and field demonstration + video, and video only) to narrow the gap in knowledge about row bean planting between men and women farmers in Kamuli District,Uganda. Using a pretest-posttestquasi-experimental design, this study found that the method that combined video and lecture/demonstration was significantly more effective in narrowing the gender knowledge gap. Use of video alone improved women’s knowledge scores, but did not close the gap

Testing the Effectiveness of Video to Complement or Replace the Lecture/demonstration Group Training Approach for Farmers in Kamuli District, Uganda

This study explored the effectiveness of video as a tool to either complement or replace existing lecture/demonstration training for small farmer groups. The effectiveness of video in decreasing the knowledge gap among farmers who differ by gender, bean production volume, and education level was also evaluated. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through a quasi-experiment including a pre-test and a post-test design with three experimental groups. Results showed that video could be an effective complement and replacement for the conventional lecture/demonstration training method. The training method that included both video and traditional lecture/demonstration was especially effective for groups with relatively low prior knowledge of the training topic. Video alone or video plus traditional lecture/demonstration were as effective as traditional training in decreasing gaps in learning among subjects of both genders, varying education levels and scales of bean planting. Video has advantages in rural areas because it does not require face-to-face presentation by skilled trainers. Video might be an attractive alternative or supplement if the production cost is low enough, or if conventional lecture/demonstration cannot meet the demand for training. Using local actors, shooting video in the local environment and using local languages add to video\u27s advantages for training purposes. When used to demonstrate a farming technique or practice in a group setting, videos were found to enhance interaction (e.g. discussion and peer learning) among farmers

Context Aware Mobile Knowledge Management System in Healthcare

Clinical practitioners need to have the right information, at the right time, at the right place; which is possible by mobile healthcare. It is not only important for them to have the right information, but they have to manage this right information with proper knowledge, which requires the skills for efficient knowledge management in a mobile healthcare setting. Utilization of mobile devices in healthcare to share knowledge may not only improve the decision taking time, but also reduces the medical errors and costs involved. Need for this information sharing may often be required across various hospital staff that play variety of roles (as practitioners, nurses, administrative staff etc.) and works in multiple schedules (work shifts: night, day etc.), resulting in need for proper ‘context aware’ knowledge. This research paper is an attempt to develop a context aware model which can help the healthcare organizations in efficiently practicing the knowledge management in a context based mobile healthcare setting

Meaningful Witnessing in the United States, India & New Zealand: The Possibility Space for Digital Video Within Human Rights, Protest Movements and Activist Practices

This dissertation examines the emergence of digital video practices rooted in human rights, social justice issues and protest movements through a number of select case studies in the United States, India and New Zealand. This project analyzes and critiques the formation of digital video practices through the lens of Manuel DeLanda’s interpretation of assemblage theory. Examining interactions between crucial elements present in a possibility space that aid in the cultivation and assembling of budding forms of digital video, this study considers the implications in the relationships between both material and expressive qualities of these assemblings. The central argument of this thesis asserts that digital video practices centered on human rights, social justice and protest movements require adaptable linkages between supportive structures, creative capacities and digital video technologies in order to produce sustainable and creative digital video practices buttressed by documentary agendas that fuel their dynamic evolution. My research seeks to engage with the complexities of agency and technology and examines their significance in different contexts by providing a constructive outlet for practitioners to share the process behind their methods in order to offer insight into their creative workflow. Digital video technologies are proliferating at a rapid pace, yet very few video practices have formed that suggest linkages to documentary traditions. One can bear witness, yet to traverse video documentation in order to create a rhetorical argument of meaningful witnessing is a complex process that requires more than easy access to mobile video tools connected to the Internet. The case studies analyzed in these three democratic nations support the argument threaded throughout the project; digital video practices have the potential to thrive, albeit in pockets where formal or informal support systems are present and through assemblages where digital video technologies are constantly being adapted and an investment in human capital is paramount to the privileging of digital video tools or online platforms. Case studies that focus on individual practices in New York City and New Zealand reinforce the difficulties practitioners face when attempting to cultivate video practices without supportive structures. Comparatively with other case studies in India and New York, individual practices with long-term organizational support navigate challenges and re-assemble their practices in order to remain sustainable and influential. This study also engages with assemblage theory in the context of documentary history and contemporary digital video practices and reassesses the historic relationship between emerging photographic, film and video tools and the lens based practitioners that harness these apparatuses for documentary purposes. Like assemblings themselves, these creative associations are never smooth at their inception, but require adaptable solutions and adjustable reassemblings in order to maintain the potential for sustainable practices to develop and flourish. This dissertation argues that as digital video practices continue to evolve, they have the potential to redefine creative approaches to documentary media and the opportunity to confront historic traditions of the documentary form

Designing with community health workers: feedback-integrated multimedia learning for rural community health

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an integral part of the rural health system, and it is imperative that their voices are accommodated in digital health projects. In the mobile health education project discussed in this thesis (The Bophelo Haeso project), we sought to find ways to amplify CHWs' voices, enabling them to directly influence design and research processes as well as technological outcomes. The Bophelo Haeso (BH) project equips CHWs with health videos on their mobile phones to use for educating and counselling the rural public. We investigated how to best co-design, with CHWs, a feedback mechanism atop the basic BH health education model, thus enabling their voices in the design process and in the process of community education. This thesis chronicles this inclusive design and research process - a 30-month process that spanned three sub-studies: an 18-month process to co-design the feedback mechanism with CHWs, a 12-month deployment study of the feedback mechanism and, overlapping with the feedback deployment study, a 17-month study looking at the consumption patterns of the BH educational videos. This work contributes to the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in three distinct ways. First, it contributes to the growing knowledge of co-design practice with participants of limited digital experience by introducing a concept we termed co-design readiness. We designed and deployed explorative artefacts and found that by giving CHWs increased technical, contextual, and linguistic capacity to contribute to the design process, they were empowered to unleash their innate creativity, which in turn led to more appropriate and highly-adopted solutions. Secondly, we demonstrate the efficacy of incorporating an effective village-to-clinic feedback mechanism in digital health education programs. We employed two approaches to feedback - asynchronous voice and roleplaying techniques. Both approaches illustrate the combined benefits of implementing creative methods for effective human-to-technology and human-tohuman communication in ways that enable new forms of expression. Finally, based on our longitudinal study of video consumption, we provide empirical evidence of offline video consumption trends in health education settings. We present qualitative and quantitative analyses of video-use patterns as influenced by the CHWs' ways of being and working. Through these analyses, we describe CHWs and their work practices in depth. In addition to the three main contributions, this thesis concludes with critical reflections from the lessons and experiences of the 30-month study. We discuss the introduction of smartphones in rural villages, especially among elderly, low-literate, and non-English-speaking users, and present guidelines for designing relevant and usable smartphones for these populations. The author also reflects on her position as an African-born qualitative researcher in Africa, and how her positionality affected the outcomes of this research

Journal of Applied Communications vol. 97 (4) Full Issue

Journal of Applied Communications vol. 97 (4) - Full Issu