A Mobile User Interface For Low-Literacy Users In Rural South Africa

Information and Communication Technology services for socio-economic development of low-literacy users in rural communities in developing regions are new research contributions that seek to alleviate poverty in underserved communities. The intended users are still new to these technologies and can be described as novice users. This study was conducted to design a mobile user interface to enable low-literacy users in Dwesa community in South Africa to have access to mobile commerce services. We applied different ethnographic research methods through a usercentred design approach to actively involve the target users in the design process. This helped to identify the users’ needs and also meet users’ expectations. The usability of the mobile user interface was evaluated with the target users in the community. The user evaluation shows that the users have positive attitudes and perception of the system. The study found that the user interface conforms to the users’ cultural experience and preferences and they are also positive in their intent to use the user interface

The folksong jukebox: Singing along for social change in rural India

In designing digital literacy content for marginalized demographics, we need to garner local resources to structure engaging and meaningful media experiences. This paper examines the socio-cognitive implications of a novel edutainment product in rural India on learning, stemming from an e-development initiative funded by Hewlett-Packard. This product encapsulates a multiplicity of media forms: text, audio and visual, with social-awareness folk themes endemic to the locality. It uses the karaoke 'same language subtitling' feature that won the World Bank Development Marketplace Award in 2002 due to its simple yet innovative application that has proven to have an impact on reading skills. The product strives to combine cultural regeneration, value-based education, incidental literacy and language practice through entertainment. The paper investigates how this product addresses engagement and empowerment simultaneously, based on elements such as emot

Interactive visualisation for low literacy users

Sixteen percent (5.2 million) of the UK population possess low levels of literacy. The Government and other non-profit organisations, due to funding reforms, are forced to reduce the provision of face-to-face advice, and therefore, are pushing advice services via telephone or internet. As a consequence, low literacy users are experiencing difficulties finding the information they need to solve their day to day problems online. This thesis evaluates how walk in clients of a local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) who come to get social service information, obtain information online using the Adviceguide website. The thesis presents two challenges: (i) knowing the users in a way that can help consider design solutions that are probably not in a typical designer’s standard repertoire of design patterns, and (ii) knowing what is the problem that needs to be addressed. It is not simply an issue of usability or the need for simpler language, but understanding that these low literacy users are very different from the high literacy users. These low literacy users need this information to solve their day-to-day problems and are likely to be less successful in doing so. By providing an information architecture that permits them of a reasoning space and context, while supporting less abstract skills by visualized information in an unconventional way. The above challenges leave us with these research questions to address: what is the basis of such a design, how can these designs be incorporated into existing non-traditional interface proof of concept and finally how can these designs be evaluated

Designing Culturally Sensitive Icons for User Interfaces: An approach for the Interaction Design of smartphones in developing countries

A adesão a dispositivos móveis nos países em desenvolvimento, particularmente na África subsaariana, tem crescido de forma acelerada e constante. Os países em desenvolvimento são caracterizados por um número distinto de utilizadores culturalmente distintos e de diferentes segmentos socioeconómicos. Por consequência, a diversidade cultural deve ser reconhecida de forma a facilitar o processo de interação dos utilizadores com o sistema, mas também de modo a promover o uso de dispositivos móveis entre novos utilizadores, analfabetos e indivíduos provenientes de diferentes culturas. Além disso, soluções de Information and Communications Technologies direcionados para países em desenvolvimento são importantes, e é essencial facilitar o reconhecimento e a interação dos utilizadores com as interfaces gráficas.O estudo teve como objectivo avaliar o nível de conhecimento dos utilizadores da África subsaariana e tentar melhorar o seu reconhecimento através de culturally sensitive icons, sendo estes definidos através das preferências de um grupo cultural. Adicionalmente, um repositório para material cultural foi criado de forma a auxiliar profissionais no desenvolvimento de soluções centradas no utilizador. Além do beneficio de poupar espaço no ecrã, ícones não requerem leitura e são imediatamente reconhecidos uma vez que o utilizador se familiariza com a sua representação, fazendo destes um factor importante na usabilidade de aplicações móveis.Os resultados demonstram que a cultura tem um impacto importante no reconhecimento e interpretação de ícones, e profissionais necessitam de estar familiarizados com as representações e ações comuns para o público alvo. Além disso, o estudo demonstra as vantagens e desvantagens deste processo, menciona as limitações que os profissionais encontram na criação de soluções para regiões em desenvolvimento, e o trabalho futuro na área é discutido.The adhesion to smartphones in developing regions, mainly in the Sub-Saharan region, has been steadily growing. Developing countries are characterized by an array of culturally diverse users from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, cultural diversity must be contemplated in order to ease the interaction process of the users with the system, but also to promote the usage of smartphones among novice users, illiterates and individuals from different cultural backgrounds. Moreover, solutions of Information and Communication Technologies aimed at supporting development in these regions are important, therefore making it essential to ease users' recognition of and interaction with graphical user interfaces.This study aims to assess the level of icon recognition from users from the Sub-Saharan region and attempt to improve it through culturally sensitive icons, defined as icons based upon the preferences of the cultural group. In addition, a repository for cultural material is conceived in order to assist professionals to promote user-centered design techniques for culturally different groups. Besides having the ability to save space in the screen, icons often do not require reading and are immediately recognized once the user is familiarized with their representation, thus constituting an important factor on mobile application usability.The results demonstrate that culture has a substantial impact in icon recognition and interpretation, and professionals must become familiarized with the representations and actions that are deemed common by the target audience. Furthermore, the study reveals the advantages and disadvantages of this approach, mentions the limitations professionals encounter in the development of solutions for developing regions, and discusses future work in the area

Approaches that will yield greater success when implementing self-administered electronic data capture ICT systems in the developing world with an illiterate or semi-literate population

The Information Technology (IT) Group at the Population Council responded to a need for a technology solution that would help researchers obtain more accurate responses to survey questions that concerned subject matter of a sensitive nature. The IT Group had three goals: (1) to enhance research by obtaining the best data possible, (2) to operate successfully in the local environment and be welcomed by the local populations, and (3) to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the survey process. This paper outlines approaches to consider when designing and implementing self-administered information and communications technology (ICT) questionnaires in developing countries, and reviews the problems and issues we encountered and how we overcame them. Many of the approaches outlined may also be used in general for ICT-related projects in the developing world. To meet future challenges, we have begun an effort to build a prototype system that would operate on a variety of devices—when connected to the internet or not (securely storing the data when the system is offline)—and provide an administrative application to step through simple screens to build a self-administered questionnaire with the most frequently used functions