Cultural effects in usability assessment

A study is being conducted to identify factors that may affect results of usability evaluation techniques. Preliminary results based on eight subjects are described and then implications of the findings are discussed

Global-software development lifecycle: an exploratory study

This study was conducted to explore the efficacy of the global-software development lifecycle (global-SDLC), which comprises design, implementation and usability evaluation phase. A spreadsheet was adapted using the global-SDLC process to accommodate a number of cultures. The design and implementation phases were efficacious. However, in the usability evaluation phase, the usability evaluation techniques were only efficacious when participants, who were experienced computer users and participants who were familiar with the experimenter, were employed. Explanations, from cultural literature such as Hofstede, are presented and implications of these findings on the usability evaluation phase and the global-SDLC are also described

Measurement of Tangible and Intangible Impacts of Telecentres on Rural Communities

The issue of evaluating the Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) intangible impacts remains to be unresolved, especially when it comes to evaluating the impacts of ICTs on non-user beneficiaries. The telecentres have been established to disseminate knowledge from basic to advanced level, stimulating the socio-economic status of the underprivileged communities. After a thorough review of the literature, it is found that researchers paid much more attention towards evaluating traditional measurable impacts of telecentre (from both users and non-users perspectives) such as income, health, education. Albeit very few studies have identified non-measureable intangible impacts on users such as psychological wellbeing and empowerment, non-measureable intangible impact particularly from the non-users perspectives have largely been neglected. Telecentre has been existing for almost more than two decades, now the question is, are the non-measurable impacts important? Hence, we believe an alternative qualitative research methodology (The Most Significant Change) will help to evaluate the intangible impacts of ICTs perceived by its non-users such as (self-esteem, self-confidence, feelings of happiness and pride). These stories-based approach can produce diverse, unexpected and emergent impacts from the community’s social perspectives, which might not be catered for by using other orthodox research approaches based on success related pre-stated indicators

Adapting PRISMA for software development in rural areas: A mobile-based healthcare application case study

This paper reports on the use of a proposed methodological framework called PRISMA (Participatory Action Research in Software Development Methodology Augmentation) to support and design a mobile-based healthcare application for a remote Penan community in Malaysian Borneo. PRISMA employs participatory action research (PAR). The approach has been successfully applied in projects with rural communities. The intent of PRISMA is to strengthen community participation and local management in order to ensure software system is built at interest of community. The healthcare application is targeted at young school-children and mothers as they have a major influence on health issues affecting their family. A key aspect of PRISMA is the active participation of multiple stakeholders - in our case, the villagers, medical doctors, researchers as well as teachers, who will be assisting in the monitoring of the usage and health change process for the children. Preliminary results of the health intervention will be reported

Remote health monitoring system in a rural population: Challenges and opportunities

This paper discusses remote health monitoring as a potential application field in telecentres at rural areas. We present the challenges faced and opportunities with emphasis on patients with hypertension using a remote health monitoring system. We will also discuss the potential of deploying mHealth applications as a value added to the telecentres. The remote blood pressure health monitoring system will read, store and send data over wireless network to a remote server. Medical doctors can view the data on a regular basis remotely from a website. This community-based participatory research study carried out BP monitoring on residents from a rural village in Sarawak, Borneo and did follow-up assessments on the available health care for them. Structured quantitative and qualitative research tools were carried out on a wide range of clients – the patients, telecentre managers and medical doctors. Structured and semi-structured data collection techniques, such as questionnaires, group discussions and interviews were gathered. Observation of the whole process of interaction between the patients with the managers was also captured. The aim of the project is to determine the degree to which remote health monitoring interventions can be integrated to telecentres in rural areas to increase awareness in healthy living and wellness

Gaze estimation model for eye drawing

This paper describes a model that can be employed in eye drawing software applications. Unlike most of the existing interfaces for eye typing, eye drawing focuses on small target selection and moves the cursor to a precise location. This is made possible by a proposed Gaze Estimation Model which interprets users’ interest when they want to draw new objects in a particular position

Employing Participatory Action Research to Augment Software Development for Rural Communities

The paper proposes a software development methodology which also employs the participatory action research (PAR) method given that PAR has been successfully employed in projects in rural communities. Arguments for this approach are provided, discussed in the context of software development for rural communities