Role of Emotions and Aesthetics in ICT Usage for Underserved Communities: A NeuroIS Investigation

Usability and efficiency has received lot of attention in terms of ICT usage and attitude however non instrumental factors like emotions and aesthetics and their impact on ICT usage attitude and performance has not been extensively tested. Further underserved communities are focused communities that have limitations in terms of formal and functional literacy and technology experience. Aesthetics have been shown to be an important predictor of usage but this has not been tested in underserved communities. Also positive emotions have been linked to greater ICT usage as well as aesthetic experience. Measurement of factors like emotions, aesthetic preferences and ICT usage has so far been restricted to questionnaires however we propose to use objective measures like brain imaging technique (EEG) to supplement existing methodologies. The current paper is a research in progress that addresses potential role of aesthetics and emotions for understanding aesthetic preferences and ICT usages in underserved communities

Dual Role of ICT Interventions for Semi-Literate Rural Communities: A Social Capital Perspective

Prior research has proposed ICT as an intervention for behavior change but it has primarily focused on literate communities. These techniques, however effective fail to prove their metal when it comes to semi-literate rural communities. Because ICT has played an important role in enabling positive change in developing regions we believe they can be contextualized for semi-literate communities as well. In this paper, we use a social capital perspective to focus on India’s farming communities that have comfortable access to mobile ICTs but have not been fully served. We explore some of the inherent challenges in adopting ICTs in a particular belt of villages in Maharashtra (India). Although our results are preliminary they highlight the importance of contextualizing ICTs specifically for semi-literate communities so that they can be better adopted

Icon Types, Classical and Expressive Aesthetics, Pleasurable Interaction and Satisfaction with the Process of Semi-literate Users

The hedonic role of icons has been undermined in contemporary human computer interaction research, though users have specifically mentioned the importance of icons while performing aesthetic evaluation of user interfaces. Previous research has also neglected factors like aesthetics and pleasurable interaction while comparing efficiency of same interface elements. In this regard, current study investigates how different types of icons in mobile applications affect the aesthetics and pleasurable interactions of semi-literate users. This study also investigates the extent to which aesthetics and pleasurable interactions affect satisfaction with the process. The study addresses these issues from the theoretical perspectives of metaphor and aesthetics. Significant differences were observed for aesthetics and pleasurable interactions between two different types of icon sets, namely metaphoric and idiomatic. This study suggests that for higher evaluation of aesthetics and pleasurable interaction for semi-literate users, specific icon types are preferred

EXTROVERT OR INTROVERT: HOW PERSONALITY MODERATES THE EFFECT OF VISUAL AESTHETICS ON APP ATTRACTIVENESS IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS

We propose a conceptual model for the context of mobile applications (apps) that explains the relationship between perceived visual aesthetics, perceived visual attractiveness, and intention to download. The model predicts that the aesthetics characteristics influence users’ perceived app attractiveness and users’ intention to download the app. It further predicts an interaction effect, where users’ personality types moderate the effect of aesthetics characteristics on perceived app attractiveness. In other words: differences in aesthetics characteristics explain differences in perceived app attractiveness. However, this effect varies for different types of user personality. We explain the model’s grounding in theory, describe the design of a laboratory experiment for empirically testing the model, and explain our manipulations of the aesthetics characteristics along its classic and expressive dimensions. Besides presenting our conceptual model and describing out planned experimental design, this study encourages researchers to further investigate how aesthetics characteristics affect intention formation depending on user personality types

INVESTIGATING VISUAL DESIGN FOR INCREASING PRE-USE EVALUATION AND POST-USE PERFORMANCE IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

A Critical Review of National Education Policy 2020: Role of Twenty-First-Century Skills and Scope of Design Education in Indian Schools

National Education Policy 2020 outlines the vision of India's new education system to reconfigure its structure toward acquiring twenty-first century skills. One of the recommendations of the policy is the introduction of Design Thinking as a skills course across classes VI to XII. This article investigates the scope of design education in Indian schools in meeting the requirements of twenty-first century skills. This investigation includes a detailed narrative literature review of National Education Policy 2020, twenty-first century skills, and design education. The findings of the review clearly indicate the relevance and impact of design education in meeting the demands of the twenty-first century by extending design learning to school education. Pioneering studies on twenty-first-century skills and recent studies on design education are further reviewed. The study illustrates these findings through a tabular representation of the keywords for twenty-first-century skill requirements as well as knowledge and pedagogies offered by design education. The overlap between these keywords is further represented and discussed to direct the attention of Indian education stakeholders to the importance of design education in providing students with twenty-first-century skills. In the absence of any published evidence of design education (curriculum, pedagogy, operation, impact, etc.) in Indian schools, the study provides a theoretical basis for extending the knowledge base and scope of design education in Indian schools that can be attained by collecting the views of Indian education stakeholders and conducting empirical studies in Indian classrooms. © 2022 Common Ground Research Networks. All rights reserved

Implementing 21st Century Pedagogical Requirements in a Lesson Plan

The theoretical recommendations on 21st century pedagogies pose practical challenges of classroom implementation. Selected challenges are discussed and solved through design and development of a lesson plan. The structure, content, technology and pedagogy of this lesson plan are designed to address these challenges. It is found that this case study not only meets the determined goals, but additionally caters to other requirements of 21st century pedagogies. The study discusses the possibility of democratized education. © 2021 Association for Computing Machinery

An Investigation of Social Inclusion through Wearable Technologies on Technical Self-Efficacies of Elderly

Mobile applications are prevalent in the society, consisting of population with different age groups, including a large proportion of elderly. Despite of the increasing number of elderly, we seldom take constraints of elderly into consideration when developing technologies, resulting in them being excluded in the society. In this study, we propose for wearable devices to be interfaced with gestures or eye-trackers. Wearable devices are anything that is worn. Thus, such interfaced wearable technology could be integrated into their daily activities so that they can be included into the society. To fill the gap of the need for interfaced wearable devices, this study draws upon expectancy-value theory to examine the significance of elderly’s technical self-efficacy behind the adoption of wearable technologies. As an emergent research, we plan to evaluate the effects of elderly’s technical self-efficacy empirically. This study will provide significant theoretical and practical contributions to existing knowledge about wearable technologies