Mobile phones interaction techniques for second economy people

Second economy people in developing countries are people living in communities that are underserved in terms of basic amenities and social services. Due to literacy challenges and user accessibility problems in rural communities, it is often difficult to design user interfaces that conform to the capabilities and cultural experiences of low-literacy rural community users. Rural community users are technologically illiterate and lack the knowledge of the potential of information and communication technologies. In order to embrace new technology, users will need to perceive the user interface and application as useful and easy to interact with. This requires proper understanding of the users and their socio-cultural environment. This will enable the interfaces and interactions to conform to their behaviours, motivations as well as cultural experiences and preferences and thus enhance usability and user experience. Mobile phones have the potential to increase access to information and provide a platform for economic development in rural communities. Rural communities have economic potential in terms of agriculture and micro-enterprises. Information technology can be used to enhance socio-economic activities and improve rural livelihood. We conducted a study to design user interfaces for a mobile commerce application for micro-entrepreneurs in a rural community in South Africa. The aim of the study was to design mobile interfaces and interaction techniques that are easy to use and meet the cultural preferences and experiences of users who have little to no previous experience of mobile commerce technology. And also to explore the potentials of information technologies rural community users, and bring mobile added value services to rural micro-entrepreneurs. We applied a user-centred design approach in Dwesa community and used qualitative and quantitative research methods to collect data for the design of the user interfaces (graphic user interface and voice user interface) and mobile commerce application. We identified and used several interface elements to design and finally evaluate the graphical user interface. The statistics analysis of the evaluation results show that the users in the community have positive perception of the usefulness of the application, the ease of use and intention to use the application. Community users with no prior experience with this technology were able to learn and understand the interface, recorded minimum errors and a high level of v precision during task performance when they interacted with the shop-owner graphic user interface. The voice user interface designed in this study consists of two flavours (dual tone multi-frequency input and voice input) for rural users. The evaluation results show that community users recorded higher tasks successes and minimum errors with the dual tone multi-frequency input interface than the voice only input interface. Also, a higher percentage of users prefer the dual tone multi-frequency input interface. The t-Test statistical analysis performed on the tasks completion times and error rate show that there was significant statistical difference between the dual tone multi-frequency input interface and the voice input interface. The interfaces were easy to learn, understand and use. Properly designed user interfaces that meet the experience and capabilities of low-literacy users in rural areas will improve usability and users‟ experiences. Adaptation of interfaces to users‟ culture and preferences will enhance information services accessibility among different user groups in different regions. This will promote technology acceptance in rural communities for socio-economic benefits. The user interfaces presented in this study can be adapted to different cultures to provide similar services for marginalised communities in developing countrie

A Multi-Agent Based Virtual Personal Assistant for E-Health Service

The application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the health sector is increasingly changing today’s health care. A communication agent for a multi-agent system-based virtual personal assistant is an attempt towards improving health care service delivery. We have developed a Multi Agent System and user interface for management of diabetes patients where the patients and medical specialist can interact easily without necessarily visiting the clinic. The application will enable the users to have regular interactions with each other, reduce the cost of going to the clinic, saves patients and medical personnel time. In order to design the application and user interface, we adopted a user centered approach and conducted interviews with the potential users. We also reviewed existing materials for data. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected during the development process. The application and user interface were evaluated by the potential users (patients and medical personnel). The user evaluation of the system shows that the participants were pleased with the application and the user interface. They interacted with the user interface with ease and they encountered little or no difficulty. Keywords: multi-agent, e-health, virtual personal assistant, information and communication technolog

GUI 4D - The Role and the Impact of Visual, Multimedia and Multilingual User Interfaces in ICT Applications and Services for Users Coming from the Bottom of the Pyramid - First Concepts, Prototypes and Experiences

Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) are discussed in the context of being used by users coming from the "bottom of the pyramid" to interact with and to run ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) applications for real life usage in their developing world. These interfaces are called "GUI4D" (Graphical User Interfaces for Development). GUI 4D methodologies are a key aspect in enabling the users in the bottom of the pyramid to become part - within their own needs and capabilities - of integrated value/business chains, and also in finally closing both the digital and the social gap. They are presented and discussed here first from a technical and from an implementation point of view and considerations are also given on how the corresponding requirements, constraints and specifications are developed and used for GUI 4D implementations. Several examples, case studies and use cases from ongoing research projects, from existing pilots and prototypes and from related initiatives in Africa are presented. Some analysis of system adoption and the perceived benefits from using GUI 4D's are then given and discussed. The chapter concludes with a brief consideration of target applications and markets for GUI 4D's in the developing world, taking into consideration the dependencies and needs between the established and the informal economy in these countries. An extensive set of references used or related to the subject is given at the end of the chapter