Testing in Translation: Conducting Usability Studies With Transnational Users

What do we mean by usability in everyday life? For us, everyday life implies the series of choices and decisions that happen each day as people are trying to get things done. These things are often taken for granted, they might seem mundane, they may be overlooked. Usability inhabits everyday life in the documents used by a Vietnamese mother of two young children, having recently moved to the United States, and navigating the healthcare system in a new country for the first time. Usability shows up again as a Chinese couple considers whether or not to move out of their father’s home in a Seattle neighborhood, but wonder how it might impact the family’s ability to afford health insurance

Expert Yet Vulnerable: Understanding the Needs of Transit Dependent Riders to Inform Policy and Design

Transportation is a crucial resource that links people to jobs, social networks, community and services. The transit dependent -- those who do not own private vehicles -- occupy a unique position. They are expert in their knowledge of public transportation while vulnerable to the failures and limitations of transit. This paper presents the results of a study that is aimed at understanding the lived experience of transit dependent riders. Using a framework of structuration theory as an analytic lens, we provide a thematic analysis of qualitative data including interviews with socially connected groups of people and video diaries. The results demonstrate the expertise that transit dependent riders have about transit and its policies and how they deploy that expertise in productive and cunning ways to make the system work for them. The analysis of this data resulted in three categories of agency to consider when designing for vulnerable populations: resourcefulness, reciprocity and powerlessness. The paper concludes by advocating for a human-centered approach to designing systems in community informatics and offers a set of guiding questions for designers of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to consider, especially with regards to vulnerable populations

Expert yet vulnerable: Understanding the needs of transit dependent riders to inform policy and design

Transportation is a crucial resource that links people to jobs, social networks, community and services. The transit dependent -- those who do not own private vehicles -- occupy a unique position. They are expert in their knowledge of public transportation while vulnerable to the failures and limitations of transit. This paper presents the results of a study that is aimed at understanding the lived experience of transit dependent riders. Using a framework of structuration theory as an analytic lens, we provide a thematic analysis of qualitative data including interviews with socially connected groups of people and video diaries. The results demonstrate the expertise that transit dependent riders have about transit and its policies and how they deploy that expertise in productive and cunning ways to make the system work for them. The analysis of this data resulted in three categories of agency to consider when designing for vulnerable populations: resourcefulness, reciprocity and powerlessness. The paper concludes by advocating for a human-centered approach to designing systems in community informatics and offers a set of guiding questions for designers of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to consider, especially with regards to vulnerable populations

Task Shifting, Tools, and Tactics: Investigating the Collaborative Practices of Community Health Workers in India

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-09In this study, I investigate the work practices of health workers across five different health centers in India in rural, peri-urban, and urban settings. Study methods includes a clinic site survey, semi-structured interviews, and direct observations. Participants included 26 health workers in roles such as medical officers, lab technicians, junior health assistants, and supervisors. I use critical theory such as De Certeau’s concepts of strategies and tactics, and feminist standpoint theory to understand how health workers navigate the challenges of their daily work. The findings of this study show that: (a) the structural conditions in which health workers work strongly shape their responsibilities; (b) health workers depend on a range of collaborative practices to accomplish their work; and (c) the information tools they use both help and hinder their ability to navigate these challenges. Finally, this study identifies four kinds of practices that health workers employ to confront these challenges. These practices include resistance, making work meaningful, self- representation, and reconfiguration. Understanding these practices can thus be used to develop more impactful technologies for global health

Shining a light on agency: Examining responses to resource constraints to uncover opportunities for design

People employ creative ways to overcome the challenges of daily life. The construct of agency is a productive area of inquiry when considering how people respond to these challenges. Exploring moments of agency provides an embodied understanding of people’s motivations and helps reveal the structural and technological barriers they encounter every day. We propose a framework of agency and three corresponding categories: resourcefulness, resilience, and powerlessness. This framework was developed while working with data from two design ethnographies: one in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and the other in Seattle, Washington

Designing and Evaluating the Mobile Experience Through Iterative Field Studies

This experience report describes using iterative field studies to design and evaluate the mobile experience of soundtransit.org. One study aimed to evaluate the design of paper prototypes early in the design process and another study was conducted to test the implementation of an interactive prototype. In this report, we share our experience to provide readers with lessons that can be applied to conducting their own mobile field studies. Finally, we describe some of the broader impacts that have resulted from this work

The value of non-instrumental computer use: Skills acquisition, self-confidence, and community-based technology training

This study focuses on the usefulness of "playful" computer activities, such as social networking and gaming. When venues prioritize activities like word processing or spreadsheets while restricting gaming or social networking, they limit expectations of appropriate technology use and good stewardship of public monies. The quantitative and qualitative data in this study demonstrate that people who primarily use computers for non-instrumental purposes are generally as capable with computers as those who use them for instrumental purposes. It also illustrates that people who largely use computers for non-instrumental purposes gain skills that help them perform instrumental tasks. This suggests that embracing gaming and other leisure activities will allow novice users to acquire the experience necessary to build a range of computer competencies. Most important for computer skill acquisition is the variety of activities users engage in, not their formal training, and not whether they perform instrumental or non-instrumental activities

Game on? Or game over? Recognizing the instrumental values of computer play

This study focuses on the usefulness of "playful" computer activities, such as social networking and gaming. When venues prioritize activities like word processing or spreadsheets while restricting gaming or social networking, they limit expectations of appropriate technology use and good stewardship of public monies. The quantitative and qualitative data in this study demonstrate that people who primarily use computers for non-instrumental purposes are generally as capable with computers as those who use them for instrumental purposes. It also illustrates that people who largely use computers for non-instrumental purposes gain skills that help them perform instrumental tasks. This suggests that embracing gaming and other leisure activities will allow novice users to acquire the experience necessary to build a range of computer competencies. Most important for computer skill acquisition is the variety of activities users engage in, not their formal training, and not whether they perform instrumental or non-instrumental activities