Designing a graphical user interface for healthcare workers in rural India
Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in computing systems
Design considerations for a financial management system for rural, semi-literate users
CHI '03 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design
About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design
Design studies for a financial management system for micro-credit groups in rural india
CUU '03 Proceedings of the 2003 conference on Universal usability
Authentication using graphical passwords: effects of tolerance and image choice
SOUPS '05 Proceedings of the 2005 symposium on Usable privacy and security
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies - Special isssue: HCI research in privacy and security is critical now
Information Technologies and International Development
Tamil market: a spoken dialog system for rural India
CHI '06 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
An exploration in interface design for the Chinese migrant worker population
DUX '05 Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Designing for User eXperience
aAqua: a database-backended multilingual, multimedia community forum
Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data
Optimal audio-visual representations for illiterate users of computers
Proceedings of the 16th international conference on World Wide Web
On user choice in graphical password schemes
SSYM'04 Proceedings of the 13th conference on USENIX Security Symposium - Volume 13
The design and analysis of graphical passwords
SSYM'99 Proceedings of the 8th conference on USENIX Security Symposium - Volume 8
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Where there's a will there's a way: mobile media sharing in urban india
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
ShadowStory: creative and collaborative digital storytelling inspired by cultural heritage
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Getting in touch with text: designing a mobile phone application for illiterate users to harness SMS
Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Symposium on Computing for Development
ICTD interventions: trends over the last decade
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development
Video kids: augmenting close friendships with asynchronous video conversations in videopal
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
We present work that explores whether the asynchronous peer-to-peer communication capabilities of email can be made accessible to illiterate populations in the developing world. Building on metaphors from traditional communication systems such as postal mail, and relevant design principles established by previous research into text-free interfaces, we designed and evaluated a prototype asynchronous communication application built on standard email protocols. We considered different message formats -- text, freeform ink, audio, and video + audio -- and via iterative usage and design sessions, determined that video + audio was the most viable. Design alternatives for authentication processes were also explored. Our prototype was refined over three usability iterations, and the final version evaluated in a two-stage study with 20 illiterate users from an urban slum in Bangalore, India. Our results are mixed: On the one hand, the results show that users can understand the concept of video mail. They were able to successfully complete tasks ranging from account setup to login to viewing and creating mail, but required assistance from an online audio assistant. On the other hand, there were some surprising challenges such as a consistent difficulty understanding the notion of asynchronicity. The latter suggests that more work on the paradigm is required before the benefits of email can be brought to illiterate users.