Optimal audio-visual representations for illiterate users of computers
Proceedings of the 16th international conference on World Wide Web
Text-free user interfaces for illiterate and semiliterate users
Information Technologies and International Development
Challenges in computerized job search for the developing world
CHI '08 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
A comparison of mobile money-transfer UIs for non-literate and semi-literate users
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
txteagle: Mobile Crowdsourcing
IDGD '09 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Internationalization, Design and Global Development: Held as Part of HCI International 2009
Who are the crowdworkers?: shifting demographics in mechanical turk
CHI '10 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
CAPTCHA: using hard AI problems for security
EUROCRYPT'03 Proceedings of the 22nd international conference on Theory and applications of cryptographic techniques
Kelsa+: digital literacy for low-income office workers
ICTD'09 Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Information and communication technologies and development
Soylent: a word processor with a crowd inside
UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology
Exploring microwork opportunities through cybercafés
Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Symposium on Computing for Development
mClerk: enabling mobile crowdsourcing in developing regions
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Paying in kind for crowdsourced work in developing regions
Pervasive'12 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Pervasive Computing
Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work
Wally: crowd powered image matching on tablets
Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Crowdsourcing and Data Mining
Increasing cheat robustness of crowdsourcing tasks
Information Retrieval
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While platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk have generated excitement as a potential source of income in developing regions, to date there remains little evidence that such opportunities have transformed livelihoods for low-income workers. In this study, we analyze the usability barriers that prevent those with basic digital literacy skills from accomplishing simple tasks on Mechanical Turk. Based on our observations, we design new user interfaces that reduce the barriers to task comprehension and execution. Via a study of 49 low-income workers in urban India, we demonstrate that new design elements -- including simplified user interfaces, simplified task instructions, and language localization -- are absolutely necessary to enable low-income workers to participate in and earn money using Mechanical Turk. We synthesize our findings into a set of design recommendations, as well as a realistic analysis of the potential for microtasking sites to deliver supplemental income to lower-income communities.