Designing a graphical user interface for healthcare workers in rural India
Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in computing systems
CHI '02 Extended Abstracts 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
Using Mobile Phones for Secure, Distributed Document Processing in the Developing World
IEEE Pervasive Computing
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Tamil market: a spoken dialog system for rural India
CHI '06 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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
E-imci: improving pediatric health care in low-income countries
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A Review of the Literature
The Information Society
A comparative study of speech and dialed input voice interfaces in rural India
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference 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
Evaluating the accuracy of data collection on mobile phones: a study of forms, sms, and voice
ICTD'09 Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Information and communication technologies and development
HIV health information access using spoken dialogue systems: touchtone vs. speech
ICTD'09 Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Information and communication technologies and development
Speech vs. touch-tone: telephony interfaces for information access by low literate users
ICTD'09 Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Information and communication technologies and development
A voice service for user feedback on school meals
Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Symposium on Computing for Development
Query by babbling: a research agenda
Proceedings of the first workshop on Information and knowledge management for developing region
Combating rural child malnutrition through inexpensive mobile phones
Proceedings of the 7th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Making Sense Through Design
Igwana: a text-free search interface
Proceedings of the 24th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference
Man versus machine: evaluating IVR versus a live operator for phone surveys in India
Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Symposium on Computing for Development
A comparative study of voice and graphical user interfaces with respect to literacy levels
Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Symposium on Computing for Development
Usage of the memory of mobile phones by illiterate people
Proceedings of the 3rd ACM Symposium on Computing for Development
SeeSay and HearSay CAPTCHA for mobile interaction
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Some evidence for the impact of limited education on hierarchical user interface navigation
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
VideoKheti: making video content accessible to low-literate and novice users
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
TroTro: web browsing and user interfaces in rural Ghana
Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development: Full Papers - Volume 1
DHM'13 Proceedings of the 4th International conference on Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics, and Risk Management: healthcare and safety of the environment and transport - Volume Part I
Mobile money services in uganda: design gaps and recommendations
HCI'13 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Human-Computer Interaction: users and contexts of use - Volume Part III
A framework for community-oriented mobile interaction design in emerging regions
HCI'13 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Human-Computer Interaction: users and contexts of use - Volume Part III
Designing with midwives: improving prenatal care in low resource regions
Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare
Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium on Computing for Development
Behavior analysis of low-literate users of a viral speech-based telephone service
Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium on Computing for Development
Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium on Computing for Development
Experiences in designing a mobile GIS mapping tool for rural farmers in Ghana
Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium on Computing for Development
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While mobile phones have found broad application in bringing health, financial, and other services to the developing world, usability remains a major hurdle for novice and low-literacy populations. In this article, we take two steps to evaluate and improve the usability of mobile interfaces for such users. First, we offer an ethnographic study of the usability barriers facing 90 low-literacy subjects in India, Kenya, the Philippines, and South Africa. Then, via two studies involving over 70 subjects in India, we quantitatively compare the usability of different points in the mobile design space. In addition to text interfaces such as electronic forms, SMS, and USSD, we consider three text-free interfaces: a spoken dialog system, a graphical interface, and a live operator. Our results confirm that textual interfaces are unusable by first-time low-literacy users, and error prone for literate but novice users. In the context of healthcare, we find that a live operator is up to ten times more accurate than text-based interfaces, and can also be cost effective in countries such as India. In the context of mobile banking, we find that task completion is highest with a graphical interface, but those who understand the spoken dialog system can use it more quickly due to their comfort and familiarity with speech. We synthesize our findings into a set of design recommendations.