AppLab question box: a live voice information service in rural Uganda

Authors:
Nathaniel F. Futterman;Rose S. Shuman
Affiliations:
UC Berkeley/Open Mind, San Francisco, CA;Open Mind, Santa Monica, CA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 4th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development
Year:
2010

Citing 4
Cited 0

'I Don't Trust the Phone; It Always Lies': Trust and Information and Communication Technologies in Tanzanian Micro- and Small Enterprises

Information Technologies and International Development
Text-free user interfaces for illiterate and semiliterate users

Information Technologies and International Development
Speech interfaces for equitable access to information technology

Information Technologies and International Development
Research Approaches to Mobile Use in the Developing World: A Review of the Literature

The Information Society

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

This paper is a study of the pilot of AppLab Question Box, a voice telephony-based information service for the rural poor implemented in two districts in Uganda from April through September 2009. The purposes of the pilot were as follows: to test the interest and viability of a live agriculture/general hotline to rural Mbale and Bushenyi districts in Uganda; to understand the informational needs and interests of the target population; and to compare a live, voice-delivered information system against an alternative, SMS-based query system. AQB provided a unique view into the needs and interests of the target populations, and permits study of the demand for information to support livelihoods as well as pure curiosity. It demonstrated that a small scale, live, local language telephone hotline about both specialized (agriculture) and general information was possible to run with simple, inexpensive infrastructure. Finally, it permits exploration of issues of trust surrounding information provision and the role of intermediaries in facilitating it in this setting.