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      It’s not Just Illiteracy

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      India HCI 2010/ Interaction Design & International Development 2010 (IHCI)
      India HCI 2010/ Interaction Design & International Development 2010
      20 - 24 March 2010
      User Interfaces, Low-Literate Users, Illiteracy
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            Abstract

            There is increasing interest in using computing applications towards the socio-economic development of the poor. However, because poverty commonly correlates with illiteracy, researchers have identified various usability challenges that low-literate users may encounter in interacting with traditional text-based UIs. To counter such problems, researchers have proposed non-textual UIs for these users. However, most current work focuses exclusively on illiteracy (the inability to read) per se, with little recognition to other problems or the overall context in which a user is situated. In this paper we suggest that the inability to read is only one of several possible concerns that prevent useful interaction of existing computing (PC and mobile phone) UIs by low-literate users. Through our ethnographic and usability studies with 400 low-literate, low-income subjects across India, the Philippines and South Africa, we find a host of nuanced issues which mediate how a user interacts with computing technologies. Such issues include: cognitive difficulties, collaboration, cultural etiquette, experience and exposure, intimidation, mediation, motivation, pricing, power relations, social standing, and others. We observe that these factors can have far-reaching influence on the design of UIs as well as services for low-literate populations.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Conference
            March 2010
            March 2010
            : 1-10
            Affiliations
            [0001]Microsoft Research India,

            196/36, 2nd Main Sadashivnagar,

            Bangalore, India
            [0002]School of Information,

            University of California,

            Berkeley, USA
            Article
            10.14236/ewic/IHCI2010.1
            4879bf72-54d9-42ac-a921-5f0545641d6a
            © Indrani Medhi et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. India HCI 2010/ Interaction Design & International Development 2010, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, India

            This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

            India HCI 2010/ Interaction Design & International Development 2010
            IHCI
            Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, India
            20 - 24 March 2010
            Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)
            India HCI 2010/ Interaction Design & International Development 2010
            History
            Product

            1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

            Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/IHCI2010.1
            Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/
            Categories
            Electronic Workshops in Computing

            Applied computer science,Computer science,Security & Cryptology,Graphics & Multimedia design,General computer science,Human-computer-interaction
            Low-Literate Users,User Interfaces,Illiteracy

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