Mobile Interfaces for Low Literacy and Homeless Users
Mobile Phones are one of the first pieces of technology adapted by remote villages in the middle of the jungle or desert and one of the last pieces of technology given up by people who have lost everything including somewhere to live. This research looked at how the fringes of population used mobile technology.
For research conducted in an Agile fashion using sprints, please see my portfolio.
App Store for Low-End Cell Phones through SMS
The Social Computing Research Group created a concept which was built around the idea that there are billions of phones in use in developing economies out there that can not hold specialized apps like the iPhone or even Java games. Instead, the goal was to create a system easy enough that people without programming experience could create applications that would could be used by the local community. We have found that the best people to decide what they need is the community itself. Applications were hosted on our servers that could be interacted with through SMS. Created application ranged from a simple business card where people could find out the next time the salesman would be in the town to a party-line message service where everyone in the group got the shared messages.
Community Resource Messenger (Joint Study with Georgia Tech)
To see more about this interface please see the corresponding entry in my portfolio. The design and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has evolved beyond its workplace origins to include people living at the margins of contemporary society. Increasingly in the U.S., as in the developing world, people who do not own personal computers to access the Internet are instead using inexpensive mobile phones for access. State and federal agencies in the U.S. have recognized the benefits of these devices, creating programs to provide free phones and airtime to citizens who meet income guidelines (see, e.g., the SafeLink program). IBM, along with others, is engaging in opportunities created by the explosive growth of mobile phones. While much focus in developed nations is on “smart phones” (and small form-factor computers such as netbooks and tablets), the highest growth and adoption rates around the world are for basic cell phones. Because these devices have such limited interfaces (speaker, microphone, small LCD, 12-key keypad), innovative approaches must be used to enable users access to information and services enabled by the Internet and wireless networks. The Social Computing Group is engaged in a joint research study with Christopher Le Dantec and Keith Edwards of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The focus of the collaboration is to explore how ICTs can enhance communication for homeless clients and their case workers. The Community Resource Messenger project approaches the homeless and their case workers as two interacting ‘publics’ – each with shared constraints and unique desires, whose members must be fully aware, and in charge of their communication choices. The solution leverages a web-based communications center for case workers to send messages to their clients’ phones, and basic cell phones for clients to produce user-generated content. The system also includes a large digital message board installed in the shelter for both case workers and clients to broadcast and share information with each other in a public way.
Mobile Interaction for Users with Low Literacy
As part of the Next Billions Research Group research into multi-sensory modes of human interaction using mobile phones can support these sharing information and activities. For example, photos, drawings, and graphics can provide context for and serve to organize aural information and conversely, spoken comments can guide users to appropriate parts of complex visual information. Picture Discussions is a mobile computing application framework that supports asynchronous conversation anchored by pictures. We are exploring several issues in the design of mobile social computing interfaces, including how to create visual representations of digital speech that afford effective interactions between mobile phone users, how to coordinate peer production of content, and how to organize question and answer exchanges. The use of pictures and sound affords the possibility of communicating without text, and thus reaching users who for a variety of reasons — lack of access to computers, insufficient literacy, or disabilities — have been unable to benefit from information technology. Picture Discussions augments speech with three types of visual component: comment proxies, pictorial contexts and visual controls. Comment proxies are visual representations of digital speech that depict various types of meta-information, such as the identity of the speaker and the length of the comment. Pictorial contexts are diagrams or photographs that provide a background for a particular conversation; pictorial contexts serve both to represent the conversation as a whole, and allow comment proxies to take on additional meaning by virtue of their location with respect to the pictorial background. Visual controls are visual user interface components for controlling the system, for example, a message play button. We have implemented Picture Discussions prototypes on several devices: Web browsers, Android phones, and camera phones connected to an interactive voice response system. Each client connects to a centralized Web service that stores photos, audio clips, and links between them. The Android phone implementation of Picture Discussions leverages the phone’s touch screen, high resolution display, and built-in microphone and speaker. The camera phone implementation of Picture Discussions accepts picture messages sent over the telecommunications network using the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and supports audio posting through the voice channel. Users can be notified of new discussion postings by Short Message Service (SMS). The Web implementation uses Flash Media Server to create a rich internet application able to display multiple discussions at once. Picture Discussions Web service transcodes photos and audio recordings to formats appropriate for each device, enabling cross-device discussion. For example, one user can take a picture on a camera phone and call the Picture Discussions phone number to provide a spoken introduction to this picture, then another user might discover this photo on their Android phone’s high resolution display and tap on the picture to respond to the first user’s posting. The limitations of using mobile devices to access rich structured multimedia content by users with limited literacy skills exposes human-computer interaction challenges that are key to enabling broad access to information by the coming billions of information technology users.
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Simu za mkononi ni moja ya vipande vya kwanza vya teknolojia iliyobadilishwa na vijiji vya mbali katikati ya msitu au jangwa na moja ya vipande vya mwisho vya teknolojia iliyotolewa na watu ambao wamepoteza kila kitu ikiwa ni pamoja na mahali pa kuishi. Utafiti huu ulichunguza jinsi watu wa pembeni ya jamii walivyotumia teknolojia ya simu. Kwa ajili ya utafiti uliofanywa katika mtindo Agile kutumia sprints, tafadhali angalia kwingineko yangu. "Kampuni ya ""Social Computing Research Group"" iliunda dhana ambayo ilijengwa karibu na wazo kwamba kuna mabilioni ya simu zinazotumiwa katika uchumi unaoendelea huko nje ambayo haiwezi kushikilia programu maalum kama iPhone au hata michezo ya Java." Badala yake, lengo lilikuwa kuunda mfumo rahisi wa kutosha kwamba watu bila uzoefu wa programu wangeweza kuunda maombi ambayo yangeweza kutumiwa na jamii ya ndani. Tumeona kwamba watu bora wa kuamua kile wanachohitaji ni jamii yenyewe. Maombi yalihifadhiwa kwenye seva zetu ambazo zingeweza kuingiliana kupitia SMS. Programu iliyoundwa ilitoka kwa kadi ya biashara rahisi ambapo watu wangeweza kujua wakati mwingine muuzaji angekuwa mjini hadi huduma ya ujumbe wa mstari wa chama ambapo kila mtu katika kikundi alipata ujumbe wa pamoja. Community Resource Messenger (Jumuiya ya Utafiti na Georgia Tech) Kuona zaidi kuhusu interface hii tafadhali angalia kuingia sambamba katika kwingineko yangu. Ubunifu na matumizi ya Teknolojia ya Habari na Mawasiliano (ICT) imebadilika zaidi ya asili yake ya mahali pa kazi kujumuisha watu wanaoishi pembeni ya jamii ya kisasa. Katika nchi nyingi za Ulaya, kama vile Marekani, watu ambao hawana kompyuta za kibinafsi kwa ajili ya mtandao, badala yake, kutumia simu za mkononi za bei nafuu kwa ajili ya upatikanaji. Serikali za Marekani na mashirika ya serikali nchini Marekani yametambua faida za vifaa hivi, na kuunda programu za kutoa simu za bure na wakati wa hewa kwa wananchi ambao wanakidhi miongozo ya mapato (tazama, kwa mfano, programu ya SafeLink). IBM, pamoja na wengine, ni kushiriki katika fursa kuundwa na ukuaji wa mlipuko wa simu za mkononi. Wakati wengi kuzingatia katika mataifa ya maendeleo ni juu ya "simu mahiri" (na ndogo fomu-hasara kompyuta kama vile netbooks na vidonge), kiwango cha juu cha ukuaji na kupitishwa duniani kote ni kwa ajili ya simu za mkononi ya msingi. Kwa sababu vifaa hivi vina interfaces ndogo (mzunguko, kipaza sauti, LCD ndogo, keyboard ya funguo 12), mbinu za ubunifu zinapaswa kutumiwa kuwezesha watumiaji kupata habari na huduma zinazotolewa na mtandao na mitandao ya wireless. Kwa sasa, kikundi cha Social Computing Group kinafanya utafiti pamoja na Christopher LeDante na Keith Edwards wa Taasisi ya Teknolojia ya Georgia. Lengo la ushirikiano huo ni kuchunguza jinsi teknolojia ya mawasiliano ya mawasiliano inaweza kuboresha mawasiliano kwa wateja wasio na makazi na wafanyakazi wao wa kesi. Mradi wa Ujumbe wa Rasilimali ya Jumuiya unawakilisha watu wasio na makazi na wafanyikazi wao wa kesi kama "watu wawili wanaohusika" - kila mmoja akiwa na vizuizi vilivyoshirikiwa na matakwa ya kipekee, ambao wanachama wao lazima wawe na ufahamu kamili, na kuwa na jukumu la chaguzi zao za mawasiliano. Suluhisho hilo linatumia kituo cha mawasiliano cha wavuti kwa wafanyikazi wa kesi kutuma ujumbe kwa simu za wateja wao, na simu za mkononi za msingi kwa wateja kutengeneza yaliyomo yaliyotengenezwa na mtumiaji. Mfumo huo pia unatia ndani ubao mkubwa wa ujumbe wa dijiti uliowekwa katika makazi kwa wafanyikazi wa kesi na wateja kutangaza na kushiriki habari na kila mmoja kwa njia ya umma. "Kama sehemu ya Next Billions Research Group, utafiti wa ""modi za hisia nyingi za mwingiliano wa kibinadamu"" kwa kutumia simu za mkononi unaweza kusaidia kushiriki habari na shughuli hizi." Kwa mfano, picha, michoro, na picha zinaweza kutoa muktadha na kutumika kuandaa habari ya sauti na kinyume chake, maoni ya kuongea yanaweza kuwaongoza watumiaji kwa sehemu sahihi za habari ngumu ya kuona. Picha Mazungumzo ni simu kompyuta maombi mfumo kwamba inasaidia mazungumzo asynchronous anchored na picha. "Tunachunguza masuala kadhaa katika kubuni ya simu za kijamii kompyuta interfaces, ikiwa ni pamoja na jinsi ya kuunda maonyesho ya kuona ya digital hotuba kwamba kutoa mwingiliano ufanisi kati ya watumiaji wa simu za mkononi, jinsi ya kuratibu peer uzalishaji wa maudhui, na jinsi ya kuandaa maswali na majibu kubadilishana. """ Matumizi ya picha na sauti hutoa uwezekano wa kuwasiliana bila maandishi, na hivyo kufikia watumiaji ambao kwa sababu mbalimbali - ukosefu wa upatikanaji wa kompyuta, ukosefu wa ujuzi wa kusoma na kuandika, au ulemavu - hawawezi kufaidika na teknolojia ya habari. Majadiliano ya Picha huongeza hotuba na aina tatu za sehemu ya kuona: proxies ya maoni, muktadha wa picha na udhibiti wa kuona. Proxies ya maoni ni uwakilishi wa kuona wa hotuba ya dijiti ambayo inaonyesha aina mbalimbali za meta-habari, kama vile utambulisho wa msemaji na urefu wa maoni. Muktadha wa picha ni michoro au picha ambazo hutoa mandhari ya mazungumzo maalum; Muktadha wa picha hutumika kuwakilisha mazungumzo kwa ujumla, na kuruhusu wakala wa maoni kuchukua maana ya ziada kwa sababu ya eneo lao kuhusiana na mandhari ya picha. Udhibiti wa kuona ni vipengele vya interface ya mtumiaji ya kuona kwa kudhibiti mfumo, kwa mfano, kifungo cha kucheza ujumbe. Tumetekeleza picha majadiliano prototypes juu ya vifaa kadhaa: Web browsers, simu Android, na simu kamera kushikamana na mfumo wa majibu ya sauti maingiliano. Kila mteja huunganisha na huduma ya mtandao iliyo katikati ambayo huhifadhi picha, vipindi vya sauti, na viungo kati yao. Utekelezaji wa simu ya Android ya Majadiliano ya Picha hutumia skrini ya kugusa ya simu, onyesho la azimio la juu, na kipaza sauti na msemaji uliojengwa. "Kutumia ""Picture Discussions"" kwa simu ya kamera inakubali ujumbe wa picha uliotumwa kupitia mtandao wa mawasiliano ya simu kwa kutumia Huduma ya Ujumbe wa Multimedia (MMS) na inasaidia kuchapisha sauti kupitia kituo cha sauti." Watumiaji wanaweza kuarifiwa juu ya machapisho mapya ya majadiliano kwa Huduma ya Ujumbe mfupi (SMS). Utekelezaji wa mtandao hutumia Flash Media Server kuunda programu tajiri ya mtandao uwezo wa kuonyesha majadiliano mengi kwa wakati mmoja. Picha Majadiliano Huduma ya mtandao transcodes picha na rekodi za sauti kwa muundo sahihi kwa kila kifaa, kuwezesha majadiliano msalaba kifaa. Kwa mfano, mtumiaji mmoja anaweza kuchukua picha kwenye simu ya kamera na kupiga simu ya Picha ya Majadiliano ili kutoa utangulizi wa maneno kwa picha hii, kisha mtumiaji mwingine anaweza kugundua picha hii kwenye skrini ya azimio la juu la simu yao ya Android na kugonga picha ili kujibu chapisho la mtumiaji wa kwanza. """Mipaka ya kutumia vifaa vya rununu kupata maudhui ya multimedia yenye muundo wa kina na watumiaji wenye ujuzi mdogo wa kusoma na kuandika hufunua changamoto za mwingiliano wa binadamu-kompyuta ambazo ni muhimu kuwezesha upatikanaji wa habari kwa mamilioni ya watumiaji wa teknolojia ya habari." [et_social_follow icon_style=slide icon_shape=rounded icons_location=top col_number=auto outer_color=light network_names=true]