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Extreme UbiComp in Rural Hinterlands: Challenges and Opportunities

This presentation explores the relevance of Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) in the rural hinterlands of the developing world, focusing on the technical problems faced in rural computing in India and the potential solutions. It also discusses the design process for creating appropriate applications and content for low-cost devices, with a particular emphasis on localization, accessibility, and value-centered design.

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Extreme UbiComp in Rural Hinterlands: Challenges and Opportunities

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  1. Extreme UbiComp: Is UbiComp Relevant for the Rural Hinterlands of the Developing World? Tapan S. Parikh tapan@cs.washington.edu 590 UC Presentation – February 4th, 2003

  2. Technical Problems for Rural Computing in India Inconsistent Power Inconsistent / Non-existent Connectivity Low-Cost Devices Appropriate Applications and Content Value-centered Design Localization - Local Language Support Accessibility to Illiterate / Semi-literate Users

  3. Technical Problems for Rural Computing in India Inconsistent Power Inconsistent / Non-existent Connectivity Low-Cost Devices Appropriate Applications and Content Value-centered Design Localization - Local Language Support Accessibility to Illiterate / Semi-literate Users At least the first five (if not all) are equally relevant for Ubiquitous Computing

  4. Low-Cost Devices: Simputer SIMPle compUTER (Simple, In-expensive Multi-lingual Peoples compUTER) SGPL: Open Source Hardware License (has proved difficult in practice) Low-Cost (also very difficult in practice, currently approx $200) Accessible (TTS, working on Speech Recognition) Multi-Lingual Sturdy and Robust Other Applications / Devices: VoIP

  5. Connectivity Options in Rural India • WLL –Wireless in Local Loop (CDMA Radio) – • Approx 56 kbps shared amongst Local Village WAN / LAN • 25-40 km Radius • 802.11 Wireless “Corridors” • Media Lab Asia and Govt. Ministry for ICT are implementing such a corridor between Kanpur and Lucknow • Spectrum recently opened by Telecom Regulatory Agencies • Satellite / VSAT • Cable / DSL – Reaching Tier I and II towns • Fiber-Optic Backbone – Being implemented by Reliance Infocom • Dial-up – Painfully slow due to bad copper wire, outdated exchanges, overloaded hubs, and fly-by-night ISPs

  6. Accessibility: A Village Micro-Finance Application Micro-finance means providing small credit and savings facilities for local communities who cannot access formal financial services In India the most common form of micro-finance occurs through the actions of Self-Help-Groups(SHGS), which are small-village based groups that communally save and lend and operate on the basis of mutual liability NGO Large Number of Transactions, each of small amount Large cumulative money flows Documentation and Reporting is manually very cumbersome Non-literate and Semi-literate user domain Rural Bank Or External Funding Agency Federation Cluster Cluster Groups Joint work with Media Lab Asia and Govt. of India Ministry for ICT - to appear at SIGCHI 2003

  7. Research Objectives and Design Process Explore the interface design space for semi-literate, illiterate and uneducated users Explore and leverage different kinds of literacy (numeric, symbolic, partial) to design appropriate interfaces Explore the potential of software applications in aiding local economic development and financial management • Design Process: Contextual Study, Cognitive Literacy Tests, Participatory Design, Iterative Rapid Prototyping • Combination of Inductive and Deductive Processes • Timeframe April – December 2002

  8. Design Observations Icon Families – Creating of icon families to represent common screen elements Iconic Legend – Creating associations between auditory and iconic representations to quickly assimilate icon families Numeric Values can be used by numerically-literate to orient with rest of application Importance of Physical Metaphors – tabular data formats carried over from existing notebooks and ledgers greatly reduced learning curve and user apprehension Representational, Iconic forms superior to more abstract Symbolic Representations

  9. Conclusion: Real is Real These users have spent a lifetime working and living in very real physical spaces We want to ensure a smooth, holistic transition to the digital world Answer: Make the interface as real and physical as possible. Requisite buzzwords: tangible / graspable interfaces; augmented reality Don’t we want this in ubicomp also – to allow the user to remain in real, physical cognitive spaces as much as possible? Design Vision: Hybrid Paper / Digital Data Entry Device Using many similar technologies to Ubicomp More soon (hopefully)…

  10. Final Thoughts: Ubicomp and “Extreme Ubicomp” If Ubicomp works in India, then... Most extreme physical conditions - Little to no infrastructure Low purchasing power - each device has to prove bang for the buck Completely technology-naive users - if they can understand and utilize the technology, anyone should be able to Importance of real, direct, physical interaction versus unnecessary abstract higher order reasoning

  11. Final Thoughts: Ubicomp and “Extreme Ubicomp” If Ubicomp works in India, then... Most extreme physical conditions - Little to no infrastructure Low purchasing power - each device has to prove bang for the buck Completely technology-naive users - if they can understand and utilize the technology, anyone should be able to Importance of real, direct, physical interaction versus unnecessary and abstract higher order reasoning …it can truly be called scalable to "ubiquitous" Perfect laboratory environment for Ubicomp and HCI Research

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