User-Centered Design Considered Harmful

Cross-Cultural Design, 2016

This paper identifies factors important in low-literacy mobile user interaction design and development. It explains the limitations and recurrent design problems from developing countries, focusing on Ethiopia as a primary case study, with special consideration for the designer perspective. This exploratory research effort examines the match and mismatch in usability design guidelines for mobile interaction in developing countries. It also identifies the design and usability factors that affect mobile service (m-service) delivery in developing countries: context gaps, designer gaps, and technology gaps. Further, the paper examines the designer perception towards design guidance requirement and application. In so doing, it seeks to provide input for design guidance development in a generic way such that mobile user interface designer understanding will be enhanced and m-service delivery in developing countries will be more usable.

1999

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2009

Even though researchers have introduced Human Computer Interaction (HCI) methodologies, since 1980's, Malaysia's user interface is still considered inadequate. Despite being aware of the importance of usable design, several non-technical issues have more significant influence towards poorly designed user interfaces in Malaysia. This paper reports the findings of a study of interaction design and/or any HCI methodologies in practice among Malaysian companies for software design and computer-related design development. The research involved senior Information Communication Technology (ICT) managers and focused on the application developers, whose job descriptions and responsibilities vary. The study used semi-structured interviews and a focus group study to uncover the current perceptions of people involved in ICT project development. The findings serve as a pointer to the Malaysian government and stakeholders towards the improvement of user interface design.

Proceedings of the Tenth …, 2008

2008

To date the ill define design procedures of egovernment projects have contributed to the high failure rates of e-government services in developing countries. This paper discusses a research effort emphasizing more on the usage of User Centered System Design (UCSD) processes to address usability issues in e-government services by employing living labs design approach in the design process in a developing country context.

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2019

Human-Computer interaction for development (HCI4D) research aims to maximise the usability of interfaces for interacting with technologies designed specifically for under-served, under-resourced, and under-represented populations. In this paper we provide a snapshot of the Southern African HCI4D research against the background of the global HCI4D research landscape. We commenced with a systematic literature review of HCI4D (2010-2017) then surveyed Southern African researchers working in the area. The contribution is to highlight the context-specific themes and challenges that emerged from our investigation.

2013

Think aloud studies and protocol analysis are well-known in the field of HCI, but most often these studies focus on usability evaluations, or on the use of technology. Rarely are they used to investigate the behaviour of interaction designers. In this paper, we report on a protocol study with novice interaction designers in Botswana. Participants had just completed the design section of an undergraduate module on Interaction Design that actively promotes a problem-driven approach to the design of interactive products, yet the participants behaved in a way that is closer to a solution-driven approach. The module emphasizes user-centred design, prototyping methods to support design development, and evaluating design detail. Yet participants suggest solutions before exploring the context of use, use prototyping methods to capture, rather than to develop, designs, and do not produce detailed designs. In a problem-solving context, some of these behaviours are typical of novices, but in a design context they are also seen in experienced designers. The results presented here reveal the detail of the approach adopted by these students, and contribute to the wider debate concerning the internationalization of HCI education.

Abstract Recent years have seen a burgeoning interest in research into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of developing regions, particularly into how such ICTs might be appropriately designed to meet the unique user and infrastructural requirements that we encounter in these cross-cultural environments. This emerging field, known to some as HCI4D, is the product of a diverse set of origins.

The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2017

Usability is central especially in contexts with highly heterogeneous user groups as it is the case in developing countries. User involvement and participation has positive impacts towards developing usable software and system success and it is one of the core principles in user centered design (UCD). But how does the industry in developing countries work with UCD and usability evaluation? The article reports from a survey on usability evaluation and UCD practices in Ethiopian software organizations. It aims at exploring the practice of usability evaluation, user involvement and participation in the software organizations in Ethiopia. Some part of the survey question is adapted from a previously conducted survey in Italy and Denmark and further expanded with a set of questions referring to user involvement and participation. The survey was triangulated with interviews with a subset of the respondents. The results show that the percentage of organizations performing some form of usability evaluation is low in Ethiopia. The challenges of usability evaluation observed in the study was analyzed with respect to the challenges of 'digital divide' against the publicly available methods and practices and among developed and developing nations using real access/ real impact criteria. The result shows that there are some unique challenges of usability not discussed in the literature reviewed in any detail such as less IT skills, lack of trained professionals, and lack of awareness. The result for user involvement shows also some unique challenges: lack of user motivation, acceptance of change and cultural influence. However, more than 80% of the surveyed organizations claim involving users in some kind in product development. The implications of these findings with respect to the need to contextualize UCD and usability methods are discussed.

International Journal of ICT Research in Africa and the Middle East, 2019

This article critically analyzes a project executed for the John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program which provides technical assistance with volunteers from the United States to farmers, agricultural institutions, and government organizations involved in agriculture such as the Ministry of Agriculture. In Guinea, the focus is on computer literacy as more sectors of agriculture rely on computing technology. These skills range from basic computing tasks such as creating databases to more advanced items such as programming global positional systems. This study looks at findings, based on the analysis of the system usability scale results from a sample of 16 participants. The findings demonstrated that the training proved to be effective for the participants and continued training is necessary. As a result of training, 62.5% of the participants ranked above average, as opposed to 43.6% prior to training.

This paper is an examination of user-centered design from the disciplinary perspectives from both design and anthropology.

2015

In an attempt to meet the needs of the world’s poor, user-centric methodologies have been applied to the development of appropriate product solutions, with growing popularity. However, despite the popularity of these approaches there have been criticisms surrounding their development within industrialised nations and calls for an analysis of their contextual suitability for developing regions. In response to these calls this paper presents findings from a study applying Human-Centred Design’s (HCD) process of rapid-prototyping and user testing in the context of the UK and Zambia. The findings of the study present an overview of the benefits that can be gained through HCD’s application in the UK and Zambia context, whilst also identifying contextual elements that placed restrictions on their use and which resulted in compromises needing to be made. These elements included: varied comprehension of the product development process and language and literacy barriers. In conclusion the pa...

Information and Communication …, 2007

ICTD projects are usually driven along the three axes of technological innovation, development programs or new market creation. These drivers have to be complemented by a focus on the people served by ICT, and their needs. In this paper, we argue for the importance of human-driven design and research (HDDR) to take into account the four human dimensions of ICT: local practices; participatory design processes; sociocultural contexts, and political conditions. Building on our ethnographic and design research on the LINCOS project in Costa Rica and Hewlett-Packard's e-Inclusion program, we show how Lincos' success was impeded by its inattention to human design features, the deployment of a neoliberal discourse of community appropriation, and the market-driven focus of e-Inclusion. We conclude by situating ICTD in the larger context of human development, and with reflections on what constitutes sustainable, successful ICTD projects.

ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 1999