Please join us this week in the Change Seminar.
Aditya Vashistha and Trevor Perrier will be presenting work from
published at CHI 2015 happening next week.
What: Two ICTD CHI Talks: Aditya Vashistha and
Trevor Perrier
When: Tuesday, April 14 at 12pm
Where: The Allen Center, CSE 203
Paper Abstracts
Engaging Pregnant Women in Kenya with a Hybrid
Computer-Human SMS Communication System
A growing body of HCI4D research studies the use of
SMS communication to deliver health and information services to
underserved populations. This paper contributes a novel dimension
to this field of study by examining if a hybrid computer-human SMS
system can engage pregnant women in Kenya in health-related
communication. Our approach leverages the different strengths of
both the computer and the human. The computer automates the
bulk-sending of personalized messages to patients, allowing the
human to read patients’ replies and respond to those in need of
attention. Findings from a 12-month deployment with 100 women show
that our approach is capable of engaging the majority of
participants in health-related conversations. We show that
receiving messages from the system triggers participant
communication and the amount of communication increases as
participants approach their expected due date. In addition,
analysis of participants’ messages shows that they often contain
sensitive health information conveyed through a complex mixture of
languages and ‘txting’ abbreviations, all of which highlight the
benefits of including a human in the workflow. Our findings are
relevant for HCI researchers and practitioners interested in
understanding or engaging underserved populations.
Sangeet Swara: A Community-Moderated Voice Forum
in Rural India
Interactive voice forums have emerged as a promising platform for
people in developing regions to record and share audio messages
using low-end mobile phones. However, one of the barriers to the
scalability of voice forums is the process of screening and
categorizing content, often done by a dedicated team of moderators.
We present Sangeet Swara, a voice forum for songs and cultural
content that relies on the community of callers to curate
high-quality posts that are prioritized for playback to others. An
11-week deployment of Sangeet Swara found broad and impassioned
usage, especially among visually impaired users. We also conducted a
follow-up experiment, called Talent Hunt, that sought to reduce
reliance on toll-free telephone lines. Together, our deployments
span about 53,000 calls from 13,000 callers, who submitted 6,000
posts and 150,000 judgments of other content. Using a mixed-methods
analysis of call logs, audio content, comparison with outside
judges, and 204 automated phone surveys, we evaluate the user
experience, the strengths and weaknesses of community moderation,
financial sustainability, and the implications for future systems.
Bio: Aditya
Vashistha is a second year PhD student in CSE. Prior to
coming to UW he was at MSRI working with the Technologies
for Emerging Markets group. His research interests are in
the domain of Information and Communication Technologies for
Development, Human-Computer Interaction for Development, Social
Computing and Ubiquitous Computing.
Trevor Perrier is a third year PhD student in CSE. He works closely
with UW Global health to implement SMS projects for behaviour
change. He is interested in building systems that engage
individuals through ubiquitous communication technology.