Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
A couple of years ago I wrote about Mobile Revolutions, a blog about mobile phones, youth and social change by Lisa Campbell Salazar. The blog also supported TakingITMobile, an international study on youth mobile communications that she completed as a…
Indrani Medhi, associate researcher in the Technology For Emerging Markets Group at Microsoft Research India, was recently rated one of the “50 smartest people in technology†in 2010 by Fortune Magazine. In an interview with Arlene Chang of the India…
The Swedish International Development Corporation Agency (SIDA) has published a report by Johan Hellström (blog) that gives an overview of the current state of mobile phone use and services in East Africa. The report outlines major trends and main obstacles…
Here are some of the CHI 2010 papers we like: On cross-cultural HCI Postcolonial computing: a lens on design and development Lilly Irani, Janet Vertesi and Paul Dourish, Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine; Kavita Philip, Department of Women’s…
On 10-11 May, UNICEF New York organised the Design Days, where they invited designers and engineers who have worked with UNICEF to discuss the organisation, the (rapid prototyping) design process, and recommendations for future design collaborations. They have now produced…
Filmmaker Declan McCormack looks at how mobile phones and the internet are changing lives in east Africa. McCormack is a filmmaker who has spent much of the last five years documenting the successes and failures of business-oriented development projects in…
Videos of the recent IIT Design Research Conference are currently being uploaded. Here is the list of the presentations (alphabetical by speaker’s last name), with video links (where available): Tim Brown | IDEO (conference bio) We’re all design researchers now…
Jan Chipchase (frog design and until recently an acclaimed user researcher/anthropologist at Nokia) reflects on the topic of technical and textual illiteracy in the context of mobile banking, and the role of privacy within the mediated use illiterate people often…
Let’s face it, says Bright Simons, Director at IMANI-Ghana and President of the mPedigree Network, Africa is on the downward slope to perdition as far as technology is concerned. “Many people who are not directly confronted with this reality on…
The latest issue of new value by design, the Philips Design newsletter, contains three short articles that sit closely to what we cover in this blog: Self Health – Philips Design’s exploration into reconnecting people with their bodies The latest…
The latest issue of Interactions Magazine is about the spread of design into new areas, write editor Jon Kolko: “The process of design is spreading into new areas of society and business, and as it does, our work gets more…
The Economist explores the topic of consumer research in emerging markets: “Emerging markets are far more varied and volatile than mature ones. There is little money around: the average income per person in China is around $3,500 and in India…
Mobile app developers are sprouting in Africa to help tackle that continent’s problems. Many create applications that can be used with phone text messages. The African technologists say local knowledge is key to their successes. CNN reports: “While developers in…
In a three-part article series, Dina Mehta, founder and managing director of Mosoci India, argues that durability is losing its power as a consumer driver in some product categories in India. Somehow this is sad news. “For the most part,…
How do people in developing communities give and take directions? The people from Raaya Design report. “During some research in these communities in India and Peru we gathered some interesting insights around how people give and take directions. Most people…
What if, globally speaking, the iPad is not the next big thing? What if the next big thing is small, cheap and not American? A good reflection by Anand Giridharadas in the New York Times. “Forgotten in the American tumult…
The Winter 2009 issue of MIT’s Innovations Journal is focused on “Mobilizing Markets.” All contents are available online. Prerequisite to Prosperity Why Africa’s Future Depends on Better Governance by Mohamed (Mo) Ibrahim Harnessing the Mobile Revolution by Thomas Kalil Phone…
“Mobile-based livelihood services in Africa: pilots and early deployments” is a new paper by Jonathan Donner, a researcher in the Technology for Emerging Markets Group at Microsoft Research India, The paper describes a collection of initiatives delivering support via mobile…
The title might be a bit cryptic for some readers, but Jan Chipchase is a well-known user researcher/anthropologist at Nokia. He spent a decade exploring the intersection of technology, people and culture for Nokia, and specializes in turning insights into…
How cities became our greatest design challenge yet. Justin McGuirk, the editor of icon, the UK’s leading architecture & design magazine, argues in The Guardian that, amid unprecedented levels of urbanisation, designers must be trusted to fashion cities that not…