Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
MobileActive has posted an in-depth new case study that focuses on evaluating mobile health interventions. Written by Kate Otto, the case study looks at testing the efficacy of using mobile phones in health care in Ethiopia. A team of researchers…
The mobile phone is now a ubiquitous item even among the world’s poorest, and in fact over 70% of the mobile phones on the planet are in developing countries. With this in mind, a new Mobile Learning Toolkit has been…
Ken Banks, founder of kiwanja.net and FrontlineSMS, reports on how Activate 2011, the one-day conference in London on technology and development, made clear it’s not just about technology, but who uses it and how. “As the day drew to a…
The World Health Organisation has just issued a major (free) report on mHealth, entitled “mHealth: New horizons for health through mobile technologies“. Abstract Only five years ago who would have imagined that today a woman in sub-Saharan Africa could use…
The Internet of Elsewhere: The Emergent Effects of a Wired World by Cyrus Farivar Rutgers University Press May 2011 Abstract Through the lens of culture, The Internet of Elsewhere looks at the role of the Internet as a catalyst in…
Lessons in innovation that Vodafone learns from its work in sub-Saharan Africa will be applied to its projects around the world. For Vodafone, sub-Saharan Africa is proving to be the testbed for R&D development that will transition to the rest…
Jonathan Donner of Microsoft Research India, together with Shikoh Gitau and Gary Marsden of the University of Cape Town, have published their ethnographic insights in mobile-only internet use in urban South Africa. “Using an ethnographic action research approach, the study…
A few months back Rudy de Waele (m-trends) got in touch with Ken Banks (kiwanja | FrontlineSMS) and Eric Hersman (WhiteAfrican) about helping to curate a collaborative outlook on the mobile industry in Africa, called “Mobile Trends 2020 Africa“. Their…
A convergence of historical circumstance and an increase in innovative mobile applications may make Africa the first post-PC continent. Low investment in wired telecommunication infrastructure has driven increased mobile penetration, creating a user base that supports a rise in…
Data use and smart human-centric data visualisations are becoming the “next big thing” in UX design. A number of posts this week delve into the matter: Data for a better planet Now that more people have location-aware smartphones and the…
The newest billion people to venture online are doing so in developing countries rather than North America or Europe, writes Erik German in Globalpost, and they are changing the culture of the internet itself. “Researchers say the web as it…
In a very general overview article published in Newsweek, Ravi Somaiya reports on how the impact of the ubiquitous device extends from politics to business, medicine, and war. “More than 4 billion of the 6 billion people on earth now…
The French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have jointly published the report entitled “Innovative ways of appropriating mobile telephony in Africa“. The democratization of mobile telephony in Africa, its availability, ease of use…
“Creativity, Cost-Cutting & Keeping it Simple: what the Developing World can teach us about Technology” is the long title of a short feature story by Anna Leach on Shiny Shiny, a gadget blog, where she reports on a fascinating talk…
In Making Do: Innovation in Kenya’s Informal Economy, Steve Daniels of Brown University illuminates the dynamics of Africa’s informal economy to enhance our understanding of emerging systems of innovation. “Wandering through winding alleys dotted with makeshift worksheds, one can’t help…
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…
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…
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…
UX Magazine keeps to its high standards with these three well written contributions: Curators of the Real-Time Web: Distilling the chatter to relevant, actionable information By Jonathan Gosier (Appfrica) “Information wants to flow and it wants to flow freely and…