This is my last post on this blog. Radio Userland has served me well since I started blogging in 2003. I will post more details on the transition, at my new blog - for now I just wanted to make this announcement, and provide the new url and feeds.

New Blog URL - http://dinamehta.com/
Subscribe via RSS 2.0 - http://dinamehta.com/feed/
Subscribe via Atom - http://dinamehta.com/feed/atom/
Comments feed - http://dinamehta.com/comments/feed/

The new blog will also be called Conversations with Dina - it's just a new blogging platform - but the same old blog! I do hope you continue reading and feeding it.

My old blog will be archived at its old url (http://radio.weblogs.com/0121664/) and I will keep the archives going. Stuart, who has worked out the platform for Conversations with Dina on Wordpress has done some neato hacks - one that I love a lot is that the search function will not just search the new blog archives, but also my old Radio blog archives. And he has managed to transfer some of my posts over too. That's so cool!!! Lots more needs doing there ... and that will emerge I'm sure.

12:26:59 PM    comment []  trackback []

The Indian Express reports that a couple of Israeli geeks have set up a low-cost wi-fi network in Dharamshala, spread over 70 acres, more than 7,000 ft above sea level.

"Thirty-eight-year old David's technological expertise and perhaps even nimble athleticism (courtesy his Mossad training) proved useful in setting up the network in the mountainous terrain. Antennae were erected in the most unlikely places (in one case the tower was painted with the insignia 'Om' and served as the spire of a local temple), the Linksys routers were re-engineered to make them power-efficient(most of them run on solar energy) and the towers were made "monkey resistant" after it was found that the primates found perverse pleasure in dangling from them.

Other "sabotage" bids were similarly thwarted. There was one last year in the form of a Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDSA) on the website of the Tibetan Technology Centre. Says Ginguld: "It is difficult to pinpoint who did it but it started after an extensive series of scans which happened somewhere in China. The same URLs were loaded to access the database repeatedly..." In a written reply to The Sunday Express, the Chinese Embassy said it was "unaware of any such thing".

Schools, hospitals and other NGOs have benefited immensely from the service, though the network's limited bandwidth means it is not accessible to individuals and laptop-carrying tourists. Says Dawa Tsering of the Tibetan Medical Institute: "Our earlier connection would break down frequently and wouldnít be repaired for long durations. The connectivity now is more or less uninterrupted." While the vision of BPO centres coming up in the region might be a bit too romantic, the network is being used to promote trade. Dolma Kyap of Norbulingka Art Institute says they offer Tibetan art works like Thangka painting and statutes for sale on the Net. But what Ginguld is particularly thrilled by is the sight of children using the network. "Computer labs in Indian schools have lots of computers but no internet connection, which is akin to having a sleek car without petrol. Today when I see 10-year-olds logging on to sites like hi5, chatting with people, I realise we are on the right path," he says."

9:31:22 AM    comment []  trackback []

Refuses to block Orkut under political pressure!

7:54:38 PM    comment []  trackback []

Peter informs the Blogger's Collective about a series of protests against the arrest of an art student and suspension of the dean of MS University all over the country.  Here are details on the incident. 

10:11:38 AM    comment []  trackback []

The view from my new place - is on the 16th floor and I have spent all afternoon looking out at city life. I had to drown the sounds of construction and traffic out though - Glenn Frey did well with Strange Weather!

7:47:07 PM    comment []  trackback []

Ate Poorthuis is a student at the University of Amsterdam, and is writing a thesis on the creative class in Mumbai. He wrote to me yesterday, in an email asking for help on a survey for Mumbaikars (I still prefer the term Bombayites :)). It piqued my interest for two reasons .. why his interest in and selection of Mumbai ... and I remembered listening to Richard Florida talk about the The Rise of the Creative Class, at Pop!Tech way back in 2004. He has subsequently written The Flight of the Creative Class. Here's an IT Conversations podcast of his talk at Pop!Tech.

10:42:29 AM    comment []  trackback []

Oh in my earlier ranting, I forgot to mention, go on to the 50 million missing page at Flickr if you don't mind having to go through the process of logging in using your Yahoo id. Its a neat way to share your empathy with and register your protest against this human injustice.

12:41:43 PM    comment []  trackback []

Buying a house in Mumbai is sooooo frustrating. I have been looking for a two-bedroom place in a specific area of the city (Worli-Mahim) for the last 8 months. I've been looking at both old apartments and some in new buildings that are mushrooming all around the city. I like the old apartments because they are more spacious and have higher ceilings. The new buildings come with more 'fittings' and some of them can be quite nice - but you feel really cheated on the super built-up area rates they charge you, which can, in some cases be upto 45% of the carpet area of the flat. So you have to really compromise on the living area in the flat, and are paying so much more needlessly.

6:42:19 PM    comment []  trackback []

Some blogging trends in India .. based on a study 'Blogging India: An MSN and Windows Live Report'

"A desire for self-improvement and personal development is found to be a key driver of India's blogosphere with a large majority of online users reading blogs to stay informed about world events. They enjoy reading about technology the most, followed closely by news and education. Elsewhere, technology content ranks low.

These findings suggest that blogging in India could become the "new fourth estate" with close to half the respondents believing that blogging content is as trustworthy as those of regular media outlets such as newspapers, radio and TV."

Some statistics are available here. And the Economic Times has more.

- 14% of internet users actively blog
- 39% are aware of blogs
- over 75% of all bloggers are men
- 85% are below the age of 35
- 49% said they read blogs to be entertained
- 50% found blogs by business leaders interesting
- in contrast, 24% found politicians' blogs interesting
- 58% started their blog to express themselves, while 40% to entertain others
- Half of all blogs receive 10 visitors or less per week
- 90% of bloggers spend up to 5 hours per week reading blogs or updating their own blogs

Am not sure how the research was conducted, but the article seems to suggest it is based on a survey among over 1000 visitors to the MSN India portal. This is by no means representative blogosphere in India - not many bloggers I know think highly of MSN or go to the portal at all.

Does anyone have access to the entire report and can you share it?

We really do need some good demographic and behavioural statistics on blogging and online social networking in India.

Technorati Tags: blogosphere, India, blogging, blog statistics, blogs

6:27:13 PM    comment []  trackback []

While on mobile phones, just last month, I got the cover for my Nokia 7610 changed - my three year old white cover was badly bruised. I was in Delhi and went to a small shop which had all the latest models of phones. That's where I got a good look at the N73. I also looked at the N93 - it is a very clunky phone.

And a bonus offer for me - he wanted to buy back my phone which is now almost three years old for Rs.6000 (approx 135 USD). Not bad .. I should have taken him up on it - little did I know I'd get the N73 so soon!

12:43:20 AM    comment []  trackback []

Was passing by one of the busiest 'walls' in Bombay today .. and couldn't resist this picture. Any guesses on the product? No pink prizes ange :)

6:35:23 PM    comment []  trackback []

There was a short segment on India This Week on NDTV's 24/7 on Sunday which briefly touched upon the controversy surrounding the issuing of a notice by the State Government of Maharashta against an Orkut community. It wasn't much of an analysis as I had expected - some Orkut members talking of how and why they use it - too short a segment for anyone to really comprehend what was going on. I told my mum to watch it since I was appearing briefly .. her response after ... "I didn't understand a word!". So much for mainstream media picking up on issues!

What makes me a little mad is this writeup on the segment where they've quoted me as having said:

""Instead of paranoia, we need greater awareness for young people, and more effective legal measures for cyber crime," said Dina Mehta, new media researcher."

When actually, I said quite the contrary .. I spoke about what social networks are, a bit on how they have evolved, why folks use them and what value they bring, and on the the issue of 'moral policing' and banning communities. My take was very clearly that usually, these communities are self-correcting and you have the choice to select who you want to interact with, and what community you wish to take part in. If something or someone upsets you, you can counter it by debate and dialogue or report them in most of these communities, some have recommendations and user-ranking systems as well, and in that, they are self-correcting. So there is no need to police them -  how can you - are we policed thus in our physical worlds?

Moreover, the powers that issue these orders are naive to think that closing down a community will shut down voices on the internet.... they will spring up elsewhere on the web. If we are talking of moving to a networked world, with broadband plans and bringing access to the internet to many more people, how can we talk of this sort of censorship. My final comment was that those with authority to ban and censor have no understanding of how social the internet has become. They need to get in there, wet their hands, play .. only then can they truly understand how these newer social systems and norms of engagement actually work. Action then will be more informed as a result.

A no-brainer really.

9:12:21 AM    comment []  trackback []

Like Peter, wishing you and yours a very Happy Diwali and Eid Mubarak. It is a long weekend here .. everything's closed until Wednesday which is Eid.  Am off to Khandala for a quiet break.  Diwali for us is a small puja on Dhanteras at home, lighting a few diyas, hanging a garland outside our door and distributing sweets and gifts to our close family members.  Then ... a mad dash out of town for a quiet getaway.

It has been quite quiet this Diwali in Mumbai.  When I was growing up, there would be firecrackers .. the noisier the better for those indulging in a vulgar display of burning wealth... all through the week running up to Diwali.  Tadafadis - those long strips of really annoying and noisy bombs would be lined up on the roads and go off for 10 minutes continuously .. this would go on all evening and night.  The next morning, the roads were littered with varied debris.

On the other hand, traffic this week has been just crazy,  and the shops really full.  Interestingly, online shopping has grown 100% over last year, this Diwali. 

9:16:27 AM    comment []  trackback []

"A new report from the firm says the portion of low-cost handsets with basic cameras is high enough that, during the next 10 years, "hundreds of millions" of Chinese and Indians not only will have their first phone experience via a wireless handset, but also their first camera experience." TelecomWeb.

This is so true .. it is amazing how often you see youngsters particularly taking quick pictures with their cam phones and sending them to friends via SMS and bluetooth. Stuart, in a series of observations on India, shares his experiences observing camera phone usage in India:

"Now imagine a world where no one growing up had a camera. Where photos were taken at a wedding, relegated to studio shots for the rich, or Bollywood snaps appearing in the press. In a gross generalization, photography in India was 50 or 60 years behind the rest of the world until the mobile phone arrived."

"....Each time I frequent one I'm always seeing people taking pictures. They pass the phone around. They take them with each other's phones. They display a real delight of just discovering photography and they just keep on snapping. Camera phones will impact society differently here. There was no progression from a camera. The mobile phone for many, is their first camera. They never learned to shoot with film or the constraints and expense of film. They never looked through a viewfinder. Photography for them starts on a device that is better at shorter distances. They are learning photography in a digital age. As a result India is about to experience an outpouring of imagery."

Tags: camera phones, india, mobile phones

7:54:42 AM    comment []  trackback []

A great transformation story - For India's Traditional Fishermen, Cellphones Deliver a Sea Change.- by Kevin Sullivan at the Washington Post. [link via Bala Pitchandi]

Two excerpts:

New Balance of Power

Rajan said the dealers don't necessarily like the new balance of power, but they are paying better prices to him and thousands of other fishermen who work this lush stretch of coastline. "They are forced to give us more money because there is competition," said Rajan, who estimated that his income has at least tripled to an average of $150 a month since 2000, when cellphones began booming in India. He said he is providing for his family in ways that his fisherman father never could, including a house with electricity and a television."

"Rajan's phone rang a half-dozen times in a half-hour, with calls from dealers in different ports, buyers and other boat captains. Rajan talked quickly and kept hauling. When most of the net was in, the crew used small nets to scoop the fish from the water and dump them into the 45-foot open boat that is towed behind the Andavan.

By 3 p.m., the open boat was loaded with fish and the Andavan turned toward port, an hour away. Standing on the deck soaked with sweat, Rajan started returning phone calls. He dialed the number of the wholesale agent at his home port, who offered about $13 for each 110-pound box of fish -- about 12 cents a pound.

Rajan agreed to the deal. He said if his load had been bigger and it had been earlier in the day, he would have called around to check prices at other ports. But he said for a smallish load late in the day, the first price offered was fair. And he said the dealer was forced to offer a decent price, knowing that Rajan could still go elsewhere. As insurance, Rajan returned the call of the other dealer who had called him, just to keep good relations for another day.

Rajan said that without his phone, his catch might have gone to waste. Because he called ahead to the port, buyers there knew that he was coming, what kind of fish he had and the size of his catch. In the past, Rajan said, he would sometimes arrive at port late in the day only to find that all the buyers had gone home, unaware that another boat was coming. His catch would go unsold, and he and his crew would go unpaid."

8:14:19 AM    comment []  trackback []

From agencyfaqs! - I-Cube,2006 a report on Internet in India is out. The survey was conducted by IAMAI and IMRB International.

"It states that 32 per cent of the active users of the Internet in India rely on it as a primary source of information and research. In 2001, when e-mail and chat were the significant drivers of the Internet, this figure was only 20 per cent. The survey was conducted for the current fiscal amongst 16,500 households covering 65,000 individuals across 26 major metros and small towns in India, with an additional coverage of 10,000 businesses and 250 cyber cafÈ owners. The active users here are those who access the Internet at least once a month."

From the IAMAI press release

• The survey reveals that there are 37 million Internet users in India, 23 million of them active users. Ever user category is defined as someone who has used the Internet at least once

• This escalation in the number of active Internet users can be seen as a consequence of the new innovations that have taken place in the content space in recent times, in the form of online ticketing, weblogs, product information and preview sites

• 11.6 million e-mail users out of the 13.2 Million Active Internet Users in the 26 surveyed cities
• 2.4 million E-Commerce users and around 7.5 Million Chat users in the 26 cities as of March 2006
• 32% of the active internet users use search as their primary application
• The glamour of chat seems to be fading away even amongst the College Going segment, with Information search emerging as the 2nd most prominent reason for surfing Internet

Contentsutra has uploaded a couple of the charts from the report .. here's one that shows internet usage by demographics [chart from the post linked earlier] where there seems to be an inverse correlation between age and email usage:



The numbers are still small .. despite our much-touted 200 million middle class in India, only 23 million active users in India! And penetration country-wide (rural and urban) is really low at 3.2% in 2006:

Look at this for comparison - now 91 million mobile phone subscribers and 5.9 mln new mobile subscribers in India in August 2006 according to ZDNet's Research -- India has become the fastest-growing cellular market in the world, adding a net 5.9 mln cellular subscribers in August 2006, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India. The gain outstripped Chinaís increase of 5.19 mln subscribers.

I also wonder whether they've covered social media .. if free flow of information and exchange is going to be a strong part of innovation in India, social media has to be a part of it.Mohan Krishnan from IMRB says:

"There will be a change in the Internet dynamics. Applications like P2P, preview sites, streaming video and radio, as well as localisation of content, will outgrow e-mail and chat. Hence, innovative applications, making a user's experience simpler and fulfilling, will be required to sustain the growth of the number of Internet users."

Which makes me wonder ... what figures do they have about blogs and social networks if at all? Several people from the corporate world (read Ad Agencies, PR firms, even traditional FMCG companies) have asked me for statistics on blogs in India .. the fact is there really aren't any that are of any use. Some figures I have seen don't make much sense somehow.

I think its time an agency like IMRB looked at doing a large-scale survey on blogs and online social networking habits in India, and followed some of the great data generation practices employed by companies like Pew who shares reports and pdfs of questionnaires online. Why I feel its time for this is while there is much talk about blogs in India today, in corporate circles, in mainstream media - and people really are curious about this relatively new media. The sense I get is they are excited about the medium but dont understand it very well .. and few are willing to take that leap of faith without the numbers.

Some stuff that might be useful from the viewpoint of a company who is considering setting up blogs either a corporate blog, or blogs for brands, or then considering the potential to use the power of word of mouth (and pay for it :)) :

• census of blogs in India - how many are there, drop out rates, active blogs, benchmarks for defining this space for future tracking, etc
• demographics of blogs and bloggers - what demographic groups are blogging more, across states and cities, age, gender, lifestage, socio-economic status, income,
• blog habits and practices - methods of blogging, connectivity, tools and content, extent and frequency of posting to and reading blogs,
• blog ecosystems - usage data for feed readers, etc
• extent of audio-video usage - producing content and consuming content
  
• segmentation of bloggers and those on social networks - demographics/user archetypes/interests/topics
• monetization of blogs - ROI on blogging and social networking (look at this attempt to calculate return on investment - ROI on blogging - link via email from Peter)
  
• community/collaborative blogs
  

9:43:18 PM    comment []  trackback []

WATblog has a neat write-up on India Web 2.0 sites and companies in their many part series covering social networking, social bookmarking, video sharing, picture sharing, social sharing, events sharing, media or file sharing.

Parts 1-4
Part 5

Other reading/resources on India Web 2.0:

• Amit Ranjan of Webyantra consistently presents really excellent reviews of Indian Web 2.0 sites
  

• Ashish of Tekriti shares his analysis of global and Indian social networking sites popular in India, and summarizes this discussion with:

• Contentsutra among other digital media news, does reviews on new social media sites from India

• Amit Agarwal at Digital Inspiration keeps an eye on all the developments worldwide in this area - here's one example where he shares a portrait of his son, Google using "Museumr - a Flickr Toy where you pass the URL of the Flickr picture or any photo on the web, choose a Museum Gallery style and the application will create an awesome piece of art displayed in a real museum gallery complete with admiring visitors".

8:50:41 AM    comment []  trackback []

"Citizens in Nagpur almost never visit the police station, thanks to Yashasvi Yadav's online complaints system", reports Danish Khan in the Mumbai Mirror, in an article and interview with the Superintendent of Police, Nagpur District, titled Gunning for the Web. Mr. Yadav is the recipient of the IACP/Motorola Webber Seavey Award for innovative policing this year.

The Commissioner of Police has a neat message on the Nagpur Police website :

I hope one day, this applies to filing FIRs (First Information Reports) too, which can be a really tedious process, and not always effective. Not so long ago, someone bumped into my car from the back, it was entirely his fault. It left a deep scratch on my bumper. If you've been to Mumbai you'll know that its rare to see a car without a scratch, and normally I'd have let it go, but for the fact that the driver of the other car got really aggressive with me and refused to give me his contact details. The local traffic cop refused to help too, allowing the owner of that car to drive off, saying I must go to the nearest police station, and lodge an FIR, if I wanted to get my insurance company to get the expenses from him. It took me 3 hours of waiting at the Gamdevi police station, before an officer attended my query, and another hour before he got all the tedious paper-work done. He didn't so much as glance at the damage on my car before writing out the report.

I wished then, that I could have done this via an online form.

3:25:51 PM    comment []  trackback []

Much as I hate the politics of the government running Gujarat, it was interesting to read this article in The Sunday Express this morning - Gujarat cracks BPL (below-poverty-line) code, finds way to reach the poor directly.

The creation of a database of people Below-Poverty-Line has been created .. as a result its hands off for any interference from politicians and local authorities. Couldn't find a link to the database .. does anyone know the url? The list of schemes covered is here.

From the article:

"Now, instead of the beneficiaries running from pillar to post to get the benefits, the taluka development officers go in search of them. That is because the system has already generated a list, identified the names of the most needy, with their addresses. The TDO has to go find them and give what is due to them," says Mitra. In the process, ministers, MLAs, local politicians, panchayat presidents and sarpanchs have been eliminated from the system."

On the database:

"The database is on the web and almost all districts and talukas of Gujarat now have access to the Internet. The State-Level Bankers Committee which has 5,000 branches of various banks has already adopted the system, using it to disburse government co-sponsored loans for both farm and non-farm activity. J M Patel, chief manager of State-level Bankers committee (SLBC), Gujarat, says: "It is a very realistic database that is 85 to 95 per cent correct."

Over three years, 68.65 lakh rural households in the 18,000 villages of Gujarat were surveyed by enumerators who gathered details of families without revealing the motive. Then, using a selection criteria of 13 parameters prepared by the Planning Commission and using a methodology decided by the Union Ministry of Rural Development, the households were graded.

Earlier, BPL lists were prepared using income as the main criteria. The Gujarat Government added more parameters to make it more comprehensive_average availability of normal clothing, two square meals a day, type of house, status of household labour force, type of indebtedness etc.

As per the 16-point parameters, families were graded_ a score of 16 points or less: very poor, 17 to 20: poor. When the list was finally ready this July, the Gujarat Government had a ready reckoner at hand: 18,706 households scored 5 or less (poorest of the poor), 1,73,388 households scored 10 or less, 8,50,413 households scored 15 or less and 10,93,534 scored 16 or less."

On how it can be free from political pressure:

"But complaints have started pouring in. An MLA who sent 200 applications of his supporters demanding benefits complained that only three persons he recommended were in the list of BPL or poor families. "He claimed our list is incorrect,í" says D M Baria, of Dangs DRDA. "But now we donít have to bend over backwards under political pressure. Whenever a politician calls me to recommend, I just show the list," he says."

Giving out money is hard. Money is power. It breeds corruption. It is why so many aid programmes fail. I hope this database ensures that the money goes to the right people. I hope.

2:40:32 PM    comment []  trackback []

I don't usually blog about movies, but this article in the Hindustan Times that shares reader responses to Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK) (detailed story) roused my researcher instincts. The movie is the lives of Dev and Maya, who are both married to different people, who both yearn for something deeper and more meaningful, and for passion. They find each other, and as a result, it changes lives of all involved forever.

There's been a lot of media hype around the theme of extra-marital affairs in India as a result of the movie- while some (and that seems to be a minority) seem to feel there is no reason to stay in unhappy marriages, many others are of the opinin that it goes against our 'culture'. What intrigued me about the article in the Hindustan Times were two things. One, that those against the film tended to be from an older age segment, while those below 35 years felt it reflects trends in today's society. And two, on reading the quotes from readers there, my observation is that those who strongly raised their voice against the movie and also felt it was ahead of its times were mainly males, and those who feel that women are empowered now to decide whether they want to stay in a loveless marriage were females!! [Disclaimer - this observation is based on just this one article]

"...A surfer named Deepak from Dubai wrote in to say: "KANK is a movie which not only undermines, but also insults Indian culture and values."

".....30-year-old Sabrina from Panaji sent us a very telling comment. She said: "I don't care for movies like KANK, especially if they come from a director like Karan Johar. But I can say this for sure: I would not hestitate for a second to walk out if my marriage is not working out. I am an individual with a life to lead, why should I waste it on a loveless relationship?"

"27-year-old Sangita, who wrote in from Arlington, Virginia, provided another interesting angle to this issue. She said: "This is a very complex issue. In the US for instance, women are a lot more empowered. They think of themselves as individuals and so don't hesitate to leave a marriage where there is no love or commitment. In India however, women don't think of themselves as an identity different from their husbands. So they suffer all marital discords and continue to be slaves to their negligent and uncaring husbands."

8:42:22 AM    comment []  trackback []

Rediff News has this article on the Honey Bee Network which is focussed on creativity and innovation at the grassroots level.

"Spending a few hundred million dollars will help some children, and also enrich the manufacturers of the laptops (Chinese manufacturing), and all the middle-layers that will be invovled in the selling, maintenance, and support. Compare that to the alternative use of the same money.

9:01:02 AM    comment []  trackback []

I've been helping organize content at BlogCamp India 2006. It's on September 9-10 in Chennai. Here's what its all about:

Blogging is more than just a tool for online communication. For bloggers and blog readers, it represents a way of life where open communication, dialogue, feedback and collaboration enrich content, helping us forge professional and personal relationships. From encouraging government transparency, blogging about children, discussions on economics, sharing poetry and literature, ribtickling humour, online activism, movie reviews to Sunday musings, the tool has changed lives for all those who use it and rely on it for opinion, information, entertainment and business.

Because blogging has influenced each individual at so many different levels, the theme of the BlogCamp in Chennai is going to be "Living The Blog"

We hope to provide a forum where bloggers can share their stories and be inspired by innovative and successful blogging experiences. In the spirit of blogging and no barriers interaction, the two-day event will be in an "unconference mode". Participants will have the choice of simultaneous workshops and sessions that will be held in small groups and use relatively informal ways of engaging each other, in conversations around the various themes.

While Kiruba, Syed and their young team of Chennai bloggers have been doing a great job of getting the logistics out, creating a lot of buzz around the event, setting up the website and getting sponsors, Neha and I are working on the scheduling of sessions and content .. please do go over to this page and add/edit/modify things that make for a better event given the heterogeneity in the list of participants who are at different stages of blogging experience. Also, if there are topics you wish to cover, apart from the ones I am sharing below, do add them in here. It is really vital that every participant takes the onus of ensuring they get the opportunity to share and speak around their interest area -- so I urge those interested, even if you are planning to participate remotely, do do do go on over and make BlogCamp yours.

• The wiki is a little messy and disorganised - we need a wiki gardener ... Peter???
• Outstation participants need help in figuring out accomodation options
• How is the Rs.300 going to be collected? Will this be at the venue during registration?
• What's the action on setting up a live audio stream or an IRC channel that will enable participation from those who can't physically be there?
  

7:54:54 PM    comment []  trackback []

I discovered and enjoyed a series of qualitative user research reports by Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase, who takes some amazing photographs and blogs them with observations at Future Perfect. [link via Chetan Kunte via Adaptive Path]

Interesting to read about informal repair cultures in India and China ..

"What sets these locations apart from cities in more 'emerged' markets? Aside from the scale of what's on sale there is a thriving market for device repair services ranging from swapping out components to re-soldering circuit boards to reflashing phones in a language of your choice , naturally. Repairs are often carried out with little more than a screwdriver, a toothbrush (for cleaning contact points) the right knowledge and a flat surface to work on. Repair manuals (which appear to be reverse engineered) are available, written in Hindi, English and Chinese and can even be subscribed to, but there is little evidence of them being actively used. Instead many of the repairers rely on informal social networks to share knowledge on common faults, and repair techniques. It's often easier to peer over the shoulder of a neighbour than open the manual itself. Delhi has the distinction of also offering a wide variety of mobile phone repair courses at training institutes such as Britco and Bridco turning out a steady flow of mobile phone repair engineers. To round off the ecosystem wholesalers' offer all the tools required to set up and run a repair business from individual components and circuit board schematics to screwdrivers and software installers."

"We noted that textually non-literate users of public call offices often took a scrap of paper with a phone number scrawled on it to the owner and asked them to dial the number. This system is open to errors caused by inaccuracy, either because the number was not clearly transcribed, or simply because the paper on which the number was written was worn and faded from being carried.

User interface designers often talk about the user's mental model of a system, and how it maps to the reality of how a device actually functions. It is typical for designers to use metaphors such as the 'desktop' or 'soft keys' to support the building of an accurate model. Textually non-literate users will not have access to textual cues, so their mental model may well be poor. Whilst a poor mental model is not a problem within a limited range of (rote learned) tasks, if and when errors occur users may adopt the wrong strategies to correct the problem. Designers use a myriad of audio, visual and textual cues to support the user's understanding of how the mobile phone works. Literate persons are able to quickly absorb (and subsequently ignore) this textual information and apply the knowledge in practice. A positive outcome reinforces their understanding of how the system works and helps build an accurate mental model. Textually non-literate people are required to make assumptions for the textual prompts based on how the device responds to their actions. A plausibly positive result is sufficient to believe that is how the system works regardless of how well it maps to the actual system."

9:16:24 AM    comment []  trackback []