research-article

eKichabi: Information Access through Basic Mobile Phones in Rural Tanzania

Authors:

Trevor Perrier,

Joshua E. Blumenstock,

Adalbertus Kamanzi,

Editha Kokushubira,

Jennifer Webster,

Richard J. AndersonAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Paper No.: 133, Pages 1 - 12

https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173707

Published: 19 April 2018 Publication History

Abstract

This paper presents eKichabi, a tool for retrieving contact information for agriculture-related enterprises in Tanzania. eKichabi is an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) application which users can access through basic mobile phones. We describe our focus groups, a design iteration, deployment in four villages, and follow up interviews by phone. This work demonstrates the feasibility of USSD for information access applications that have the potential for deployment on a large scale in the developing world. From user interviews, we identified strong evidence of eKichabi fulfilling an unmet need for business related information, both in identifying business contacts in other villages, as well locating specific service providers. One of our key findings demonstrates that users access information through multiple modes, including text search, in addition to menu navigation organized by both business sector category and geographic area.

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Cited By

Friedman NTan ZHaskins MJu WBailey DLongchamps L(2024)Understanding Farmers' Data Collection Practices on Small-to-Medium Farms for the Design of Future Farm Management Information SystemsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36374168:CSCW1(1-28)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637416
Raghunath AMetzger AEaston HLiu XWang FWang YZhao YMpogole HAnderson R(2024)eKichabi v2: Designing and Scaling a Dual-Platform Agricultural Technology in Rural TanzaniaProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642099(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642099
Hasan MSaxena DRubaiat YAhamed SGuha S(2023)Design Recommendations towards Developing a Smartphone-Based Point-of-Care Tool for Rural Bangladeshi UsersInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2023.217546240:4(965-985)Online publication date: 16-Feb-2023
https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2023.2175462
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

eKichabi: Information Access through Basic Mobile Phones in Rural Tanzania
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2018

8489 pages

ISBN:9781450356206

DOI:10.1145/3173574

General Chairs:
Regan Mandryk
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
,
Mark Hancock
University of Waterloo, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Mark Perry
Brunel University London, UK
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Anna Cox
University College London, UK

Copyright © 2018 Owner/Author.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International 4.0 License.

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Published: 19 April 2018

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CHI '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 666 of 2,590 submissions, 26%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Friedman NTan ZHaskins MJu WBailey DLongchamps L(2024)Understanding Farmers' Data Collection Practices on Small-to-Medium Farms for the Design of Future Farm Management Information SystemsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36374168:CSCW1(1-28)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637416
Raghunath AMetzger AEaston HLiu XWang FWang YZhao YMpogole HAnderson R(2024)eKichabi v2: Designing and Scaling a Dual-Platform Agricultural Technology in Rural TanzaniaProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642099(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642099
Hasan MSaxena DRubaiat YAhamed SGuha S(2023)Design Recommendations towards Developing a Smartphone-Based Point-of-Care Tool for Rural Bangladeshi UsersInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2023.217546240:4(965-985)Online publication date: 16-Feb-2023
https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2023.2175462
Pigola AMeirelles F(2023)Sustainable business value model in the ICT4D research agendaInformation Technology for Development10.1080/02681102.2023.220216629:4(435-461)Online publication date: 2-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2023.2202166
Ziegler MWeld GTang EDaum M(2022)Demo: Visualizing USSD and IVR Usage Data with Icicle ChartsProceedings of the 5th ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies10.1145/3530190.3542934(707-710)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2022
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Hayat SRextin ABilal A(2021)Understanding the usability issues in contact management of illiterate and semi-literate usersPLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.025971916:12(e0259719)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2021
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259719
Quandt ASalerno JNeff JBaird THerrick JMcCabe JXu EHartter J(2020)Mobile phone use is associated with higher smallholder agricultural productivity in Tanzania, East AfricaPLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.023733715:8(e0237337)Online publication date: 6-Aug-2020
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237337
Kawu AAbdullahi AJoseph EMishra AAbdulrahman A(2020)MIRCSProceedings of the 2020 9th International Conference on Software and Computer Applications10.1145/3384544.3384578(264-268)Online publication date: 18-Feb-2020
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