Visualising and systematizing a per-poor ICT intervention for Rural and Semi-urban Mothers in India

Abstract

This paper presents an Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) intervention through a novel audio assisted mobile application, designed for low literate mothers in rural and sub-urban parts of Assam in India. It explores new methods to enhance the usability of ICTs by adopting the per-poor or grassroots level innovation model which facilitates the poor to innovate for themselves through their interpretation of existing technologies. Systematically harvesting grassroots innovation is gaining momentum and attracting ICT interventions due to the increasing availability of low cost personalized mobile phones. Following a user centred design approach, we designed an audio-visual based application for the Nokia 6303. This would impart maternal health care information to low literate mothers and provide them with easier access to government health care facilities. Our research and field work involved 24 participants and investigated new modes of disseminating maternal health care information without disrupting the existing government health care system. We explored usage of Interactive Genetic Algorithms (IGAs) to redefine our layout from scratch and compared two methods of representing graphics- metaphorical icons and realistic visuals, observing significant preference for the latter. We found that grid based menu icons in small screen interfaces were more adaptable than a list based menu. To consolidate and validate the design proposed by us, we qualitatively tested a high fidelity prototype with 8 fresh participants. Our findings provide a possible systematic set of considerations that can be taken prior to realizing per-poor innovation in future ICT4Ds.