Gary Marsden earned a Social Impact Award (one of two such awards), and as his reward he got plenary time at CHI 2007 Tuesday morning. His talk, “Doing HCI Differently,” was an eye-opening perspective on the unanticipated disconnection between human-computer interaction practices and a largely ignored African culture.
Marsden’s research came about after a migration south from UK to South Africa following the completion of his doctorate. After years of matriculating in a windowless office, he wanted to go work in the first place he could find with sun and a job. That place turned out to be the University of Cape Town. “I took my naive ideas on HCI down there,” Mardsen said, “and a lot of them didn’t work.”
His expectation of his new home was probably not unlike that of Google, as seen through the results of a search for Africa. The sponsored ads fill the page with references to crisis, help, AIDs and poverty. Yet Cape Town proved to be a joyous place. “I have never laughed as much as I have since I came to Africa,” Marsden said.
The problems an HCI designer faces in Africa are apparent when examining the cultural differences with regard to technology. According to figures he took from the CIA Fact Book, only 12% of Africans have access to the Internet and 11% have enough wealth to warrant income tax. However, a whopping 77% have cell phones. It makes sense—cell phones don’t need wires and can go for days without electricity. Thus, most of the local technology research revolves around mobile devices. From an HCI perspective, the underlying assumptions change from assuming everyone has a desktop to assuming everyone doesn’t, and that the tech that exists doesn’t change.
Marsden describes HCI in Africa as community-computer interaction. A holistic approach is needed that understands the interconnectivity of locals with each other, and with a non-Western culture. Concepts are different. In describing the challenges embedded in user testing a simple button or hierarchical navigation, Marsden points out that the African understanding is very different. There is no button on the screen; it is a picture of a button. There is no sense of hierarchy, as exercises in charting family trees would connect father to grandfather to uncles to aunt. With help from organizations like bridges.org—which promotes the effective use of ICT in the developing world for meaningful purposes—Marsden is re-examining the use of traditional HCI methods in this new context.
Among the projects Marsden shared during his talk is work by Edwin Blake called Cybertracker. This project addresses a communication need for local trackers, who are hyper-skilled at reading the landscape to understand where animals are located but who are non-literate otherwise. This mobile application is iconic, allowing these trackers to share their knowledge with rangers and scientists in the field. Another project, Cell-Life, helps nurses and healthcare workers following up on medication to AIDS patients by placing the information on their own cell phones. Instead of being disconnected from data accessed on a desktop computer, they became zealous about the information because it was available on something they owned.
In closing, Marsden claims usability is “irrelevant” in Africa. The cell phone is the only real interface technology they have. They are willing to learn it deeply, as a result, and are not worried about efficiency. This context provides a different opportunity for African designers willing to adapt Western ideas to fit the local culture. There will be a great opportunity for both to mix next February when Designing Interactive Systems conference (DIS 2008) is hosted by Marsden’s Cape town, South Africa.
