The Advantages of Being There Design at Microsoft

The Advantages of Being There Design at Microsoft Research India Kentaro Toyama Assistant Managing Director Microsoft Research India IWIPS 2007: “Actually Being There” June 29, 2007 – Merida Mexico

Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India – Warana Unwired – Multi. Point – Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

India People • ~1. 1 billion people – Over half under 25 years old • 22 languages • Annual incomes $100 -$100 M+ • 28 states Area • ~1/3 the area of United States Technology • ~20 M PCs, installed base • ~140 M mobile subscriptions Roads in India – +7 M each month Sources: CIA Factbook, TRAI, CNN

India, a Personal View My first trip to India (2004)

India, a Personal View People • ~1. 1 billion people – Over half under 25 years old but, power held by few ustry. tremendous energy and optimism ind • 22 official languages puting m for co • Annual incomes $100 -$100 M+ ity incredible diversity, EM microcosm portun p reminiscent of European Union e. • 28 states s that r ntial o e o te alleng r faced bef ge po h Hu new c ave e Area ere ar ustry h But, th the ind impact of weather (ubiquity of • ~1/3 the area of United States or n agriculture) r India e neith Technology • ~20 M PCs, installed base • ~140 M mobile subscriptions – +7 M each month huge interest in PCs, by everyone mobiles, everywhere

Infosys campus, Bangalore

A small Internet café on a market street in a town near Bombay

Rural village with a VSAT Internet connection near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Microsoft Research India • Established January, 2005 • Goals – World-class academic research – Contributions to Microsoft products and businesses – Support growth of research programs in India and elsewhere • Six research areas – – – Cryptography, Security, and Algorithms Digital Geographics Mobility, Networks, and Systems Multilingual Systems Rigorous Software Engineering Technology for Emerging Markets • Currently ~50 full-time staff, growing • Collaborations with government, academia, industry, and NGOs http: //research. microsoft. com/india Microsoft Research India Sadashivnagar, Bangalore

Technology for Emerging Markets Microsoft Research India Understand potential technology users in economically poor communities: – E. g. , urban domestic labourers – E. g. , rural entrepreneurs Computer-skills camp in Nakalabande, Bangalore (MSR India, Stree Jagruti Samiti, St. Joseph’s College) Adapt, invent, or design applications of computing that contribute to socio-economic development of poor communities worldwide. (Focus on research, not on shipping product. )

Interdisciplinary Research Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan – Society Jonathan Donner – Communications Nimmi Rangaswamy – Impact nderstan ng Understanding Group Public Administration and International Development Social Anthropology Rajesh Veeraraghavan – Computer Science and Economics Indrani Medhi – Individual Design Kentaro Toyama – Computer Science Randy Wang Technology – Innovation Computer Science Udai Singh Pawar – Physics Rikin Gandhi – Astrophysics

Well-Being Map Multi-mouse for Education Transitions between states of wealth in emerging markets Often hungry Children not in school In perpetual debt Breadwinner in formal sector Feature phones as “bar-code” readers for data-entry in rural microfinance “Middle class” Urban Consumer Study of dynanic middle-class consumers in urban emerging markets Aishwarya Lakshmi Ratan Public Admin. , Harvard Udai Singh Pawar Physics, IIT Kanpur Nimmi Rangaswamy Sociology, Univ. of Mumbai Computers in Agriculture Cost-Aware Data Transfer Digital Study Hall Experiments with computing and communication systems in agriculture rem aini ng dat a p 1 p 2 0 t Cost-aware transfer of data across heterogeneous channels, e. g. , for mobiles DVD exchange over postal service and TVs as display for rural education Rajesh Veeraraghavan Comp. Sci. & Econ. , Clemson Rohan Murty Comp. Sci. , Harvard Randy Wang Computer Sci, UC Berkeley Government and Rural IT Text-Free UI IT and Microentrepreneurs The state’s role in rural IT projects, with a focus on Kerala’s Akshaya project Renee Kuriyan Energy and Res, UC Berkeley UIs without text for users who are illliterate and may never have seen a computer before Indrani Medhi Design, Illinois Inst. of Tech. Information ecology of small businesses in developing markets Jonathan Donner Communications, Stanford

Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India – Warana Unwired – Multi. Point – Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

The Value of Being There … to resolve contradictory generalizations: • Resistance to new technology – But computers have glamour • Poverty systemic and multi-dimensional – But households functional • Stark lack of money – But willing to spend • Information critical… – But rarely the bottleneck • Computing needs are minimal – But there are opportunities!

Resistance to Technology… Many factors inhibit use of technology: • High cost • Reluctance to depart from habits and traditions • Fear of breaking technology • Lack of awareness of technology’s functional value • Barriers of education or literacy A child trying to explain to her mother what is on a laptop screen.

But, Computers have Glamour Examples of interest in computing technology: • • Rural PC kiosk owners see a rise in their confidence and status in community. • A kiosk operator running a near Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu Retention rates at schools rise when the school has PCs. Office service staff eager to learn about PCs and how to use them. These examples have little to do with computer function.

Poverty is Systemic… Stable system makes escape difficult: • • Lack of money means lack of time to do anything other than survive. Lack of time means less time for education. Lack of education means fewer job opportunities. Lack of job opportunities means lack of money. “Shocks” to household create downward spiral, and there always shocks: • • • Health problem requires loan Loan incurs interest Interest payments prevent capital accumulation A government-sponsored mid-day meal in a Tamil Nadu school.

But, Households still Functional “Good enough” solutions exist: • Credit: All kinds of loans available • Healthcare: Traditional medicines, primary healthcare services • Agriculture information: agriculture extension, word of mouth, salesmen

Persistent Lack of Money… Bangalore guideline for 45 minutes of housework a day: Rs. 150 (US$3)… per month! Typical daily wage for agricultural labor: Rs. 60 per day (US$1. 33; Rs. 30 for women) Public-school teacher’s salary varies from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 8000 (US$67 -178) per month. Teachers on a school trip in Karnataka

But, Willingness to Spend Luxury and aspirational consumption not unusual: • Weddings costing Rs. 1 lakh (US$2200) in rural villages not infrequent (cf. , avg. per capita GDP of ~US$700) • Mobile phone ring tones popular even at Rs. 10 (US$0. 20) per song A Photoshop’ed photo of a village bride (Maharashtra) • Photography services to “enhance” photos popular. Cost range from Rs. 100 to Rs. 600 (US$2 -12)

Information is Critical… General lack of information hampers quality of life: • Hygiene and healthcare knowledge shallow or superstitious • Poor fundamental and vocational education impedes career growth • Very practical knowledge not readily available: – Government schemes for the poor – Job information – Value of savings and investment A 12 -year-old enrolled in typing lessons at a rural PC kiosk

But, Information not the Bottleneck Access to information not the problem: • Physical transfer of goods/cash often required. Transport infrastructure is poor. • Levels of formal education very low, even with literacy. Education required to distinguish good information from bad. • Other factors… A petty shop owner in Tamil Nadu – No faith in information source – Lack of time or money – Rigid mindsets

Computing Needs Minimal… Information processing rarely required… • Little use of documents, charts, spreadsheets. • Paper , pen, and manual calculation difficult to out-do: – Low cost – Lightweight, durable – Additional training not required

But, Technology can Help! To draw interest of community. To process and analyze aggregate data. To streamline or improve existing processes. Focus group on a potential technology-for-agriculture project

The Value of Being There Recap Removal or reconciliation of preconceptions is the primary value of fieldwork. General lessons are difficult to draw; contradictions abound. Fieldwork helps to identify the specific constraints that apply to a given domain or application. Women from Ariyapalayam, Tamil Nadu, husking corn

Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India – Warana Unwired – Multi. Point – Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

The Five Stages of Design Good design comes out of deep intuition into the user. Knowledge Gained Wonder Technology / Surface Problem Exuberance Surface Solution Realization Real Problem Adjustment Real Solution Identification User Deeper Intuition Stage

“Kids in the developing world need the newest technology, especially really rugged hardware and innovative software. ” – Nicholas Negroponte, from the One Laptop Per Child website (2005) Exuberance

“The world's poorest two billion people desperately need healthcare, not laptops. ” – Bill Gates (WRI Conference, Seattle, 2000) Realization

Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India – Warana Unwired – Multi. Point – Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

Warana Unwired Rajesh Veeraraghavan

Agriculture in India Over 60% of population in agriculture Mostly small and marginal farmers with 1 -3 acres of land Average income of $1 -2 per day Wonder

“Warana Wired Village Project” Sugarcane cooperative 70 villages, 70000 farmers Asia’s first “Bridging Digital Divide” pilot (1998) Wonder

Rural PC Kiosks Factory FTP PC Landline phone PC enabled Kiosks FTP Standard PC network FTP Weigh stations 54 kiosks in 54 villages Cost: Rs. 2. 5 crores (US$500, 000) Warana Farmer DB Exuberance

Original Goals Allow farmers to… • Check market price information • Provide agricultural advice to farmers • Conduct land-record transactions • Surf the Internet • And, do it all with a private business model! Exuberance

Original Goals Allow farmers to… • Check market price information • Provide agricultural advice to farmers • Conduct land-record transactions • Surf the Internet • And, do it all with a private business model! Realization

Actual Use Internal account MIS: • Issue harvesting permit • Buy fertilizer through credit • Get paystub • Query quantity of sugarcane harvested Realization

Mounting Challenges High maintenance cost Intermittent power Network flaky PC not optimally used! Realization

The Problem Can we preserve the functionality of the existing PC based system while making the entire system cheaper and more effective? Realization

The Solution: Warana Unwired! PC-based kiosks SMS-enabled mobile phones Adjustment

Original PC-Based Set-Up Factory FTP PC Landline phone FTP PC-enabled kiosks Standard PC network FTP Weigh stations Warana Farmer DB Adjustment

New Mobile-Based Set-Up SMS SMS-enabled phones GSM/CDMA SMS network Factory PC Windows Mobile Remote APIs Standard PC network MS S Weigh stations Warana Farmer DB Adjustment

Warana Unwired – Results 24 -hour access to services – 6000 SMS processed 80% of requests for getting sugarcane output 1238 unique farmer requests Response time on harvesting data. – Original: 15 days PC: 2 days Mobile: immediate Telcos’ interest has perked up. Neighboring cooperatives have expressed interest. Adjustment

Warana Unwired– Estimated Cost Savings Costs System Units: Rs Cost/Farmer /Year New PC System 394 Existing PC System 177 SMS Mobile (kiosks) 159 GPRS(kiosks) 139 COST DETAILS: Common cost: Kiosk rent, Kiosk salary SMS cost: 50 paise/SMS GPRS per byte cost: 7000 times cheaper than SMS cost Savings over PCs 1 million. UPS battery, High Maintenance cost: Rupees /54 villages/1 printer, monitor Hard disk, year ($22, 000) No GPRS coverage SMS Mobile(without kiosks) GPRS ( no kiosks) 111 Low end phones do not support GPRS 91 SMS data plans are dropping Adjustment

Qualitative Results – Solution Truly Mobile Adjustment

Farmer Response Farmer from pilot village expresses initial disbelief… Once he sees it on the phone, he gets excited and says, “Barabar hai, eh tho bahuth accha hai. ” “The information is exact and it is very good. ” Farmer from another village demands access… We tried to tell them that we were in a testing phase, to ensure that the system worked; the farmer replied, “I saw messages are coming on the mobile phone. There is no problem. So where is the question of success? ” Adjustment

Status So far… • Successful replacement of kiosks in seven villages. System in operation since October 2006. • Expansion to other villages in cooperative To do… • Analysis of feedback and surveys for concrete impact • Pilots with other cooperatives Adjustment

Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India – Warana Unwired – Multi. Point – Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

Multi. Point Udai Singh Pawar, Joyojeet Pal (UC Berkeley), Kentaro Toyama

Education in India 300 M children aged 6 -18; 210 M enrolled in school; 105 M actively attending. Mostly small and marginal farmers with 1 -3 acres of land Rural school in Chinhat, Uttar Pradesh Teachers poorly trained and frequently absent Wonder

Rural Education: Problems Child labour Parents uninvolved No toilets Teachers multitasking Frequent maintenance of PCs required No permanent building No textbooks Irrelevant curriculum No walls Intermittent electricity Poor pay for teachers Terrible student-teacher ratio Caste discrimination Heat Poor retention rates Many children per computer Religious discrimination Students hungry No supplies UPS broken Teacher absenteeism Teachers not computer literate Student illness Wonder

Rural Education: Problems Child labour Parents uninvolved No toilets Teachers multitasking Frequent maintenance of PCs required No permanent building No textbooks Irrelevant curriculum No walls Intermittent electricity Poor pay for teachers Terrible student-teacher ratio Caste discrimination Heat Poor retention rates Many children per computer Religious discrimination Students hungry No supplies UPS broken Teacher absenteeism Teachers not computer literate Student illness Exuberance

PCs in Rural Education 5 -10% of primary schools in India already have a PC. PC classrooms generally used to “babysit” students as teacher teaches other classes. Typically, 2 -6 PCs per primary school. Exuberance

At school after school… One PC, many children. Realization

Multi. Point: Solution Provide a mouse for every student – One cursor for each mouse, with different colours or shapes – USB mice • Have tried up to 20 – Content modified • Game-like environment Adjustment

Multi. Point: Demo Adjustment

Multi. Point: Results Preliminary user studies [ICTD 2006] • Questions – Can students understand Multi. Point paradigm? – How do children interact with Multi. Point? – Does Multi. Point increase engagement? • Before Methodology – Trials: • 20 min single mouse • 20 min Multi. Point • 10 min free play – 3 trials of 6 -10 children Adjustment

Multi. Point: Early Results • Everyone wants a mouse. – Girls more likely to share than boys. • Kids understand Multi. Point immediately. • All students more engaged for longer periods of time. Before – Even children without mice engage longer. • Self-reporting is positive. – Exception: one student didn’t like Multi. Point because of competitiveness After Adjustment

Multi. Point: Advantages Incentives aligned – Cost effective: One computer + 5 mice comes to ~$100 per child. – Content authors can adapt to paradigm – Government / administrators can claim better use of computers – Teachers can keep more students entertained – Students have more fun (cf. , multi-player computer games) Adjustment

Multi. Point: Current Work Current work – Software SDK for content writers to be released in August 2006 – Technical features to maximize educational value of Multi. Point – More user studies to test pedagogical value – Pilots with NGOs in India – Hoping to disseminate beyond India New hypothesis: Better for primary education than one PC per child? Adjustment

Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India – Warana Unwired – Multi. Point – Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

Text-Free User Interfaces Indrani Medhi, Kentaro Toyama

Illiteracy 1 -2 billion illiterate population in the world. 98% live in developing countries. India’s rate of literacy (optimistically) estimated at ~60%. Wonder

Target Users Women from several Bangalore slums Informal sector jobs Income range: INR 800 -2500 (USD 20 -50) per month Illiterate or semi-literate Most have never seen a PC (those who have seen, only in their employers’ homes; but, not allowed to touch) Wonder

Ethnographic Design 300+ hours with over 250 people from urban slums in Bangalore: – – Interviews Participatory design Rapid prototyping Subject trials Exuberance

Text-Free UI, Take 1 Design Principles: Maps for illiterate users? – Pen or touch interface – Liberal use of icons and images – Voice feedback – Care in details of graphics; semi -abstracted cartoons – Aggressive use of mouse-over functionality – Consistent help icon Monster. com for domestic labourers? Exuberance

User Studies, Take 1 Task: For a friend who is unemployed, find the bestpaying job in her neighborhood. Results: Subjects could manipulate the application, but only 30% completed the task, even with significant prompting: Problem: Deeper problem in motivation and lack of cognitive model of how the PC worked. Realization

New Problem! Original question: Can any UI be converted into one that is usable by illiterate users? ILLITERACY FEAR OF TECHNOLOGY LACK OF TRUST IN TECHNOLOGY LACK OF AWARENESS OF WHAT TECHNOLOGY CAN DELIVER New question: Can a UI be developed to allow an illiterate, firsttime PC user to access information he/she needs without any assistance or prompting? Realization

Full-Context Video A full-context video explains the broader context of the application and how it works, in addition to instructional material about how to use the application. Adjustment

User Studies, Take 2 Full-context video has clear value: Without video first, only one out of 17 (6%) was able to complete the task at all, taking 11 prompts and 8. 2 minutes With video first, 18 out of 18 completed the task, with an average of 4. 7 prompts and 6. 5 minutes Without Video (A) With Video (B) Total Task Completed (out of 35) 8 35 Prompts reqd for completion 9. 8 5. 2 9. 01 4. 59 Avg completion time (min) Sequence - AB 1 17 Prompts reqd for completion 11 5. 9 Avg completion time (min) 8. 2 8. 6 Task Completed - AB Sequence - BA Task completed – BA 7 18 Prompts reqd for completion 6 4. 7 10. 8 6. 5 Avg completion time (min) Adjustment

Qualitative Results Other observations: Round-two subjects were incredulous that round-one subjects didn’t understand the application. Impact of video not permanent for most subjects. Many wanted to see the fullcontext video each time, even after seeing it before. Full-context video appears to increase motivation, as well as performance. Those who saw full-context video were interested in providing feedback on the specifics of the UI. Adjustment

Text-Free UI, Take 1 Design Principles: – Pen or touch interface – Liberal use of icons and images – Voice feedback – Care in details of graphics; semi -abstracted cartoons – Aggressive use of mouse-over functionality – Consistent help icon – Full-context video Adjustment

Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India – Warana Unwired – Multi. Point – Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage?

The story thus far… Stage Warana Unwired Multi. Point Text-Free UI Wonder agrarian society rural education illiteracy Exuberance Internet for farmers! PCs in classrooms! UIs without text! Realization little PC value for too many children UI manipulation most farmers per PC not the issue Adjustment SMS-based inventory query Identification ? multiple mice per full-context video PC ? ?

Why not PC kiosks? The importance of branding in serving food… Four-star restaurants brand themselves one way, and serve a particular clientele. Soup kitchens brand themselves another way and serve a different kind of community. It’s difficult to serve both client groups in one physical location. Identification

Why Multi. Point? People are already accustomed to sharing hardware. Games are fun, and games with other kids are even more fun! Identification

Why Full-Context Video? If you were told that, if you put anything in this box and spelled the object’s name 100 times out loud, it would come to life… “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ” – Arthur C. Clarke would you bother to do it? Identification

Recapitulation Warana Unwired Multi. Point Text-Free UI Wonder agrarian society rural education illiteracy Exuberance Internet for farmers! PCs in classrooms! UIs without text! Realization little PC value for most farmers too many children UI manipulation per PC not the issue Adjustment SMS-based inventory query multiple mice per full-context video PC Identification “Just the info I need. ” “We’ll share and play!” “Demystify it for me. ” Cyclical process Stage

Outline The Challenge of India The Value of Being There The Five Stages of Design Three Projects from MSR India – Warana Unwired – Multi. Point – Text-Free User Interfaces The Last Stage Starts It All Over Again!

Thank you! http: //research. microsoft. com/research/tem Questions? kentoy@microsoft. com