As a developing country, India has a large number of people with limited access to electricity, roads, water, sanitation, housing, education, health and financial services. In contrast, over the last few years, their access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) has increased rapidly. This rapid penetration of ICTs have thrown open many opportunities, but have also caused some problems. We call these people "emergent users", because many of these users are still new to ICTs, and because as interaction designers we struggle to design for them.
This two-day workshop will expose you to the PhD research opportunities in the area of human-computer interaction design for development (HCI4D) in IDC. At the end of the workshop, you will become aware of the HCI4D work in IDC, and you will also put together a draft proposal for PhD research in IDC that you can take back with you.
The workshop will be conducted by faculty members and current and past PhD students in IDC. They will talk about their current research outcomes and emerging challenges. There will be opportunities to explore specific areas of mutual interest and developing a proposal for a PhD.
The workshop will also be an opportunity to interact with current and past PhD students at IDC.
Topics that will be discussed
These are some of the areas in which we are actively looking for potential PhD students, and which we will discuss during the workshop:
Text input in Indian languages
Text input in Indic scripts has been a special challenge. India perhaps has had least per-capita input of text on digital systems. Things have evolved over the years, particularly after the emergence of smart phones. Yet, there are several challenges that remain unsolved. This topic of research often involves combining methods such as language modelling, interface design, high-fidelity prototyping, and empirical experimentation. If you have a background in computational linguistics, or if you have a designer with a special flair of designing new interfaces, and particularly if you love your languages, this topic might be of interest to you.
(Anirudha Joshi, Girish Dalvi, Sanjay Ghosh)
Understanding emergent users
Current understanding about design of ICT products emerged in the context of developed countries. Many users in developing countries are still new to ICTs, and interaction designers still struggle to design for them. This stream of research may involve fieldwork, data collection, modelling, proposing explanatory theories, and validating the theories through experimentation. Based on the theories, it may also involve designing new interfaces and validating those designs. If you have a background in design, social sciences or ethnography, if you enjoy fieldwork, if you are strong in social theories, and if you have empathy for emergent users, this topic might be of interest to you.
(Anirudha Joshi, Devanuj, Abhishek Srivastava)
Design for low literacy
24% of India’s population is completely illiterate. Another 30% is barely literate. Current computer and phone interfaces rely too much on text. This research involves playing around with emerging technologies, exploring new interfaces, developing prototypes, doing experimental evaluations, and analysing results. If you enjoy these activities, if you have special interest in the less literate, if you are good at interface and interaction design, and have a reasonable command over prototyping, you might want to work in this area.
(Anirudha Joshi, Devanuj, Abhishek Srivastava)
Usable security for emergent users
The rapid adoption of ICTs amongst emergent users, and particularly in data-sensitive domains such as banking, healthcare, or personal communication, has increased the importance of designing improved security mechanisms for emergent users. Current security mechanisms are turning out to be insufficient, and newer solutions will be required soon. If you are having a strong background in computer security, or if you are an expert in specific technologies such as fingerprint scanners or face recognition, or if you have experience with designing security interfaces, you might like this topic.
(Anirudha Joshi, Pankaj Doke)
Technology in school education
If India is to realise the potential of its youth, we must train them and prepare them for the world that they will live in. The school education in India particularly needs substantial reforms. Special attention needs to be given to middle and high school, where dropout rates are high. Can we use the popularity of ICTs to improve the school-level education in India? If you are interested in learning design, and if you are interested in school education, you might be interested in pursuing research in this area.
(Anirudha Joshi, Venkatesh R)
Affordable Design
The challenges and opportunities for design in the context of India are seen in terms of it’s diversity and contrasts, spatial–temporal aspects and socio-cultural-economic factors. The aim is to empower communities, through affordable design innovations that improve the way they live, work and play, specifically those in the informal sectors in relation to development. Potential for doing research in these areas is highlighted.
(Ravi Poovaiah)
Purposeful Games
The core purpose of a game is to provide enjoyment and entertainment. Purposeful (or serious) games are designed for variety of purposes including that of learning, information dissemination, behavior change, behavioral research or problem solving, while retaining the core purpose of entertainment. Designing such games needs balancing of the apparently contradicting aspects of fun and seriousness. Designers need to ideate games that are relevant to the context and purpose and then need to extract the attributes that represent the context and integrate them with the elements of the game design. If you are interested in game design and interaction design, and have an interest in design for change through games, you might want to work in this area.
(Girish Dalvi, Uday Athavankar, Sandeep Athavale)
Typography and Type Design in Indian Languages
The study of designed letters — How they are used, how they are made and what effect they have on the readers is central to the understanding of design. This research involves studying contemporary / historic typographic practices in the Indian context, understanding, analyzing type design methodologies, and other topics. If you are interested in Typography and Type Design for Indian languages, you might be interested in pursuing research in this area.
(G V Sreekumar, Girish Dalvi)