Design Opportunities and Challenges in Indian Urban Slums- Community Communication and Mobile Phones

Abhigyan Singh*Design Researcher, Multimedia Information Retrieval Lab, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands* Presentation based on research done by author when he was enrolled at Aalto University School of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland for his master’s studies.

Presentation at Xerox Research Center Europe (XRCE), Grenoble, France on 15 September 2011

a. India is world’s fastest growing mobile marketb. Total mobile phone subscriber base: 840.28 Million users (May 2011) c. Total Internet subscriber base: 17.9 Million (September 2010)d. Estimation: 250 million new mobile users belonging to poorer section of Indian Society would

be added to the mobile subscriber base soon.

Research Problem

Thesis Timeline

Context of Research

What are the design opportunities and challenges for mobile based community communication services for residents of Indian urban slums?

Conceptual Frameworks

Community Informatics is a branch of study based on community and technology. It is focused towards utilizing social context of technology use to develop tools for community empowerment (De Moor 2009).

Communicative Ecology aims to understand the use of ICTs and their effects in people’s lives (Tacchi et al. 2003).

Communities of Practices are “groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (Wenger 2004).

Context: Indian Urban Slum: Sudarsha

Sudarshan Layout is a residential area for the marginalized community of construction workers, domestic helps, and day laborers. Sudarshan Layout is located in Bangalore, India

Around three hundred families live in over hundred and fifteen small houses. Family income of the households varies between 40-150 Euros per month.

Sudarshan Layout, an urban slum

Ambedkar Community Computing Center (AC3) is an informal computer education center at Sudarshan Layout.

AC3 is a community of practice and a bottom-up initiative.

Ambedkar Community Computing Center (AC3)

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is a research methodology which advocates bottom-up researchapproaches and innovative mix of various methods with sensitivity for the local context (Kumar 2007).

Ethnography is the research approach which primarily deals with detailed observation of a particular set of people in a particular social setting (Silverman 2000).

Ethnographic Action Research (EAR) is the research approach to study impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) especially in the area related to poverty alleviation (Tacchi et al. 2003).

Methodological Frameworks

Social Map Drawing suggests participants to hand draw maps depicting social infrastructure of the locality (Kumar 2007) . Other research methods used: Participant-Observation, Group Interviews, In-depth interviews.

Research Method: Social Map Drawing

‘Self-Documentation’ Method (Tacchi et al. 2003) : Engaging participants to visually document their environment

Singh, A. ‘Collaborative Videoing - A Reflexive Account’. IASDR 2011, the 4th World Conference on Design Research, 31 October - 4 November, Delft, the Netherlands.

Research Method: ‘Self Documentation’

Singh, A. ‘Visual Artefacts as boundary objects in participatory research paradigm’. Journal of Visual Arts Practice 10:1, pp. 35-50, doi: 10.1386/jvap.10.1.35_1

Research Method: Triangulation

Developing rudimentary mobile application prototypes and requesting participants to test the prototype.

Design Method: Rapid Mobile Application Prototyping

Social layer of communicative ecology comprises of social networks, social groups, people and communities (Foth & Hearn 2007).

Communicative Ecology of AC3 Members: Social Layer

Discursive layer of communicative ecology comprises of the content, information, theme of communication (Foth & Hearn 2007).

Communicative Ecology of AC3 Members: Discursive Layer

Technological layer of communicative ecology comprises of applications, devices, gadgets, media and various channels of communication (Foth & Hearn 2007).

Communicative Ecology of AC3 Members: Technological Layer

Singh, A. ‘Design challenges for sustainable mobile community communication services for Indian Urban Slums’. In the Proceedings of Sustainability in Design: Now! Conference, Bangalore. September 2010

‘Human Node’: Three social groups i.e. Local Shopkeepers, Volunteers and Community Leaders play crucial role in the context of community communication in Sudarshan Layout

Social relationships, bonding and trust between the ‘Human Nodes‘ and the local residents plays important role in context of community communication

Singh, A., Sayed, S. & Raike, A. ‘Human Nodes - Relevance for Inclusive Design and Social Innovation at Urban Slums in India.’ In the Proceedings of Include 2011 Conference, Royal College of Art, London. April 18-20

‘Human Node’ of Community Communication: Local Shopkeepers

‘Human Node’ of Community Communication: Local Shopkeepers

The relationship between the residents and the local shopkeepers involves concern for each other, information

sharing and trust

‘Human Node’ of Community Communication: Volunteers

‘Human Node’ of Community Communication: Volunteers

Volunteers serve as mediators in information access, spread local information to the outside world, and also

informally address some problems of local communities of Sudarshan Layout

Community Communication between slums

Community Communication between Slums with world outside

This research identified two specific areas of community communication that need to be addressed:

Needs for Community Communication

Random survey of 54 households (out of total 115 households) in Sudarshan Layout:Total 76 mobile phones i.e. average of 1.4 mobile phones per household

Sharing of mobile phones and shared access of camera applications

Role of social relationships in access and use of mobile phone

Preference for voice mode (voice call and face-to-face) for information access and sharing

Huge variation in use of SMS amongst residents

Use of missed-call or beeping and social status also determines pattern of use

Some practices of mobile phone use

No. of mobile phones per household

Frequency (No. of households)

0 1

1 35

2 14

3 3

4 1

Design that is decentralized

Design that utilizes the existing relationships, social bonds and trust

Design that engages human nodes and existing informal social network

Design that utilizes the significance of voice mode

Design that works with basic mobile phones

Design that is as simple as calling and disconnecting a call

Some identified design challenges

This design concept is inspired by the research findings and engages existing practices of mobile phone use. The concept also addresses identified needs for community communication and the design challenges.

Design Concept: Asynchronous Voice Community Communication Service

Singh, A., Sayed, S., Raike, A. & Saad-Sulonen, J. ‘Designing mobile based community communication service for an urban slum in India’. Full paper under review.

Scenario: Kishore, a volunteer as a human node

Kishore is 28 years old male and works as a software developer in a multinational company based in Bangalore. Apart

from his work he is active member of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) group of his company. Every weekend, since

last two years, he conducts mathematics-teaching class in a slum in Jayanagar, Bangalore. Over this period, he has

formed a close bond with his students and he has always tried to help them in many ways.

It is Monday morning and Kishore is working in his office. He receives a missed call from Rajeev and he immediately calls

back. Rajeev is a 16 years old and one of Kishore’s student. Rajeev is going to appear for high school examination in a few

months time. Rajeev informs Kishore that he is struggling in Biology and needs assistance from someone. On hearing

this, Kishore activates ’Record Call’ mode of a mobile application installed on his mobile phone. He requests Rajeev to

briefly describe his needs and the topics he needs assistance in. Rajeev does so and mobile application saves the voice file.

After finishing the call with Rajeev, Kishore activates ’Make Call and Play’ mode of the mobile application. The

application allows him to select Rajeev’s recorded voice file and then a list of phone numbers from phone’s contact book.

The application sequentially starts calling the selected phone numbers and when someone picks up the call it plays the

selected voice file. Vandana, a biology teacher gets to know of Rajeev’s situation and agrees to spare few hours over

weekends to assist him in the subject.

Balance between ‘existing’ and ‘emerging’

Small Public Spaces Research on public spaces inside and near slums where community communication happens.

Dynamics and emergence of Human NodesTheoretical concept of Human Nodes as ‘Brokers’ within the framework of Communities of Practices.

Gender imbalance and inclusion of further marginalized social groups

Sharing or transfer of voice filesLocal content creation, documentation and sharing of local information

Access to InternetSharing local content for global audience and accessing global content for local consumption

Participatory Design approach for redesign of mobile interfacesContact book, voice recorder, in-built loudspeaker, microphone

Financial Sustainability How could residents start small entrepreneurial activities using the service?

Areas for consideration and further research

If you’re interested to know more about the research then please contact me at: abhigyan.singh@gmail.com

Thank You