Design Research Contextual Invention
Content
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Design Research for Contextual Invention
The Case of Auto – Mobile Access
Design Research for Contextual Invention:
The Case of Auto – Mobile Access
0.0 Introduction
This paper offers a brief examination of the problem and process of designing products and services for non-traditional or underserved users in emerging economy regions of the world. We argue that the creation of new technologies for such user groups must proceed from a careful and engaged analysis of existing communicative and interactional patterns, wherefrom new ideas and opportunities may emerge. Using the example of fieldwork conducted by the Center for Knowledge Societies among autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore city, we describe how ethnographic research and quantitative visualization can be used to develop and define feature sets for alternative modes of voice and data exchange, which enhance the livelihoods of this class of users.
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Understanding the Emerging Economy User Segment
Two large classes of product lines now serve as the world’s dominant computational and communications platforms – the desktop or laptop computer and the handheld mobile device. While desktop computers are often seen as the principal vehicle for shared access at community information centers or ‘kiosks,’ it is mobile devices that have enjoyed the most significant growth among emerging, non-traditional and even rural users. Last year in India, for example, mobile phone subscribers jumped from 7 million to 14.5 million and counting, with most new subscriptions coming from the entrepreneurial sections of the lower middle class. As coming generations of mobile phones come to incorporate more and more computational, multimedia and data-transfer functionalities, they may be expected to emerge as the most important means of access for users in emerging economy contexts around the world. By contrast, desktop access is likely to grow relatively slowly, for a combination of institutional, cultural, and economic factors. This paper explores the ways in which desktop computing and mobile access can be strategically integrated to take best advantage of emerging technological and user patterns. Preliminary findings appear to strongly support the hypothesis that emerging economy users enjoy livelihood enhancements more than salaried classes because their work is time, location and information sensitive. The exchange of information with clients, suppliers, and collaborators directly increases their revenues, against which hardware and connectivity costs may be offset. Field evidence appears to suggest that there is less cultural resistance to the interface and form-factors of mobile telephony as compare with desktop models. Emerging functionalities of mobile devices, including locational awareness, presence information, unit-to-unit broadcast, short audio messaging, multimedia, and so forth are likely to create new opportunites for service delivery which will further enhance the value of this form of access for emerging economy users.
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Socio-Economic Classification Grid School upto 4 years / literate but no formal schooling Some college but not graduate Graduate / Post Graduate general School 5-9 years Graduate / Post Graduate Professional
Mobile-access SEC Matrix School upto 4 years / Literate but no formal schooling Some college but not graduate Graduate / Post Graduate general School 5-9 years Graduate / Post Graduate Professional
SSC/HSC
Illiterate
SSC/HSC
Education \ Occupation
Education \ Occupation
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
Unskilled workers Skilled workers Petty Traders Shop owners Entrepreneurs Employees None Entrepreneurs Employees < 10 Entrepreneurs Employees > 10 Self-employed professionals Clerical/Salesmen Supervisory level Officers/Executives : Junior Officer/Executives : Middle/Senior
E2 E2 E2 D D C B1 D D D C B1
E2 E1 D D C B2 B1 D D D C B1
E1 D D C B2 B2 A2 D D C C B1
D C C B2 B1 B1 A2 B2 C C B2 B1
D C C B1 A2 A2 A1 B1 B2 B2 B1 A2
D B2 B2 A2 A2 A1 A1 A2 B1 B1 A2 A1
D B2 B2 A2 A1 A1 A1 A1 B1 A2 A2 A1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Businessman Qualified Professional Salary Earner Cultivator Small Businessman Independent Worker Housewife Wage Earner Others
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9
D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9
E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9
F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9
G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9
FIG.2 Mobile Access SEC Matrix
FIG.1 Socio-Economic Classification Grid
Field experience indicates that emerging users of mobile telephony include auto-rickshaw drivers, street hawkers and salespersons of all kinds, itinerant grocery salespersons, and tradesmen including carpenters, electricians, plumbers and so forth. We have sought to describe this category as a whole with reference to standard demographic grids and terminology used for market research and planning in India. Almost all conventional market research in India employ Socio-Economic Categories (SECs) developed by the National Readership Survey and the Indian Readership Survey (NRS; IRS), and ratified by the Market Research Society of India (MRSI). SEC analyses the Indian population by combining two factors namely educational attainment and occupational status arranged along the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ axes respectively. Alphabets from ‘A’ to ‘E’ denote respective segments of people, numbers 1 and 2 indicate subgrades. This classification is shown in FIG.1. In the table above, note that extraordinarily diverse segments of the population often have the same classification. For instance, a junior officer with a high-school degree and an entrepreneur with no formal schooling will both be classified as B2. Moreover, other extremes of the classificatory schema appear nonsensical or null sets, for example an unskilled worker with a graduate or professional degree (D) or an illiterate senior executive (B1). Preliminary evidence suggests that mobile phone adoption is best predicted by occupation types wherein incomes or revenues suddenly increase owing to mobile access. Such a scenario could prove to be self-scaling, in so far as enhanced livelihoods through mobile access could recursively drive further demand for more mobile access until the segment is completely saturated. This virtuous phenomenon cannot be captured or described by the SEC classification.
So even though the SEC grid has been tried and tested for the marketing of magazines and newspapers, it has little heuristic value for the mobile telephony market. For this reason, we have developed a Mobile-access Socio-Economic Classification (M-SEC) system, as shown in FIG.2. As seen in FIG.2, the M-SEC scale employs 9 categories, organized according to their income levels. These include: 0.1.1 0.1.2 0.1.3 0.1.4 0.1.5 0.1.6 0.1.7 0.1.8 0.1.9 The category businessman covers all persons owning their own business not including small retail shops (e.g. tea shop) and other very small-scale enterprises. A qualified professional is a technically qualified person such as, a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer who is self-employed. A salary earner includes monthly or annual salary earners A housewife is a woman either a divorcee or a widow not earning but who takes household decisions A cultivator is self-employed in agriculture A small businessman owns a small retail shop (e.g. tea shop) and other such smallscale enterprises. An independent worker includes skilled workers like blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, who work independently and not on salaries or wages; and small manufacturers A wage earner includes agricultural and non-agricultural wage earners The category others includes pensioners and other recipients of transfer incomes and those not classified elsewhere
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Of these diverse groups, we have identified three segments, which appear to be self-scaling: Small Businesspersons, Independent Workers, and Wage earners. Examples of target consumer groups from each of these occupational types include: Small Businesspersons: grocery shop owner, corner baker, convenience store owner. Independent Worker: hawker, milk vendor, mason, carpenter, electrician, plumber, auto driver. Wage Earner: gardener, maintenance staff, construction worker. This ‘self-scaling’ segment of the urban population would appear to have the following special characteristics, which make mobile phone access especially attractive: 1. 2. Monthly telecom spends incurred by small-scale business men and workers are entirely offset and even exceeded by their increased revenues and personal incomes. Such individuals would not enjoy access to fixed line telephony at their place of work (usually the street or a crowded marketplace) or at their residence (an urban slum or unrecognized colony). There could not therefore be any competition between fixed and mobile telephony. Since these groups are involved in the retail delivery of goods or services, their new-found mobile access may encourage a large number of retail client to use telephony in order to coordinate rendezvous or to place special orders. For this reason, this segment may in fact have a demonstration as well as a network effect on bourgeois populations, rather than the normative trickle down process.
3.
This tripartite hypothesis regarding the emerging economy segment, however, remains to be conclusively demonstrated through actual quantitative data. However, some insight into these issues may be obtained through the sample survey data that we will collect over the course of this research program.
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2
2.0
Occupation Analysis
FIG.3 on the next page describes the occupation of the primary earning member of all urban Indian households. Note that we have organized qualified professionals and high-end businessmen to the top of the chart, while other non-target groups cluster at the bottom. Our target ‘self-scaling’ group is shown to the left, while the larger salaried middle class is to the right. Each of these two large classes accounts for about two-fifths of the total number of households. Our further research will be directed at attempting to describe the worklife, communications practices and preferences of the nontraditional group to the left. This target population therefore amounts to at least 20 million urban households.
Case Study: Autorickshaw Drivers in Bangalore
The case of autorickshaw drivers is compelling for several reasons: (i) these users never sit down at a desk to work; (ii) they are often reasonably educated, and some can read and write English; (iii) they are incessantly mobile, and may therefore act upon the information they receive. Anecdotal evidences of the drivers using mobile phones led the research team to further explore this phenomenon in detail. The Research Team conducted a number of trial field visits in search of more evidence of this occurrence. Through a traffic policeman the research team found an auto rickshaw association, whose members used mobile phones. All subsequent findings and discussions are focused on this autorickshaw community as the target sub-segment of emerging users of mobile telephony. An autorickshaw association is located 10 km northwest of the heart of the city. It houses day schools, state and central government offices, retail stores and also entertainment facilities like movie theatres. The auto rickshaw stand is located near a police station and next to a bus stop. It accommodates about 30 autos working on a rotational shift basis.
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Occupation Analysis
Businessman Businessman Professional Professional
Analysis of Educational Attainment
Small Businessman Small Businessman
Class XIXI-Xii Class - XII
Independent Worker Independent Worker
Salary Earner Salary Earner
Class VI-X Class VI - X
Class I - V
Class I-V
Wage Earner Wage Earner Cultivator Cultivator Housewife Housewife Others Others
No Formal Schooling No Formal Schooling
FIG.5 Analysis of Educational Attainment
FIG.3 Occupation Analysis Quantitative Analysis of Survey Findings
Each auto rickshaw driver is usually affiliated or associated with a particular auto rickshaw driving association in a specific geographical location of the city. This often determines their radius of operation, although it does not restrict them from cruising beyond their range. This community of auto drivers also has conformed to this institutional format by forming an association. Presently, the association is seven years old. The association serves as a gathering place for seasonal and annual festivities. Other benefits of this association include helping each other when they are sick or in need of monetary assistance. MSEC Analysis As seen in FIG.4, most respondents were described as ‘E6,’ according to the Mobile-SocioEconomic Classification (M-SEC) system, described in FIG.2 in the first chapter. This means that most of them had received some education, usually more than 4 years, but did not have a school-leaving certificate. General Education Background This illustration is representative of the general education background of auto-rickshaw drivers associated with the location in study. As is evident from the pie on the right, a majority (72%) of the drivers have educated themselves up to high school. Some of them (19%) possess primary school education, and a few (6%) have managed higher secondary education. Only a fraction remains (3%) non-literate.
Method
This survey used Questionnaire-based interview techniques and Focus Group Discussion to interact with the autorickshaw drivers. The questionnaire is appended at the end of this document. Open-ended interviews were conducted at the association office or at the autorickshaw stand with volunteers recruited from among respondents to the survey questionnaire.
Mobile-access SEC Matrix for Auto Rickshaw Drivers Education \ Occupation Distribution Independent Worker SSC / HSC 2 D6 School 5 to 9 years 23 E6 School upto 4 years 6 F6 Illiterate 1 G6
FIG.4 Mobile-Access SEC Matrix for Auto Rickshaw Drivers 12 HP Contextual Invention HP Contextual Invention 13
No.No. ofAuto Drivers of Auto Drivers
15 10 5 0
20 -2 9 40 -4 9 30 -3 9 50 -5 9 60 -6 9 70 -7 9
Proportion of Auto Drivers Proportion of Auto Drivers
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
Age Group
Age Group
FIG.6 Age Analysis
20%
10%
U pp er
Mobile Phone Ownership Analysis FIG.7 represents an analysis of mobile phone owning and using auto rickshaw drivers in the group. Out of the total number of auto rickshaw drivers surveyed in this location, more than a quarter of them own mobile phones. The first member to use a mobile phone bought his handset three years ago.
Income Class Income Class
FIG.8 Income Distribution
Mobile Phone Using Auto Rickshaw Drivers
Users Users
Average Monthly Income Analysis FIG.8 represents the average monthly income of an auto driver derived from our survey data. One can see that they range from the Lower class to the Middle class. Average Lower, Lower Middle and Middle class incomes are •58 •87 and •145 respectively. This distribution broadly agrees with that of the Independent Worker category, already identified as one of the emergent user groups (see FIG.2).
Findings
Field research findings appear to corroborate initial hypotheses regarding the description and definition of the self-scaling segment of the mobile entry product market. Focus group discussion revealed that the adoption of mobile telephony was extremely price-sensitive. Nevertheless, the overwhelming preponderance of CDMA-based handsets and subscriptions would also indicate the efficacy of targeted marketing and distribution strategies pursued by one major carrier. While open ended interviews were unable to quantify the economic benefit accruing to new mobile phone users, anecdotal information on increased ‘ease-of-work’ were collected. Some of these narratives also suggested ways in which mobile access reduced travel and fuel costs, while also increasing the amount of time spent productively engaging a client. No conclusive findings can yet be reported on the question of increased social capital or trust between autorickshaw drivers and established clients.
Non Users Non-Users
Fig.7 Handset Owners Analysis
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Age Group Analysis FIG.6 given above, provides a glimpse of the different age groups the auto rickshaw drivers belong to. A greater proportion of drivers fall among ’30-39’ age group, followed closely by the ’20-29’ age group.
0%
ig h M id dl e M id dl e id dl e Lo w H er
w er
M
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What is Design Research?
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We understand design research as a means of exploring, visualizing and representing relations in the world, that may yield an infinitely mutable range of technology enabled solutions to suit diverse consumer preferences. To this end we seek to unearth latent user needs, preferences, practices and behavior through extensive primary and secondary research, field ethnography and quantitative approaches. In our experience audiovisual documentation, photographic diaries, culture probes and field notes have proven invaluable in such engagements with users to map their communicative and interactional patterns. Once such a comprehensive understanding of our target audience has been obtained we analyze various insights generated during our inquiry and evolve a range of contextually relevant design concepts and service prototypes, which we iteratively test and modify prior to final implementation.
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FIG.9 Understanding User Cosmology
FIG.10 Understanding User Mobility
3.1
Understanding User Cosmology
3.2
Understanding User Mobility
FIG.9 diagram was created through a synthesis of survey data, interviews, and focus-group-discussions. Five major domains emerged, clients, authorities, family, leisure, and peers. Within these categories, several subclusters also appear. Determinate social relations between the autorickshaw driver and these groups and subgroups, moreover, can be diagrammed on the basis of the number and kinds of calls and data exchanges that take place over the course of the workday. These communicative patterns can now serve as a template for the design of products and services specifically targeted at autorickshaw drivers as a community.
Through daily tracking and participant observation particular clusters of autorickshaw were mapped at different locations in Bangalore city. We noticed that points of transit, recreation, business, residence, and education all attracted clusters at different times of the day and night. These kinds of user patterns might be useful for siting WiFi hotspots designed for the use of autorickshaw drivers or their clients. Further study of these patterns might also be instructive as to the diurnal patterns of the city at large, or at least of that segment of the city that is likely to use autorickshaws. Such information may also help drivers plan their daily ‘cruise’ through the city looking for rides.
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Conclusion
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We believe that the relationship between the desktop and mobile access devices is one of the most important questions remaining to be addressed today. If mobile devices become the preferred means of storing personal and identity information, one would expect rural users to begin using their device as a key, which would upload personal data and preferences to a shared-use machine, affording immediate customization of the desktop environment. The increasing interoperability of mobile devices means that they can communicate through WiFi (802.11) connectivity in the free spectrum. Any rural information kiosk may therefore serve as a local hotspot, affording access at any point within the immediate area of the village (e.g. R<100m). New kinds of transactions between the village area and the kiosk now become possible, including kiosk-to-handset broadcast, geospatial mapping, short audio messaging, time-stamped field data collection, photoblogging and so forth. Such an interrelationship between a desktop and multiple handheld units might further allow a community to construct an accumulated and multilayered geographical information system, which could serve as a resource for decision making and resource allocation within the community. In these ways, we argue, further investigations into the interface between fixed and mobile access can allow information kiosks to better bleed their utility into their surrounding landscape. Whereas we have tracked some of the ways in which newer forms of media extend and redefine older media, there are also some kinds of innovation and technology development which are wholely new. For example, peer-to-peer networks, whether fixed or mobile in character, afford peripheral relations among groups that are very different from traditional broadcast models. Or global positioning systems, for example, that allow location-based information to emerge as a new category or type of knowledge about space, motion, and directionality. In our review, however, we have focused on the most popular forms of ICT, those that have achieved significant markets, and have come to be integrated into the popular imagination. We find these to overwhelmingly privilege oral and aural forms of communication, as
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well as visual representation, over textual forms. This general insight remains to be further interrogated through user trials and focused group discussions which seek to capture user ideologies and preferences. In coming fortnights we also hope to undertake wider trend analysis that makes use of this historical outline in order to make general claims about possible ways in which new audio / video features might fit into the prior career of oral-aural technologies in India. It is therefore out contention that the way to create new technologies, services, and business in emerging economy contexts is through the creation of an ongoing dialogue between user groups and user communities on the one hand, and technology developers on the other hand. Sophisticated strategies for such user research, documentation, visualization and analysis have been developed by the Center for Knolwedge Societies, and exemplified in the case of autorickshaw drivers as above.
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Bibliography
5
Bonk, Curtis Jay and Kira S. King. “Computer Conferencing and Collaborative Writing Tools: Starting a Dialogue About Student Dialogue.” Electronic Collaborators, Learner-Centered Technologies for Literacy, Apprenticeship, and Discourse. Ed. Curtis J. Bonk and Kira S. King. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. 3-23. Bonk, Curtis J. and Donald J. Cunningham. “Searching for LearnerCentered, Constructivist, and Sociocultural Components of Collaborative Educational Learning Tools.” Electronic Collaborators, LearnerCentered Technologies for Literacy, Apprenticeship, and Discourse. Ed. Curtis J. Bonk and Kira S. King. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. 25-50. Goodburn, Amy and Beth Ina. “Collaboration, Critical Pedagogy, and Struggles Over Difference.” Journal of Advanced Composition 14.1 (1994) 14 October 2001. http://jac.gsu.edu/jac/14.1/Articles/7.htm. Harralson, Dave. “We've Barely Started and We've Already Done it Wrong: How Not to Start a Computer - Assisted Writing Classroom.” Computers and Composition 9.3 (1992): 71-77. 14 October 2001. http:/ /corax.cwrl.utexas.edu/cac/archives/v9/9_3_html/ 9_3_7_Harralson.html. Minar, Nelson and Marc Hedlund. “A Network of Peers: Peer-to-Peer Models throughout History.” Peerto-Peer: Harnessing the Power of Disruptive Technologies. Ed. Andy Oram. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly, 2001. 3-20. Oram, Andy. “Peer-to-Peer for Academia.” The O'Reilly Network. 29 October 2001. 2 November 2001. http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/ p2p/2001/10/29/oram_speech.html. Palme, J. “Interactive Software for Humans.” Management Informatics Vol. 7(1976). At URL: (HTML version): http://info.dsv.su.se/~jpalme/ reports/interactivesoftware “User Influence on Software Design may give less Good Software.”
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1997. http://dsv.su.se/jpalme/s1/control-power home.html Shirkey, Clay. “Listening to Napster.” Peer-to-Peer: Harnessing the Power of Disruptive Technologies. Ed. Andy Oram. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly, 2001. 21-37. “Peer-to-Peer is Dead; Long Live… What?” Peer-to-Peer and Web Services Conference. O'Reilly Conferences. Westin Grand Hotel, Washington, D.C. 7 November 2001. Susani, M. “Mapping Communication”. Doors of Perception 7: Flow Conference. Amsterdam. 14-16 November 2002.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. a. 10. a. 11. a.
Appendix: Survey Form for Auto-Rickshaw Drivers
SURVEY: Profile of the urban autorickshaw driver. SERIAL NO: DATE: TIME:
I DEMOGRAPHY
Name Age Marital Status Education No. of Dependent Family Members Home Town / Home State Languages Known /Native Language Area of Residence in Bangalore Auto driver since when? Current Income per month (INR): Any other part-time job? Current Income per month: (INR). Previous Job Income per month (INR).
II BUSINESS RELATED
12. 13. a. 14. 15. 16. 17. a. 18. a. 19. 20. 21. 22. Ownership of the vehicle: Rented [ ] Owned [ ] Shared [ ] Fuel used: Petrol [ ] Diesel [ ] LPG [ ] Average kms per liter/ kg: km Average Daily Income: Rs. Previous Day’s income: Rs. Vehicle related expenses per month: (INR) Area of Operation: Why this area? Shift timings: ______ hrs to _________ hrs Why this time? Peak Hours: ______ hrs to _________ hrs Who are his customers? What are their destinations? What services does he provide as an autorickshaw driver?
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III COMMUNICATIONS
23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. What newspapers does he read? What does he do when the auto breaks down? What communications and media does he have access to at home? Where does he eat his meals? When is his day off? What does he do on his day off? How does he communicate with family/friends when he is on the move? Who does he meet while at work?
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Design Research for Contextual Invention
The Case of Auto – Mobile Access
Design Research for Contextual Invention:
The Case of Auto – Mobile Access
0.0 Introduction
This paper offers a brief examination of the problem and process of designing products and services for non-traditional or underserved users in emerging economy regions of the world. We argue that the creation of new technologies for such user groups must proceed from a careful and engaged analysis of existing communicative and interactional patterns, wherefrom new ideas and opportunities may emerge. Using the example of fieldwork conducted by the Center for Knowledge Societies among autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore city, we describe how ethnographic research and quantitative visualization can be used to develop and define feature sets for alternative modes of voice and data exchange, which enhance the livelihoods of this class of users.
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HP Contextual Invention
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Understanding the Emerging Economy User Segment
Two large classes of product lines now serve as the world’s dominant computational and communications platforms – the desktop or laptop computer and the handheld mobile device. While desktop computers are often seen as the principal vehicle for shared access at community information centers or ‘kiosks,’ it is mobile devices that have enjoyed the most significant growth among emerging, non-traditional and even rural users. Last year in India, for example, mobile phone subscribers jumped from 7 million to 14.5 million and counting, with most new subscriptions coming from the entrepreneurial sections of the lower middle class. As coming generations of mobile phones come to incorporate more and more computational, multimedia and data-transfer functionalities, they may be expected to emerge as the most important means of access for users in emerging economy contexts around the world. By contrast, desktop access is likely to grow relatively slowly, for a combination of institutional, cultural, and economic factors. This paper explores the ways in which desktop computing and mobile access can be strategically integrated to take best advantage of emerging technological and user patterns. Preliminary findings appear to strongly support the hypothesis that emerging economy users enjoy livelihood enhancements more than salaried classes because their work is time, location and information sensitive. The exchange of information with clients, suppliers, and collaborators directly increases their revenues, against which hardware and connectivity costs may be offset. Field evidence appears to suggest that there is less cultural resistance to the interface and form-factors of mobile telephony as compare with desktop models. Emerging functionalities of mobile devices, including locational awareness, presence information, unit-to-unit broadcast, short audio messaging, multimedia, and so forth are likely to create new opportunites for service delivery which will further enhance the value of this form of access for emerging economy users.
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Socio-Economic Classification Grid School upto 4 years / literate but no formal schooling Some college but not graduate Graduate / Post Graduate general School 5-9 years Graduate / Post Graduate Professional
Mobile-access SEC Matrix School upto 4 years / Literate but no formal schooling Some college but not graduate Graduate / Post Graduate general School 5-9 years Graduate / Post Graduate Professional
SSC/HSC
Illiterate
SSC/HSC
Education \ Occupation
Education \ Occupation
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C
Unskilled workers Skilled workers Petty Traders Shop owners Entrepreneurs Employees None Entrepreneurs Employees < 10 Entrepreneurs Employees > 10 Self-employed professionals Clerical/Salesmen Supervisory level Officers/Executives : Junior Officer/Executives : Middle/Senior
E2 E2 E2 D D C B1 D D D C B1
E2 E1 D D C B2 B1 D D D C B1
E1 D D C B2 B2 A2 D D C C B1
D C C B2 B1 B1 A2 B2 C C B2 B1
D C C B1 A2 A2 A1 B1 B2 B2 B1 A2
D B2 B2 A2 A2 A1 A1 A2 B1 B1 A2 A1
D B2 B2 A2 A1 A1 A1 A1 B1 A2 A2 A1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Businessman Qualified Professional Salary Earner Cultivator Small Businessman Independent Worker Housewife Wage Earner Others
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9
D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9
E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9
F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9
G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9
FIG.2 Mobile Access SEC Matrix
FIG.1 Socio-Economic Classification Grid
Field experience indicates that emerging users of mobile telephony include auto-rickshaw drivers, street hawkers and salespersons of all kinds, itinerant grocery salespersons, and tradesmen including carpenters, electricians, plumbers and so forth. We have sought to describe this category as a whole with reference to standard demographic grids and terminology used for market research and planning in India. Almost all conventional market research in India employ Socio-Economic Categories (SECs) developed by the National Readership Survey and the Indian Readership Survey (NRS; IRS), and ratified by the Market Research Society of India (MRSI). SEC analyses the Indian population by combining two factors namely educational attainment and occupational status arranged along the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ axes respectively. Alphabets from ‘A’ to ‘E’ denote respective segments of people, numbers 1 and 2 indicate subgrades. This classification is shown in FIG.1. In the table above, note that extraordinarily diverse segments of the population often have the same classification. For instance, a junior officer with a high-school degree and an entrepreneur with no formal schooling will both be classified as B2. Moreover, other extremes of the classificatory schema appear nonsensical or null sets, for example an unskilled worker with a graduate or professional degree (D) or an illiterate senior executive (B1). Preliminary evidence suggests that mobile phone adoption is best predicted by occupation types wherein incomes or revenues suddenly increase owing to mobile access. Such a scenario could prove to be self-scaling, in so far as enhanced livelihoods through mobile access could recursively drive further demand for more mobile access until the segment is completely saturated. This virtuous phenomenon cannot be captured or described by the SEC classification.
So even though the SEC grid has been tried and tested for the marketing of magazines and newspapers, it has little heuristic value for the mobile telephony market. For this reason, we have developed a Mobile-access Socio-Economic Classification (M-SEC) system, as shown in FIG.2. As seen in FIG.2, the M-SEC scale employs 9 categories, organized according to their income levels. These include: 0.1.1 0.1.2 0.1.3 0.1.4 0.1.5 0.1.6 0.1.7 0.1.8 0.1.9 The category businessman covers all persons owning their own business not including small retail shops (e.g. tea shop) and other very small-scale enterprises. A qualified professional is a technically qualified person such as, a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer who is self-employed. A salary earner includes monthly or annual salary earners A housewife is a woman either a divorcee or a widow not earning but who takes household decisions A cultivator is self-employed in agriculture A small businessman owns a small retail shop (e.g. tea shop) and other such smallscale enterprises. An independent worker includes skilled workers like blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, who work independently and not on salaries or wages; and small manufacturers A wage earner includes agricultural and non-agricultural wage earners The category others includes pensioners and other recipients of transfer incomes and those not classified elsewhere
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Illiterate
7
Of these diverse groups, we have identified three segments, which appear to be self-scaling: Small Businesspersons, Independent Workers, and Wage earners. Examples of target consumer groups from each of these occupational types include: Small Businesspersons: grocery shop owner, corner baker, convenience store owner. Independent Worker: hawker, milk vendor, mason, carpenter, electrician, plumber, auto driver. Wage Earner: gardener, maintenance staff, construction worker. This ‘self-scaling’ segment of the urban population would appear to have the following special characteristics, which make mobile phone access especially attractive: 1. 2. Monthly telecom spends incurred by small-scale business men and workers are entirely offset and even exceeded by their increased revenues and personal incomes. Such individuals would not enjoy access to fixed line telephony at their place of work (usually the street or a crowded marketplace) or at their residence (an urban slum or unrecognized colony). There could not therefore be any competition between fixed and mobile telephony. Since these groups are involved in the retail delivery of goods or services, their new-found mobile access may encourage a large number of retail client to use telephony in order to coordinate rendezvous or to place special orders. For this reason, this segment may in fact have a demonstration as well as a network effect on bourgeois populations, rather than the normative trickle down process.
3.
This tripartite hypothesis regarding the emerging economy segment, however, remains to be conclusively demonstrated through actual quantitative data. However, some insight into these issues may be obtained through the sample survey data that we will collect over the course of this research program.
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2
2.0
Occupation Analysis
FIG.3 on the next page describes the occupation of the primary earning member of all urban Indian households. Note that we have organized qualified professionals and high-end businessmen to the top of the chart, while other non-target groups cluster at the bottom. Our target ‘self-scaling’ group is shown to the left, while the larger salaried middle class is to the right. Each of these two large classes accounts for about two-fifths of the total number of households. Our further research will be directed at attempting to describe the worklife, communications practices and preferences of the nontraditional group to the left. This target population therefore amounts to at least 20 million urban households.
Case Study: Autorickshaw Drivers in Bangalore
The case of autorickshaw drivers is compelling for several reasons: (i) these users never sit down at a desk to work; (ii) they are often reasonably educated, and some can read and write English; (iii) they are incessantly mobile, and may therefore act upon the information they receive. Anecdotal evidences of the drivers using mobile phones led the research team to further explore this phenomenon in detail. The Research Team conducted a number of trial field visits in search of more evidence of this occurrence. Through a traffic policeman the research team found an auto rickshaw association, whose members used mobile phones. All subsequent findings and discussions are focused on this autorickshaw community as the target sub-segment of emerging users of mobile telephony. An autorickshaw association is located 10 km northwest of the heart of the city. It houses day schools, state and central government offices, retail stores and also entertainment facilities like movie theatres. The auto rickshaw stand is located near a police station and next to a bus stop. It accommodates about 30 autos working on a rotational shift basis.
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Occupation Analysis
Businessman Businessman Professional Professional
Analysis of Educational Attainment
Small Businessman Small Businessman
Class XIXI-Xii Class - XII
Independent Worker Independent Worker
Salary Earner Salary Earner
Class VI-X Class VI - X
Class I - V
Class I-V
Wage Earner Wage Earner Cultivator Cultivator Housewife Housewife Others Others
No Formal Schooling No Formal Schooling
FIG.5 Analysis of Educational Attainment
FIG.3 Occupation Analysis Quantitative Analysis of Survey Findings
Each auto rickshaw driver is usually affiliated or associated with a particular auto rickshaw driving association in a specific geographical location of the city. This often determines their radius of operation, although it does not restrict them from cruising beyond their range. This community of auto drivers also has conformed to this institutional format by forming an association. Presently, the association is seven years old. The association serves as a gathering place for seasonal and annual festivities. Other benefits of this association include helping each other when they are sick or in need of monetary assistance. MSEC Analysis As seen in FIG.4, most respondents were described as ‘E6,’ according to the Mobile-SocioEconomic Classification (M-SEC) system, described in FIG.2 in the first chapter. This means that most of them had received some education, usually more than 4 years, but did not have a school-leaving certificate. General Education Background This illustration is representative of the general education background of auto-rickshaw drivers associated with the location in study. As is evident from the pie on the right, a majority (72%) of the drivers have educated themselves up to high school. Some of them (19%) possess primary school education, and a few (6%) have managed higher secondary education. Only a fraction remains (3%) non-literate.
Method
This survey used Questionnaire-based interview techniques and Focus Group Discussion to interact with the autorickshaw drivers. The questionnaire is appended at the end of this document. Open-ended interviews were conducted at the association office or at the autorickshaw stand with volunteers recruited from among respondents to the survey questionnaire.
Mobile-access SEC Matrix for Auto Rickshaw Drivers Education \ Occupation Distribution Independent Worker SSC / HSC 2 D6 School 5 to 9 years 23 E6 School upto 4 years 6 F6 Illiterate 1 G6
FIG.4 Mobile-Access SEC Matrix for Auto Rickshaw Drivers 12 HP Contextual Invention HP Contextual Invention 13
No.No. ofAuto Drivers of Auto Drivers
15 10 5 0
20 -2 9 40 -4 9 30 -3 9 50 -5 9 60 -6 9 70 -7 9
Proportion of Auto Drivers Proportion of Auto Drivers
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
Age Group
Age Group
FIG.6 Age Analysis
20%
10%
U pp er
Mobile Phone Ownership Analysis FIG.7 represents an analysis of mobile phone owning and using auto rickshaw drivers in the group. Out of the total number of auto rickshaw drivers surveyed in this location, more than a quarter of them own mobile phones. The first member to use a mobile phone bought his handset three years ago.
Income Class Income Class
FIG.8 Income Distribution
Mobile Phone Using Auto Rickshaw Drivers
Users Users
Average Monthly Income Analysis FIG.8 represents the average monthly income of an auto driver derived from our survey data. One can see that they range from the Lower class to the Middle class. Average Lower, Lower Middle and Middle class incomes are •58 •87 and •145 respectively. This distribution broadly agrees with that of the Independent Worker category, already identified as one of the emergent user groups (see FIG.2).
Findings
Field research findings appear to corroborate initial hypotheses regarding the description and definition of the self-scaling segment of the mobile entry product market. Focus group discussion revealed that the adoption of mobile telephony was extremely price-sensitive. Nevertheless, the overwhelming preponderance of CDMA-based handsets and subscriptions would also indicate the efficacy of targeted marketing and distribution strategies pursued by one major carrier. While open ended interviews were unable to quantify the economic benefit accruing to new mobile phone users, anecdotal information on increased ‘ease-of-work’ were collected. Some of these narratives also suggested ways in which mobile access reduced travel and fuel costs, while also increasing the amount of time spent productively engaging a client. No conclusive findings can yet be reported on the question of increased social capital or trust between autorickshaw drivers and established clients.
Non Users Non-Users
Fig.7 Handset Owners Analysis
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Age Group Analysis FIG.6 given above, provides a glimpse of the different age groups the auto rickshaw drivers belong to. A greater proportion of drivers fall among ’30-39’ age group, followed closely by the ’20-29’ age group.
0%
ig h M id dl e M id dl e id dl e Lo w H er
w er
M
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What is Design Research?
3
We understand design research as a means of exploring, visualizing and representing relations in the world, that may yield an infinitely mutable range of technology enabled solutions to suit diverse consumer preferences. To this end we seek to unearth latent user needs, preferences, practices and behavior through extensive primary and secondary research, field ethnography and quantitative approaches. In our experience audiovisual documentation, photographic diaries, culture probes and field notes have proven invaluable in such engagements with users to map their communicative and interactional patterns. Once such a comprehensive understanding of our target audience has been obtained we analyze various insights generated during our inquiry and evolve a range of contextually relevant design concepts and service prototypes, which we iteratively test and modify prior to final implementation.
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FIG.9 Understanding User Cosmology
FIG.10 Understanding User Mobility
3.1
Understanding User Cosmology
3.2
Understanding User Mobility
FIG.9 diagram was created through a synthesis of survey data, interviews, and focus-group-discussions. Five major domains emerged, clients, authorities, family, leisure, and peers. Within these categories, several subclusters also appear. Determinate social relations between the autorickshaw driver and these groups and subgroups, moreover, can be diagrammed on the basis of the number and kinds of calls and data exchanges that take place over the course of the workday. These communicative patterns can now serve as a template for the design of products and services specifically targeted at autorickshaw drivers as a community.
Through daily tracking and participant observation particular clusters of autorickshaw were mapped at different locations in Bangalore city. We noticed that points of transit, recreation, business, residence, and education all attracted clusters at different times of the day and night. These kinds of user patterns might be useful for siting WiFi hotspots designed for the use of autorickshaw drivers or their clients. Further study of these patterns might also be instructive as to the diurnal patterns of the city at large, or at least of that segment of the city that is likely to use autorickshaws. Such information may also help drivers plan their daily ‘cruise’ through the city looking for rides.
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Conclusion
4
We believe that the relationship between the desktop and mobile access devices is one of the most important questions remaining to be addressed today. If mobile devices become the preferred means of storing personal and identity information, one would expect rural users to begin using their device as a key, which would upload personal data and preferences to a shared-use machine, affording immediate customization of the desktop environment. The increasing interoperability of mobile devices means that they can communicate through WiFi (802.11) connectivity in the free spectrum. Any rural information kiosk may therefore serve as a local hotspot, affording access at any point within the immediate area of the village (e.g. R<100m). New kinds of transactions between the village area and the kiosk now become possible, including kiosk-to-handset broadcast, geospatial mapping, short audio messaging, time-stamped field data collection, photoblogging and so forth. Such an interrelationship between a desktop and multiple handheld units might further allow a community to construct an accumulated and multilayered geographical information system, which could serve as a resource for decision making and resource allocation within the community. In these ways, we argue, further investigations into the interface between fixed and mobile access can allow information kiosks to better bleed their utility into their surrounding landscape. Whereas we have tracked some of the ways in which newer forms of media extend and redefine older media, there are also some kinds of innovation and technology development which are wholely new. For example, peer-to-peer networks, whether fixed or mobile in character, afford peripheral relations among groups that are very different from traditional broadcast models. Or global positioning systems, for example, that allow location-based information to emerge as a new category or type of knowledge about space, motion, and directionality. In our review, however, we have focused on the most popular forms of ICT, those that have achieved significant markets, and have come to be integrated into the popular imagination. We find these to overwhelmingly privilege oral and aural forms of communication, as
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well as visual representation, over textual forms. This general insight remains to be further interrogated through user trials and focused group discussions which seek to capture user ideologies and preferences. In coming fortnights we also hope to undertake wider trend analysis that makes use of this historical outline in order to make general claims about possible ways in which new audio / video features might fit into the prior career of oral-aural technologies in India. It is therefore out contention that the way to create new technologies, services, and business in emerging economy contexts is through the creation of an ongoing dialogue between user groups and user communities on the one hand, and technology developers on the other hand. Sophisticated strategies for such user research, documentation, visualization and analysis have been developed by the Center for Knolwedge Societies, and exemplified in the case of autorickshaw drivers as above.
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Bibliography
5
Bonk, Curtis Jay and Kira S. King. “Computer Conferencing and Collaborative Writing Tools: Starting a Dialogue About Student Dialogue.” Electronic Collaborators, Learner-Centered Technologies for Literacy, Apprenticeship, and Discourse. Ed. Curtis J. Bonk and Kira S. King. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. 3-23. Bonk, Curtis J. and Donald J. Cunningham. “Searching for LearnerCentered, Constructivist, and Sociocultural Components of Collaborative Educational Learning Tools.” Electronic Collaborators, LearnerCentered Technologies for Literacy, Apprenticeship, and Discourse. Ed. Curtis J. Bonk and Kira S. King. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. 25-50. Goodburn, Amy and Beth Ina. “Collaboration, Critical Pedagogy, and Struggles Over Difference.” Journal of Advanced Composition 14.1 (1994) 14 October 2001. http://jac.gsu.edu/jac/14.1/Articles/7.htm. Harralson, Dave. “We've Barely Started and We've Already Done it Wrong: How Not to Start a Computer - Assisted Writing Classroom.” Computers and Composition 9.3 (1992): 71-77. 14 October 2001. http:/ /corax.cwrl.utexas.edu/cac/archives/v9/9_3_html/ 9_3_7_Harralson.html. Minar, Nelson and Marc Hedlund. “A Network of Peers: Peer-to-Peer Models throughout History.” Peerto-Peer: Harnessing the Power of Disruptive Technologies. Ed. Andy Oram. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly, 2001. 3-20. Oram, Andy. “Peer-to-Peer for Academia.” The O'Reilly Network. 29 October 2001. 2 November 2001. http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/ p2p/2001/10/29/oram_speech.html. Palme, J. “Interactive Software for Humans.” Management Informatics Vol. 7(1976). At URL: (HTML version): http://info.dsv.su.se/~jpalme/ reports/interactivesoftware “User Influence on Software Design may give less Good Software.”
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1997. http://dsv.su.se/jpalme/s1/control-power home.html Shirkey, Clay. “Listening to Napster.” Peer-to-Peer: Harnessing the Power of Disruptive Technologies. Ed. Andy Oram. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly, 2001. 21-37. “Peer-to-Peer is Dead; Long Live… What?” Peer-to-Peer and Web Services Conference. O'Reilly Conferences. Westin Grand Hotel, Washington, D.C. 7 November 2001. Susani, M. “Mapping Communication”. Doors of Perception 7: Flow Conference. Amsterdam. 14-16 November 2002.
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6
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. a. 10. a. 11. a.
Appendix: Survey Form for Auto-Rickshaw Drivers
SURVEY: Profile of the urban autorickshaw driver. SERIAL NO: DATE: TIME:
I DEMOGRAPHY
Name Age Marital Status Education No. of Dependent Family Members Home Town / Home State Languages Known /Native Language Area of Residence in Bangalore Auto driver since when? Current Income per month (INR): Any other part-time job? Current Income per month: (INR). Previous Job Income per month (INR).
II BUSINESS RELATED
12. 13. a. 14. 15. 16. 17. a. 18. a. 19. 20. 21. 22. Ownership of the vehicle: Rented [ ] Owned [ ] Shared [ ] Fuel used: Petrol [ ] Diesel [ ] LPG [ ] Average kms per liter/ kg: km Average Daily Income: Rs. Previous Day’s income: Rs. Vehicle related expenses per month: (INR) Area of Operation: Why this area? Shift timings: ______ hrs to _________ hrs Why this time? Peak Hours: ______ hrs to _________ hrs Who are his customers? What are their destinations? What services does he provide as an autorickshaw driver?
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III COMMUNICATIONS
23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. What newspapers does he read? What does he do when the auto breaks down? What communications and media does he have access to at home? Where does he eat his meals? When is his day off? What does he do on his day off? How does he communicate with family/friends when he is on the move? Who does he meet while at work?
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