Shekhar Ramachandra Borgaonkar

Enhancing mobile phones to support collaborative communication for micro-entrepreneurs in emerging economies: user studies and Research directions

In emerging economies such as India, micro-entrepreneurs and their businesses represent the majority of the workforce in the unorganized, informal sector involved in small scale trading, or services such as carpentry, plumbing, and so on. In recent years, basic mobile phones have seen rapid adoption, and micro-entrepreneurs have been at the forefront of this trend, driven by the need for timely information and communication. In this paper, we studythe rich communication needs of such micro-entrepreneurs, that if addressed can help them work better with their clients & business partners. Based on a preliminary contextual inquiry, we designed a mobile device prototype to support mobile collaboration using images, voice and digital ink. We then conducted a qualitative user study in the lab with real users drawn from the target population, to understand how such a device may be useful for micro-entrepreneurs. The study reveals that while our prototype is a step in the right direction, there are a number of areas for further improvement. We believe that these findings will be of interest to designers and mobile service providers addressing this important segment of the population.