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human factors in computing systems | 2010

MOSES: exploring new ground in media and post-conflict reconciliation

Thomas N. Smyth; John Etherton; Michael L. Best

While the history of traditional media in post-conflict peace building efforts is rich and well studied, the potential for interactive new media technologies in this area has gone unexplored. In cooperation with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, we have constructed a novel interactive kiosk system, called MOSES, for use in that countrys post-conflict reconciliation effort. The system allows the sharing of video messages between Liberians throughout the country, despite the presence of little or no communications infrastructure. In this paper, we describe the MOSES system, including several innovative design elements. We also present a novel design methodology we employed to manage the various distances between our design team and the intended user group in Liberia. Finally, we report on a qualitative study of the system with 27 participants from throughout Liberia. The study found that participants saw MOSES as giving them a voice and connecting them to other Liberians throughout the country; that the system was broadly usable by low-literate, novice users without human assistance; that the embodied conversational agent used in our design shows considerable promise; that users generally ascribed foreign involvement to the system; and that the system encouraged heavily group-oriented usage.


information and communication technologies and development | 2010

The human infrastructure of ICTD

Nithya Sambasivan; Thomas N. Smyth

We argue for the importance of understanding the human infrastructure in ICTD projects. We do this through two field studies in low-income communities of Bangalore, India---on technology usage in urban slums and mobile media sharing on a wider scale. We offer ICTD researchers and practitioners an analytical lens to understand the shared social norms and practices, flows of information and materials, and creative processes that underlie existing information and communication access. We then provide a discussion of the systemic processes (usage, maintenance, and diffusion) and properties that constitute a human infrastructure. We end with opportunistic areas for ICT4D and human infrastructures. Through such a lens, we offer ICTD designers and researchers ways of understanding use and everyday practice to respond to developmental challenges through technologies.


information and communication technologies and development | 2009

Uses of mobile phones in post-conflict Liberia

Michael L. Best; Edem Wornyo; Thomas N. Smyth; John Etherton

Liberia is a country emerging from years of protracted and devastating civil conflict. Left without any fixed line telephone infrastructure, it relies solely on the mobile phone for telephony. This study investigates the usage of mobile phones in this immediate post-conflict setting. In particular, we adopt the uses and gratifications approach to media research, giving focus to both instrumental and intrinsic motivations for use. Mobile phone users in both the capital city of Monrovia and in various rural areas were surveyed using the Q methodology, which identified distinct perspectives within these urban and rural groups. Participants were then sorted into groups where each group contained users with similar perspectives on their mobile phones. These identified groups included sets of users who saw their phones as productivity enhancers, means of connectivity to family and friends, essential business tools, technological curiosities, and sources of personal security. The idea of a phone as a stylish object was markedly rejected, especially in rural areas. We contrast these Q-sort results from Liberia with previous work from Kigali, Rwanda, finding differences especially as related to security.


human factors in computing systems | 2009

Designing for and with diaspora: a case study of work for the truth and reconciliation commission of liberia

Michael L. Best; Thomas N. Smyth; Daniel Serrano-Baquero; John Etherton

We describe our experiences in designing new media technologies in cooperation with Liberias Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This work includes two major projects: a dynamic, interactive Web site for the Commission, and a mobile video-sharing kiosk intended for use in-country where connectivity is limited. We place specific focus on our design exercises with members of the Liberian diaspora in Atlanta. Our report includes lessons learned both in designing technologies directly for diaspora users, and in using diaspora members as surrogates for users in-country. These lessons include the need to recognize diversity even within the diaspora community, the sensitivity of content to cultural nuances, and the overall value of the perspective of interaction with diaspora members.


information and communication technologies and development | 2013

Tweet to trust: social media and elections in West Africa

Thomas N. Smyth; Michael L. Best

Today is an exciting time to be a political activist in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for the technically inclined. Online social media and other digital technologies are increasingly being used for political purposes. But this phenomenon raises the question of how, if at all, these new media actually perturb the political landscape. These questions have been well-studied in Western contexts, but remain relatively underexplored in developing regions where traditional media are often scarcer, democracies are younger, and the effect of social media on politics has the potential to be quite distinct. This paper explores these questions through a qualitative dual case study of social media use during general elections in Nigeria and Liberia in 2011. Participants suggested that social media helps to overcome previous scarcity of information during the electoral process, leading to increased transparency and reduced tension. Furthermore, social media-based monitoring shows encouraging signs of robustness concerning information quality and mobility. Together, these findings suggest that given sufficient civil-society coordination, social media can be an effective tool for electoral scrutiny and can help build public trust in the electoral process.


Interactions | 2014

Anti-oppressive design

Thomas N. Smyth; Jill P. Dimond

Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole. ---Christopher A. Le Dantec, Editor


Media, War & Conflict | 2011

Rich digital media as a tool in post-conflict truth and reconciliation

Michael L. Best; William J. Long; John Etherton; Thomas N. Smyth

Modern rich digital media (such as interactive systems with audio and video as well as text) have not been robustly deployed as a tool in the processes of peace-building, healing and reconciliation in nations emerging from civil conflict. This article studies the use of rich digital media in Liberia, a country that has only recently emerged from a protracted and intense civil war. The authors demonstrate that, when rich digital media are used to target processes of truth and reconciliation, they enhance Liberians’ feeling of self-efficacy – their self-assessed sense of personal competence to deal effectively with stressful situations. This increased self-efficacy was not present in a control group. The authors argue that self-efficacy is a critical component for forgiveness and truth-telling which, in turn, is a fundamental process in reconciliation and healing. These results are based on a survey of over 100 Liberians in Monrovia, the capital city. Participants interacted with a rich digital media system, took pre- and post-interaction self-efficacy inventories, and responded to additional questions. The findings suggest that rich digital media focused on truth and reconciliation can contribute to post-conflict healing.


Global Usability | 2011

Global/Local Usability: Locally Contextualized Usability in the Global South

Michael L. Best; Thomas N. Smyth

Digital technology has permeated nearly every inhabited corner of the globe, from information hubs in the USA or Europe to the most remote African or Indian village. But is the accompanying one-size-fits-all approach to usability for the best? This chapter argues that for true usability to prevail, usability methods, techniques, and institutions must be localized and contextualized. We feel that this principle is most important in the world’s poorest countries, which are in many cases highly distinct from the environments for which these new technologies were designed. We structure this argument around three meanings of the word ‘usability’: usability as a property of technology, usability as a collection of competencies (i.e. methods and techniques), and usability as a discipline or community of practice. We examine how prevailing differences between the Global North, as producer of technology, and the South, as consumer, have important implications for each of these incarnations of usability.


information and communication technologies and development | 2016

Lessons in Social Election Monitoring

Thomas N. Smyth; Amanda Meng; Andrés Moreno; Michael L. Best; Ellen W. Zegura

Since 2011, our research group, along with numerous local partners, has been building a platform and methodology for monitoring elections using social media. Historically, election monitoring has traditionally been the domain of trained monitors provided by international monitoring groups. But monitoring by domestic groups with fewer resources has been a growing phenomenon, supported in part by the availability of inexpensive digital technologies such as SMS. Social media represents a further, exciting step in this trend. We describe our five years of experience in this endeavor and report a series of key lessons learned. These lessons touch on issues such as source types and curation, collaboration with other election-related groups, human vs. automated analysis, varying stakeholder needs, and the value of falsification. We also share our vision for the next five years of this research.


human factors in computing systems | 2010

Where there's a will there's a way: mobile media sharing in urban india

Thomas N. Smyth; Satish Kumar; Indrani Medhi; Kentaro Toyama

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Michael L. Best

Georgia Institute of Technology

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John Etherton

Georgia Institute of Technology

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Matthew Kam

Carnegie Mellon University

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Melissa Ho

University of California

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Andy Dearden

Sheffield Hallam University

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Jill P. Dimond

Georgia Institute of Technology

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Yaw Anokwa

University of Washington

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Ann Light

Sheffield Hallam University

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