Vaishnav Kameswaran

Uncovering the Values and Constraints of Real-time Ridesharing for Low-resource Populations

Real-time ridesharing services (e.g., Uber and Lyft) are often touted as sharing-economy leaders and dramatically lower the cost of transportation. However, how to make these services work better among low-income and transportation-scarce households, how these individuals experience these services, and whether they encounter barriers in enlisting these services is unknown. To address these questions, we onboarded 13 low-income individuals living in transportation-scarce environments to Uber as passengers. Our participants found these services to be reliable and benefited from rich social interactions with drivers; however, barriers such as cost, limited payment methods, and low digital literacy can make such services infeasible. We contribute platform designs that could lead to increased digital literacy and application transparency. To be more inclusive and to reach critical mass, we suggest that these companies foster belief in commons and community trust by coordinating with local businesses in low-resource areas with lower digital literacy.

Agency in Assistive Technology Adoption: Visual Impairment and Smartphone Use in Bangalore

Studies on technology adoption typically assume that a users perception of usability and usefulness of technology are central to its adoption. Specifically, in the case of accessibility and assistive technology, research has traditionally focused on the artifact rather than the individual, arguing that individual technologies fail or succeed based on their usability and fit for their users. Using a mixed-methods field study of smartphone adoption by 81 people with visual impairments in Bangalore, India, we argue that these positions are dated in the case of accessibility where a non-homogeneous population must adapt to technologies built for sighted people. We found that many users switch to smartphones despite their awareness of significant usability challenges with smartphones. We propose a nuanced understanding of perceived usefulness and actual usage based on need-related social and economic functions, which is an important step toward rethinking technology adoption for people with disabilities.

Changing data practices for community health workers: Introducing digital data collection in West Bengal, India

In this paper, we present our findings on the experiences of West Bengal Community Health Workers (CHWs) in transitioning from paper to tablet- and mobile-based data collection. Through qualitative interviews, usability testing and timed observations, we found that efficiency and quality of data collected were comparable between the use of tablet devices and traditional paper methods, but data collection performed on smaller mobile phone interfaces was less efficient compared to paper. There was no significant difference in the quality of data collected across all three modes. In terms of work practices, we found that while initial interactions with CHWs suggested positive feelings about switching to digital devices, in their actual practices they retained and preferred the use of paper, and had workarounds to circumvent the digital data collection process. While there were foreseeable challenges around individual user experience, such as device familiarity, and application interface flexibility, the more compelling challenge in transitioning CHWs to digital data collection was organizational. The agency of CHWs within organizations, the levels of training with both data practices and devices themselves, and the sense of comfort that the data collectors felt with the overall project emerge as important factors of attention for implementers of new data management practices.

Support for Social and Cultural Capital Development in Real-time Ridesharing Services

Todays transportation systems and technologies have the potential to transform the ways individuals acquire resources from their social networks and environments. However, it is unclear what types of resources can be acquired and how technology could support these efforts. We address this gap by investigating these questions in the domain of real-time ridesharing systems. We present insights from two qualitative studies: (1) a set of semi-structured interviews with 13 Uber drivers and (2) a set of semi-structured interviews with 13 Uber riders. Our results show that both drivers and riders acquired and benefited from informational, emotional and instrumental resources, as well as cultural exchanges via interactions with each other and with online platforms. We argue that these interactions could support the development of social and cultural capital. We discuss our findings in the context of labor and contribute design implications for in-car social and cultural experiences and for the ways technologies such as GPS and location-based services can support the additional emotional, social, and cultural labor that drivers provide to their riders.

Understanding the Power of Control in Autonomous Vehicles for People with Vision Impairment

Autonomy and control are important themes in design for people with disabilities. With the rise in research in autonomous vehicle design, we investigate perceived differences in control for people with vision impairments in the use of semi- and fully autonomous vehicles. We conducted focus groups with 15 people with vision impairments. Each focus group included a design component asking participants to design voice-based and tactile solutions to problems identified by the group. We contribute a new perspective of independence in the context of control. We discuss the importance of driving for blind and low vision people, describe differences in perceptions of autonomous vehicles based on level of autonomy, and the use of assistive technology in vehicle operation and information gathering. Our findings guide the design of accessible autonomous transportation systems and existing navigation and orientation systems for people with vision impairments.

Institutional Structures and Culture in Healthcare: A Comparative Case on Health Learning

This paper describes two design approaches to health learning -- one a self-paced multimedia portal providing information about a highly specialized injury and the other an instructional aide, assisting educators in delivering content about medical practices. Both systems primarily targeted healthcare staff, namely physicians and nurses and were implemented in the United States and India respectively. Through an analysis of the contextual factors that determined the design of both systems we uncovered common threads concerning 1) social structures within hospitals and their influence on the flow of information within formal institutions 2) the role of institutional culture and its impact on learning. In conclusion we discuss some considerations to inform those intending to successfully deploy healthcare information systems designed for a western audience in a country like India while also discussing takeaways for healthcare systems in both locations.