Text-Free UI for

Illiterate Users

Microsoft Research India

Contents

• Background
• The Application
• Target Community
• Design Process
• Design Principles
• Final Prototype
• User Testing Results
• Conclusions and Future work
• New Work
26% of world’s adult population is illiterate
and 98% of all illiterates
live in the developing countries!
 How to bridge this increasing ‘Digital Divide’ by
providing access to information to all

Can a user interface be designed such that even novice,

illiterate users require absolutely no intervention from
anyone at all to use?
Text-Free UI is…

PLAY
Target Community

• Domestic workers (they cook, clean people’s houses)

• Informal sector jobs
• Income range is INR 800-2500 (USD 20-50) per month
• Most are illiterate and have never seen a PC (those who
have seen, see in their employers’ homes)
 Design Process

• Ethnographic Interviews
• Subject Trials

Making subjects feel Being accepted and trusted Helping overcome fear of
technology
comfortable
Design Principles

• Avoid text (but using numbers may be okay)

• Use semi-abstracted graphics, and increase
photorealism with deeper interaction.
• Pay attention to subtle graphical cues. User response
may depend on psychological, cultural, or religious
biases.
• Provide voice feedback for all functional units.
• Provide “help” on all screens
• Provide movie dramatizing purpose of application
 Design Principles

Use semi-abstracted graphics, and increase photorealism

with deeper interaction.
 Design Principles

Pay attention to subtle graphical cues. User response may

depend on psychological, cultural, or religious biases.
 Design Principles

Provide “help” on all screens

 Design Principles

Employers look for a helper Helper sees that job information They meet
through app on the app

Make a short movie that plays in a loop at the beginning, that

would dramatize the purpose of the application, and describe how
to use the application, to overcome lack of awareness of the
possibilities with computer technology.
Final Prototype

• Text- Free UI for Employment Search

• Text-Free UI for Map Navigation

Explore Text-Free UIs in general – could be

any application domain
Demo…
Experimental Set-Up

• Cultural Consideration - Modifications to ensure that

subjects were comfortable in the environment and testing
scenario.

• Application- We tested both applications with two interfaces

(text-based vs. text-free) and used a script!

• Subjects- Range of participants varying in age, environment

they lived and worked and familiarity with technology.
User Testing Results

• Unable to make sense or navigate through the text-based UIs

• Immediate comprehension of voice feedback
• Collaborative use seemed more effective
• The “help” instructions were a constant source of reassurance
to users.
• Navigation metaphor of a book helped
• Subject involvement among test subjects
• After watching movie all 35 test participants could complete
the task and took an average of 7.5 minutes and 5.2 prompts!!!

Conclusions and Future Work

• Design elements could be applicable to other user groups that

are illiterate and new to computer use.

•To enable easiest possible operation for any first time user
without intervention

•Build strong design principles which could be used to convert

any text-based UI into a text-free UI
 New Work

Text-Free User Interface for dispensing complex health care

information for anemia

What is the best way to represent complex information?

•Static Graphic
•Animation
•Video
 The End

http://research.microsoft.com/india
indranim@microsoft.com