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Chinese illiterates or half illiterates field study about mobile phone usage
The document summarizes findings from a study of illiterate users in Beijing, China. It identified three segments of illiterate users: 1) young users with exposure to technology who were familiar with basic phone features but had trouble with text, 2) young users with less exposure who struggled to use even basic functions, and 3) older users with less exposure who had almost no experience with mobile phones. Across segments, users generally had low literacy, were unwilling to explore phones, were highly cost-conscious, lacked brand awareness, and struggled to understand icons. The study found illiterate users would benefit from simplified designs and assistance using advanced features.
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Chinese illiterates or half illiterates field study about mobile phone usage
- 1. Illiterates Exploration Studyin Beijing May, 2008 Beijing Experience Lab
- 2. What’s illiterate? Definition?Less than 1500 Chinese characters About 100 million
- 3. The first stepWent to talk to them 7 interviews Get to know how they used mobile phone
- 4. Content General findings 3 segments identified Segment profile Specific findings for this segment Insight for design
- 5.
- 6. 1. Low LiteracyLevel 2. Less willingness to explore 3. High Cost Awareness 4. Low Branding Awareness 5. Poor understanding of icons 6. Strong need of help
- 7. 1. Low LiteracyLevel Less schooling education (3-5 years schooling in this study) More difficulties in writing than reading Slow reading speed
- 8. Basically they canread a lot of texts in the mobile phone, but they can write a little.
- 9. 2. Less willingnessto explore Less willingness to explore the phone Strong need of help from others Never change the default settings
- 10. 3. High CostAwareness 10-20RMB per month Add prefix e.g.12593 for cost saving More calls than messaging
- 11. 4. Low BrandingAwareness Basically they didn’t know Sony Ericsson Nokia was heard to be the best brand.
- 12. 5. Poor understandingof icons Only the icons similar with real artifacts make sense. A lot of icons in the mobile phone were meaningless to them
- 13. 6. Strong needof help Help on creating contacts Help on advanced features change some settings, E.g. adjust the backlight duration Transfer mp3, video, pictures etc.
- 14.
- 15. 1.Young illiterates withexposure to technology Most males
- 16. 杨彦涛 22 yearsold, Henan 4 years of schooling Underground garage maintainer 谢道高 37 years old, Anhui 3 years of schooling Vegetable market
- 17. Specific findings forthis Segment More experiences in using mobile phone The 3rd mobile phone they have owned
- 18. Familiar with Navigation,soft key etc. Specific findings for this Segment Basically they understood the soft keys and red/green keys well, just not very sure. Try and error was an important way of learning for them.
- 19. Willing to exploremore non-text-based features, e.g. MMS, MP3, photo capture etc. Specific findings for this Segment Photo ID About 40 songs in storage card Gif wallpaper
- 20. 2.Young illiterate withless exposure to technology Most females
- 21. 刘静娟 30 yearsold, Hebei 5 years of schooling Farmer, housekeeper 张忠霞 34 years old, Henan 5 years of schooling Lifter operator
- 22. Specific findings forthis Segment They have some basic phone experience
- 23. Local brand: CECTWorn-out second phone inherited from her husband Ring tone broken Samsung colorful screen An old phone inherited from her friend Alarm didn’t work Specific findings for this Segment
- 24. Managed to sendtext message is possible Although sometimes it takes half an hour to compose a text message Specific findings for this Segment
- 25. 3.middle-aged (40+) illiterateswith less exposure to technology Mixed gender
- 26. 高矿宝 49 yearsold, Gansu 4 years of schooling Construction worker 梁瑞芬 45 years old, Henan 5 years of schooling Lifter operator 闫来良 39 years old, Henan 5 years of schooling Construction worker
- 27. Specific findings forthis Segment Basically no experience of mobile phone 5-way Navigation model didn’t work Up and down key tended to be pressed more often Separation of highlight and select didn’t work Soft key didn’t work
- 28. More rote learningSpecific findings for this Segment
- 29. Recap Common findings1. Low Literacy Level 2. Less willingness to explore 3. High Cost Awareness 4. Low Branding Awareness 5. Poor understanding of icons 3 segments Young illiterates with exposure to technology Young illiterates with less exposure to technology Middle aged illiterates with less exposure to technology
- 30. More needed Goto the rural area Intermittent power Intermittent connectivity Variable population density Do more interviews
- 31.