Human-Centered Design for Development (HCD4D): Workshop at U(X)PA2012
1. Human-Centered Design for
Development
Susan Dray
Dray & Associates, Inc.
http://www.dray.com
susan.dray@dray.com
2. Human-Centered Design for
Development (HCD4D)
• Introductions
• What’s it like in the “developing” world?
• A brief history of HCD4D
• Sharing experiences
• What do we want to tell UXPA about this (and how?)
3. Who Am I?
• First international ethnographic study in 1994
• Work in 24 countries since then
– On every continent except Antarctica
• Involved in multiple overlapping professional
communities
– UPA, SIGCHI, HFES, etc.
• Intense personal interest in “making a difference”
• Getting more and more involved in Human-Centered
Design For Development (HCD4D) community
4. What’s it like for the urban poor in the
“Developing” World?*
*Caveat: These are not universal; conditions vary widely
21. Other characteristics
• Lack of access to adequate healthcare
• Illiteracy or partial literacy
• Poor schools
• High levels of unemployment, especially among
youth (many of whom have dropped out of school)
• Food insecurity
• Etc.
22. What’s it like for the rural poor in the
“Developing” World?*
*Caveat: These are not universal; conditions vary widely
33. Other characteristics
• Lack of access to adequate healthcare
• Illiteracy or partial literacy
• Children left with grandparents while parents work
in cities to send money home
• High levels of unemployment, especially among
youth (many of whom have dropped out of school)
• Food insecurity
• Etc.
34. A Product Fails
• Product concept was a battery-operated
device to eliminate odors in refrigerators
• Engineers and executives were very excited
about it
• Positive responses in focus groups
• D&A was hired by client to do study of
refrigerators to support product development
35. Research For Product Development
• Ethnographic visits to 12 homes
– Focus on “video tour” of fridge
– Researcher paid particular attention to odors – both
observed and mentioned
• No one perceived an odor in their fridge
– Even fridges that the researcher found to be stinky
• No one thought the proposed product was a good
idea either during tour or during post-tour interview
– “Why would I spend $30 to put something that uses
batteries in my fridge, when I can buy a box of baking soda
for 50 cents?”
36. Did It Change Anything?
• Research was presented to client
– Videos of fridge “tours”
– Photos of interiors and of people placing the product
– Audio clips from interviews
– Negative fit and response was “loud and clear”
• Response was polite but cool
– Thanks a lot – here’s the door
37. And Yet…
One year later, the project was cancelled having
spent over $1 million USD more on it
38. A Development Project Fails*
• Internationally funded aid project to provide
modern concrete dam and canals to Nepalese
farmers
• Large project with professional design,
materials, and construction
– Consultation from top engineering firm
– State of the art
• Despite all this and massive funding, dam did
not deliver more water to farmers downstream
*As described in Freakonomics
Levitt & Dubner, 2009
39. What Happened?
• Traditionally, irrigation was small dams and crude
canals requiring maintenance
• Canal maintenance requires clearing obstructions and brush
• Traditionally, this work was shared by all farmers
• Although the dam did not require maintenance, the
distribution canals still did
• However, the traditional agreement between upstream
and downstream farmers broke down
• Farmers near the dam no longer motivated to maintain canals
because they got all the water they needed
• Therefore, downstream farmers got less water
41. Human International
Centered HCD4D Economic &
Design Community
Development
42. Early Community-Building
• Workshop at CHI 2007 (April, 2007; San Jose, US): UCD4D (1
day)
– 50+ participants from 14 countries
– NSF grant to cover “developing country” attendees from universities
and NGOs (Africa, S. Asia, Asia)
• SIG and Panel at INTERACT 2007 (September, 2007; Rio,
Brazil)
• Workshop at DIS 2008 (February, 2008; Cape Town, South
Africa) (2 – 3 days – optional “immersion” day preceding
workshop)
– Plan to video tape visits and create a documentary for use at CHI
• Workshop at CHI 2008 (April, 2008; Florence, Italy): HCI for
Community and International Development (2 days)
43. For more on the history (and more resources),
check out:
http://www.dray.com
44. Sharing Experiences
• Garren • Ben
• Michael • Jackie
• Ming • Anant
• Anat • Narender
• Brian • Keita
• Ryan • Andy
• Kami
45. Just Remember To…
Keep your heart on your feet (rather than on your
sleeve) so they take you in the right direction!