Assignment 4: Interviews

Readings

- Chapter on Interviews and Focus Groups by Lazar from Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction

- “At times avuncular and cantankerous, with the reflexes of a mongoose: Understanding Self-Expression through Augmentative and Alternative Communication Devices by Kane and more.

- Freedom to Roam: A Study of Mobile Device Adoption and Accessibility for People with Visual and Motor Disabilities by Kane and more

Assignment

Note which papers you read and share anything that you found informative or surprising from them (or the chapter).

Mobile Device Adoption

There is no easy solution to creating a mobile device which addresses the needs of all users. Since users have very different needs, it makes sense to make different phones which target different users. For people with visual impairements, there is a specific mobile device which provides a better experience based on their needs and problems. I was happy to hear phones like this exist. Although, I was saddened to read users with visual impairements typically buy consumer cell phones because their alternative phone is 10x the price.

This made me wonder - What is the point of making a device that solves a solution if that solution is unaccessible?

Reading this article reminded me of the work Bill and Melinda Gates do in their foundation. A large problem the foundation is investigating is child mortality due to diarrhea. The foundation donated millions of dollars to help design a waterless toilet to be more sanitary for communities. One company helped Bill and Melinda create a perfect toilet to solve the problem, but it cost $50,000. Although this toilet solved the problem, it doesn’t mean it is the right solution. The foundation budgeted $150 per toilet, so they had to readjust.

I think this approach applies from toilets to mobile phones. If we don’t truely understand the user and the population we are designing for, we are making inusable products. This is another example on the importance of interviewing our users, and doing research before we design.

Understanding Self - Expression through Augmentative and Alternative Communication Devices

This was a really difficult article to read. I was saddened to hear about the struggles users with ALS encounter when using technology to communicate. Although, I was very happy users are given a voice again because of technology. I really loved how the article states, *“ALS advocate Steve Gleason notes on his foundation’s website, “until there is a medical treatment or cure [for ALS], technology can be a cure”. The technology is far from perfect, but it is better than nothing. Although, I do have hope in the system. Technology is only getting better. Machine learning is a very popular field, and we are investing lots of time and money into it. Natural language processing is only getting better, and these systems will show this.

In any technology based communication, such as Email, Slack or texting, it is hard to portray sarcasm and humor. We have a rule on my team at Microsoft which is “no debating with each other over Slack or Teams.” We have this rule because it is hard to understand peoples intent behind their words. We have gotten in many fights on our team because words are taken too literally. I could never be a remote employee because I love to interact with people in person using my voice and body language. It sounds frusterating to not have that option to get on a quick phone call when conversations get dfficult. Since users do not have their voices for communication, I hope their body language can help make this easier. I know this isn’t a solution to understanding humor and sarcasm, but I hope it makes a slight difference.

It is also sad users must adjust words in order for the text to speech to sound out the words correctly. A name is very important to the identity of a person. When it is being pronounced incorrect, it can be insulting to the person. I’m sad that people have to adjust their text in order for the system to pronounce it correctly. It also must be hard for the user with ALS if they don’t have a friend to tell them the system is pronouncing words incorrectly. How else would they know? I know speech to text will also get better in time. I’m sure since this article has been published, less of these encounters have happened. (I hope…)

I also hope we are calibrating the system so users can continue to express themselves physically. I didn’t realize make up and clothing would affect the systems ability to detect eyes. I hope we can train the computer vision model with many images of people with make up on their eyes to improve this system. Computer vision is only getting stronger, too, so I hope they keep these systems up to date with the latest APIs.

This was a really interesting read - it must have been very emotional to conduct these interviews. Kudos to Shaun and the rest of the team who performed this study.