MobilGlyph: Making Data Tangible
by Rachel Hinman
Entering contact information into a mobile device is not a trivial task. Phones are *not* optimized for text input, making this important task an awkward and time-consuming interaction for even the most proficient user.
Our research in rural India for our Mobile Literacy project identified the task of entering and saving a contact information as the single most challenging tasks for non-literate users to perform. Yet it was a task identified as one of the most beneficial aspects of owing a mobile device. More than a means to easily contact family and friends, we identified that for rural Indians, a contact list in a mobile device was essential to skillfully overcoming infrastructure challenges.
Rural India is a region of the world with limited infrastructure. Dirt roads and limited access to transportation makes travel slow, access to electricity is limited, and the most common way to distribute information is through word of mouth. People rely on their family and social networks for more than emotional support: people are the infrastructure.
Information in rural India isn’t centralized through census information, medical and health records, or a regional phone book. Therefore, the contact lists on mobile phones become an extremely valuable mechanism for creating ad hoc networks that enable information sharing. For example, several research participants recorded the blood type of the contacts stored in their phone’s address book. These users were able to act on this information when medical emergencies occurred in their village. They could quickly identify possible donors for blood transfusions and alert their network of the need — all through a simple piece of information stored in a mobile device.
In rural India, contacts stored on a mobile phone are more than a set of people users can call, it is a primary mechanism for overcoming infrastructure challenges. Solving the “save a contact” problem for non-literate users became a primary focus for our project.
MobilGlyph: Making Data Tangible from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.
Making Data Tangible
Both primary and secondary information provided inspiration for solutions to the text entry problem. Our team began to gravitate to the notion of “physicalizing” data and the way that humans give abstract concepts a physical form to aid in cognition. Tokens and money are great examples. Money is an abstract concept made tangible by coins and notes. Weights used on markets scales are another way people make abstract numeric information concrete. Instead of a number, the physical representation of a weight serves proxy for communicating value and weight.
We then began to explore creative ways to make text and numeric information physical. Our question became: How might we make a physical representation of person’s name and phone number?
During our ideation sessions we tossed around a lot of ideas about tokens. When we looked across the mobile landscape, we realized QR codes and the QR code reader applications on many phones would be a viable solution for our text entry problem.
Initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context throughout the world for both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users. QR Codes can store text, contact information, images, video clips, and even games. These codes frequently appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or and on products in stores. Instead of slowly entering information into a mobile device through the keypad, users simply take a photo of the QR code. Information embedded in the code can be seamlessly transferred to a device.
QR codes could hold an image, name and numeric information. Instead of text and numbers or abstract icons, images embedded in the QR code could serve as the primary mechanism for the UI. From a system perspective, we envisioned village mobile phone stores as a hub for this activity. With minimal investment, store owners could create cards for customers as a service and become a hub for information sharing. Most importantly, the MobilGlyph system would make data tangible — making it easier for literate and non-literate users to enter and save contact information into their mobile phone.
Entries (RSS)
May 18th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
[...] tons to chew on. I would start with the concepts, the MobilGlyph and [...]
May 18th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Mobile Literacy…
Our friends at Adaptive Path have posted some information on a design and research project that aimed to understand how mobile technology can work more effectively in emerging markets.
The company went to rural India to investigate the impact of mo…
May 19th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Great work! My thesis work also arrived at some of the same ideas. http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~parikh/publications.html and http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~parikh/projects/CAM/ has more details. I teach at Berkeley now if your team would ever like to chat about this kind of stuff.
May 19th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
A very interesting use of 2d codes in India is this Unitus microfinance application (video may be slow to load).
May 21st, 2009 at 5:27 am
Yup, interesting – but the vast majority of handsets in Africa (where we work) do not have cameras on them. How do achieve this goal without QR codes, and w/o cameras?
Also – we found that a very large proportion of our audience are “mobile-literate”, i.e. they are capable of topping up prepaid via USSD even though they are technically non-literate.
May 21st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
[...] is doomed to fail. Our design concepts share ideas for a system for illiterate phone users to share contact information without having to understand a text driven interface, and physical phone design that reflects the [...]
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
[...] para teléfonos móviles, que permita a los usurios no alfabetizados, hacer uso de este. Este es MobilGlyph o [...]
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
[...] MobilGlyph: Making Data Tangible Our research in rural India for our Mobile Literacy project identified the task of entering and saving a contact information as the single most challenging tasks for non-literate users to perform. Yet it was a task identified as one of the most beneficial aspects of owing a mobile device. [...] We then began to explore creative ways to make text and numeric information physical. Our question became: How might we make a physical representation of person’s name and phone number? During our ideation sessions we tossed around a lot of ideas about tokens. When we looked across the mobile landscape, we realized QR codes and the QR code reader applications on many phones would be a viable solution for our text entry problem.CommentsNo comments on this post so farLeave a CommentNameEmailURLYour CommentAnti-Spam Verification Code (please copy to input field) Auto-BR (convert line-breaks to <br> tags)KAYWA QR CODEWhat’s that?2020400102 Want a QR Code for your own blog?Go to Feed2Mobile LATEST MOBLOG 2007-01-19 22:25:18LATEST POSTSQR Codes and Mobile Li…Flash QR Code Reader L…Cliffano Subagio with …Latitude’s Location-Sh…Mobile Monday in Berne… CATEGORIES AllCamera PhonesGamesHumouri-modeLocation-based ServicesMiscellaneousMobile ContentMobile LearningMobile LifeMobile MarketMobile MarketingMobile PaymentMobloggingNew Mobiles: PSP, iPod…NFC, RFIDNokiaQR Code, Data Matrix…WAP and XHTML« May 2009 »MoTuWeThFrSaSu 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031SEARCH SearchARCHIVEMay 2009April 2009March 2009February 2009December 2008November 2008October 2008September 2008August 2008July 2008June 2008May 2008April 2008March 2008February 2008January 2008December 2007November 2007October 2007September 2007August 2007July 2007June 2007May 2007April 2007March 2007February 2007January 2007December 2006November 2006October 2006September 2006August 2006July 2006June 2006May 2006April 2006March 2006February 2006January 2006December 2005November 2005October 2005September 2005August 2005July 2005June 2005May 2005April 2005March 2005February 2005January 2005December 2004November 2004October 2004September 2004July 2004June 2004May 2004April 2004March 2004February 2004January 2004December 2003MOBILE3G NewsroomAnne GallowayBAKOMBarbara – Designing th…Blog of ifeedyouCharlie Schick’s LifeblogChristian LindholmcontentSutra: Mobile I…Der Handy WeblogEurotechnology BlogFlash Lite Exchangei-mode Business StrategyInformationszentrum Mo…Keitai CultureKeitai-L Archivesm-trends.org (Rudy de …mad – mobile applicati…MEOW! Mobile Entertain…MEX – The PMN Mobile U…MMS MemoMobile Entertainement …Mobile Entertainment F…Mobile OpportunityMobile PipelineMobile StreamsMobile TrackerMobilemonday JapanMobileWhackNordic Wireless WatchPaidcontent.org (Wirel…PicturephoningRussell BeattieSerial Wireless (fr)Shiny Shiny: PhonesSmart MobsSmoothplanetSMS ForumTom Hume: Mobile CategoryWallet phone FAQWireless IntelligenceWireless Library and I…KAYWADatamatrix GeneratorFeed2MobileKAYWA BlogKaywa ReaderKAYWA.chPortalogQR Code GeneratorMISCELLANEOUSMetro | BaselKAYWA WEBLOGSBeobachtungen zur Medi…CINEMA (de)FlinkJean-SébastienMy personal WeblogNadiaWaeblogLK – LENDORFF.KAYWALK BlogLK GalleryLK SiteSMS Send ALERT 0400102 to number 202 (CHF 0.20/SMS)To know more… >>KAYWA QR CodeWhat’s that ?2020400102SERVICES [...]
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:29 pm
[...] Codes and Mobile Literacy in rural India (by Adaptive Path) MobilGlyph: Making Data Tangible Our research in rural India for our Mobile Literacy project identified the task of entering and [...]
May 28th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
[...] process culminated in two proposed devices. One is the MobilGlyph concept, which aims to make data tangible by sharing it through two-dimensional bar codes, similar to Cheng [...]
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:48 am
You can easily link a set of content to your mobile tags – either QR Codes or MS tags – at Vizitag.com for free.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
[...] sistema Mobilglyph foi a resposta da empresa Adaptive Path para este problema. Afinal, salvar as informações de um [...]
August 26th, 2009 at 2:00 am
中古コピー機専門店アットコピーは、「あっと」驚く価格。「あっと」いう間に全国配送致します！
September 14th, 2009 at 8:37 am
[...] Read more details on this project on the Adaptive Path Blog [...]