18th December 2014
Dear Design Diary,
Today, I want to tell you about my learnings around developing empathy for the person for whom you are supposed to design. I gained this skill set while working this project of creating an android based application for an organisation that works closely with the farmers in rural regions of India. It was a part of curriculum plan for the third semester of my master’s programme in IIT Delhi. The idea of the application was to facilitate a first-time android user with a better learning experience in the field of agriculture while tackling the challenge of vernacular language. This project was a joint venture with my classmate Asif Zaidi.
Although the application did not go live, the major take away was how to go about designing. I thank my professor Dr Jyoti Kumar who taught us and guided the project. I would also like to mention stakeholders KnowledgeWorks and PRADAN who played a crucial role in the process.
Android based application for small scale farmers of India
My initial steps towards learning User Research & Interview Methods
Today the urban India cannot imagine even one day without their favourite mobile device. We use them for everything: find information, stay connected with our friends and families, locate the way around, decide what to do, and many other things. But seldom we think of the rural India where we could have an application for facilitating their lives with technology, but there is no such one.
Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood in the regions where PRADAN works. With current low levels of productivity in the agricultural sector, PRADAN extends assistance in finding opportunities to enhance livelihoods. Over half of PRADAN’s livelihood programs are focused on agriculture, its improvement — and the overall management of natural resources — remains critical in the battle against endemic poverty in the rural areas.
Enhancing productivity and diversification are the core strategies of PRADAN’s agriculture program. Specific activities are increasing the productivity of the main cereal crops to improve food security, and diversification into cash crops such as pulses, oil seeds, and vegetables. PRADAN seeks to ensure its sustainability in every programme.
Need for the application
To achieve this, the organisation trains and deploys a large number of agriculture extension entrepreneurs to the field. Producers’ institutions around agriculture are formed and strengthened as well. The following steps are covered as the part of this training:
• Demonstration
• Guided exposures with AV aids
• Sensitizing women SHG (Self Help Group) members
• Enable resource persons with technology and communication skills
• Hands on training and support to SHG families
• Real time system of field supervision, data collection and interpretation
• Development of POP and kits for easy delivery of technology & inputs
• Organized weeders
• Develop training manuals, Extension kit, movie
Hence, this application shall empower the farmers to stay updated on information and shall help the trainers to keep digital documentation of course which they have been developing and updating by hand till date.
Goals
The goals of this project are to develop an application which will facilitate the CSPs to revisit the training content effectively. The application must have a simple interface, in Hindi, group all study material into categories, inform any group of users about a particular event, etc.
Understanding the users
Site Visit
To know the whole background behind this project, we went for a site visit scheduled for 16th of Aug 2014 in Ranchi, Jharkhand. It was a two-day visit which included stake holders interviews, visit the village, meeting the community and talking to the CSPs.
This visit gave us a true insight about the background of users, their place, culture and moral values. There exists a strong feeling of belongingness to the community and land. People share a common feeling that they owe something to the community as well as the land where they live; which takes care of them.
User Interview
As described in the book ‘About face 3 — The Essentials of Interaction Design’ by Cooper:
Most people are incapable of accurately assessing their behaviors, two especially when they are removed from the context of their activities. It is also true that out of fear of seeming dumb, incompetent, or impolite, many people may avoid talking about software behaviours that they find problematic or incomprehensible.
It then follows that interviews performed outside the context of the situations the designer hopes to understand will yield less-complete and less-accurate data. You can talk to users about how they think they behave, or you can observe their behavior first-hand. The latter route provides superior results.
Keeping this in mind, we conducted 6 user interview of the CSPs on the site. For concise representation, I’m sharing one of them here:
Name: Naman Topno
Block: Turpa
Qualification: BA
Background: Unemployed initially, Later went Goa and joined the fishing business, Returned due to unrest in the family.
What happened when you returned to the village?
When I returned, Didis (referring SHG ladies as sisters) identified me and elected me as CSP. I was interested to work for my people. All of us were very poor, poor to the extent that you can’t imagine. Then they told there was a way which served both — social work and livelihood and that is how I was introduced to PRADAN.
So for how long you’ve been with PRADAN for now and what keeps you motivated?
Now it’s been 10 years and I’ve seen people’s lives transforming including myself. I earn almost 3000–5000 per month which is good enough to live in small village like this. My people treat me differently. When I go for teaching and assisting they look at me with awe which really motivates me. Every time there is something new to learn and deliver.
How did common people react to this act initially, were they welcoming or objected?
Yes people used to object initially. All they knew was cultivate cereal for self-survival, which was not working out still they were not able to leave the practice and cultivate something else which can generate revenue. But then they had example of few people who did as said and their life got better many folds.
Can you tell something more about the example?
In our village a ‘Lohar’ gets the least area of land. PRADAN suggested a Lohar to cultivate tomato and gave proper guidance for the same. In that small chunk of land he got great yield and he bought cycle that year. People felt that if he could do that in smallest piece of land why can’t we and gradually they started coming together.
What are the challenges you face while getting trained and while imparting the same to the farmers?
It is difficult to retain the tips in mind for long. We learn by doing and watching images more than the booklets which are distributed. Many a times the study material gets lost, we try to maintain a dairy but it doesn’t work out. Similar problems are faced by the people whom we provide the knowledge with. They fail to memorize the diseases, respective medication and quantity prescribed that is why it is necessary to meet weekly to know their problems. “Hamare liye dekh k seekhna asaan hota hai, kyunki padhne me samaya lagta hai autr din bhar kaam karne k baad padhne ka mann nai karta.”
So on an average a family calls you how many times in a year for assistance?
28–30 times.
Ecosystem Analysis
Site visit and literature study (copyright of PRADAN & Knowledge Works) gave us a clear picture of all the players in this ecosystem of which even we were a part now. This analysis is very important to understand the roles of various players and their direct or indirect influence on design. This ecosystem chart led us to DFDs (Data Flow Diagrams) and further detailed DFDs.
Stakeholder Interviews
It is the designers ‘obligation to develop solutions without ever losing sight of these business goals, and it is there- fore critical that the design team begin its work by understanding the opportunities and constraints that are behind the design brief.
Preliminary product vision
During the training, the tab will be used to refer to the training content. In such sense, the trainer will be the invigilator, conducting assessment and clearing queries from the CSPs during the training. The intent is to de-humanize the system and reduce the workload of a trainer in providing repetitive training. During the training, there will also be field based exercises where in the tab will not be used. However, the tablet may be utilised as an aid when certain table-top exercises are given.
The tab may be used for shooting short videos by the CSPs. Camera feature will help in sharing new things among CSPs, between CSPs and Pradan, and for clarifying doubts during training sessions. This function is not related to the App and therefore is independent of the current project.
It was agreed that other than this App, there will be no other app running on the tab.
Technical constraints and opportunities
Coding should allow data to be added/ delete/ replaced primarily videos, photos or data. Within Pradan, agriculture practice varies from one district to another and therefore for the app will need to be able to take new content generated from that particular district.
Each user will have a unique ID. If a tab is lost/ or in need of repair, it should be possible for Pradan to provide a new tab. All the progress of the user can be restored in any device using his/her unique username and password. Only that progress which was last synced with the server will be restored. If a CSP leaves, he/she must return the tab which will then be reformatted.
The content will continue to undergo change/updation as new content is generated from the field. It should be made possible for Pradan to make these changes in the field.
The admin panel web portal will access the server directly to fetch data from the server. The size of the app depends on the size of the content. As there are a lot of videos and media involved we expect the size of the app to be somewhere around 2GB — 2.5GB.
User Observation in regulated environment
We requested the CSPs to visit Delhi where we conducted another interview for observing them. As a part of the conversation we handed over a tablet to them. It was for the very first time they took a tablet in their hands. They seemed pretty excited. We asked them minor questions about how they would find something in the tab as part of the game. They proved to be quick learners and assured us that they could perform better with some amount of training. Recording the session with prior permissions helped us for reference while designing.
Foundation of Design
Scenarios & Task Identification
Basis our interview we created scenarios to arrive at the correct framework of interaction design.
Scenario 1- Naman is in field to demonstrate the cultivation technique of cucumber. Before actual demo he explains the process of laying the wire grid for the climbers so that it becomes easier for all in the field. The farmers raise questions and show dissatisfaction about the method. Then Naman takes out the tablet for referring the theory as well as pictures and shows it to the farmers too. After briefing he keeps the tablet back safely into his bag and proceeds for demonstration.
Task Identification
Browsing theory specific to cucumber cultivation.
Taking out the tablet from bag and putting it back safely.
Scenario 2- Naman goes back to the field after 20 days to check the progress of cultivated cucumber. He identifies a specific disease in the crop. He imparts knowledge about the disease to the farmers and tells about the quantity and type of medicine to fight it. Next he clicks pictures of the growth, disease and makes notes. Later he enters the details of the visit.
Task Identification
Navigate for the camera and clicks pictures.
Takes notes, making the visit data entry.
Interaction Framework
As we know, the interaction framework defines not only the high-level structure of screen layouts but also the flow, behavior, and organization of the product. The following steps were followed while making the framework:
1. Define form factor, posture, and input methods
2. Define functional and data elements
3. Determine functional groups and hierarchy
4. Sketch the interaction framework
5. Construct key path scenarios
6. Check designs with validation scenarios
Reflection
This case study gave me a chance to take a sneak peak at the life of these farmers. In fact, I also lived it for a while which helped me collect great insights for the development of application. But beyond that I learned how to make users comfortable while interviewing them so that you draw maximum output out of the activity.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas. If you want to talk about UX/UI design, or just want to say hello, connect with me via Linkedin.
