Information and Communication Technology continue to be increasingly used in social development and poverty alleviation projects, known as Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) projects. However, most interventions either fail completely as a result of attempting to use inappropriate software development approaches and technology concepts in the different ICTD context or they only execute small scale prototypes without positive long-term social impact. We present a case study on how we combined and adapted, using an iterative action research refinement approach, established interaction design methods into a software development methodology supporting scalable longterm ICTD software projects: the Technical ICTD Methodology (TIM). Our case study is based on the experiences of a series of ICTD projects executed within a major software corporation over a period of more than five years.

Technical Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) lacks appropriate research methods along the entire development lifecycle spanning design, development, deployment, and evaluation. Many ICTD projects have failed meeting the challenges of technical ICTD because of inappropriate research methods which often left frustrated end users alone with unusable research results. Successful technical ICTD research needs a shared methodology that involves the end user in all research lifecycle phases. With User Centered Design and Action Research the Mobile Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research field offers concepts with a clear end user focus. However, applying Mobile HCI research methods unchanged in technical ICTD will fail due to the specific cultural, infrastructural and governmental context of ICTD research. In this paper we present a set of Mobile HCI research methods adapted for technical ICTD research based on results and lessons learned of a research project in rural South Africa.

No abstract

We're currently involved in a project that aims to increase security in sensitive (medical or administrative) transactions in unfriendly environments. Such environments are typical in areas with major telecommunication infrastructure deficiencies. In particular, we hope to reduce intermittent communications, which cause breaks in the flow of communication, and identify organizational aspects that influence the design and use of deployed services. We're also researching usability issues that hinder user acceptance, as well as the loss of information in failed transactions, which reduces users' confidence in the services deployed.We've defined a model of communications in which all entities involved in communication exchange and share the same piece of information. These pieces of information, called Contract Documents (CDs), whose scheme is based on previously defined transaction to be

No abstract