ica_2011_deepti_chittamuru
DESCRIPTION
THIS IS A PRESENTATION BY DEEPTI CHITTAMURU AT ICA 2011TRANSCRIPT
Social Dynamics of Mobile Phone Use By Children In Rural India:
MILLEE
Deepti Chittamuru
ICA 2011, Boston, MA
University of Pennsylvania
Annenberg School Of Communication
2
OVERVIEW
• What is My Study
• Background & Motivation (Why)
• Research Methods (How)
• The Findings (Findings)
• Implications For Design (Finally…)
HowWhy Findings Finally…
3
PROBLEM STATEMENTHowWhy Findings Finally…
4
LARGER Vs. QUALITATIVE
MILLEE• Design mobile phone
based learning games to teach English
• Focus on inculcating a learning component in digitized village games
• Quantification of English learning gains caused by the games
Qualitative Study
• Capture the culture of mobile phone use by children in rural India
• Focus on understanding children’s learning and play practices
• Qualitative assessment of the social dynamics of mobile phone use
HowWhy Findings Finally…
5
TIMELINE
O-o-S Qualitative Study
2004 2005 2006 2007 Jan 2008
Needs asse
ssment
Exploratory study
Feasibility
study
Feasibility
study
Classroom pilot
Jan 2009
Out-of-sc
hool (O-o-S) Exploratory Study
End O-o-S Qualitative Study
Jun 2008 Mar 2009
Note: This timeline does not show all the iterations of the larger MILLEE study
HowWhy Findings Finally…
6
GOAL
• Culture and politics
• Mobile phone access and use
• Learning and play practices
HowWhy Findings Finally…
7
PROCESS OVERVIEW
• Three field trips over one year– Totally Six Weeks On-site
• Requested children to play the games in my presence
• Distribution of phones loaded with learning games
– Eighteen Children
• Qualitative research methods
• Remote data gathering methods
HowWhy Findings Finally…
8
PARTICIPANT SELECTION
• Eighteen Children– Fifth & Sixth Grade
• Opportunity for Sharing Among Siblings
• Variety of Social Factors
– Gender & Caste– Socio-Economic
Status
HowWhy Findings Finally…
9
ONSITE RESEARCH METHODS
• Participant Observation
• Unstructured Interviews
• Semi-structured Interviews
• Images and Videos
HowWhy Findings Finally…
10
REMOTE RESEARCH METHODS
• Phone Interviews– Thirty minutes
every week
• Data Logs– Phone log– Game log
• Participant Generated Data
– Images & videos– Phone settings data
HowWhy Findings Finally…
FINDINGS
12
ACCESS TO MOBILE PHONES
• Concerns of “over-educating” girls
• Phones taken away by brothers
• Girls taught to yield by parents
• Parental support
• Lower caste Vs Upper caste
• Infrastructural challenges
HowWhy Findings Finally…
13
USE OF MOBILE PHONES
• Outdoors Vs Indoors
• Girls interrupted continually
• Emergence of power users
• Effect of socially protected spaces
• Increase in learning ability
HowWhy Findings Finally…
14
SHARING OF MOBILE PHONES
• Changes in choice of playmates
• Reinforced pre-existing relationships
• Girls take turns implementing moves
• Boys fight over implementation of moves
• Sharing across genders, not spontaneous
HowWhy Findings Finally…
15
IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN
• Facilitate power users
• Provide a socially protected space
• Support interruptability
• Work with, not against social conditions e.g. lack of sharing across genders
• Facilitate Parent-Child Engagement
HowWhy Findings Finally…
16
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
[1] Thanks to Prof. John F. Canny and Prof. Mathew Kam for giving me an opportunity to work on MILLEE and helping me take my first few steps in research
[2] Thanks to Prof. Nancy Van House for sharing her valuable time and wisdom as my advisor on this project
[3] Thanks to my teammates in MILLEE without whose unwavering support and hard work I could never have conducted this study
[4] Thanks to Panditji and Bittanji (his wife) for helping me at every turn of the study and inviting me into their family
HowWhy Findings Finally…