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Mobile data usage is on the rise globally. In emerging regions, mobile data is particularly expensive and suffers from the lack of price and data usage transparency needed to make informed decisions about Internet use. To measure and address this problem, we designed SmartBrowse, an Internet proxy system that shows mobile data usage information and provides controls to avoid overspending. In this paper, we discuss the results of a 10-week study with SmartBrowse, involving 299 participants in Ghana. Half the users were given SmartBrowse, and the other half was given a regular Internet experience. Our findings suggest that, compared with the control group, using SmartBrowse led to a significant reduction in Internet credit spend and increased online activity among SmartBrowse users, while providing the same or better mobile Internet user experience. Additionally, SmartBrowse users who were prior mobile data non-users increased their webpage views while spending less money than control users. Our discussion contributes to the understanding of how forward-looking ICTD research in the wild can empower mobile data users, in this case, through increased price transparency.

This paper describes the process of designing an enterprise application that connects employees, the unique interface challenges, research activities, and subsequent changes to the design. The user-centered design process was driven by three research activities that informed the design in stages. Focus group sessions enabled us to understand requirements, wireframe usability evaluations helped us to validate macro level design decisions, and live prototype testing provided feedback that helped refine the design and validate the interactions. The collective research activities contributed to improved usability for navigation, actions, search, and a hierarchical organization chart. In addition, social networking within the work context was better understood and important concerns were identified. Key changes to the design included a streamlined three-level organization chart, the reduction of icons, and a new layout for search.

In our increasingly decentralized world, demands to maintain relationships over long distances continue to increase. It is more and more difficult to maintain a sense of connection with others, to communicate with others in an emotionally rich way, and to know whether one is available for initiating a conversation in an appropriate context.This paper describes the design process and our solution to this challenge. The ComSlipper is a lightweight yet expressive sensible slipper that enhances the quality of computer-mediated relationships. The ComSlipper was developed using a human-centered design approach to better understand user behaviors and needs. The ComSlipper empowers the wearer to create a sense of connection to others. The wearer uses body gesture and tactile manipulation to feel and express emotions and availability to distant loved ones. The ComSlipper provides a natural and intimate way of communicating, and facilitates the development of intimate relationships.

We describe our process, findings, and resulting solution for the CHI2005 Student Competition. The design problem was the issue of well-being of persons above the age of 65 years. Loss of a companion can be a primary cause of depression, and decline of social well-being and health for the elderly, so the challenge is to design for "artificial" companionship to support the elderly. We met this challenge by employing extensive research in geriatric psychology, empirical and analytical human-computer interaction methods, interaction design techniques, and technologies currently available or in development. Our solution is a wearable and stationary device that will allow the user to 1) record events through pictures and audio for sharing, 2) gather artifacts of their past such as photographs into a multimedia slideshow format for sharing with others, and 3) allow friends and family to be aware of the user's location for safety purposes.