IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY IN AGRICULTURE: A USABILITY EVALUATION OF MULTIMODAL INTERFACES FOR LOW-LITERATE USERS IN DEVELOPING REGIONS

Imran maqsood; Sadeeq Jan; Mareena Karim; Umm E Rubab

doi:10.71146/kjmr892

Authors

Imran maqsood Department of Computer Software Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology Mardan, 23200, Mardan, Pakistan. Author
Sadeeq Jan National Center for Cyber Security, University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar, 25000, Pakistan. Author
Mareena Karim Department of Telecommunication Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology Mardan, 23200, Mardan, Pakistan. Author
Umm E Rubab National Center for Cyber Security, University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar, 25000, Pakistan. Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.71146/kjmr892

Keywords:

Low-Literacy Farmers, Accessibility, Participatory Design, ICT4D, Usability Evaluation, Digital Agriculture, Multimodal Interfaces, Urdu-Pashto, Human Computer Interaction, GDP

Abstract

Over the period of time, digital solutions have become an integral part of all sectors, including the Agricultural sector, which is the main livelihood in many developing regions of the country. However, many farmers still face challenges in the utilization of digital technologies because of low literacy levels. Existing conventional systems are all heavily based on text based mobile solutions, which limit the ability usage among illiterate and semi-illiterate farmers. To address these challenges and to fill the gap, this study thoroughly investigates the use of a novel multimodal interaction framework that combines the usability of ICT solutions in low literacy contexts. The proposed framework's efficacy and effectiveness can be evaluated by a mobile application solution that was developed under the name of Zameendar in collaboration with more than 100 farmers from across different communities. The proposed framework assessment was based on the ISO 9241-11 standard for measuring different metrics like user satisfaction level, error rate, efficiency in task performance, and the success rate. The results for illiterate were low as compared to the semi illiterate users like the success rate for illiterate was 53% but the semi illiterate users achieved 82%, the task completion rate was also low as compared to the semi illiterate users which was 68.7 second, and there was greater level of user satisfaction as compared to the illiterate users, who nonetheless showed a 78% reduction in errors with repeated use underscoring the learnability of the approach.

The results and findings of this study demonstrated that the integration of a multimodal interaction framework with a focus on culturally grounded interactions that can improve accessibility for both users who are illiterate and semi-illiterate. The same approach can be followed across the developing regions. Therefore, the main contribution of this work is an evidence-based methodology and is scalable for designing digital solutions targeted towards usability in low-literacy regions.

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