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Understanding User Engagement in Information and Communications Technology for Development: An Exploratory Study

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HCI International 2020 - Late Breaking Papers: User Experience Design and Case Studies (HCII 2020)

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Abstract

User engagement is often associated with successful information systems implementation, with this being particularly true in developing countries in the Global South. However, the term remains poorly understood with many seemingly conflicting definitions and the term “user engagement” has come to mean a variety of things in the literature. Also, it is unclear at what stage(s) of the design, development, implementation and use phase(s) that user engagement should apply to. This research examines the meaning of user engagement with the objective of bringing some level of clarity to suit the information communication technology for development (ICT4D) context. To this end, we propose an expanded definition of the term user engagement. The research also suggests what stages of the design, development, implementation and use phase of the technology this expanded definition of user engagement most usefully applies to by drawing lessons on user engagement in a variety of mobile health projects from the Global South. Qualitative methods of data analysis were used in collecting data which show that user engagement as applied to a specific phase of each of the projects was essential for the ongoing success of each project.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An ASHA is an accredited social health activist or CHW usually based in India. The ASHA programme was initiated by the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare may years ago.

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Acknowledgement

This publication has emanated from research supported in part by a grant from Science Foundation Ireland under grant number 18/CRT/6222.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ADAPT Centre, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Tochukwu Ikwunne, Lucy Hederman & P. J. Wall

Authors
  1. Tochukwu Ikwunne
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  2. Lucy Hederman
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  3. P. J. Wall
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tochukwu Ikwunne .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Constantine Stephanidis

  2. Aaron Marcus and Associates, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Aaron Marcus

  3. World Usability Day and Bentley User Experience Center, Newton Center, MA, USA

    Elizabeth Rosenzweig

  4. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Pei-Luen Patrick Rau

  5. San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA

    Abbas Moallem

  6. Eindhoven Univesity of Technology, Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands

    Matthias Rauterberg

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Ikwunne, T., Hederman, L., Wall, P.J. (2020). Understanding User Engagement in Information and Communications Technology for Development: An Exploratory Study. In: Stephanidis, C., Marcus, A., Rosenzweig, E., Rau, PL.P., Moallem, A., Rauterberg, M. (eds) HCI International 2020 - Late Breaking Papers: User Experience Design and Case Studies. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12423. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60114-0_46

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60114-0_46

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