research-article

Baang: A Viral Speech-based Social Platform for Under-Connected Populations

Authors:

Roni RosenfeldAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Paper No.: 643, Pages 1 - 12

https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174217

Published: 21 April 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Speech is more natural than text for a large part of the world including hard-to-reach populations (low-literate, poor, tech-novice, visually-impaired, marginalized) and oral cultures. Voice-based services over simple mobile phones are effective means to provide orality-driven social connectivity to such populations. We present Baang, a versatile and inclusive voice-based social platform that allows audio content creation and sharing among its open community of users. Within 8 months, Baang spread virally to 10,721 users (69% of them blind) who participated in 269,468 calls and shared their thoughts via 44,178 audio-posts, 343,542 votes, 124,389 audio-comments and 94,864 shares. We show that the ability to vote, comment and share leads to viral spread, deeper engagement, longer retention and emergence of true dialog among participants. Beyond connectivity, Baang provides its users with a voice and a social identity as well as means to share information and get community support.

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Cited By

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674829.3675078
Brewer RAnkenbauer SHashmi MUpadhyay P(2024)Examining Voice Community UseACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/363515131:2(1-29)Online publication date: 5-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3635151
Islam MRichardson DSaha MVarghese DBartindale TSaha PSaputra MOlivier P(2024)Recordkeeping in Voice-based Remote Community EngagementProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642779(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642779
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Index Terms

Baang: A Viral Speech-based Social Platform for Under-Connected Populations
1. Human-centered computing
2. Information systems
  1. Information systems applications
    1. Multimedia information systems

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2018

8489 pages

ISBN:9781450356206

DOI:10.1145/3173574

General Chairs:
Regan Mandryk
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
,
Mark Hancock
University of Waterloo, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Mark Perry
Brunel University London, UK
,
Anna Cox
University College London, UK

Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 21 April 2018

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Cited By

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674829.3675078
Brewer RAnkenbauer SHashmi MUpadhyay P(2024)Examining Voice Community UseACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/363515131:2(1-29)Online publication date: 5-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3635151
Islam MRichardson DSaha MVarghese DBartindale TSaha PSaputra MOlivier P(2024)Recordkeeping in Voice-based Remote Community EngagementProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642779(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642779
Chauhan ASoden R(2024)Commoning as a Strategy for HCI Research and Design in South AsiaProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642547(1-18)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
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