research-article

MissIt: Using Missed Calls for Free, Extremely Low Bit-Rate Communication in Developing Regions

Authors:

Fahad R. Dogar,

Ihsan Ayyub Qazi,

Ali Raza Tariq,

Ghulam Murtaza,

Nathan StockingAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1 - 12

https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376259

Published: 23 April 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Mobile devices have become the primary mode for Internet access in developing countries. Yet typical data plans and SMS costs can be overwhelming for low income users in these countries. In this paper, we explore the design and usability of a free but extremely low bit rate communication channel to address this challenge. We propose, a data communication channel that uses to transmit messages between phones, thereby sacrificing performance in exchange for low cost. While the data rate of is extremely low (<1 bps), our prototype implementation and small scale user studies explore the feasibility of this idea for different types of messaging scenarios. Our results show that could be a viable option for messaging scenarios that require short, pre-determined responses (e.g., survey questions) while for traditional SMS-style messaging, a suitable user interface and other customizations are likely required to make it a viable option for users.

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Cited By

Martin NDogar F(2023)Divided at the Edge - Measuring Performance and the Digital Divide of Cloud Edge Data CentersProceedings of the ACM on Networking10.1145/36291381:CoNEXT3(1-23)Online publication date: 28-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3629138
van Ditmarsch HGattinger MRamezanian R(2023)Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Gossip Protocols for Super ExpertsStudia Logica10.1007/s11225-022-10032-3111:3(453-499)Online publication date: 30-Jan-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11225-022-10032-3
Pei LOlgado BCrooks RKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)Market, Testbed, Backroom: The Redacted Internet of Facebook’s DiscoverProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445754(1-13)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445754

Index Terms

MissIt: Using Missed Calls for Free, Extremely Low Bit-Rate Communication in Developing Regions
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Ubiquitous and mobile computing
    1. Empirical studies in ubiquitous and mobile computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2020

10688 pages

ISBN:9781450367080

DOI:10.1145/3313831

General Chairs:
Regina Bernhaupt
Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
,
Florian 'Floyd' Mueller
Monash University, Australia
,
David Verweij
Newcastle University, UK
,
Josh Andres
RMIT, Australia
,
Program Chairs:
Joanna McGrenere
University of British Columbia, Canada
,
Andy Cockburn
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
,
Ignacio Avellino
University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
,
Alix Goguey
Grenoble Alpes University, France
,
Pernille Bjørn
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
,
Shengdong (Shen) Zhao
National University of Singapore, Singapore
,
Briane Paul Samson
Future University Hakodate, Japan & De La Salle University, Philippines
,
Rafal Kocielnik
University of Washington, USA

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Published: 23 April 2020

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CHI '20: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 25 - 30, 2020

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Cited By

Martin NDogar F(2023)Divided at the Edge - Measuring Performance and the Digital Divide of Cloud Edge Data CentersProceedings of the ACM on Networking10.1145/36291381:CoNEXT3(1-23)Online publication date: 28-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3629138
van Ditmarsch HGattinger MRamezanian R(2023)Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Gossip Protocols for Super ExpertsStudia Logica10.1007/s11225-022-10032-3111:3(453-499)Online publication date: 30-Jan-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11225-022-10032-3
Pei LOlgado BCrooks RKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)Market, Testbed, Backroom: The Redacted Internet of Facebook’s DiscoverProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445754(1-13)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445754

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