Digital access for non English speaking city dwellers

Abstract

Emerging steps in India are taking towards digital platforms providing citizens to perform their daily activities on the go. Here comes the role of digital access/accessibility. People migrate from one place to another in search of their daily earning. Many are from rural areas shift towards metro cities or tier 1-2 cities, earning their bread and butter by doing cleaning work, cooking jobs and other helping jobs. Individuals with their own regional cultural languages and dialects struggle every day to adapt to this new pace of the city. Indian is the second-largest market in the world after China for digital consumers. Government programs have helped too, many are linked to digital bank accounts. Business is going digital but adoption is uneven. With all these businesses going digital and all stakeholders adapting to this newly-digitized sector, individuals from this lower socio economic classes are seen neglected. But accelerated access to digital devices and services, also with tremendous reduction in internet subscription charges these individuals are developing their digital capabilities and becoming potential consumers. With this newly digitized sector, trending social media and shifts towards how they entertain themselves is something which needs to be examined. Eventually study aims to understand the frameworks of digital access and their lifestyle around it and in it. For the segment who does not have proficiency in spoken English and the language of the digital world. It will include their understanding towards accessing digital tools and how they are making their own understanding to overlay the digital language. How their lifestyle and behavior change parallel to the environment they build around them. Mapping how these groups interact with digital tools and technology. And how to perform around it. Studying their modes, qualities and cost of access. Behavior of individuals while accessing digital tools, technologies and platforms. Stories and experiences with digital accessibility. Followed with the ecosystem around the device. In-depth interviews with immediate stakeholders and observing their behaviors and experiences. A systemic approach to understand the connections between different actors and how they are affecting each other. Primary data will be mapped, supported with video and photographs. Mapping the data in two different spheres all together outside of the phone and inside of the phone, their experience journey in both and their own understanding. Scope of the project will help break the conventional method of understanding this segment users, enabling design professionals and students to have a better articulation of the problem. Keywords: Digital access, multiple spoken languages, accelerated access to digital devices and services