2015-04-01 research seminar

1. Investigating HCI
Practices in the Nigerian
Software Industry
Abiodun Ogunyemi
Supervisor: David Lamas; Co-Supervisor: Isaias Da Rosa;
Host Supervisor: Emmanuel Adagunodo

2. Agenda
● Introduction
● Overview of the Literature
● Research Methods
● Results
● Discussion

3. Introduction
● Before the journey to Nigeria…
● Collaboration
○ Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
● Cooperation
○ Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON)
○ Three indigenous software companies
● Goal was to describe the state of HCI practices in
Nigeria software industry

6. Overview of Nigeria
● Population was 150M people in 2012, an approximate 20% of Africa
population
● Largest Oil Producer in Africa
● 33% of residents are connected to the Internet*
● Country is 133rd on the World ICT Development Index and 14th in Africa**
● Broadband penetration remains lowest in Africa at 19 per 100 inhabitants**
● Wireless broadband penetration in Nigeria is 10%**
● High importation rates for varying goods and products
● Enormous capital flight
*United Nations E-Government Survey 2014
**ITU, Measuring the Information Society Report 2014

7. A New Economy Policy in Nigeria
“The new policy on cash-based transactions
(withdrawals) in banks, aims at reducing (NOT
ELIMINATING) the amount of physical cash (coins and
notes) circulating in the economy, and encouraging more
electronic-based transactions (payments for goods,
services, transfers, etc.)” - Central Bank of Nigeria*
● Policy introduced in December, 2011
● Test implementations in Lagos and Abuja in 2012
*http://www.cenbank.org/cashless/

8. Rationale for a Cashless Economy
1. To drive development and modernization of payment system in line with
Nigeria’s vision 2020 goal of being amongst the top 20 economies by the
year 2020.
2. To reduce the cost of banking services (including cost of credit) and drive
financial inclusion by providing more efficient transaction options and
greater reach.
3. To improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and
driving economic growth.
4. To curb some of the negative consequences associated with the high
usage of physical cash in the economy, including: High cost of cash, High
risk of using cash, High subsidy, Informal Economy, and Inefficiency and
Corruption
Source: Central Bank of Nigeria (http://www.cenbank.org/cashless/)

9. Some Key Implications
● Many businesses would move online
● E-commerce likely to become a major business trend
● Software development activities would increase

10. The Local Software Industry
● Overseeing body for ICT issues is the Federal Ministry of Communication
Technology
● NITDA is the advisory agency for ICT and software issues
● NITDA has a Department for Software and Outsourcing
● Organisational Capability Vs Product Development Capability
● CMM and ISO 9001 Certification
● There are independent bodies too (ISPON, Nigeria Computer Society,
Information Technology Association of Nigeria)

11. The Local Software Industry...
● Local software industry not yet fully standardised and run by effective
government regulations
● Mostly dominated by small companies (less than 50 employees)
● Most companies used own methods
● Nothing is known about the state of HCI practices in the local industry

12. Overview of the Literature
● HCI Practices such as usability engineering might not differ in developed
and developing countries so far
(See e.g. Larusdottir, Haraldsdottir, and Mikkelsen, 2009, and Ji and Yun,
2006)
● There is still gap between HCI education and practice (Collazos, and,
Merchan, 2015)

13. Research Method
● Exploratory case study
● Online Survey
● Semi-structured Interviews
○ Rationale is to deepen understanding of the survey
results

14. Results - Survey Demographics
● 95 companies invited, 67 participated and only 22 responses were useful
● 17 participants (77%) were from small companies
● 15 companies are located in Lagos (Economic Capital State)
● 9 respondents ran elementary HCI courses in BSc Computer Science
programs
● 50% of the respondents have less than 5 years experience in their roles
● 17 companies (77%) are aware of the HCI field

15. Survey Results...
● 15 respondents (68%) possess a
BSc degree, 3 others (14%), have
diplomas and other certificates and
one respondent (4%), has a High
School certificate
● Very scarce HCI practitioners in
software teams
● Major HCI aspect prioritized is
Graphic Design

16. Survey Results...
● Respondents’ roles are Usability
Designer (2), Programmer (7),
Software Engineer (5), UX
Designer (1), Project Manager
(3), CEO (2), Technical
Resource Engineer (1) and
Chief Software Architect (1).
● Software development method
mostly used is the Rapid
Application Development

17. UX Practice
● 17 companies (77%) claim they addressed UX aspects
● Results show pragmatic aspects are prioritized more than hedonic.

18. Usability Practice
● 12 companies claim they always
conduct usability testing, and 10
sometimes do.
● Time is the major factor indicated.
● Usability testers:
○ representative sample of users - 11
companies
○ own employees - 4 companies
○ customer’s employees - 4
companies
○ arbitrary sample of actual users - 3
companies

19. ISO 92141-210 and Human Centred
Design Practice
● Major aspect prioritized is the
understanding of users, tasks and
environments
● User involvement and use of
multidisciplinary skill approach are less
prioritised.
● Cost effectiveness of involving users

20. Challenges
Challenges for Usability, UX and HCD practices indicated
Factor Respondents Percentage (%)
Standard tools for integration 2 9%
Knowledge of best practices 5 23%
Short time to deploy 7 32%
Cost 7 32%
Ineffective Government policies 1 4%

21. Interviews - Software Companies
● One medium-sized and two small companies
● 10 semi-structured interviews
● None of the practitioners have strong HCI backgrounds
● Medium company uses ISO 9001 standards and own methods
● Others use own methods
● Focus groups
● Ethnography
● Prototyping, Wireframes, Mockups
● Outsourcing
● Visually appealing and Intuitive System
● Strong Market Forces
“one area that we know we need to still work on is even our own development
standards; we have not accepted that we are there, (in terms of) our benchmarks...”

22. An Example of Software Service
● Remita http://remita.net/

23. Interview with HCI and SE Educators
● Educators have no strong HCI backgrounds
● Feedbacks/Industry needs
● HCI course started in 2008
● Focus is on usability of user interface
● NUC Curriculum Design

24. Interview with ISPON Representative
● Foreign is better than Local
● Partnerships with foreign
software companies
○ The Case of Neptune
● Foreign Exchange Remittances
● Lack of Road Map for Strategic
Development
● Spontaneous Government
Policies
● Academics and Tools
“We don't have the share capacity to engage
people on how functional our brand is. Brand
is about knowledge. It is about thinking”

25. Discussion
● HCI is just at the awareness level
● No Gap between HCI Theory and Practice in
Nigeria
● Huge Gaps between Global HCI levels AND
the levels in Nigeria

26. Strengthening HCI Uptakes in Nigeria
● Engagement with Policy Makers
● Capacity building for developing local contents
● National Curriculum Review
● Collaboration with Local Universities
● Vocational Training
● Degree Programmes in HCI
● SIGCHI

27. Thank you!

28. References
CBN, 2011: Cashless Nigeria. Retrieved online from http://www.cenbank.org/cashless/
Collazos, C.A., Merchan, L., 2015: Human-Computer Interaction in Colombia: Bridging the Gap
between Education and Industry. IT Emerg. Mark. 38, 6, 900–915.
Hussey, J., Hussey, R.: Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate
Students. Macmillan., London (1997).
ISO: Ergonomics of Human-System Interaction - Part 210: Human-Centred Design for Interactive
Systems. ISO 9241-210:2010. pp. 1–32 ISO (2010).
ITU, 2014: Measuring the Information Society Report. Retrieved online from https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-
D/Statistics/Documents/publications/mis2014/MIS2014_without_Annex_4.pdf
Ji, Y.G., Yun, M.H.: Enhancing the Minority Discipline in the IT Industry: A Survey of Usability and
User-Centered Design Practice. Int. J. Human- Comput. Interact. 20, 2, 117–134 (2006).
Larusdottir, M.K., Haraldsdottir, O., Mikkelsen, B.: User Involvement in Icelandic Software Industry.
Proceedings of the INTERACT 2009. pp. 1–2 ACM, Uppsala (2009).
NITDA, 2007: National Software Policy. Retrieved online from http://www.nitda.gov.ng/policies.html
United Nations, 2014: E-GOVERNMENT FOR THE FUTURE WE WANT. Retrieved online from http:
//unpan3.un.org/egovkb/Portals/egovkb/Documents/un/2014-Survey/E-Gov_Complete_Survey-2014.
pdf