Investigating the Usability and Quality of Experience of Mobile Video-Conferencing Apps Among Bandwidth-Constrained Users in South Africa

14 pages•Published: July 18, 2022

Dominique Oosthuizen, Taveesh Sharma, Josiah Chavula and Melissa Densmore

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic and mandated global lockdowns, people and busi- nesses started the extensive use of video-conferencing applications for staying connected. This surge in demand and the usability of video-conferencing services has been severely overlooked in developing countries like South Africa, where one-third of adults rely on mo- bile devices to access the internet, and the per-gigabyte data cost is among the highest in Africa. Considering these numbers, we conduct a two-pronged study where 1) we measure data consumption of different Android apps through data measurement experiments and 2) we conduct interviews and usability assessments with bandwidth-constrained users to bet- ter understand the usability and Quality of Experience (QoE) of mobile video-conferencing apps. Usability is the degree to which specified users can use a product to achieve specified goals. In contrast, QoE measures the subjective perception of the quality of an application and the level of delight or annoyance with a service. The key benefit of this study will be to inform organisations that seek to be inclusive about these tools’ relative usability by letting them know about the factors influencing users’ QoE.

Keyphrases: human computer interaction, internet measurement, quality of experience, usability

In: Aurona Gerber (editor). Proceedings of 43rd Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists, vol 85, pages 243-256.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/bchj7
	https://doi.org/10.29007/wwft

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{SAICSIT2022:Investigating_Usability_Quality_Experience,
  author    = {Dominique Oosthuizen and Taveesh Sharma and Josiah Chavula and Melissa Densmore},
  title     = {Investigating the Usability and Quality of Experience of Mobile Video-Conferencing Apps Among Bandwidth-Constrained Users in South Africa},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of 43rd Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists},
  editor    = {Aurona Gerber},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Computing},
  volume    = {85},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2398-7340},
  url       = {/publications/paper/bchj7},
  doi       = {10.29007/wwft},
  pages     = {243-256},
  year      = {2022}}

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