Enhancing usability engineering in rural areas using agile methods

Abstract

Usability engineering is all about developing usable products and/or services for a certain user group in a specific context. In this paper, we present some ideas about how to enhance usability engineering in rural areas (i.e. for users in rural contexts) taking agile methods into account. First, rural areas, rural users and rural products are illustrated. We elucidate the cultural, technological and social differences and the specifics of rural areas. Then, we look at the most important steps according to the standard user-centered design process defined in ISO 9241-210 in order to identify possible challenges and implications for usability engineering in rural areas. Finally, we analyze how usability engineering profits by using agile methods in this context. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.