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USSD: The Third Universal App

Published: 01 December 2015 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper we argue for the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) as a platform for universal cell phone applications. We examine over a decade of ICT4D research, analyzing how USSD can extend and complement current uses of IVR and SMS for data collection, messaging, information access, social networking and complex user initiated transactions. Based on these findings we identify situations when a mobile based project should consider using USSD with increasingly common third party gateways over other mediums. This analysis also motivates the design and implementation of an open source library for rapid development of USSD applications. Finally, we explore three USSD use cases, demonstrating how USSD opens up a design space not available with IVR or SMS.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    DEV '15: Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computing for Development
    December 2015
    186 pages
    ISBN:9781450334907
    DOI:10.1145/2830629
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Publication History

    Published: 01 December 2015

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    Author Tags

    1. ict4d
    2. m4d
    3. magriculture
    4. mbanking
    5. mhealth
    6. sms
    7. ussd

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    • National Science Foundation

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    ACM DEV '15
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    ACM DEV '15: Annual Symposium on Computing for Development
    December 1 - 2, 2015
    London, United Kingdom

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    DEV '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 13 of 50 submissions, 26%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 52 of 164 submissions, 32%

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    • (2024)eKichabi v2: Designing and Scaling a Dual-Platform Agricultural Technology in Rural TanzaniaProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642099(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
    • (2024)Rationalizing Effects of Mobile Applications: A Systematic Review of LiteratureImplications of Information and Digital Technologies for Development10.1007/978-3-031-66986-6_20(267-279)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2024
    • (2023)An Unstructured Supplementary Service Data System to Verify HIV Self-Testing Among Nigerian Youths: Mixed Methods Analysis of Usability and FeasibilityJMIR Formative Research10.2196/444027(e44402)Online publication date: 25-Sep-2023
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    • (2019)Including the Voice of Care Recipients in Community Health Feedback Loops in Rural KenyaProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/33591733:CSCW(1-20)Online publication date: 7-Nov-2019
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