About
Academics
Currently I am persuing my doctoral studies from Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B). I am an awardee of the Prime Mininster Research Fellowship for Doctoral Studies (PMRF) in collaboration with UNICEF as the Industry Partner. I have done my Master of Design (M.Des.) from the Industrial Design Centre (IDC) at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), one of the top tech institute in India. Currently I am working on creating Android games, for providing refresher training, evaluation on maternal and child health and nutrition for the Anganwadi workers or community health workers in India, with a special focus on the first 1000 days of life. My research theme is HCI for Development (HCI4D), developing ICT tools for emerging users of smartphones, who are less literate and less tech-savvy. You can check my published research papers in the Research section and designed app in Google PlayStore.
Interests
My interest lies in working with big-geospatial data on public-health, economy, development indicators, etc. and turn big datasets into explorative and interactive data visualizations.
You can check the Data Visualization project of Covid-19 cases in India (State and District wise) in the Projects section.
Published Research Papers
(Journal Category / Full Paper)
Refresher Training through Quiz App for capacity building of Community Healthcare Workers or Anganwadi Workers in India
An android based quiz app was designed, following Anganwadi Workers training modules’ content and need assessment results. The study investigates the quiz app’s effectiveness and compares it with conventional classroom instruction, with a group of Anganwadi Workers, and discusses ways to make it an adequate substitute.
...
High and persistent child malnutrition levels with tardy reduction, seen in successive health surveys, continue to be a matter of concern in India, drawing attention to the need to revamp the four-decade-old Government program, Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). ICDS field functionaries or Anganwadi Workers’ (AWWs) capacity deficit was identified as a significant factor affecting ICDS’s effectiveness. Considering rising numbers, over 1.4 million AWWs, and continuously advancing knowledge of community healthcare, conventional training pedagogy is ineffective in building and updating AWWs and their supervisors’ capacity, which calls for rethinking, using the ICT approach.
Over 6 lakh AWWs in India were smartphone equipped by 2020. An android based quiz app was designed, following AWWs training modules’ content and need assessment results. The study investigates the quiz app’s effectiveness and compares it with conventional classroom instruction, with a group of AWWs, and discusses ways to make it an adequate substitute
Click here to read the full paper
Click on the video to watch the paper presentation
Physical and Augmented Reality based Playful Activities for Refresher Training of ASHA Workers in India
Two refresher training tools were developed to make learning the child immunization schedule more exciting and conceptually engaging for ASHAs. The physical and AR (Augmented Reality) versions of designed card games were compared for effectiveness and knowledge retention, pre, and post-intervention through questionnaire tests conducted immediately before and after playing multiple sessions. ... The AR-based play was found to be better in learning and knowledge retention with more engagement, mainly due to its interactive and intuitive nature of play.
Click here to read the full paper
Click on the photo to read the paper
Projects
Data Visualization of Covid-19 cases in India (State and District wise)
We are happy to note that, WHO has also found these maps useful for their India Situation Reports (
WHO Report 9 on 28th March,
WHO Report 10 on 5th April and
WHO Report 15 on 10th May )
Click here to see the data visualization project
District-wise confirmed COVID-19 cases in India
Novel interactions for navigating in VR sports
Enhancing immersion in Virtual Reality sports through novel physical interactions and haptic feedbacks
Click on the video to watch the promo video of the project.
Click here to watch the working details of the project.
Awards
Best Paper Award (Asian CHI 2021)
Best Paper Award in long paper category in Asian CHI Symposium 2021 in CHI 2021 for the paper titled : Refresher Training through Quiz App for capacity building of Community Healthcare Workers or Anganwadi Workers in India
Best Paper Award (Asian CHI 2022)
Best Paper Award in long paper category in Asian CHI Symposium 2022 in CHI 2022 for the paper titled : Physical and Augmented Reality based Playful Activities for Refresher Training of ASHA Workers in India
Prime Minister Research Fellowship
Prime Minister Research Fellowship for doctoral research in collaboration with SERB-FICCI and UNICEF India
Masters in Design (2016-18)
Masters in Design from Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B)
Bachelors in Architecture (2011-16)
Bachelors in Architecture from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (SPA Delhi)
Cerificate Courses
Programming for Infant and Young Child Feeding Course from Cornell University and UNICEF (2020)
Programming for Infant and Young Child Feeding Course from Cornell University and UNICEF (2019)
Geospatial Applications for Diaster Risk Management - Jointly conducted by CSSTEAP, UN-SPIDER and ISRO
Contact
Email : arka.majhi[at]iitb.ac.in
Whatsapp : Click here