Designing financial literacy in Haiti

Erin B. Taylor, Heather A. Horst

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

Abstract

In this chapter we examine how the usability of mobile money services is intertwined with issues of literacy as one of a series of challenges that mobile money service providers face in promoting their adoption. Drawing upon a case study of Digicel’s and Voilá’s mobile money services in Haiti between the years 2010 and 2012, we focus upon the materials used to disseminate and teach mobile money product literacy (e.g., advertisements, brochures, cartoons), demonstrating how different kinds of literacies converge as people attempt to use a mobile handset to make money transactions. To illustrate this process of mobile literacy, we begin by giving an overview of literacy-related issues in mobile money design and the limitations of concentrating on literacy as a barrier. Second, we provide a brief history of mobile money in Haiti. We then explore how promotional literature has harnessed familiar genres to educate users about mobile money, and we discuss the attendant role of social learning in increasing product literacy in Haiti to demonstrate different kinds of learning needs and their limitations. We conclude by arguing that mobile money design should take into account different kinds of literacies, but also think beyond them to how consumers engage with products on an on-going basis in different social contexts.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDesign Anthropology: Object Cultures in Transition
EditorsAlison J. Clarke
Place of PublicationU.K.
PublisherBloomsbury Academic
Pages179-199
Number of pages21
ISBN (Electronic)9781474259064
ISBN (Print)9781474259040
Publication statusPublished - 2018

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