How Software Testers Can Become Internet Samaritans
The Internet has changed every walk of life in what were once unimaginable ways. It would be difficult to point out any one discipline that has remained untouched by an online presence.
However, a recent study from the Pew Research Center points out that as many as 36 million American citizens are untouched by the Internet. Globally speaking, only about 35 percent of the world's population uses the Internet. Every year, several studies on Internet usage are conducted that look at reasons why people choose to avoid the grasp of the world wide web.
If we pause to think deeply about this, we software testers can have an enormous impact.
According to the Pew study, the main reasons for not using the Internet include relevance, price, availability, access, and usability. It is heartening to see that the number of people quoting relevance, price, and access as the reasons has come down over time, but the area we testers need to care about is usability. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed report usability as the core reason for not using the Internet, and this number has been on the rise since 2007. Some of these reasons, especially that of Internet availability, may require larger efforts at the government level.
From a testing perspective, imagine the additional Internet reach and associated benefits if the usability concern is addressed. If testers from various testing groups and non-profits across the US were able to partner with market study teams, such as Pew’s Research Center, to meet with these people to understand their usability concerns, the results would be phenomenal. Granted—not all of these are software usability issues; some may be device, environment, or software specific.
Meeting these people one-on-one or in groups and conducting tests with them has multiple benefits. It will be a great win for the technology industry as a whole to improve their usability standards and to be able to reach out to a larger audience. It’s also a huge value-add for testers to be able to learn about practical usability challenges, and to be able to take back actionable items to the workplace for future tests.
It’s time for testers to start thinking out of the box, while participating in practices that contribute both to the industry and the community as a whole. Pew’s study talks about the 8 percent of the surveyed Americans who are willing to consider using the Internet. Can we not be good Samaritans in helping to introduce this 8 percent to the benefits that the Internet provides?
