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Digital technology has permeated nearly every inhabited corner of the globe, from information hubs in the USA or Europe to the most remote African or Indian village. But is the accompanying one-size-fits-all approach to usability for the best? This chapter argues that for true usability to prevail, usability methods, techniques, and institutions must be localized and contextualized. We feel that this principle is most important in the world’s poorest countries, which are in many cases highly distinct from the environments for which these new technologies were designed. We structure this argument around three meanings of the word ‘usability’: usability as a property of technology, usability as a collection of competencies (i.e. methods and techniques), and usability as a discipline or community of practice. We examine how prevailing differences between the Global North, as producer of technology, and the South, as …