The use of mobile contact list applications and a context-oriented framework to support their design

Abstract

Contact lists are one of the most frequently used applications on mobile devices. They are used not only as contact detail repositories, but also as temporary information storage for un-related items, such as PINs or passwords. Users are reluctant to delete or remove contacts from their repositories. As such, these become increasingly large, sometimes measuring several hundred entries. In this paper we present our findings from early investigations into the use of mobile Contact Lists. We also propose a context oriented design framework to aid the speed and efficacy of the information seeking and retrieval process during the use of the Contact List application.</p