Access Anytime Anyplace: An Empircal Investigation of Patterns of Technology Use in Nomadic Computing Environments

With the increasing pervasiveness of mobile technologies such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants and hand held computers, mobile technologies promise the next major technological and cultural shift. Like the Internet, it is predicted that the greatest impact will not come from hardware devices or software programs, but from emerging social practices, which were not possible before. To capitalize on the benefits of mobile technologies, organizations have begun to implement nomadic computing environments. Nomadic computing environments make available the systems support needed to provide computing and communication capabilities and services to the mobile work force as they move from place to place in a manner that is transparent, integrated, convenient and adaptive. Already, anecdotes suggest that within organizations there are social implications occurring with both unintended and intended consequences being perpetuated. The problems of nomadic computing users have widely been described in terms of the challenges presented by the interplay of time, space and context, yet a theory has yet to be developed which analyzes this interplay in a single effort. A temporal human agency perspective proposes that stakeholders’ actions are influenced by their ability to recall the past, respond to the present and imagine the future. By extending the temporal human agency perspective through the recognition of the combined influence of space and context on human action, I investigated how the individual practices of eleven nomadic computing users changed after implementation. Under the umbrella of the interpretive paradigm, and using a cross case methodology this research develops a theoretical account of how several stakeholders engaged with different nomadic computing environments and explores the context of their effectiveness. Applying a literal and theoretical replication strategy to multiple longitudinal and retrospective cases, six months were spent in the field interviewing and observing participants. Data analysis included three types of coding: descriptive, interpretive and pattern coding. The findings reveal that patterns of technology use in nomadic computing environments are influenced by stakeholders’ temporal orientations; their ability to remember the past, imagine the future and respond to the present. As stakeholders all have different temporal orientations and experiences, they exhibit different practices even when engaging initially with the same organizational and technical environments. Opposing forces emerge as users attempt to be effective by resolving the benefits and disadvantages of the environment as they undergo different temporal, contextual and spatial experiences. Insights about the ability to predict future use suggest that because they are difficult to envisage in advance, social processes inhibit the predictability of what technologies users will adopt. The framework presented highlights the need to focus on understanding the diversity in nomadic computing use practices by examining how they are influenced by individual circumstances as well as shared meanings across individuals

The Mere Presence Effect: Attentional Bias Promoted by Smartphone Presence

Smartphones have become an essential part of modern life, offering access to entertainment, information, and social connections from anywhere, at any time. However, research has associated interactions with these devices with maladaptive behaviors and cognitive impairments. Furthermore, recent research has suggested that the mere presence of a smartphone can deplete cognitive resources. We sought to test the hypothesis that the perceptual salience of smartphones would negatively impact perceptual processes. Using a sample of college-aged students (N = 71), we tested whether the mere presence of a smartphone might affect reaction time and accuracy in a lateralized spatial configuration visual search task, and how the location of the phone might bias attention on this task. Additionally, we tested how individual differences in amount of smartphone and social media usage, smartphone attachment, and fear of missing out correlate with the behavioral measures. The presence of a smartphone neither distracted nor biased attention of participants and was not related to any the variables exploring individual differences. We did find that a large proportion of our sample, especially females, self-reported high levels of smartphone attachment, qualifying as at risk of smartphone addiction. Additionally, we found a positive relationship between fear of missing out, smartphone attachment, and social media usage. Based on these findings, we argue that patterns of smartphone dependence are not related to the amount of time people spend with their smartphones, but the type and amount of social rewards acceded using them

Information scraps: how and why information eludes our personal information management tools

In this paper we describe information scraps -- a class of personal information whose content is scribbled on Post-it notes, scrawled on corners of random sheets of paper, buried inside the bodies of e-mail messages sent to ourselves, or typed haphazardly into text files. Information scraps hold our great ideas, sketches, notes, reminders, driving directions, and even our poetry. We define information scraps to be the body of personal information that is held outside of its natural or We have much still to learn about these loose forms of information capture. Why are they so often held outside of our traditional PIM locations and instead on Post-its or in text files? Why must we sometimes go around our traditional PIM applications to hold on to our scraps, such as by e-mailing ourselves? What are information scraps' role in the larger space of personal information management, and what do they uniquely offer that we find so appealing? If these unorganized bits truly indicate the failure of our PIM tools, how might we begin to build better tools? We have pursued these questions by undertaking a study of 27 knowledge workers. In our findings we describe information scraps from several angles: their content, their location, and the factors that lead to their use, which we identify as ease of capture, flexibility of content and organization, and avilability at the time of need. We also consider the personal emotive responses around scrap management. We present a set of design considerations that we have derived from the analysis of our study results. We present our work on an application platform, jourknow, to test some of these design and usability findings

Information Outlook, September 2004

Volume 8, Issue 9https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2004/1008/thumbnail.jp

Information Outlook, September 2004

Volume 8, Issue 9https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2004/1008/thumbnail.jp

Information Outlook, September 2004

Volume 8, Issue 9https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2004/1008/thumbnail.jp

Mobile Collaborative Task Tracker and Reminder

In order to increase the effrciency of a project hardled and making the team collaboration excellent the project need to be managed properly ard ensure well' orpnized communication. The project needs to be managed as such that each team men$er needs to be reminded about their deadline among each other. This will ensure the project going on smoothly according to the flow that had been projected. There are existing tools for this, such as Google task reminder, ReminderFox and others. Still, they are keenly use in an irdividul reminding rather than reminding ttrc whole team. Given ttre smart-phones tlut are already there on the markeg it can be used to create a reminder collaboration medium. Being a npbile device, it provlles frsq easy communication between toam members. For the reason that the device is always carried arourd, ttre email, reminder, and other communicatbn services in it are tnrdly to be ignore. As the reason to this, the author canrc up with nnbilebased apps, called Mobile Collaborative Tqsk Tracker and Reminder. It's not only furrctioning to remind the whole tearq bun. also to keep track of thenr, to meiasure their performance. It used the existing smart-phone, in this android are chosen where it can inplenpnt the communication features to ensure efbctirre communioation 6r reminding

CheckUp

https://scholarlyworks.lvhn.org/checkup/1286/thumbnail.jp

Texting While Driving: A Test of Self-Control Theory

The consequences of texting and driving have never been more pertinent concerns than they are presently. As reports of injuries and death increase and are paralleled by direct and indirect emotional and financial costs, it is important to uncover why, even in the face of such escalations, individuals choose to engage in this behavior. This study examines texting while driving behavior in the context of self-control theory and postulates that low self-control is a significant predictor of the conduct. An online questionnaire was distributed via email to all enrolled students at Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk Virginia, during the summer of 2014. Data were collected which tapped into student\u27s texting while driving behaviors, measured their respective levels of self-control, and ascertained demographical information. Results of the analysis indicated that self-control was a not significant predictor of texting while driving behavior when controlling for other factors. Suggestions for future research and limitations of this study are discussed

Blueprint and Approach to Grow Revenue in Small Technology Companies

This article examines a new approach to grow the revenue of small technology companies and technology startups. We name this new approach the business ecosystem approach. The article is organized into five sections. The first section provides a blueprint to grow revenue and an inventory of growth formulas that top management teams of small technology companies and founders of startups find useful. The second section briefly defines business ecosystems, keystones and platforms. The third section describes the business ecosystem approach to grow the revenue of small technology companies and technology startups. It compares the traditional and business ecosystem approaches to growing revenue; identifies when the business ecosystem approach works better than the traditional approach; explains what small companies and startups need to do to grow revenue using the business ecosystem approach; and describes the benefits and risks of implementing the business ecosystem approach. The fourth section compares three approaches to growing revenue and highlights the differences between i) business ecosystems and development communities and ii) the business ecosystem approach and outsourcing. The fifth section identifies the key decisions a small technology company or technology startup needs to make to become the keystone that anchors a business ecosystem