Entry and access : how shareability comes about

Shareability is a design principle that refers to how a system, interface, or device engages a group of collocated, co-present users in shared interactions around the same content (or the same object). This is broken down in terms of a set of components that facilitate or constrain the way an interface (or product) is made shareable. Central are the notions of access points and entry points. Entry points invite and entice people into engagement, providing an advance overview, minimal barriers, and a honeypot effect that draws observers into the activity. Access points enable users to join a group's activity, allowing perceptual and manipulative access and fluidity of sharing. We show how these terms can be useful for informing analysis and empirical research

Towards a multidisciplinary user-centric design framework for context-aware applications

The primary aim of this article is to review and merge theories of context within linguistics, computer science, and psychology, to propose a multidisciplinary model of context that would facilitate application developers in developing richer descriptions or scenarios of how a context-aware device may be used in various dynamic mobile settings. More specifically, the aim is to:1. Investigate different viewpoints of context within linguistics, computer science, and psychology, to develop summary condensed models for each discipline. 2. Investigate the impact of contrasting viewpoints on the usability of context-aware applications. 3. Investigate the extent to which single-discipline models can be merged and the benefits and insightfulness of a merged model for designing mobile computers. 4. Investigate the extent to which a proposed multidisciplinary modelcan be applied to specific applications of context-aware computing

Toward a multidisciplinary model of context to support context-aware computing

Capturing, defining, and modeling the essence of context are challenging, compelling, and prominent issues for interdisciplinary research and discussion. The roots of its emergence lie in the inconsistencies and ambivalent definitions across and within different research specializations (e.g., philosophy, psychology, pragmatics, linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence). Within the area of computer science, the advent of mobile context-aware computing has stimulated broad and contrasting interpretations due to the shift from traditional static desktop computing to heterogeneous mobile environments. This transition poses many challenging, complex, and largely unanswered research issues relating to contextual interactions and usability. To address those issues, many researchers strongly encourage a multidisciplinary approach. The primary aim of this article is to review and unify theories of context within linguistics, computer science, and psychology. Summary models within each discipline are used to propose an outline and detailed multidisciplinary model of context involving (a) the differentiation of focal and contextual aspects of the user and application's world, (b) the separation of meaningful and incidental dimensions, and (c) important user and application processes. The models provide an important foundation in which complex mobile scenarios can be conceptualized and key human and social issues can be identified. The models were then applied to different applications of context-aware computing involving user communities and mobile tourist guides. The authors' future work involves developing a user-centered multidisciplinary design framework (based on their proposed models). This will be used to design a large-scale user study investigating the usability issues of a context-aware mobile computing navigation aid for visually impaired people

Syrian Refugees and the Digital Passage to Europe: Smartphone Infrastructures and Affordances

This research examines the role of smartphones in refugees’ journeys. It traces the risks and possibilities afforded by smartphones for facilitating information, communication, and migration flows in the digital passage to Europe. For the Syrian and Iraqi refugee respondents in this France-based qualitative study, smartphones are lifelines, as important as water and food. They afford the planning, navigation, and documentation of journeys, enabling regular contact with family, friends, smugglers, and those who help them. However, refugees are simultaneously exposed to new forms of exploitation and surveillance with smartphones as migrations are financialised by smugglers and criminalized by European policies, and the digital passage is dependent on a contingent range of sociotechnical and material assemblages. Through an infrastructural lens, we capture the dialectical dynamics of opportunity and vulnerability, and the forms of resilience and solidarity, that arise as forced migration and digital connectivity coincide

Privacy Awareness in Mobile Business: How Mobile OS and Apps Support Transparency in the Use of Personal Data

Personal data of consumers has become a highly valuable resource in e-business. Tech-nologies like smartphones, social networks or search engines help to access, collect and monitor an almost infinite amount of data about consumers. In this environment the traditional notice and consent principle seems insufficient for effective privacy protec-tion. Awareness and control are constituting parts of an effective privacy management. This paper investigates how privacy awareness is supported in mobile business. Due to the critical privacy situation in this field, several third-party privacy enhancing mobile apps emerged beside the OS functionalities. The paper explores what information objects these awareness enhancing apps provide. Based on a detailed analysis of 19 apps, a set of 11 information objects is identified that contributes to 4 dimensions of privacy aware-ness. The findings show that the OS mainly focus on transparency regarding permission systems, that users can obtain more information about the use of their data by using specialized apps and that some dimensions of privacy awareness are almost not sup-ported and open for research as well as the development of new solutions

Bendit_I/O: A System for Extending Mediated and Networked Performance Techniques to Circuit-Bent Devices

Circuit bending—the act of modifying a consumer device\u27s internal circuitry in search of new, previously-unintended responses—provides artists with a chance to subvert expectations for how a certain piece of hardware should be utilized, asking them to view everyday objects as complex electronic instruments. Along with the ability to create avant-garde instruments from unique and nostalgic sound sources, the practice of circuit bending serves as a methodology for exploring the histories of discarded objects through activism, democratization, and creative resurrection. While a rich history of circuit bending continues to inspire artists today, the recent advent of smart musical instruments and the growing number of hybrid tools available for creating connective musical experiences through networks asks us to reconsider the ways in which repurposed devices can continue to play a role in modern sonic art. Bendit_I/O serves as a synthesis of the technologies and aesthetics of the circuit bending and Networked Musical Performance (NMP) practices. The framework extends techniques native to the practices of telematic and network art to hacked hardware so that artists can design collaborative and mediated experiences that incorporate old devices into new realities. Consisting of user-friendly hardware and software components, Bendit_I/O aims to be an entry point for novice artists into both of the creative realms it brings together. This document presents details on the components of the Bendit_I/O framework along with an analysis of their use in three new compositions. Additional research serves to place the framework in historical context through literature reviews of previous work undertaken in the circuit bending and networked musical performance practices. Additionally, a case is made for performing hacked consumer hardware across a wireless network, emphasizing how extensions to current circuit bending and NMP practices provide the ability to probe our relationships with hardware through collaborative, mediated, and multimodal methods

Consumer Intentions to Accept and Use Mobile Advertising

Mobilne naprave se vse bolj vključujejo v življenja ljudi. S tem so oglaševalci pridobili nove priložnosti za komuniciranje s svojimi strankami, podjetja pa možnosti za oglaševanje svojih produktov in storitev na personaliziran način. Mobilno oglaševanje je tako pritegnilo pozornost oglaševalcev in raziskovalcev. Kljub dejstvu, da potrošniki že dolgo za svojimi mobilnimi napravami preživijo veliko časa, pa tržniki še vedno iščejo načine, kako bi v celoti izkoristili vse prednosti tega medija. Raziskovalci so v zadnjem času izvedli več študij na področju presoje in napovedovanja odnosa potrošnikov do mobilnega oglaševanja, toda nekatere nejasnosti še vedno obstajajo. Slednje še posebej velja za Pakistan, kjer je bilo opravljenih zelo malo raziskav na področju mobilnega oglaševanja. Pričujoča disertacija zato teoretsko obravnava presojo namer potrošnikov o sprejetju in uporabi mobilnega oglaševanja in vključuje empirično študijo v Pakistanu. Tema je relativno mlada in še premalo raziskana, zato prinaša številne priložnosti za razvoj novih in razširitev obstoječih teorij. Pričujoča disertacija želi razširiti obstoječo teorijo, to je Združeno teorijo o tehnološkem sprejetju in uporabi. Za to je bil oblikovan mešan raziskovalni pristop (ang. Mixed Methods Approach), v katerem se rezultati ustvarijo s kvantitativno in kvalitativno analizo podatkov, z namenom identifikacije ključnih dejavnikov, ki lahko vplivajo na namero potrošnikov o sprejetju mobilnega oglaševanja. Cilj disertacije je premostiti vrzel v znanju na področju presoje namere potrošnikov in njihovega odnosa do uporabe mobilnega oglaševanja. Teoretski in empirični rezultati so izpostavili nekaj ključnih dejavnikov (kot na primer pričakovan trud, pričakovani učinek, zaznan užitek, zaznana nadležnost in personalizacija), ki vplivajo na namero potrošnikov o sprejetju mobilnega oglaševanja. Poleg tega so rezultati razkrili tudi odnos med potrošnikovo namero sprejetja in sprejetjem mobilnega oglaševanja.The world has witnessed a high level of mobile device penetration in people’s lives. This has not only created an opportunity for marketers to communicate with their customers but has also enabled companies to advertise their products and services in personalized way. Due to this, mobile advertising has got the attention of both marketers and researchers. However, marketers have been struggling to fully exploit the benefits of this medium, even though consumers spend a considerable amount of their time on mobile devices. Recently, researchers have conducted various studies into ways to assess and predict consumer attitudes towards mobile advertising, but there is still ambiguity in this area. This is particularly the case in Pakistan, where very little research has been conducted in the area of mobile advertising. The current thesis is targeted towards assessing consumer intentions to accept and use mobile advertising. This under-researched topic is still in its infancy and there are lots of opportunities to not only come up with new theories but also extend the existing ones. The current thesis attempts to extend the existing unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). To do this, a mixed methodological approach was adopted where both quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques were applied to the data in order to uncover crucial factors that can affect consumer intentions to accept and use mobile advertising. The goal of the current thesis is to bridge the knowledge gap by assessing consumer intentions and actual behaviour towards mobile advertising. The results highlight some of the crucial factors (such as effort expectancy, performance expectancy, perceived enjoyment, perceived irritation, and personalization) that can affect consumer intentions to accept and use mobile advertising. In addition to this, the results also highlight the relationship between consumer intentions to accept and use mobile advertising

Technology Acceptance Factors Affecting Adoption of Wireless Data Technology

The study of acceptance and use of technology is traditionally based on models designed to identify and test the relationships forged between the user and the technology in question. Models designed to study the relationship of user and technology acceptance tend to integrate experiential criteria, such as the attitude of the user towards technology, as well as criteria found within the environment. As wireless communications become more prevalent, and the forms of wireless technology evolve, understanding the process of acceptance and usage will be of importance as companies compete to offer the most user friendly and sophisticated wireless devices. The relationship between diffusion of innovation and wireless data technology acceptance is an important issue for any innovative organization. A critical analysis of theoretical and empirical literature is used to explore those factors influencing wireless data technology adoption and will identify areas of future scholarly inquiry. Existing technology acceptance theories provide the framework to research this topic. Models examined in this study include the Technology Acceptance Model, Unified Theory of Acceptance, Use of Technology, Theory of Reasoned Action, and Diffusion of Innovation. An in-depth study of these models demonstrates that there are flaws both within the underlying rationale used to govern the models and the applications of these models within the study process. These gaps will also be examined. Recommendations for future areas of study will be suggested. These will be based on the need for modeling efforts to take into account the context in which the modern generation of technology user is situated