165,161 research outputs found

    Mobile travel services: the effect of moderating context factors

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    This article has two objectives: (1) to draw an international comparison regarding the acceptance of mobile travel services in three countries with different profiles when it comes to travelling and mobile telecommunications, and (2) to extend relevant literature on mobile applications, more specifically travel services, by including context-related concepts, taking moderating factors like location, mobility of users, physical, and social context into account. Based on surveys that were carried out in 2009, structural equation modelling is used to identify differences in patterns in the use of mobile travel services and in the role of context-related variables. the conclusion of this article is that context-related factors, that is, mobility and (physical and social) context, have an impact on the relationship between the core concepts of technology Acceptance model (TAM) and Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) research. many studies on the acceptance and use of mobile services indicate that a deep understanding is needed of individual, context-related, and technological characteristics and the way they interact. this is also highly relevant to the travel industry, which wants to utilize the opportunities provided by mobile technology

    Exploring personality-targeted UI design in online social participation systems

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    We present a theoretical foundation and empirical findings demonstrating the effectiveness of personality-targeted design. Much like a medical treatment applied to a person based on his specific genetic profile, we argue that theory-driven, personality-targeted UI design can be more effective than design applied to the entire population. The empirical exploration focused on two settings, two populations and two personality traits: Study 1 shows that users' extroversion level moderates the relationship between the UI cue of audience size and users' contribution. Study 2 demonstrates that the effectiveness of social anchors in encouraging online contributions depends on users' level of emotional stability. Taken together, the findings demonstrate the potential and robustness of the interactionist approach to UI design. The findings contribute to the HCI community, and in particular to designers of social systems, by providing guidelines to targeted design that can increase online participation. Copyright © 2013 ACM

    The application development process: What role does it play in the success of an application for the user developer?

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    End user development of applications forms a significant part of organisational systems development. This study investigates the role that developing an application plays in the eventual success of the application for the user developer. The results of this study suggest that the process of developing an application not only predisposes an end user developer to be more satisfied with the application than they would be if it were developed by another end user, but also leads them to perform better with it. Thus the results of the study highlight the contribution of the process of application development to application success

    Mobile travel services: A three-country study into the impact of local circumstances

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    In this paper we explore the difference in acceptance patterns of mobile services that are related to travelling in three countries: Finland, The Netherlands and New Zealand. The objective of this paper is to understand differences in the use of Mobile Travel Services in three countries that differ with regard to national travel patterns. This paper also contributes to the discussion of the relevance of the Technology Acceptance Model for mobile applications by focusing on the importance of context characteristics, such as the degree of mobility of the user, the social situation people are in, and their need for social interaction. Based on surveys in the three countries as executed in 2009, we use structural equation modelling to find differences in patterns. The paper concludes that context factors have an impact on the relation between the core concepts as used in TAM and DOI approach, and that t here is a clear need for closer research in the moderating effect of physical (e.g. mobile and fixed context) and social context, as well as the need for social interaction. Moreover it is clear that country specific characteristics play a role in the acceptance of mobile travel services. As we pointed out in many of our research projects before the acceptance and use of mobile services requires deep understanding from individual, context and technology related characteristics and their mutual interactions

    Mobile Agents for Mobile Tourists: A User Evaluation of Gulliver's Genie

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    How mobile computing applications and services may be best designed, implemented and deployed remains the subject of much research. One alternative approach to developing software for mobile users that is receiving increasing attention from the research community is that of one based on intelligent agents. Recent advances in mobile computing technology have made such an approach feasible. We present an overview of the design and implementation of an archetypical mobile computing application, namely that of an electronic tourist guide. This guide is unique in that it comprises a suite of intelligent agents that conform to the strong intentional stance. However, the focus of this paper is primarily concerned with the results of detailed user evaluations conducted on this system. Within the literature, comprehensive evaluations of mobile context-sensitive systems are sparse and therefore, this paper seeks, in part, to address this deficiency

    Are we there yet? The journey of ICT integration

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    [Abstract]: “Are we there yet, are we there yet, how much longer?” This plea can be heard from teachers throughout the world. The ICT integration pioneers beam at the thought of what’s next, however the middle and late adopters shudder at the thought of what is coming next and wonder if and when they are going to get there, wherever there is? This differentiating attitude in ICT integration can be attributed to the teachers’ personal confidence in using ICTs. This paper explores the ICT integration journey of teacher’s from 10 provincial primary schools in Queensland, Australia. It will examine the teachers’ past and present attitudes toward the integration of ICTs in their classrooms and attempt to predict their future attitudes. Participants will also be invited to discuss attitudes towards ICT integration from their perspective

    A study into user acceptance of new technology: British Airways ground transport department Heathrow Terminal 5

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    This project was conducted with the help and encouragement of British Airways (BA) management. It was carried out at Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5 (T5) where a new Resource Management System (RMS) that is based upon Internet Protocol (IP) has been implemented. RMS has replaced traditional pen and paper and radio systems for allocating work tasks to 4,000 airport operational staff. This research project studied one application of the RMS system; the allocation of tasks to the coach drivers in the Ground Transport Services (GTS) department. The user acceptance of the RMS system by the drivers was evaluated. In the previous 20 years, user acceptance theories have been developed which have shown that increased user acceptance of new Information Technology (IT) projects significantly reduces costs and improves efficiency (Davis, 1980). The most comprehensive theory is that of Sun and Zhang (2006) who identify critical factors regarding individual user acceptance (gender, age, experience, cultural background and intellectual capability). This research project used a case study methodology: three days were spent airside at T5 observing and interviewing a sample of drivers. The project research question was: 'Can the degree of RMS acceptance by the GTS end-users be determined by factors identified in user acceptance theories?' Essentially, it was not possible to answer this question because of two reasons. First there was little difference in level of user acceptance; it was very high for all users. Second there was also very little difference in the sample and population. The drivers were all male, over 90% between 42 and 65 years of age, with similar levels of experience regarding the RMS technology and computers in general. In addition, it was not possible to measure any difference between the intellectual capabilities of the participants. A difference in the cultural background was identified; there were two ethnic groups, Asian and Caucasian. However, detailed analysis of the responses to the questionnaire demonstrated that there was no evidence of different levels of user acceptance of these groups. Recommendations to improve the testing of user acceptance theories are included in this report

    Business school techspectations Technology in the daily lives and educational experiences of business students

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    Business School Techspectations is the second in a series of reports based on research by the DCU Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre (LInK) at DCU Business School. With its roots in an Irish business school, it is no surprise that LInK’s mission is to strengthen the competitiveness, productivity, innovation and entrepreneurial capacity of the Irish economy. Ireland’s next generation transformation will be enabled by information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital participation by members of Irish society. As a university research centre we have an important role to play in supporting education, industry and government to accelerate this transformation

    Computing motion in the primate's visual system

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    Computing motion on the basis of the time-varying image intensity is a difficult problem for both artificial and biological vision systems. We will show how one well-known gradient-based computer algorithm for estimating visual motion can be implemented within the primate's visual system. This relaxation algorithm computes the optical flow field by minimizing a variational functional of a form commonly encountered in early vision, and is performed in two steps. In the first stage, local motion is computed, while in the second stage spatial integration occurs. Neurons in the second stage represent the optical flow field via a population-coding scheme, such that the vector sum of all neurons at each location codes for the direction and magnitude of the velocity at that location. The resulting network maps onto the magnocellular pathway of the primate visual system, in particular onto cells in the primary visual cortex (V1) as well as onto cells in the middle temporal area (MT). Our algorithm mimics a number of psychophysical phenomena and illusions (perception of coherent plaids, motion capture, motion coherence) as well as electrophysiological recordings. Thus, a single unifying principle ‘the final optical flow should be as smooth as possible’ (except at isolated motion discontinuities) explains a large number of phenomena and links single-cell behavior with perception and computational theory
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