health social networks, dental review sites, search, ratings, rankings, recommendations, trust.

This paper introduces the concept of the mobile value core that is based on Expectation Confirmation Theory. The mobile value core determines the value relationships between mobile technology provision and mobile technology usage with special regard to value expectations, value perceptions and actual value creation. Creation of mobile value requires mobile co-creation methods and tools to achieve better expectation-experience fit of usage and therefore higher value for both sides, users and providers of mobile devices and applications. The set-up of a mobile Living Lab and a corresponding research agenda is outlined according to the hypotheses drawn from the mobile value core concept

Effect of Mobile Telecommunication Technologies on Globalization of Nigerian Rural Areas

The globalization of a country is today measured with respect to indices of globalization such as the Maastricht Globalization Index (MGI) and the Konjunkturforschungsstelle (KOF). These indices of national globalization often have an urban bias. This study however explores the extent to which these international measures include rural environments of the globalizing country. Application of the MGI/KOF indices for determination of the Nigerian rural environment inclusion in globalization showed that the country’s rural communities were mainly integrated technologically by virtue of telephony (communication technology) penetration of rural areas. An attempt to modify the MGI/KOF globalization indexes for rural inclusion showed that the Nigerian rural communities were technologically integrated but only partially integrated politically and socio-culturally. Based on this, it was recommended that a globalization index for rural inclusion needs to be developed to establish countrywide globalization in absolute terms

Addressing data collection challenges in ICT for development projects

This paper equips researchers for addressing a wide range of data collection challenges experienced when interacting with marginalized communities as part of ICT4D projects in developing countries. This secondary research categorizes data collection challenges reported in multiple disciplines, and summarizes the guidance from the past literature to deal with the challenges. The open, axial, and selective coding of data collection challenges reported by the past literature suggests that it is necessary to manage scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, and risks for addressing the data collection challenges. This paper illustrates the ways to manage these seven dimensions using (a) the success stories of data collection in the past, (b) the lessons learned by researchers during data collection as documented by the past literature, and (c) the advice they offer for collection data from marginalized communities in developing countries

The Role of SMS in Mobile Data Service Diffusion in China: A Longitudinal Case Study Based on Actor-Network Theory

While Japan’s I-mode failed to be adopted in other countries and WAP also did not succeed in promoting mobile data services, a rather simple technology of SMS made its way to facilitate the growth of mobile data services in China. In this paper, we conduct a case study based on actor- network theory in order to explain 1) how mobile data services are developed and adopted in China, 2) what is the role of SMS in facilitating the development of mobile data services, and 3) what technological and social factors attribute to the adoption process of mobile data services. Drawing upon actor-network theory (ANT), this paper investigates longitudinally the driving forces fueling the development of data services in the China market. By analyzing the network structures formed by the various actors such as mobile data service providers, government departments, technical artifacts, customers, etc., we can better understand the dynamics of the mobile data service development in China and provide valuable references for the rest of the world

On the Role of In-situ Making and Evaluation in Cross-Cultural Co-design

There is growing interest in designing products and interactions across cultures. In this paper we report on our attempts to use in-situ making and evaluation to facilitate a short co-design process with outside designers in an ethnic and rural community. We found that rapid prototyping in the local context provided a mechanism to quickly engage designers with locals in informing iterative design refinement. Our research suggests that using in-situ making interlaced with evaluation is a feasible approach to drive designers to immerse, exchange and design within a cultural different context in the early stage of design exploration. We found that the rapid nature of our process makes it more suited for cultural product design led by designers than cross-cultural design

SISTEMI PER LA MOBILITÀ DEGLI UTENTI E DEGLI APPLICATIVI IN RETI WIRED E WIRELESS

The words mobility and network are found together in many contexts. The issue alone of modeling geographical user mobility in wireless networks has countless applications. Depending on one’s background, the concept is investigated with very different tools and aims. Moreover, the last decade saw also a growing interest in code mobility, i.e. the possibility for soft-ware applications (or parts thereof) to migrate and keeps working in different devices and environ-ments. A notable real-life and successful application is distributed computing, which under certain hypothesis can void the need of expensive supercomputers. The general rationale is splitting a very demanding computing task into a large number of independent sub-problems, each addressable by limited-power machines, weakly connected (typically through the Internet, the quintessence of a wired network). Following this lines of thought, we organized this thesis in two distinct and independent parts: Part I It deals with audio fingerprinting, and a special emphasis is put on the application of broadcast mon-itoring and on the implementation aspects. Although the problem is tackled from many sides, one of the most prominent difficulties is the high computing power required for the task. We thus devised and operated a distributed-computing solution, which is described in detail. Tests were conducted on the computing cluster available at the Department of Engineering of the University of Ferrara. Part II It focuses instead on wireless networks. Even if the approach is quite general, the stress is on WiFi networks. More specifically, we tried to evaluate how mobile-users’ experience can be improved. Two tools are considered. In the first place, we wrote a packet-level simulator and used it to esti-mate the impact of pricing strategies in allocating the bandwidth resource, finding out the need for such solutions. Secondly, we developed a high-level simulator that strongly advises to deepen the topic of user cooperation for the selection of the “best” point of access, when many are available. We also propose one such policy

Yksinyrittäjien taloushallintokäytännöt sähköisen taloushallinnon kontekstissa

Self-employment has been growing steadily in Finland, meaning that individual entrepreneurs have become an important customer segment for many service providers. Thus it is becoming a more significant user group for software companies who design and develop accounting-related software as well. This thesis studies the accounting-related practices of Finnish individual entrepreneurs, especially in the context of electronic accounting, or E-accounting. Specific focus is placed on entrepreneurs who utilize the services of external accounting firms, meaning that they have outsourced at least some of their accounting-related tasks. The objective of the research is to conclude insights of this particular user group, which could later be applied in the design phase of accounting software. The research was conducted with a qualitative approach using such methods as semi-structured interview as well as contextual inquiry. Furthermore, user feedback by individual entrepreneurs regarding a particular accounting software (Finago Procountor) was collected and analyzed. The results indicate that individual entrepreneurs have varying professional and educational backgrounds, which also makes their accounting-related skills and practices highly variable. Regardless of their background, typical work-related challenges faced by entrepreneurs include financial instability and time management. This makes it vital to design accounting software with user-centered design methods; by providing an optimal user experience and usability, the entrepreneurs can perform relevant accounting-related tasks effortlessly and also consider the software worth its costs. While individual entrepreneurs have varying skills and backgrounds, they tend to outsource the same accounting-related tasks to their accountants, leaving the entrepreneurs themselves with such tasks as invoicing, receipt handling and monitoring of their financial status. Therefore when designing an accounting software specifically for such entrepreneurial users, these tasks should be placed under more focus. Furthermore, the results indicate that the perceived complexity of current E-accounting solutions together with the experienced lack of time leads to the entrepreneurs handling their accounting-related tasks separately from their core business activities, meaning that accounting-related tasks are not well integrated into the everyday work of entrepreneurs.Itsensä työllistäminen on yleistynyt tasaisesti Suomessa, minkä vuoksi yksinyrittäjistä on tullut tärkeä asiakassegmentti monelle palveluntarjoajalle. Näin ollen yksinyrittäjien merkitys on kasvanut myös käyttäjäryhmänä yrityksille, jotka suunnittelevat ja kehittävät taloushallinnon ohjelmistoja. Tämä diplomityö tutkii suomalaisten yksinyrittäjien taloushallintokäytäntöjä, erityisesti sähköisen taloushallinnon kontekstissa. Varsinainen painoarvo on niissä yrittäjissä, jotka käyttävät ulkoisten tilitoimistojen palveluita ja ovat täten ulkoistaneet ainakin osan taloushallintoon liittyvistä toimenpiteistään. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on kerätä tähän käyttäjäryhmään liittyviä havaintoja, joita voitaisiin myöhemmin hyödyntää taloushallinto-ohjelmiston suunnitteluvaiheessa. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvalitatiivisella lähestymistavalla hyödyntäen tutkimusmenetelminä esimerkiksi haastatteluja ja kontekstuaalista havainnointia. Lisäksi yksinyrittäjiltä kerättiin ja analysoitiin käyttäjäpalautetta eräästä taloushallinnon ohjelmistosta (Finago Procountor). Tulokset osoittavat, että yksinyrittäjien monimuotoinen ammatillinen sekä koulutuksellinen tausta tekevät myös heidän taloushallintokäytännöistään ja siihen liittyvistä taidoistaan vaihtelevia. Taustastaan riippumattomasti yksinyrittäjien työssään kohtaamat vaikeudet tyypillisesti liittyvät epävakaaseen talouteen ja ajanhallintaan. Tästä syystä taloushallinto-ohjelmiston suunnittelu käyttäjälähtöisin menetelmin on erityisen tärkeää; ohjelmiston tarjotessa optimaalisen käytettävyyden ja käyttäjäkokemuksen yrittäjät pystyvät hoitamaan taloushallintoon liittyvät tehtävänsä vaivattomasti, ja täten pitää ohjelmistoa kustannustensa arvoisena. Vaikka yksinyrittäjien taidot ja taustat vaihtelevat, heillä on tapana ulkoistaa samankaltaisesti taloushallintoon liittyviä toimenpiteitä kirjanpitäjilleen, jättäen yrittäjille itselleen vastuualueiksi esim. laskutuksen, kuittien käsittelyn ja taloudellisen tilanteensa seuraamisen. Siksi taloushallinto- ohjelmistoa suunnitellessa näihin osa-alueisiin tulisi kiinnittää erityistä huomiota. Lisäksi tulokset osoittavat, että nykyisten taloushallinto-ohjelmistojen koettu monimutkaisuus yhdessä koetun ajanpuutteen kanssa johtavat siihen, että yrittäjät hoitavat taloushallintoon liittyvät tehtävänsä erillään muusta työstään, jolloin taloushallinnon hoitaminen ei ole täydellisesti integroitunut yksinyrittäjän arkeen