The role of an omnipresent pocket device : smartphone attendance and the role of user habits

Smartphones are convergent, always-on pocket devices that have taken up an important role in the life of their users. This warrants a closer look into how this medium is used in every-day situations. Are goal-oriented incentives the main drive for smartphone usage, or do habits play a critical role? This study with 481 Belgian smartphone users attempts to describe the precedents of smartphone attendance by validating the model of media attendance (MMA), a social-cognitive theory of uses and gratifications (LaRose & Eastin, 2004). We surprisingly did not find evidence for a significant effect of habits on smartphone usage. We suggest two explanations. First, we suggest some uncertainties concerning the MMA methodology. Second, we suggest a more complex reality in which several habitual use patterns are shaped, dependent on user, context and device. This warrants a more in-depth study, using more advanced measures for smartphone usage and habit strength

ConXsense - Automated Context Classification for Context-Aware Access Control

We present ConXsense, the first framework for context-aware access control on mobile devices based on context classification. Previous context-aware access control systems often require users to laboriously specify detailed policies or they rely on pre-defined policies not adequately reflecting the true preferences of users. We present the design and implementation of a context-aware framework that uses a probabilistic approach to overcome these deficiencies. The framework utilizes context sensing and machine learning to automatically classify contexts according to their security and privacy-related properties. We apply the framework to two important smartphone-related use cases: protection against device misuse using a dynamic device lock and protection against sensory malware. We ground our analysis on a sociological survey examining the perceptions and concerns of users related to contextual smartphone security and analyze the effectiveness of our approach with real-world context data. We also demonstrate the integration of our framework with the FlaskDroid architecture for fine-grained access control enforcement on the Android platform.Comment: Recipient of the Best Paper Awar

Introducing an M-Commerce Course into the Business Management Curriculum: Experiences and Recommendations

Mobility has become an important extension to the business strategies of present-day organizations. Thus, organizations are increasingly seeking managers with knowledge of value chain related to mobile-oriented business activities, usually referred to as mobile commerce (m-commerce). Accordingly, business management schools are interesting in designing their curricula to respond to the need for m-commerce knowledge and, in particular, the scope of the content for an m-commerce course. The general conception of m-commerce is that it is a component of e-business or e-commerce. This paper presents the unique dimensions of m-commerce that makes it stand out as a separate course for postgraduate business management students. This paper also provides input in regard to the design and delivery of the course by drawing upon the recent teaching experience of the authors at a highly respected business school in India. The course design covers mobility-related technology elements as related to business in diverse industry segments and is expected to enable students to develop a suitable mobile strategy for a real-time business scenario. The course content was drawn primarily from research papers, industry reports, and examples of trending mobile applications. The pedagogy was a blend of lectures and classroom exercises on innovative case studies. The response of the students to the course indicated a high degree of satisfaction in regard to its relevance. The inputs provided in this paper are believed to serve as guidance to business management schools that are interested developing such a course

Understanding the Role of Social Networks on Labor Market Outcomes Using a Large Dataset from a Mobile Network

We use a new and unique dataset combining social network data from Call Detail Records with employment information on mobile phone subscribers to study the role of information networks on job market outcomes. The novel contribution of our work is to focus on the effect of actual social connections beyond that associated to living in the same neighborhood. We find that the propensity to work together is two orders of magnitude greater for a pair of neighbors who call each other than that for a pair of neighbors who do not, suggesting that actual social ties play a significant role in learning about job opportunities. We also find that social networks play a stronger role in less privileged neighborhoods, which provides some evidence that social networks may be unable to mitigate the insulation problems of such neighborhoods

Handset-based analysis of mobile service usage

This dissertation defines a handset-based method for analyzing mobile service usage. The research method can be used in conducting empirical studies of consumer behavior. The method combines collected handset-based usage data with survey data, both of which are important in modeling consumer behavior. The process involves a handset-based software module that automatically extracts data on service usage, and transmits this data to centralized servers for the purposes of analysis. The method facilitates empirical research on the mobile Internet and computer like functionalities of new mobile phones. The research method is compared to other methods of empirical mobile service research. On several occasions the value of the defined research method is significant, providing accurate logs of service usage along with location and time stamps. The combination of subjective survey and objective usage data provides new angles in empirical research. The research conducted claims that the handset-based data collection method and associated analysis approaches provide valuable information for the stakeholders of the mobile industry. Results can be used in developing and launching new mobile services. Academic domains for the application of the research method include measurement of service usage, contextual end-user research, modeling of service adoption, and analysis of moderating factors of usage. Regarding the actual use of the method, three key observations are made. First, though the dissertation proves the novelty value of accurately monitoring the behavior of end-users in using device functions, mobile services, and various applications, the limitations of the method need to be carefully considered and only suitable research problems should be studied. In particular, the adverse selection of panelists creates challenges in the generalization of results. Second, in addition to descriptive statistics including ranking of services, contextual statistics of service usage, and application adoption metrics, future research should interpret and explain the results more thoroughly, seeking a deeper understanding of reasons for usage observed. Most importantly, future research should utilize customized surveys and usage data in parallel, as demonstrated in the dissertation. Third, in order to support the scalability of the research method, the panel study process should be modified. The dissertation identifies the key challenges to be solved when replicating the study process in bigger, international studies. Panelists should be provided with other than monetary benefits for participating in a study. The handset-based research method is a new innovation, providing a tool for further research and applications. The early results indicate that the method can be utilized in research problems that have substantial practical relevance in the mobile industry

A longitudinal review of Mobile HCI research Methods

This paper revisits a research methods survey from 2003 and contrasts it with a survey from 2010. The motivation is to gain insight about how mobile HCI research has evolved over the last decade in terms of approaches and focus. The paper classifies 144 publications from 2009 published in 10 prominent outlets by their research methods and purpose. Comparing this to the survey for 2000-02 show that mobile HCI research has changed methodologically. From being almost exclusively driven by engineering and applied research, current mobile HCI is primarily empirically driven, involves a high number of field studies, and focus on evaluating and understanding, as well as engineering. It has also become increasingly multi-methodological, combining and diversifying methods from different disciplines. At the same time, new opportunities and challenges have emerged