Methods of Understanding and Designing For Mobile Communities

Society is increasingly on the move, mobile devices are commonly being used to coordinate group actions, and group communication features are rapidly being added to existing technologies. Despite this, little is known about how mobile groups act, or how communications technologies should be designed to augment existing behaviour. This is partially due to minimal research being done on the topic, but also to the lack of research methods available to study the topic with. Mobile groups are challenging to study because of frequent and long-duration movement, frequent distribution, and the rapidly changing environments they operate within. To address these issues, this research focuses on methodological issues surrounding the development of mobile devices for mobile groups and communities. More specifically it addresses backpackers, who are a relevant example of this type of community. The research primarily explores the convergence of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and the field of mobile device development. This enables the combination of emphasis on designing technologies for groups, social implications, mobile device design, and mobile settings. Major research outcomes presented in this thesis lie in three areas: 1) methods, 2) technology designs, and 3) backpacker culture. Five studies of backpacker behaviour and requirements form the core of the research. The methods used are in-situ and exploratory, and apply both novel and existing techniques to the domain of backpackers and mobile groups. Methods demonstrated in this research include: field trips for exploring mobile group behaviour and device usage, a social pairing exercise to explore social networks, contextual postcards to gain distributed feedback, and blog analysis which provides post-hoc diary data. Theoretical contributions include: observations on method triangulation, a taxonomy of mobility research, method templates to assist method usage, and identification of key categories leading to mobile group requirements. Design related outcomes include: 57 mobile tourism product ideas, a format for conveying product concepts, and a design for a wearable device to assist mobile researchers. Our understanding of backpacker culture has also improved as a consequence of the research. It has also generated user requirements to aid mobile development, methods of visualising mobile groups and communities, and a listing of relevant design tensions. Additionally, the research has added to our understanding of how new technologies such as blogs, SMS and iPods are being used by backpackers and how mobile groups naturally communicate

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy of Dynamic Ridesharing

Dynamic ridesharing is a form of carpooling that allows anyone in a city to hitchhike a ride on short notice. Firms like Lyft and Uber have location-based applications for smartphones that are said to revolutionize this sector of transportation. Nonetheless, this mobile service is still in its infancy and there is a constellation of alternative solutions, with no reliable way to benchmark their diffusion across cities. We propose a method that treats dynamic ridesharing like a virus and (1) collects data from Google trends, as if it were a flu; (2) monitors its viral diffusion by implementing an epidemiological model; (3) infers strategic choices of a firm and represents them on a business model canvas. Our data analysis illustrates that (a) the Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible model performs better than the traditional S-shaped curve, and (b) our method allows us to estimate the evolution of new users and dropped users in every city