Cellular Phones Influence(s) and Impacts(s) on Social Interactions and Interpersonal Relationships

This paper seeks to explore how cellular phones (cell phones/mobiles) have influenced and impacted social interactions and interpersonal relationships. There have been a number of suggested theories and studies that have been contributed to the rising popularity and commonality of cell phones as to how they are affecting the way individuals are interacting in society. Some of these include, a change in the concept of time and space (Fortunati, 2002), lack of face-to-face interaction (Thompson and Cupples, 2008), the maintenance of relationships, social absences, and social dependency (Reid and Reid, 2004). In addition to these ideas, it has also been suggested that the use of cell phones has had a negative affect on social relationships, grammar, and increased social anxiety (Tully, 2003)

Mapping, sensing and visualising the digital co-presence in the public arena

This paper reports on work carried out within the Cityware project using mobile technologies to map, visualise and project the digital co-presence in the city. This paper focuses on two pilot studies exploring the Bluetooth landscape in the city of Bath. Here we apply adapted and ‘digitally augmented’ methods for spatial observation and analysis based on established methods used extensively in the space syntax approach to urban design. We map the physical and digital flows at a macro level and observe static space use at the micro level. In addition we look at social and mobile behaviour from an individual’s point of view. We apply a method based on intervention through ‘Sensing and projecting’ Bluetooth names and digital identity in the public arena. We present early findings in terms of patterns of Bluetooth flow and presence, and outline initial observations about how people’s reaction towards the projection of their Bluetooth names practices in public. In particular we note the importance of constructing socially meaningful relations between people mediated by these technologies. We discuss initial results and outline issues raised in detail before finally describing ongoing work

Mobile travel services: the effect of moderating context factors

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

Emotions in context: examining pervasive affective sensing systems, applications, and analyses

Pervasive sensing has opened up new opportunities for measuring our feelings and understanding our behavior by monitoring our affective states while mobile. This review paper surveys pervasive affect sensing by examining and considering three major elements of affective pervasive systems, namely; “sensing”, “analysis”, and “application”. Sensing investigates the different sensing modalities that are used in existing real-time affective applications, Analysis explores different approaches to emotion recognition and visualization based on different types of collected data, and Application investigates different leading areas of affective applications. For each of the three aspects, the paper includes an extensive survey of the literature and finally outlines some of challenges and future research opportunities of affective sensing in the context of pervasive computing

Using Technology Enabled Qualitative Research to Develop Products for the Social Good, An Overview

This paper discusses the potential benefits of the convergence of three recent trends for the design of socially beneficial products and services: the increasing application of qualitative research techniques in a wide range of disciplines, the rapid mainstreaming of social media and mobile technologies, and the emergence of software as a service. Presented is a scenario facilitating the complex data collection, analysis, storage, and reporting required for the qualitative research recommended for the task of designing relevant solutions to address needs of the underserved. A pilot study is used as a basis for describing the infrastructure and services required to realize this scenario. Implications for innovation of enhanced forms of qualitative research are presented

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

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

Advertising Media and the Green Environmental Aspect

Previous research has shown that consumer trust in advertising is low and continues to diminish. Researchers have also found that a big share of advertising investments is placed in less favorable media which can contribute to consumers’ increasing disbelief towards advertising. The results of the present study add to these previous findings by showing that the consumers’ trust levels in advertising vary among the 11 different media studied and that the marketing managers’ beliefs about consumers are not consistent with the consumers’ attitudes toward and usage of advertising media. Ignoring this phenomenon may have consequences for companies investing in less favorable media and thereby adding to consumers’ increasing disbelief towards advertising. The greatest discrepancy was found for ads on TV. The marketing managers seem to believe incorrectly that ads on TV are not only more trusted but also more used by consumers than the consumers claim. The consumers were found to have more negative attitudes toward TV advertising than what the marketing managers believe about consumers. TV is also perceived by the consumers as more harmful for the green environment than the marketing managers believe about consumers. The results show that the consumers have more positive attitudes toward direct marketing than the marketing managers believe about them. The consumers perceive direct marketing as better, less irritating and less harmful for the environment compared to the marketing managers’ beliefs about them. In addition, the consumers claim to make more use of ads in many of the paper-based media than TV advertising when they want to buy different products. This was found to be not consistent with the marketing managers’ beliefs about consumers. The consumers were found to have more negative attitudes toward advertising through the mobile phone than the marketing managers believe about consumers. Advertising through the mobile phone is considered by the consumers as one of the worst, most irritating and least trusted medium among the 11 advertising media studied. Moreover, the consumers consider the mobile phone to be more harmful for the green environment compared to the marketing managers’ beliefs about consumers. The results also show that the marketing managers feel more personal responsible towards caring for the green environment than the consumers. In addition, both the marketing managers and the consumers were found to have equally high demands and expectations of organizations to act responsibly toward the green environment. This contradicts previous findings that showed that the green environmental aspect is among the factors that are the least considered when marketing managers work with marketing communication in general and advertising media selection in particular. Furthermore, this study found that green environmental responsibility attitude (GERA) is weakly related to the perception on the green environmental aspect of advertising media. Thus, the discrepancies found in this study between the consumers and marketing managers regarding their green environmental perceptions on the 11 different advertising media should be explained by other factors.Advertising Media; Attitudes; Consumers; Marketing Managers; Green Environment; Green Environmental Responsibility Attitude (GERA);