Mobile Video Streaming Applications: A Systematic Review of Test Metrics in Usability Evaluation

In evaluating the usability of mobile video streaming applications, the performance of the applications comes into focus. This is because the performance of mobile streaming applications affects their usability. From this study, video streaming and video quality are identified as the two most evaluated elements in the usability test of mobile video streaming applications. These elements are affected by several related factors that are peculiar to the mobile platforms and domains. These in turn affect the usability of the applications. In mobile platforms, bandwidth is low and network connections are unstable; this is coupled with the limitations caused by the smallness of the screen sizes of the mobile devices. Furthermore, startup delays, jitter, latency and rebuffering are the determining factors for the performance of mobile video streaming. On the other hand, video quality is determined by frame rate, bit rate, and resolution. These factors present themselves due to the mobile context of mobile streaming applications. They combine to influence the performance of the applications as well as their usability. Therefore, in considering the usability of these set of applications, these factors (metrics) are important as they determine the performance of the applications and by and large also affect the usability of the applications. Other factors identified in the study that affect the usability of mobile streaming applications include: functionality, social context and user interface and appearance. On the whole, this paper presents the results of a systematic review of test metrics in the usability evaluation of mobile video streaming applications. The systematic review approach used include: defining the search strategy, selection of primary studies, the extraction of data, and the implementation of a synthesis strategy. Using this methodology, 238 studies were found; however, only 51 relevant studies were eventually selected for the review. The study reveals that time taken for video streaming and the video quality were the two most popular metrics used in the usability test and evaluation of mobile video streaming applications. Besides, most of the studies concentrated on the usability of mobile TV as users switch from traditional TV to mobile TV

CASPR: Judiciously Using the Cloud for Wide-Area Packet Recovery

We revisit a classic networking problem -- how to recover from lost packets in the best-effort Internet. We propose CASPR, a system that judiciously leverages the cloud to recover from lost or delayed packets. CASPR supplements and protects best-effort connections by sending a small number of coded packets along the highly reliable but expensive cloud paths. When receivers detect packet loss, they recover packets with the help of the nearby data center, not the sender, thus providing quick and reliable packet recovery for latency-sensitive applications. Using a prototype implementation and its deployment on the public cloud and the PlanetLab testbed, we quantify the benefits of CASPR in providing fast, cost effective packet recovery. Using controlled experiments, we also explore how these benefits translate into improvements up and down the network stack

The quality of service of the deployed LTE technology by mobile network operators in Abuja-Nigeria

In this study, the real-world performance analysis of four Nigerian mobile network operators (MNOs), namely MTN, GLO, Airtel, and 9Mobile long-term evolution (LTE) cellular network, were analyzed and compared. The Nigerian MNOs utilize 5 MHz, 10 MH, and 20 MHz channel bandwidths based on third-generation partnership project’s (3 GPPs) recommendation. The presented analysis shows the uplink (UL), and downlink (DL) throughputs gaps in mobility condition as well as other LTE’s system quality of service (QoS) key performance indicators (KPI’s) of: Connection drop rate, connection failure rate, peak physical downlink throughput, minimum radio link control (RLC) downlink throughput threshold and latency are not strictly followed. The reason may be due to a lack of regulatory oversight enforcement. The comparative studies showed that MTN provides the best QoS. The introduction of novel LTE QoS metrics herein referred to as national independent wireless broadband quality reporting (NIWBQR) is the significant contribution of this study. The goal of this study is to show the quality of the network as it affects the user's experience. Important observation showed that all the MNOs are not adhering to the 3 GPPs specified user plane latency of 30 ms and control plane latency of 100 ms, respectively, which makes video streaming and low latency communication a near-impossible task

Social media content for business and user engagement on Facebook

Facebook is regularly used by businesses to present themselves to users and communicate with them. most users act passivily by simply reading and viewing a company's official homepage. Few followers adopt a more active role, such as commenting and interacting with each other and with the company, fewer still are reactive and proactive, becoming co-creators of content. This study examines the type of content entered by businesses to stimulate user engagement, and how participation and activism is stimulated, through the creation of appropriate indexes. The results obtained uncover previously overlooked aspects of conversation and content setting, to encourage user engagement

Mobile video streaming applications: a systematic review of test metrics in usability evaluation

In evaluating the usability of mobile video streaming applications, the performance of the applications comes into focus.This is because the performance of mobile streaming applications affects their usability. From this study, video streaming and video quality are identified as the two most evaluated elements in the usability test of mobile video streaming applications. These elements are affected by several related factors that are peculiar to the mobile platforms and domains. These in turn affect the usability of the applications. In mobile platforms, bandwidth is low and network connections are unstable; this is coupled with the limitations caused by the smallness of the screen sizes of the mobile devices. Furthermore, startup delays, jitter, latency and rebuffering are the determining factors for the performance of mobile video streaming. On the other hand, video quality is determined by frame rate, bit rate, and resolution. These factors present themselves due to the mobile context of mobile streaming applications. They combine to influence the performance of the applications as well as their usability. Therefore, in considering the usability of these set of applications, these factors (metrics) are important as they determine the performance of the applications and by and large also affect the usability of the applications. Other factors identified in the study that affect the usability of mobile streaming applications include: functionality, social context and user interface and appearance. On the whole, this paper presents the results of a systematic review of test metrics in the usability evaluation of mobile video streaming applications. The systematic review approach used include: defining the search strategy, selection of primary studies, the extraction of data, and the implementation of a synthesis strategy. Using this methodology, 238 studies were found; however, only 51 relevant studies were eventually selected for the review. The study reveals that time taken for video streaming and the video quality were the two most popular metrics used in the usability test and evaluation of mobile video streaming applications. Besides, most of the studies concentrated on the usability of mobile TV as users switch from traditional TV to mobile TV

I'll Be Back: On the Multiple Lives of Users of a Mobile Activity Tracking Application

Mobile health applications that track activities, such as exercise, sleep, and diet, are becoming widely used. While these activity tracking applications have the potential to improve our health, user engagement and retention are critical factors for their success. However, long-term user engagement patterns in real-world activity tracking applications are not yet well understood. Here we study user engagement patterns within a mobile physical activity tracking application consisting of 115 million logged activities taken by over a million users over 31 months. Specifically, we show that over 75% of users return and re-engage with the application after prolonged periods of inactivity, no matter the duration of the inactivity. We find a surprising result that the re-engagement usage patterns resemble those of the start of the initial engagement period, rather than being a simple continuation of the end of the initial engagement period. This evidence points to a conceptual model of multiple lives of user engagement, extending the prevalent single life view of user activity. We demonstrate that these multiple lives occur because the users have a variety of different primary intents or goals for using the app. We find evidence for users being more likely to stop using the app once they achieved their primary intent or goal (e.g., weight loss). However, these users might return once their original intent resurfaces (e.g., wanting to lose newly gained weight). Based on insights developed in this work, including a marker of improved primary intent performance, our prediction models achieve 71% ROC AUC. Overall, our research has implications for modeling user re-engagement in health activity tracking applications and has consequences for how notifications, recommendations as well as gamification can be used to increase engagement