Exploratory Research Methods for the Extremely Mobile: Supporting Community Interaction Amongst Backpackers

Mobile communities of backpackers represent a challenging population to study because of frequent and long-duration of movement, distributed group structure, and adventuresome activities. Five types of mobile group studies are presented here, which address challenges posed by this context to existing methods. Methods used include: contextual interviews, site surveys, participatory activities, field trips, team ethnography, contextual questionnaires, and electronic diary methods. The structure of each method is described, reflected upon and recommendations are made for its effective use. Many existing mobile and CSCW methods have difficulties when applied to mobile groups, and many are not designed for exploratory research dealing with product conceptualization or requirements analysis. We propose that improvising with a diverse set of available methods is appropriate for many mobile research situations. It may also be advantageous to use multiple methods which explore different aspects of target user groups' behaviour from a variety of perspectives. Furthermore, piloting studies to test methods with new user groups or situations, and using in-situ methods is advisable

Eyes-Off Physically Grounded Mobile Interaction

This thesis explores the possibilities, challenges and future scope for eyes-off, physically grounded mobile interaction. We argue that for interactions with digital content in physical spaces, our focus should not be constantly and solely on the device we are using, but fused with an experience of the places themselves, and the people who inhabit them. Through the design, development and evaluation of a series ofnovel prototypes we show the benefits of a more eyes-off mobile interaction style.Consequently, we are able to outline several important design recommendations for future devices in this area.The four key contributing chapters of this thesis each investigate separate elements within this design space. We begin by evaluating the need for screen-primary feedback during content discovery, showing how a more exploratory experience can be supported via a less-visual interaction style. We then demonstrate how tactilefeedback can improve the experience and the accuracy of the approach. In our novel tactile hierarchy design we add a further layer of haptic interaction, and show how people can be supported in finding and filtering content types, eyes-off. We then turn to explore interactions that shape the ways people interact with aphysical space. Our novel group and solo navigation prototypes use haptic feedbackfor a new approach to pedestrian navigation. We demonstrate how variations inthis feedback can support exploration, giving users autonomy in their navigationbehaviour, but with an underlying reassurance that they will reach the goal.Our final contributing chapter turns to consider how these advanced interactionsmight be provided for people who do not have the expensive mobile devices that areusually required. We extend an existing telephone-based information service to support remote back-of-device inputs on low-end mobiles. We conclude by establishingthe current boundaries of these techniques, and suggesting where their usage couldlead in the future

Ad hoc communities on the road: Serendipitous social encounters to enhance tourist experiences

Driving can be a lonely activity. While there has been a lot of research and technical inventions concerning car-to-car communication and passenger entertainment, there is still little work concerning connecting drivers. Whereas tourism is very much a social activity, drive tourists and road trippers have few options to communicate with fellow travelers. Our study is placed at the intersection of tourism and driving. It aims to enhance the trip experience during driving through social interaction. This paper explores how a mobile application that allows instant messaging between travelers sharing similar context can establish a temporary, ad hoc community and enhance the road trip experience. A prototype was developed and evaluated in various user and field studies. The study’s outcomes are relevant for the design of future mobile tourist guides that benefit from community design, social encounters and recommendations

The Underwhelming Effects of Automatic Location-Awareness on Collaboration in a Pervasive Game

In this paper we seek to empirically study the use of location-awareness of others in the context of mobile collaboration. We report on a field experiment carried out using a pervasive game we developed called CatchBob!. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, we show the underwhelming effects of automating location-awareness. Our results indeed shows that automating this process does not necessarily improve the task performance and that it can be detrimental to socio-cognitive processes involved in collaboration such as communication or the modeling of partners’ intents. The paper concludes with some potential impacts for location-based application practitioners

Please call ME.N.U.4EVER: designing for “Callback” in rural Africa

Proceedings of the Tenth International Workshop on Internationalisation of Products and Systems. Kutching, Malaysia, 11-14 July, 2011Designers and developers are naïve about the ways impoverished people in rural Africa innovate new uses of mobile technology to circumvent access difficulties. Here, we report on the local appropriation of an USSD ‘Callback’ service in a rural community in South Africa’s Eastern Cape which enables people to send free text messages and includes strategies that respond to severe constraints on message length and local communication protocols. This report shows that a participative approach, in which community members co-generate methods and interpret data, elicits major and formerly unreported findings. We describe the results of two sets of interviews about the use of cell-phones and Callback locally and the implications of this use for designing and realizing a media-sharing system. Our findings indicate that the community needs a system to charge phones and share media without consuming airtime and functionality for the 70-80% of people who do not own high-end phones. Use of Callback suggests people will manage a system to create, store and share content at a local ‘station’ but notify others about content using separate networks. Callback-use reveals local priorities that shape: the meaning of usability and utility; the ways people manage sequences of communication; and, the ‘rules’ that enable people to use Callback for multiple purposes and make sense of Callbacks despite ambiguity. These priorities inform introducing prototypes and contribute to exploring the communication patterns that might, subsequently, emerge.EPSRCDepartment of HE and Training approved lis

Accessing Data: Methods for understanding mobile technology use

Mobile devices, applications and services have become integrated into people’s dailylives on a personal and professional level. Although traditional research methods arebeing used to understand the use of mobile devices and applications, methodologicalchallenges still exist. Researchers have responded to these challenges in a variety ofways, with an emphasis on developing methods that enable new ways of accessing,making available and collecting data about mobile technology use. This paper identifies,defines, describes and presents, a preliminary framework for understanding themethodological responses emerging in current Mobile Human Computer Interaction(Mobile HCI) research

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

Co-Creating New Mobile Devices for Groups During Field Trips: MIS-2 Study

The second iteration of the Mobile Information Sharing studies (MIS-2) aimed to validate results from the previous study and to introduce mobile low-fidelity prototypes in a natural tourist activity. Seven foam prototypes with fictional functionality descriptions were carried and used by backpackers during the course of a tourist field trip. The trip consisted of walking through a city centre to a boat, taking a boat cruise, walking around an animal park and then taking the same journey back to their hostel. Backpackers added features and discussed these devices in a workshop. Variations to previous research methods included increased use of digital cameras and the use of three simultaneous observers for ethnographic observation. A repetition of the previous social pairing activity was conducted which explored different types of social ties with more participants. Study results include a rich understanding of travel conversation, in-situ effects of mobile device usage, and verification of research methods. Subgroups of participants within the study didn’t communicate much between each other and provided an interesting case of backpackers failing to connect even though they desired to. A field trip representing a typical tourist activity produced a number of situations where mobile device features were requested by participants. The social pairing activity produced some useful information for participants and provided design recommendations for social pairing systems. 11 design requirements for mobile travel devices were generated from observations and discussions with backpackers. Additional analysis produced 23 proposed product features. Recommendations have been made for improvements to the study design and methods for future mobile group research

Prototyping Social Action

Information technology has made social interaction an increasingly important topic for interaction design and technology development. Today’s mobile technology provides for rich communication and awareness between people, regardless of their whereabouts. When people are gathered together, technology is also often present, influencing or even actively taking part in the social activity. Social action is the essence of many systems studied, developed and prototyped by the design and research community. The problem is that this is often done without proper methodological backing. There is no lack of methods, but a need for an adequate approach: how should circumstances for social action to happen be created, how should it be observed, how should systematic, detailed inferences about it be produced for the purposes of design, and what design-related activities does such research serve? Drawing from ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, this study addresses social action and social prototypes in various settings: at a workplace, in the area of mobile multimedia and the domain of ubiquitous context-aware systems. The main contribution of this study is that it articulates how this framework can be brought into design studies. The cases in this study also demonstrate empirically that this approach works

Please call ME.N.U.4EVER: Callback & Social Media Sharing in Rural Africa

In this paper we report findings generated during the early phase of a research project that aims to design and develop social media sharing systems to benefit marginalized communities. Studies of cell-phone network users in the developing world have shown that the relatively high tariffs for network access have resulted in new and innovate uses of technology to circumvent these costs. In this paper we describe a completely new form of service appropriation and how it is being used to overcome tariff costs in a remote rural area of South Africa. In this country, cell-phone providers offer a highly constrained form of free messaging to their subscribers called “callback”. These requests contain the caller’s cell-phone number and the recipient’s very short personalized message. Up to five free callback requests can be sent per day to any South African cell-phone network. This service is provided for emergencies when as pay-as-you-go customers do not have any airtime left. However, callback is used in rural areas in ways that go far beyond emergencies. As with SMS, the constraints on the callback have been appropriated by people to shape both a new language and cultural interactions. This paper reports the context of our study in communication practices in a remote rural area of South Africa, our methodology which we position within Ethnographic Action Research, and our findings and their implications for the design, development and deployment of social media sharing systems for this area