ENHANCING USERS’ EXPERIENCE WITH SMART MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

The aim of this thesis is to investigate mobile guides for use with smartphones. Mobile guides have been successfully used to provide information, personalisation and navigation for the user. The researcher also wanted to ascertain how and in what ways mobile guides can enhance users' experience. This research involved designing and developing web based applications to run on smartphones. Four studies were conducted, two of which involved testing of the particular application. The applications tested were a museum mobile guide application and a university mobile guide mapping application. Initial testing examined the prototype work for the ‘Chronology of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah’ application. The results were used to assess the potential of using similar mobile guides in Brunei Darussalam’s museums. The second study involved testing of the ‘Kent LiveMap’ application for use at the University of Kent. Students at the university tested this mapping application, which uses crowdsourcing of information to provide live data. The results were promising and indicate that users' experience was enhanced when using the application. Overall results from testing and using the two applications that were developed as part of this thesis show that mobile guides have the potential to be implemented in Brunei Darussalam’s museums and on campus at the University of Kent. However, modifications to both applications are required to fulfil their potential and take them beyond the prototype stage in order to be fully functioning and commercially viable

Enhancing pharmaceutical packaging through a technology ecosystem to facilitate the reuse of medicines and reduce medicinal waste

The idea of reusing dispensed medicines is appealing to the general public provided its benefits are illustrated, its risks minimized, and the logistics resolved. For example, medicine reuse could help reduce medicinal waste, protect the environment and improve public health. However, the associated technologies and legislation facilitating medicine reuse are generally not available. The availability of suitable technologies could arguably help shape stakeholders’ beliefs and in turn, uptake of a future medicine reuse scheme by tackling the risks and facilitating the practicalities. A literature survey is undertaken to lay down the groundwork for implementing technologies on and around pharmaceutical packaging in order to meet stakeholders’ previously expressed misgivings about medicine reuse (’stakeholder requirements’), and propose a novel ecosystem for, in effect, reusing returned medicines. Methods: A structured literature search examining the application of existing technologies on pharmaceutical packaging to enable medicine reuse was conducted and presented as a narrative review. Results: Reviewed technologies are classified according to different stakeholders’ requirements, and a novel ecosystem from a technology perspective is suggested as a solution to reusing medicines. Conclusion: Active sensing technologies applying to pharmaceutical packaging using printed electronics enlist medicines to be part of the Internet of Things network. Validating the quality and safety of returned medicines through this network seems to be the most effective way for reusing medicines and the correct application of technologies may be the key enabler

WinkBall, ViewTalk and QR Touch TV White Paper

The following internal document details a summary of the impact and technical achievements undertaken in the development of three companies, WinKBall, ViewTalk, QR Touch TV . The technical details contained within this white paper was submitted to the UK government and I've been recognised as innovative and worthy of UK Government funding

The Dawn of Digital Payments: Revolutionizing India's Financial Landscape

The study investigates how India's digital payments revolution has altered the financial landscape. India has recently seen a huge movement towards digital payments as a result of the quick development of technology and the widespread usage of cell phones. This transformation has significantly changed the financial landscape of the country along with how people interact. Demonetization, a government program that was put into effect in 2016, made a substantial contribution to the growth of electronic payments. People and businesses started looking for other payment options as a result of the abrupt withdrawal of high-value currency notes, which increased the volume of digital transactions. People are finding it easier and easier to access digital payment systems as a result of the widespread use of smartphones and the affordability of internet access. With the rise in popularity of mobile payment apps like Paytm, PhonePe, and Google Pay, India's financial landscape has changed. Financial inclusion enabled by the digital revolution has allowed millions of unbanked and underbanked individuals to access formal financial services through digital payments. With just a smartphone and a bank account, people can easily send money, pay bills, and shop online. This change has promoted economic openness in the country and empowered small businesses

Costs and benefits of superfast broadband in the UK

This paper was commissioned from LSE Enterprise by Convergys Smart Revenue Solutions to stimulate an open and constructive debate among the main stakeholders about the balance between the costs, the revenues, and the societal benefits of ‘superfast’ broadband. The intent has been to analyse the available facts and to propose wider perspectives on economic and social interactions. The paper has two parts: one concentrates on superfast broadband deployment and the associated economic and social implications (for the UK and its service providers), and the other considers alternative social science approaches to these implications. Both parts consider the potential contribution of smart solutions to superfast broadband provision and use. Whereas Part I takes the “national perspective” and the “service provider perspective”, which deal with the implications of superfast broadband for the UK and for service providers, Part II views matters in other ways, particularly by looking at how to realise values beyond the market economy, such as those inherent in neighbourliness, trust and democrac

Creating Value By Object Hyperlinking Along The Consumer Buying Decision Process In The IoT Era

Within the IoT scope, a new application named ‘object hyperlinking’ has evolved. Object hyperlinking is the pervasive presence of different things or objects identified by tags, sensors, and mobile phones that can interact with each other as well as with their neighbors through unique addressing schemes for business purpose. Enabled by Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies such as QR code and NFC, object hyperlinking services make it possible link any object or location to a more comprehensive and editable information. While tagging technologies have good prospects to offer more opportunities in a company’s interaction with its consumers, how this capability can be best applied and what innovative business services be created with object hyperlinking remain to be discovered. This study surveys and examines 76 projects of object hyperlinking in Taiwan and provides a framework to figure out business value and issues of object hyperlinking along the five stages of a consumer buying decision process. Based on the functionality and purpose of object hyperlinking services, this framework is conducted in dimensions of value creation, value orientation, functionality, key factor and challenges, key activities within organization, and managerial issues concerned. Some innovative business models enabled by object hyperlinking will also be introduced. The research results found that only when the information gathered by identified objects is used, analyzed, and distributed into wide business activities in term of marketing, customer service and firm level strategy planning, the effectiveness and value of object hyperlinking services can be realized at its maximum. The integration across different consumer buying decision process is also important. The more applications of object hyperlinking in different buying decisions, the more benefits will be created for customers. Managers can use the list of dimensions proposed in the framework to develop rich IoT business from enhancing service operations with object hyperlinking

Media tourism and COVID-19 : An empirical investigation of the impact of COVID-19 on the Scottish tourism industry

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Learning computing heritage through gaming – whilst teaching digital development through history

This paper analyses the potential of computer games and interactive projects within the learning programmes for cultural heritage institutions through our experiences working in partnership between higher education and a museum. Gamification is cited as a key disruptive technology for the business and enterprise community, and developments in games technology are also driving the expansion of digital media into all different screen spaces, and various platforms. Our research aims to take these as beneficial indicators for pedagogic development, using gaming to support knowledge transfer related to a museum setting, and using the museum as a key scenario for our students to support the practice of game development. Thus gamification is applied as both a topic and a methodology for educational purposes