Bookselling online: an examination of consumer behaviour patterns.

Based upon empirical research, and using a range of methods, this paper examines the behaviour and experiences of consumers in online bookselling settings and offers comparison between online and offline (traditional) bookselling. The research finds that while the convenience of online bookshops is important, the key factors enticing consumers online are a combination of breadth of range, ease of access to obscure titles, as well as personalised recommendations and customer reviews. The research is of value to the book trade, highlighting consumer responses to widely adopted online marketing approaches. The research also contributes to scholarly knowledge in the fields of consumer behaviour, e-marketing and e-commerce in online bookselling, as well as providing findings which can be tested in other online settings, informing future theoretical research

Telethrone reconstructed; ongoing testing toward a more natural situated display

The concept of supporting ad hoc or dynamic membership tele-present meetings through pulling up a chair is novel. In real world business situations, people pull up a chair after catching the eye of someone already seated. Telethrone is a situated display on a chair which allows multiple correct views of a remote collaborator. The system has been expanded to support informal meetings where chairs can be moved around. This is facilitated through the novel integration of a 3D reconstructed model of a person, with live viewpoint dependent rendering onto a retro-reflective surface. This removes the need for painstaking alignment of multiple cameras and projectors each time a chair is moved. A between subjects experiment tested accuracy of reconnected mutual gaze mediated by part of the system. Subjectively easier and harder situations are compared. Specifically best and worst cases, both in terms of orientation of eyes in the reconstructed head, and angle of observer gaze onto the display. Discussion compares results to experiments that used other systems to attempt to convey eye gaze by different techniques. This research builds toward a scalable system for ad hoc business meetings; a paradigm poorly supported by current video conferencing. It is also applicable to supporting conversations between seated people in any scenario where seats might be moved, for example in interaction between client and therapist in tele-therapy

Exploring Spatial Menu Representation and Apartment-Based Categorization for Online Shopping

Part 1: E-commerceInternational audienceThis work aims to explore, design and implement better and intuitive categorization schemes and menu representations for online shops that enrich and improve the shopping experience. We utilize the Apartment metaphor, in which products are categorized into rooms and furniture representing departments and shelves. Furthermore, we developed a realistic and interactive map-based spatial menu representation based on prior research findings. In a comparative user study, we evaluated our new menu categorization and representation in comparison with the current standard in online shops, based on real data from a local retailer. The results show that our apartment-based categorization in combination with a spatial representation outperforms all other conditions regarding all tested variables of performance (success rate, task completion time) and preferences (user experience, usability, workload)