Defining Mobility

What this session covers

• Concepts on Mobility
• Components of mobile applications
• Characteristics of mobile users

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Mobile Devices and Mobility
• Oxford Dictionaries (2013) define mobility as “the ability to
move or be moved freely and easily”.
• In information systems, the concept of mobility has been
applied in studying the mobility of:
• individuals
• technological artefacts, especially in relation to implications for use
(Luff and Heath, 1998; Kristoffersen and Ljungberg,1999).

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Concepts on Mobility

Also see: Manda and Herstad (2015)

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Concepts on Mobility: Going
beyond the categories
• What mobility means for customers and users
• Need to be more concerned about what categories or issues of
mobility (physical movement or positioning) are relevant in
preforming activities in focus (Weilenmann, 2003).

Class discussion:
• Why is it important to go beyond the categories?

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Unpacking Mobile Devices
• A mobile device is:
• Personal.
• generally belongs to only one person
• personally identifiable
• has a messaging address.
• Communicative:
• can send and receive messages of various forms
• connect to the network in various ways.
• Handheld:
• The device is portable - can be operated with a single hand, even if two hands or a
hand and a surface are more convenient.
• Wakable:
• The device can be awakened quickly by either the user or the network.
• Think of message alerts and alarms/reminders 6
The Carry Principle
• The fundamental distinction between mobile-targeted design and
design targeted for other platforms is The Carry Principle
The Carry Principle:
• the user typically carries the device, all the time
• The carry principle has implications on both mobile devices and
users

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The Carry Principle: Implications
for the device
Form:
• Devices are small, battery-powered, have some type of wireless
connectivity, and have small keyboards and screens (if present).
Multi-functional:
• Features: Devices evolve towards the Swiss Army knife model.
Capabilities:
• Display, processing power, battery life
User interface:
• Small screens usually mean single-window users interfaces - sharing
information between applications may be problematic.
Always on, always connected:
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Carry Principle: Implications for
users
• User availability:
• The mobile user is more available for communications
• Sustained focus:
• User multi-tasking my reduce sustainable time available for the device
and other things
• Social behaviour:
• Coordination across space allows both more and less social behaviour –
(dis)connection.

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Components of a Mobile Application (I)

• It is critical to consider where applications to be developed will

run:
• Most mobile applications have been created as a miniaturized
version of similar desktop applications

• Discussion: comparison of desktop and mobile environments, and

implications for application development

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Components of a Mobile
Application (II)
• A mobile application consists of:
• A Personal Communication Device (PCD), with its own use metaphor,
browser, application environment, and capabilities
• A user: mobile, with multiple devices; moving across environments
• Multiple application platforms
• One or more input interfaces
• One or more output interfaces
• Server infrastructure: providing additional functionality
• interfaces between the application’s servers and other information
sources
• a network and the corresponding wireless carrier (operator),
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Taking into account features of
mobile phones
• differing capabilities of low-
end mobile phones, high-
end smart phones, and
alternative devices lead to a
variable environment

• Read: Sanner, T.A.,

Roland, L.K. and Braa, K.
(2012), “From pilot to scale:
towards an mhealth
typology for low-resource
contexts”, Health Policy and
Technology, Vol. 1 No. 3,
pp. 155-164
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Discussion: Maximizing Coverage
to Low-end Phones & Embracing
Emergent Trends

Discuss the mobile digital divide (feature phones vs smartphones)

• What are the challenges in trying to target different segments of mobile
devices?
• Appraise the development trends of mobile applications and services in
this country
• What approaches can we take to mitigate trade-offs that ensue in trying
to address different classes of mobile devices?
• How do you envision the future will be?
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Mobile User Characteristics
• Mobile users have different availability, context and
interruptibility than do desktop users
• Mobile users are out and about, they are social, they are moving
• Key concerns:
• User on the move
• Changing physical and social contexts
• Fashion
• Size of the device
• The device is always present, always carried
• The user is interruptible and easily distracted.
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Mobile User Characteristics:
Interruptible and Easily Distracted (I)
• Mere presence in a public, social space could indicate he is
interruptible
• Smaller screen size seems to block fewer people, it is easier to meet
his eyes
• Device usually shows one screen at a time, hiding other screens
which might be an indicator of how busy one is
• Device can interrupt itself, with incoming calls or text messages
• Transition between virtual and physical tasks can reduce
effectiveness at both tasks
• Discussion: Implications for Application Architecture 15
Mobile User Characteristics:
Interruptible and Easily Distracted (II)
• Implications for application architecture:
• return to the same view with the same data as when the user last
departed
• Data should be saved without user action
• application must save any critical or difficult to enter data for later reuse

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Mobile User Characteristics:
Availability
• Mobile users are present and immediately available
• Being readily available means that people answer their phones in
what used to be considered inappropriate places
• Discussion: Changes in social engagement/culture
• Those communicating have the confidence that the other party is
available:
• Examples:
• Watsapp; facebook; phone calls

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Mobile User Characteristics:
Sociability
• Mobile users are exposed to one or more microcontexts
• managing several ‘microcontexts’ simultaneously
• Part of the reasons to go beyond categorizations on mobility

• Contributing factors:
• application type – voice, text message, game
• Personal and cultural practices

• Discussion: Implication on application development

• Also consider socio-technical application ecologies/infrastructures

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Mobile User Characteristics:
Context
• The mobile user’s environment affects how the device is used

• Discussion: Context-aware applications -example and use cases

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Mobile User Characteristics:
Identifiability
• Devices are personal
• Could use phone number & device as identifiers

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Further Reading:
• INTERNATIONAL DIFFERENCES – section 2.3 of the
book Designing the Mobile User Experience
• Read: Sanner, T.A., Roland, L.K. and Braa, K. (2012), “From
pilot to scale: towards an mhealth typology for low-resource
contexts”, Health Policy and Technology, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 155-
164.

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References
• Ballard, B. (2007). Designing the mobile user experience. John Wiley & Sons.
• Kristoffersen, S. and Ljungberg, F. (1999), “Mobile use of IT”, 22nd Information Systems
Research Seminar in Scandinavia Conference (IRIS 22), Keuruu
• Luff, P. and Heath, C. (1998), “Mobility in collaboration”, Proceedings of the 1998 ACM
Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, ACM, Seattle, WA, November 14-
18,Seattle, pp. 305-314.
• Kemp, S. (2020). DIGITAL IN 2020: GLOBAL OVERVIEW. [Available online at:]
https://wearesocial.com/blog/2020/07/digital-use-around-the-world-in-july-2020
• Manda, T. D., & Herstad, J. (2015). Enacting technology: Accounting for the interplay between
mHealth solutions and existing paper-based data reporting practices. Information Technology
& People, 28(3), 442-465.
• Sanner, T.A., Roland, L.K. and Braa, K. (2012), “From pilot to scale: towards an mhealth
typology for low-resource contexts”, Health Policy and Technology, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 155-164.
• Weilenmann, A. (2003), “Doing mobility”, doctoral thesis, School of Business, Economics and
Law, Göteborg University, Göteborg.

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