When on the move, cognitive resources are reserved partly for passively monitoring and reacting to contexts and events, and partly for actively constructing them. The Re-source Competition Framework (RCF), building on the Multiple Resources Theory, explains how psychosocial tasks typical of mobile situations compete for cognitive resources and then suggests that this leads to the depletion of resources for task interaction and eventually results in the breakdown of fluent interaction. RCF predictions were tested in a semi-naturalistic field study measuring attention during the performance of assigned Web search tasks on mobile phone while moving through nine varied but typical urban situations. Notably, we discovered up to eight-fold differentials between micro-level measurements of atten-tional resource fragmentation, for example from spans of over 16 seconds in a laboratory condition dropping to bursts of just a few seconds in difficult mobile situations. By cali-brating perceptual sampling, reducing resources from tasks of secondary importance, and resisting the impulse to switch tasks before finalization, participants compensated for the resource depletion. The findings are compared to previous studies in office contexts. The work is valuable in many areas of HCI dealing with mobility.

https://interruptions.net/literature/Oulasvirta-CHI05-p919-oulasvirta.pdf

Interaction in 4-second bursts: the fragmented nature of attentional resources in mobile HCI

Usability testing a mobile application in the laboratory seems to be sufficient when studying user interface and navigation issues.

The usability of a consumer application was tested in two environments: in a laboratory and in a field with a total of 40 test users. The same problems were found in both environments, differences occurred in the frequency of findings between the contexts.

Results indicate that conducting a time-consuming field test may not be worthwhile when searching user interface flaws to improve user interaction. In spite of this, it is possible that field testing is worthwhile when combining usability tests with a field pilot or contextual study where user behavior is investigated in a natural context.

Usability testing of mobile applications: a comparison between laboratory and field testing

We propose six challenges in evaluating mobile learning: capturing and analysing learning in context and across contexts, measuring mobile learning processes and outcomes, respecting learner/participant privacy, assessing mobile technology utility and usability, considering the wider organisational and socio-cultural context of learning, and assessing in/formality. A three-level framework for evaluating mobile learning is proposed, comprising a micro level concerned with usability, a meso level concerned with the learning experience, and a macro level concerned with integration within existing educational and organisational contexts. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the framework meets the evaluation challenges and with suggestions for further extensions.

/pdf/meeting-the-challenges-in-evaluating-mobile-learning-a-3-2mhhea19m4.pdf

Meeting the Challenges in Evaluating Mobile Learning: a 3-level Evaluation Framework

The increasing importance of the web in people’s daily life calls for device-independent access to existing web sites More than two billion people have a mobile phone today, and for many of them, a mobile phone may be the only way to connect to the web There is an order for full web access on mobile phones, but it faces several challenges and the user experience is often poor This dissertation has its focus in the area of human-computer interaction and user experience research The overall goal of the research has been to improve the end user experience when browsing the web with a mobile phone Previous research has identified that the user's internal state, context, and system affect the user experience, but product development needs a more concrete and comprehensive list of attributes To understand the user experience building blocks in the case of mobile browsing, we ran several usability studies with mobile web browsers in both a laboratory and a mobile context We also conducted 35 contextual inquiry interviews in Finland, United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom The studies revealed that mobile browsing user experience is affected by the user’s state, context, mobile device, browser application, network infrastructure, and web sites Identifying these characteristics composes the main contribution of this dissertation The mobile browser development activity at Nokia serves as a case study, in which we have considered the identified attributes and aimed to create a browser that fits well into the mobile context Our field study results and early feedback from the market have been encouraging, which shows that taking the user experience characteristics into account helps creating positive user experiences Finally, this dissertation adduces topics for future user experience research by discussing the difference between user experience and experience in general, the effects that pricing has on the user experience, and the role of a user’s expectations in evaluating the user experience

/pdf/web-browsing-on-mobile-phones-characteristics-of-user-4oz95hma5m.pdf

Web Browsing on Mobile Phones: Characteristics of User Experience

In recent years, mobile technology has been one of the major growth areas in computing. Designing the user interface for mobile applications, however, is a very complex undertaking which is made even more challenging by the rapid technological developments in mobile hardware. Mobile human-computer interaction, unlike desktop-based interaction, must be cognizant of a variety of complex contextual factors affecting both users and technology. The Handbook of Research on User Interface Design and Evaluation provides students, researchers, educators, and practitioners with a compendium of research on the key issues surrounding the design and evaluation of mobile user interfaces, such as the physical environment and social context in which a mobile device is being used and the impact of multitasking behavior typically exhibited by mobile-device users. Compiling the expertise of over 150 leading experts from 26 countries, this exemplary reference tool will make an indispensable addition to every library collection.

Handbook of Research on User Interface Design and Evaluation for Mobile Technology

Examining mobile phone use in the wild with quasi-experimentation

The main challenges for mobile usability labs, as measurement instruments, lay not so much on being able to record what happens on the user interface, but capturing the interactional relationship between the user and the environment. An ideal mobile usability lab would enable recording, with sufficient accuracy and reliability, the user's deployment of gaze, the hands, the near bodyspace, proximate and distant objects of interest, as well as abrupt environmental events. An inherent complication is that the equipment will affect these events and is affected by them. We argue that a balance between coverage and obtrusiveness must be found on a per case basis.

We present a modular solution to mobile usability labs, allowing both belt- and backpack-worn configurations and flexible division of equipment between the user, the moderator, and the environment. These benefits were achieved without sacrificing data quality, operational duration, or light weight. We describe system design rationale and report first experiences from a field experiment. Current work concentrates on simplifying the system to improve cost-efficiency.

Tuomo Nyyssönen

Papers

Examining mobile phone use in the wild with quasi-experimentation

Flexible hardware configurations for studying mobile usability