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usually not possible to gather more information
about the event.
uncommon concept which the general public does
not expect. We have attempted to overcome this
problem by displaying instructions for interaction
on the display (MobiDiC) or on a poster close to
the display (Hermes Photo Display and Wray).
Once users are aware that they can interact with
a display using their mobile phone the second
challenge is to mitigate any social issues which
may discourage use (such as potential embarrass-
ment (Brignull & Rogers, 2003)). One finding
from a questionnaire based study involving the
Hermes Photo Display (Cheverst et al., 2005) was
that a significant number of users made positive
comments about being able to send pictures from
their mobile phone from a distance that would ef-
fectively make their interaction socially invisible.
One potential 'shortcut' we hoped would over-
come these first two issues was that of non-users
observing existing users. Unfortunately we found
that this was not successful, possibly because the
number of existing users did not reach a 'critical
mass' or interactions were too seldom and short
to be readily observed. However, an enthusiastic
user 'champion' existed in the Wray Photo Display
deployment who proved effective in encouraging
use from others.
The next challenge concerns the motivation of
users to expend effort to interact with a display.
Typically, in order for a user to interact they must
perceive that they will receive some form of benefit
(Grudin, 1988) immediately.
The fourth challenge concerns the user's
willingness and ability to engage with technol-
ogy. Communicating instructions to a user with
an unknown level of technical experience and
unknown make and model of mobile device clearly
presents a problem. This problem is compounded
when the user may be unwilling or unable to fol-
low seemingly simple instructions such as 'turn
on Bluetooth'. In a field study with MobiDiC, for
example, five out of twelve users needed more than
10 seconds to activate Bluetooth on their mobile
phone. Additionally many passersby wouldn't
CHALLENGES FOR FIELD STUDIES
INVOLVING PUBLIC DISPLAYS
AND MOBILE DEVICES
Moving field studies out of the lab and into the
'real world' bring rich and varied findings. How-
ever, unexpected challenges are often raised. The
following section considers the user-centric chal-
lenges which resulted in some of our prototypes
receiving relatively small levels of use. Next,
the technical challenges that had to be addressed
during our field studies are presented. Finally, the
remaining pragmatic challenges which emerged
from our field studies are discussed.
User-Centric Challenges
The initial challenge concerns the visibility of the
system and whether it is high enough for users
to notice it. While for example we installed the
iDisplays in such a way that users had to walk
towards them in hallways, for many MobiDiC
Displays users had to turn their head. We tried
to advertise the MobiDiC system by posting A4
posters on top of them and distributing 5000 fly-
ers, but this had almost no effect in mitigating the
lower visibility of these displays.
Another key challenge for field studies emerges
when use of the prototype is not mandated (as
was the case with all systems described here). In
this case, use of the system relies entirely on the
user's own motivation and, unfortunately, some
of our prototypes received low levels of use with
respect to mobile phone interaction.
When considering initial use, the first challenge
to overcome is the difficulty users have in perceiv-
ing the affordance(s) (Norman, 1999) of interac-
tion associated with a public display (especially
concerning supported interaction with a mobile
phone). Currently, mobile phone interaction is an
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