Touch-Based Access to Mobile Internet - Human-Computer Interaction and Innovation in Handheld, Mobile and Wearable Technologies - page 242

Table 4. Summary of findings related to ease of use

Issue Finding
Ease of adoption and learning Requires hands-on experimenting, but can be learnt within a couple of minutes with some repetition.
Ease of use Very easy to use, 92,6% stated touch-based access was easy and natural

Pleasantness Pleasant to use (70-80% found interaction pleasant) but requires integration with user's personal mobile phone.

social interaction provided by the pub environ-
ment. For example, the information tags provided
information about the special products available
but some users said that they would prefer getting
that information directly from the pub personnel.
The nature of current Mobile Internet content
typically is most suited for personal use, and con-
suming it could reduce the interaction between
people. However, with good contextual design of
the services and content, it is posited that social
interaction can also be fostered and encouraged.
For example, in the pub context, the service content
could be designed to evoke discussion or interac-
tion amongst pub clients and between clients and
personnel, for example, in the format of quizzes. In
the mobile learning trial, the learning experience
was social, as the pupils were instructed to work
in pairs. Working in pairs was preferred by almost
all (97.5% of respondents of the web question-
naire). In addition, most participants (59.5% of
respondents of the web questionnaire) reported
that they had formed bigger groups during the
Amazing NFC lesson.
In the theatre context, two concerns related
to social interaction were identified. First, the
placement of the tags had an influence on how
people located themselves in the space, and
therefore placement seemed to negatively affect

group formation, and draw people away from
each other into solitary units. When designing
NFC based systems, special attention must be
given to these kinds of social and behavioural
concerns. The optimal placement of tags supports
the natural paths and flow of people in the space
by allowing people to form groups and engage in
social interaction, but at the same time, does not
block pathways.
Second, as some of the content that was made
accessible by the tags was video with sound, some
users seemed embarrassed or startled by the loud-
ness of the suddenly appearing sound. This might
also partly explain why the preferred media format
in Amazing NFC was text (see Figure 9). As the
user usually does not know for sure what kind of
content the tag links to, these kinds of embarrass-
ing moments may form a formidable hindrance
to the adoption of Mobile Internet usage. As a
possible solution, a tag could indicate the media
types it links to through its graphical design.
Use of symbols has been suggested previously
for indicating the type of the service provided
through the tag (Välkkynen et al., 2006b) but,
according to our knowledge, not for the purpose
of indicating media type.
The findings related to the social acceptance
are summarized in Table 5.

Table 5. Summary of findings related to social acceptance

Issue Finding

Feeling of social disapproval of using
touch-based access in social situations

Not directly reported by our pilot users, albeit found to exist in previous studies. However, loud
audio content was experienced embarrassing in social situations.

Impact on social interaction As content typically designed for individual consumption, negative effect was experienced.

However, also possibilities for content fostering social interaction were identified.

Placement of tags Has an impact on group formation.