Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Most of the time I use Hutchison portal, easy
to access, easy to link to system and it is cheap.
Yesterday I was in a bus and you know Hong Kong
is always traffic congested, when I was waiting
for the bus to move, I searched the Web, news, I
even watched TV. [Interviewee from Hong Kong].
relation to location, but in their study social use
was as common as solitary use. Home was a place
where many respondents typically had desktop-
based Internet access, but there were situations
when it was just more convenient to browse on
a mobile device. This issue came up both in our
online survey and during the interviews. People
browsed on mobile devices in places where desk-
top computer use was not possible, such as on their
living room sofa. In general, with one exception,
any Web activity could happen on mobile devices
at home; the exception being that blog updates and
photo sharing on mobile devices happened less
frequently at home than other online activities.
Even though it was common for people to use
the mobile Web at home, it was also common
for users to browse the mobile Web from mobile
devices while traversing multiple locations dur-
ing one usage session. In these situations, people
specifically chose to use the mobile Internet
because they knew they would change location
during the task:
Why Internet Use via Mobile
Applications Is Like Snorkeling
in a Swimming Pool
Internet use via mobile applications is not yet very
common, but it is likely to become more popular.
It can be likened to snorkeling in a swimming pool
because it is only possible to do specific tasks related
to the application: the user often cannot browse out-
side the specific information source or service. The
common use cases reported were related to time- and
situation-critical activities—e.g., uploading photos
to photo sharing sites and checking time-critical
information. Often these situations were related
to social activities, either with a group of friends
physically present or with friends present online:
I used it [mobile browser] to check the weather;
I was at work on the way back home. I used a
mobile because I could use it while I was leaving
the building. The situation was absolutely normal
for me. I use Mobile Web browsing since about
5 years, beginning with black&white wap pages.
[Web survey respondent].
I was using Widsets- I was in a bar with some
friends. We needed to get some facts I knew I
could find quickly. I think it was a fairly typical use
case, now with Widsets my mobile browsing has
diminishing. The whole thing worked ok (turned
out I was right! [Web survey respondent];
I used VOX during lunch break- it enables me to
blog from anywhere I want. I love using mobile
technology. I had a great experience. [Web survey
respondent].
Using the mobile Internet was also common
when people were on the move. When using public
transportation, people often need to sit and wait
either for, or in, their transportation (e.g., a train or
bus); the mobile Internet is good way to 'kill time'
and create private space in public environments:
HOW MOBILE IS MOBILE WEB USE?
I used Web browser on my N93 during my trav-
eling to/from school by mass transport (tram,
underground). I check RSS feeds, browse main
Web servers about politics, economy, mobile
phones, tech etc. I am connected through 3G cel-
lular network. In school or at home i usually use
People can browse the Internet on their mobile
devices in any context and situation, but our on-
line survey revealed that the most common place
was when at home alone. The study conducted by
Cui and Roto (2008) revealed the same pattern in
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