Using TAM to examine consumer acceptance of a mobile phone assisted smoking cessation program in Australia

This paper study examines Australian smokers’ perceptions of a potential SMS-assisted smoking cessation program. Using TAM we tested perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and subjective norms on intentions to use this cessation program if it was available. Findings show that perceived usefulness and subjective norms were the significant predictors of intentions to use. Perceived ease of use did not directly influence this outcome instead it has an indirect influence through perceived usefulness. These preliminary findings can be built upon through introducing additional variables to help practitioners better understand consumer acceptance when marketing e-health programs such as this.

Electronic games: A legitimate diversional therapy intervention for health care consumers?

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Interaction, privacy and profiling considerations in local mobile social software : a prototype agile ride share system

Agile ridesharing aims to utilise the capability of social networks and mobile phones to facilitate people to share vehicles and travel in real time. However the application of social networking technologies in local communities to address issues of personal transport faces significant design challenges. In this paper we describe an iterative design-based approach to exploring this problem and discuss findings from the use of an early prototype. The findings focus upon interaction, privacy and profiling. Our early results suggest that explicitly entering information such as ride data and personal profile data into formal fields for explicit computation of matches, as is done in many systems, may not be the best strategy. It might be preferable to support informal communication and negotiation with text search techniques.

How do we reach them? Comparing random samples from mobile and landline phones

Quantitative studies of nascent entrepreneurs such as GEM and PSED are required to generate their samples by screening the adult population, usually by phone in developed economies. Phone survey research has recently been challenged by shifting patterns of ownership and response rates of landline versus mobile (cell) phones, particularly for younger respondents. This challenge is acutely intense for entrepreneurship which is a strongly age-dependent phenomenon. Although shifting ownership rates have received some attention, shifting response rates have remained largely unexplored. For the Australian GEM 2010 adult population study we conducted a dual-frame approach that allows comparison between samples of mobile and landline phones. We find a substantial response bias towards younger, male and metropolitan respondents for mobile phones – far greater than explained by ownership rates. We also found these response rate differences significantly biases the estimates of the prevalence of early stage entrepreneurship by both samples, even when each sample is weighted to match the Australian population.

Codes of conduct for mobile device use in meetings : an exploratory analysis

The present paper addresses the findings of a preliminary investigation into policy and codes of conduct pertaining to the use of laptops and PDA’s in business meetings. The purpose of this study was to conduct a review of policies or codes of conduct pertaining to the use of laptops and PDAs in meetings. The investigation included academic literature, policy searches in the public domain of the Internet, as well as personal contact with target industries (large corporations – N=1000 + employees). The results highlight the dearth of policy and codes of conducts pertaining to the use of laptops and PDA’s in business meetings. Consequently, given the growing interdependence between mobile technologies and the contemporary workplace, there exists an opportunity for communication professionals to further research and develop policy and codes of conduct in this area. Implications for corporate communication policies and practices are also discussed.

Segmentation of scenes of mobile objects and demonstrable backgrounds

In this paper we present a real-time foreground–background segmentation algorithm that exploits the following observation (very often satisfied by a static camera positioned high in its environment). If a blob moves on a pixel p that had not changed its colour significantly for a few frames, then p was probably part of the background when its colour was static. With this information we are able to update differentially pixels believed to be background. This work is relevant to autonomous minirobots, as they often navigate in buildings where smart surveillance cameras could communicate wirelessly with them. A by-product of the proposed system is a mask of the image regions which are demonstrably background. Statistically significant tests show that the proposed method has a better precision and recall rates than the state of the art foreground/background segmentation algorithm of the OpenCV computer vision library.

Motivating domestic energy conservation through comparative, community-based feedback in mobile and social media

The progress of technology has led to the increased adoption of energy monitors among household energy consumers. While the monitors available on the market deliver real-time energy usage feedback to the consumer, the format of this data is usually unengaging and mundane. Moreover, it fails to address consumers with different motivations and needs to save and compare energy. This paper presents a study that seeks to provide initial indications for motivation-specific design of energy-related feedback. We focus on comparative feedback supported by a community of energy consumers. In particular, we examine eco-visualisations, temporal self-comparison, norm comparison, one-on-one comparison and ranking, whereby the last three allow us to explore the potential of socialising energy-related feedback. These feedback types were integrated in EnergyWiz – a mobile application that enables users to compare with their past performance, neighbours, contacts from social networking sites and other EnergyWiz users. The application was evaluated in personal, semi-structured interviews, which provided first insights on how to design motivation-related comparative feedback.

Review of de Bruijn, M., F. Nyamnjoh and I. Brinkman (eds.). 2009. Mobile phones : the new talking drums of everyday Africa

Since the late 1990s, there has been great enthusiasm expressed about the positive impact that can be obtained for poor and disadvantaged people from information and communication technologies (ICTs). This school of thought among researchers and practitioners is identified as ICTs for development (ICT4D). By contrast, a growing number of researchers eschew the technologically deterministic nature of the claims being made for development progress and seek to understand the role of technology in people’s lives, primarily through ethnographic studies. This book, which focuses on mobile telephony on the African continent, fits into the latter body of literature, with several authors explicitly stating they are examining social and cultural settings and are not taking a technologically deterministic view. The book captures the diverse ways various communities are using this communication technology. It adds to the burgeoning field of mobile phone studies, in which an increasing number of studies is emerging from developing countries.

Effects of different practice task constraints on fluctuations of player heart rate in small-sided football games

This paper analyzes effects of different practice task constraints on heart rate (HR) variability during 4v4 smallsided football games. Participants were sixteen football players divided into two age groups (U13, Mean age: 12.4±0.5 yrs; U15: 14.6±0.5). The task consisted of a 4v4 sub-phase without goalkeepers, on a 25x15 m field, of 15 minutes duration with an active recovery period of 6 minutes between each condition. We recorded players’ heart rates using heart rate monitors (Polar Team System, Polar Electro, Kempele, Finland) as scoring mode was manipulated (line goal: scoring by dribbling past an extended line; double goal: scoring in either of two lateral goals; and central goal: scoring only in one goal). Subsequently, %HR reserve was calculated with the Karvonen formula. We performed a time-series analysis of HR for each individual in each condition. Mean data for intra-participant variability showed that autocorrelation function was associated with more short-range dependence processes in the “line goal” condition, compared to other conditions, demonstrating that the “line goal” constraint induced more randomness in HR response. Relative to inter-individual variability, line goal constraints demonstrated lower %CV and %RMSD (U13: 9% and 19%; U15: 10% and 19%) compared with double goal (U13: 12% and 21%; U15: 12% and 21%) and central goal (U13: 14% and 24%; U15: 13% and 24%) task constraints, respectively. Results suggested that line goal constraints imposed more randomness on cardiovascular stimulation of each individual and lower inter-individual variability than double goal and central goal constraints.

Teachers’ and parents’ perspectives of digital technology in the lives of young children

The pervasiveness of technology in the 21st Century has meant that adults and children live in a society where digital devices are integral to their everyday lives and participation in society. How we communicate, learn, work, entertain ourselves, and even shop is influenced by technology. Therefore, before children begin school they are potentially exposed to a range of learning opportunities mediated by digital devices. These devices include microwaves, mobile phones, computers, and console games such as Playstations® and iPods®. In Queensland preparatory classrooms and in the homes of these children, teachers and parents support and scaffold young children’s experiences, providing them with access to a range of tools that promote learning and provide entertainment. This paper examines teachers’ and parents’ perspectives and considers whether they are techno-optimists who advocate for and promote the inclusion of digital technology, or whether they are they techno-pessimists, who prefer to exclude digital devices from young children’s everyday experiences. An exploratory, single case study design was utilised to gather data from three teachers and ten parents of children in the preparatory year. Teacher data was collected through interviews and email correspondence. Parent data was collected from questionnaires and focus groups. All parents who responded to the research invitation were mothers. The results of data analysis identified a misalignment among adults’ perspectives. Teachers were identified as techno-optimists and parents were identified as techno-pessimists with further emergent themes particular to each category being established. This is concerning because both teachers and mothers influence young children’s experiences and numeracy knowledge, thus, a shared understanding and a common commitment to supporting young children’s use of technology would be beneficial. Further research must investigate fathers’ perspectives of digital devices and the beneficial and detrimental roles that a range of digital devices, tools, and entertainment gadgets play in 21st Century children’s lives.

GameFlow : a model for evaluating player enjoyment in games

Although player enjoyment is central to computer games, there is currently no accepted model of player enjoyment in games. There are many heuristics in the literature, based on elements such as the game interface, mechanics, gameplay, and narrative. However, there is a need to integrate these heuristics into a validated model that can be used to design, evaluate, and understand enjoyment in games. We have drawn together the various heuristics into a concise model of enjoyment in games that is structured by flow. Flow, a widely accepted model of enjoyment, includes eight elements that, we found, encompass the various heuristics from the literature. Our new model, GameFlow, consists of eight elements -- concentration, challenge, skills, control, clear goals, feedback, immersion, and social interaction. Each element includes a set of criteria for achieving enjoyment in games. An initial investigation and validation of the GameFlow model was carried out by conducting expert reviews of two real-time strategy games, one high-rating and one low-rating, using the GameFlow criteria. The result was a deeper understanding of enjoyment in real-time strategy games and the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the GameFlow model as an evaluation tool. The GameFlow criteria were able to successfully distinguish between the high-rated and low-rated games and identify why one succeeded and the other failed. We concluded that the GameFlow model can be used in its current form to review games; further work will provide tools for designing and evaluating enjoyment in games.

Noising around : investigations in mobile learning

In this paper we present an account of children's interactions with a mobile technology prototype within a school context. The Noise Detectives trial was conducted in a school setting with the aim of better understanding the role of mobile technology as a mediator within science learning activities. Over eighty children, aged between ten and twelve, completed an outdoor data gathering activity using a mobile learning prototype that included paper and digital components. They measured and recorded noise levels at a range of locations throughout the schools. We analyzed the activity to determine how the components of the prototype were integrated into the learning activity, and to identify differences in behavior that resulted from using these components. We present design implications that resulted from observed differences in prototype use and appropriation.