Dealing with mobility

Abstract

The rapid and accelerating move towards use of mobile technologies has increasingly provided people and organizations with the ability to work away from the office and on the move. The new ways of working afforded by these technologies are often characterized in terms of access to information and people anytime, anywhere. This article presents a study of mobile workers that highlights different facets of access to remote people and information, and different facets of anytime, anywhere. Four key factors in mobile work are identified: the role of planning, working in "dead time," accessing remote technological and informational resources, and monitoring the activities of remote colleagues. By reflecting on these issues, we can better understand the role of technology and artifacts in mobile work and identify the opportunities for the development of appropriate technological solutions to support mobile workers.

Accentuated Factors of Handheld Computing

“…Much research has been done on mobile IS and mobility per se [10][11][12] but the conceptualization of the term and what implication mobility has for IS design is still limited. Several frameworks have been developed in order to describe or explain aspects of mobility and IS use in a mobile context.…”

Connecting Dispersed Communities on the Move

“…The positive utility of travel time is identified in a number of mobile practices such as reading documents, making phone calls, planning the day ahead, listening to music and daydreaming and, the creation of individual identity (see Bull, 2000;Davies, 2001;Edensor, 2003;Haddon et al, 2002;Laurier & Philo, 2001;Pearce, 2000;Perry et al, 2001). These debates extend the concept of travel time use to viewing the mobile individual as a node connected to heterogeneous networks of regional flows, and the movement of the consciousness (imagination, memory, everyday thoughts) between temporal regions of past, present, and future.…”

“…Business travel often frames the justification of travel time savings, as discussed earlier, but research into mobile technologies and business practices indicates how travel time is usually carefully planned and re-appropriated rather than being lost or wasted. A study of mobile workers observed the pre-planning of "onthe-move" activities (Perry et al, 2001). Paper documents, mobile phones and laptop computers were integral to this process, but reflected the form and duration of travel, and availability of power supplies and signals.…”

“…Specifically, electronic media (the internet and mobile phone) take a key role in connecting mobile workers to HQ to obtain real-time information (facts and figures, reports, updates, etc. ), and to proximate and distant clients, often with reference to the future objectives (planning strategies, sales pitches, or rearranging meetings) (Laurier & Philo, 2001;Perry et al, 2001). Electronic media also maintain personal relationships during the course of work away from home.…”

Interaction Design for Personal Photo Management on a Mobile Device

“…For example, quicker and cheaper prototyping techniques are starting to be adopted to keep pace with changing technology (e.g., PC-based simulated prototypes or using a general mobile platform (Jones & Marsden, 2006, p. 179)). In another example, user studies are emerging which adopt light ethnographic and indirect observations using diaries and self-reporting to cope with test users on the move (Palen & Salzman, 2002;Pascoe et al, 2000;Perry et al, 2001). More specifically on the use of camera phones, some early longitudinal user studies have appeared (Kindberg et al, 2005;Sarvas et al, 2005;Van House et al, 2005) that aim to better understand the different motivations and current practices in camera phone use.…”