The mobile Oracle: a tool for early user involvement

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a novel tool for eliciting user requirements early in the design process of mobile applications. The "Mobile Oracle", as we have called it, is intended to help developers and designers obtain a better understanding of what the user wants at different points in space and time. It is an extension of a lo-fi version of the well-established Wizard of Oz technique, but it adds an "on demand" component to force users to explicitly request the information they need. The technique has been tested in an investigation involving 15 users (sighted, visually impaired, and elderly). Our preliminary results show it to generate valuable information concerning the ways people ask about directions and distances, as well as the services they would like to have in future mobile applications.

REFERENCES

• 1: Bradley, A. and Dunlop, D. 2005. An Experimental Investigation into Wayfinding Directions for Visually Impaired People. Personal Ubiquitous Comput. 9, 6 (Nov. 2005), 395--403
• 2: Brown, B. and Laurier, E. 2005. Maps and journeys: an ethnomethodological investigation. Cartographica, 40, 3 (Fall 2005), 17--33.
• 3: Caduff, D. and Timpf, S. 2008. On the assessment of landmark salience for human navigation. Cog. Proc. 9, 4 (Nov. 2008), 249--267.
• 4: Chebat, J. Ch., Gélinas-Chebat, C., and Therrien, K. 2005. Lost in a mall, the effects of gender, familiarity with the shopping mall and the shopping values on shoppers' wayfinding processes. J Bus. Res., 58, 11 (Nov. 2005), 1590--1598.
• 5: Karsenty, L. and Falzon, P. 1992. Spontaneous explanation in cooperative validation dialogues. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Improving the use of knowledge-based systems with explanations ECAI'92, P. Brezillon, Ed., Université Paris VI, Paris.
• 6: Magnusson C., Brewster S., Sarjakoski T., Roselier S., L. Sarjakoski T., Tollmar K 2009. Exploring Future Challenges for Haptic, Audio and Visual Interfaces for Mobile Maps and Location Based Services, LocWeb 2009, Acm press.
• 7: May, A. J., Ross, T., Bayer, S. H., and Tarkiainen, M. J. 2003. Pedestrian navigation aids: information requirements and design implications. Pers. Ubi. Comp., 7, 6 (Dec. 2003), 331--338.
• 8: Rimoldi, H. J. A. 1963. Processus de décision et fonctions mentales complexes. Rev. Psy. Appl., 13, 2, 65--81.
• 9: Strothotte, T., Petrie, H., Johnson, V., and Reichert, L. 1995. MoBIC: user needs and preliminary design for a mobility aid blind and elderly travellers. In Proceedings of the 2nd TIDE Congress (La Villette, Paris, France, 26--28 April, 1995).

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.1 Requirements/Specifications

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
design, on demand, user requirements, wizard of oz