Literature Review

INF5261
Kham Viravong - khamphiv
Paulo Fierro - paulof
Chosen Literature
 Theme: Ethnography
Jason Burke, Andrea Kirk: Ethnographic Methods
Choosing Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Appropriate Research
Methods
URL: http://www.otal.umd.edu/hci-rm/ethno.html

 Theme: Positioning Systems

Schilit, et al. Challenge: Ubiquitous Location-Aware Computing and the
“Place Lab” Initiative. WMASH’03, September 19, 2003, San Diego,
California, USA.
URL: http://www.ischool.washington.edu/mcdonald/papers/Schilit.WMASH.pdf

 Theme: Location-Aware Content

Bill Perry: The Invisible Ideas Project: Using Mobile Devices, Macromedia
Flash, and Global Positioning Systems
Macromedia Mobile Devices Developer Center
URL: http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/articles/invisible_ideas.html
Ethnography

“Ethnography is in itself not so much a method

as a category of human-computer
interaction research”

 adapted from sociology and anthropology

 a method of observing human interactions
in social settings and activities
 people in their cultural context
Ethnography

 a powerful assessment of users'

needs
 uncovers the true nature of the
system user's job
 ethnographer plays the role of the
end-user
 open-ended and unbiased nature of
ethnography allows for discovery
Ethnographic Methods

 Concurrent Ethnography or
Ethnomethodology
 Evaluative Ethnography

 Quick and Dirty Method

 Rapid Ethnography
Ethnography: Design Principles
 Use ethnographic methods early in
the design process  
 Have a well-defined scope
 Choose a proper level of ethnographic
study  
 Make use of previous ethnographic
studies  
 Wear one hat at a time
Positioning Systems

”vision of ubiquitous location aware

computing”

 Open software base

 Community building
Global Wi-Fi Positioning

 Client-computed positioning using

wireless access points (APs)
 Association with access points

 Signal strength of AP beacons

 Signal strength of multiple AP

beacons
Bootstrapping Global Wi-Fi Positioning

 Create a rough incomplete map of

hotspots
 Build the Wi-Fi Positioning database
by aggregating and statistically
processing AP ”sightings” (detection)
 Place Bar in web browser to relay
selected location information
 Privacy issues
Location-Aware Content
Invisible Ideas
“Imagine you're a mouse and the
physical world is your screen”
 A location-aware application
that displays site-specific audio
and visual content on the
Pocket PC to users as they
stroll through several Boston
parks using GPS
Overview

 147 artist exhibitions in 3 parks

 Radius trigger

 GPS -> text file -> Flash app

The user interface

 A passive experience
 Thumb-navigated
 Simple non-distracting
interface
Using GPS

 C++ app used as gateway to GPS

receiver
 C++ app provides an API

 User tracking
Summary

 Content stored locally

 Content loaded based on location

 Location via GPS

 First real-world use of Flash + GPS on

a PDA