Tag: Context

Exploring the physical web

Today’s ‘smart devices’ are a product of the technology and mental models of our past. From a connected lightbulb to a robot vacuum, using most of these devices requires a native app. This in turn greatly limits their contexts of use. Can we really expect users to download an app to interact with a random ’thing’ they encounter at the mall, a space they explore for an hour at the museum, or a city they will only visit for a day? What devices could we build, what ‘smart’ environments could we enable if users could simply discover, “walk up and use”(and then if needed, abandon) these objects and environments as they do a web site?

Go through the above slide to explore some of the exciting possibilities of the Physical Web by Stephanie Rieger

The Myth of Mobile Context!

Recent discussion at Mobile Portland on the importance of considering “context” in designing mobile products and services. (The Panelists includes Josh Clark, Daniel Davis, Ty Hatch, Rachel Hinman and Tim Kadlec).

“Pick up most books about building web sites or products for mobile and you’ll hear a common refrain extolling you to pay attention to the mobile context. Usually this means paying attention to the fact that people using mobile phones are likely to be on the go, have limited attention, and slow Internet connections. This may have been true in the past, but data suggests that this behavior is changing: 93% of smartphone owners use their smartphones while at home, 62% of people use their mobile phone while watching television, 69% use mobile while shopping, 39% of smartphone owners use their devices in the bathroom.”

Via mobileportland