Social Evaluation of MobileMAN

Meeting with the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB)Helsinki – June, 7th 2004

Dr. Jennifer DuyneClaudia Brazzola

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Agenda

DSAS – Department of Social and Administrative SciencesSocial Evaluation of MobileMAN

Objectives Activities Questions and discussion

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Social Evaluation: Objectives

Analyse the social viability of MobileMAN

Anticipate social responses

Enhance communication between system developers and potential end-users

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Research Activities

1. Users-oriented website/WIKI2. Analysis of social responses to wireless

technologies in use (WLAN and mobile phones)3. Assessment of needs and concerns of elderly

and disabled people4. Social evaluation of pilot tests5. Analysis of factors affecting cooperation

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1. Users-oriented website

Objective Participatory development of applications and

scenarios of use for MobileMAN Methodology

Pilot study: Dissemination of MobileMAN concept through stories and scenarios

WIKIMobileMAN: An open Website (http://mobileman.projects.supsi.ch) Phase I: pilot test with students (4 weeks) Phase II: Involvement of real potential end-users

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2. Analysis of social responses to wireless technologies in use

Objective Anticipate attitudes and responses to MobileMAN

Questions What difficulties do different categories of people encounter with the

use of wireless ICTs? Which functions and applications are most appreciated and diffused?

Methodology Analysis of secondary data on social issues of WLAN and mobile

phones Case studies on experiences with WLAN at the University

of Lugano and ETH Zürich

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3. Needs Assessment of elderly and disabled people

Objective

Raise awareness about the needs and constraints of socially excluded groups of people

Question What are the attitudes, fears, and difficulties faced by

elderly and disabled people in the use of wireless ICTs, such as bracelets and mobile phones?

Methodology Review of secondary data Case studies Semi-structured interviews with representative sample of

elderly and disabled people

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4. Social evaluation of pilot tests

Objectives Record and analyse attitudes and responses of

testers Analyse encountered difficulties Capture immagination of testers

Methodology Participatory observation Semi-structured interviews with testers Involvement of testers in WIKI

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5. Analysis of factors affecting cooperation

Objective Evaluate the viability of the cooperation model

underlying MobileMAN Question

Under what conditions does a group of people voluntarily organise and overcome conflicts between individual and collective interests?

Methodology Review of secondary literature on collective action

theory

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Conclusions

Questions? Comments? Thank you for your attention!