Inseong Lee

Use Contexts for the Mobile Internet: A Longitudinal Study Monitoring Actual Use of Mobile Internet Services

The mobile Internet, which gives access to the World Wide Web through a mobile device, has been gaining in popularity. The mobile Internet differs from the traditional stationary Internet in that it can be used in a wider variety of contexts. However, no studies have identified the contexts in which mobile Internet services are used most frequently, or determined which contexts exert significant influence on a users choice of mobile service. This article proposes a framework of use contexts that reflects the characteristics of the mobile Internet. To explore these contexts, a research method was devised and a longitudinal monitoring study was conducted. The results indicate that mobile Internet use is heavily clustered around a few key contexts, rather than dispersed widely over diverse contexts. Further, participants in the monitoring study were found to concentrate their use on a few mobile services, rather than on exploring diverse services. Perhaps most interestingly, some contextual factors were found to correlate closely with the selection of specific mobile Internet services. On the basis of these results, the article concludes with implications for developers of mobile Internet services.

A qualitative cross-national study of cultural influences on mobile data service design

As the use of mobile data services has spread across the globe, the effect of cultural differences on user requirements has become important issue. To date, however, little research has been conducted on the role cultural factors play in the design of mobile data services. This paper proposes a set of critical design attributes for mobile data services that takes cross-cultural differences into account. To determine these attributes, we devised a qualitative method and conducted in-depth long interviews in Korea, Japan, and Finland. We found 52 attributes considered important by mobile data service users, and 11 critical attributes that showed a clear correlation with characteristics of the users culture. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations and of implications for developers of mobile data services.

Maintaining continuers vs. converting discontinuers: relative importance of post-adoption factors for mobile data services

Although Mobile Data Services (MDS) are expected to revolutionise internet use, they have yet to do so, in part, because many users are not continuing with MDS after initial use. This study examines which factors are most important in converting discontinuers into continuers, and whether they differ from those that are effective in maintaining continuers. We conducted an online survey to compare continuers and discontinuers empirically in terms of the relative importance of seven post-adoption factors to the behavioural intention to use MDS. The results show that usefulness and social influence were more important for discontinuers, ubiquitous connectivity for continuers.

CULTURABILITY IN MOBILE DATA SERVICES: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS AND USER-EXPERIENCE ATTRIBUTES

As the use of mobile data services has spread across the globe, the effect of cultural differences on user requirements has become an important issue. To date, however, little research has been conducted on the role cultural factors play in the design of mobile data services. This article proposes a set of critical design attributes for mobile data services that takes cross-cultural differences into account. To determine these attributes, a qualitative method was devised and in-depth interviews in Korea, Japan, and Finland were conducted. Twenty-one critical user-experience attributes that showed a clear correlation with characteristics of the users culture were found. The article ends with a discussion of limitations and of implications for developers of mobile data services.

Collaborate and share: An experimental study of the effects of task and reward interdependencies in online games

Today millions of players interact with one another in online games, especially massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). These games promote interaction among players by offering interdependency features, but to date few studies have asked what interdependency design factors of MMORPGs make them fun for players, produce experiences of flow, or enhance player performance. In this study, we focused on two game design features: task and reward interdependency. We conducted a controlled experiment that compared the interaction effects of low and high task-interdependency conditions and low and high reward-interdependency conditions on three dependent variables: fun, flow, and performance. We found that in a low task-interdependency condition, players had more fun, experienced higher levels of flow, and perceived better performance when a low reward-interdependency condition also obtained. In contrast, in a high task-interdependency condition, all of these measures were higher when a high reward-interdependency condition also obtained.

Getting closer and experiencing together: Antecedents and consequences of psychological distance in social media-enhanced real-time streaming video

Social media services such as YouTube and Flickr have become online necessities for millions of users worldwide. Social media are online services that enable users to share contents, opinions, and perspectives that support communication with other users. Social media places an emphasis on the shared experience between users, which we call co-experience. However, the online characteristics of social media increase psychological distance between users, which, in turn, results in a decrease in the quality of co-experience. Hence, as the goal of this study, we theoretically modeled and empirically verified the antecedents and user experience-based consequences of psychological distance in a social media-enhanced real-time streaming video service. In order to reduce psychological distance, we introduced two system elements: inhabited space (the degree of being situated in context and in a meaningful place) and isomorph effects (the degree of preserving the structure of a users actions). We constructed a social media-enhanced real-time streaming video service prototype and conducted a field experiment with actual social media users. The prototype, which streamed a live baseball game, enabled users to simultaneously view the game from remote locations and to interact with each other through cheering tools. The results indicate that inhabited space and isomorph effects reduce psychological distance between users, and this, in turn, enhances co-experience. This paper ends with theoretical as well as practical implications of the study.

Measurement development for cultural characteristics of mobile Internet users at the individual level

Culture plays an important role in how an information technology is developed and used. However, few studies attempt to identify the cultural traits most relevant to the specific technology being examined. The main purpose of this study is to develop measures for cultural characteristics of individual users with a specific information technology, the mobile Internet. We propose measures for four cultural characteristics important in the context of the mobile Internet, which are expected to be widely used in the future. The proposed measures were verified empirically through online surveys conducted in seven countries. The results indicate that the measures have high validity and reliability, as well as comparability among the seven countries. The paper ends with a discussion of the studys limitations and implications.

Mobile Web 2.0 with multi-display buttons

Introduction User-Generated Content (UGC) IS A BURGEONING social phenomenon being watched in todays world with keen interest. UGC is an online new-media content created by users rather than by conventional media such as broadcasters. A typical example would be Flickr, an online photo-sharing site with 37 million images, to which its 1.2 million members add up to 200,000 images daily. UGC is shifting the paradigm of Internet use away from the one-way propagation of media content by companies towards the creation and sharing of media content by and among ordinary users. The mobile phone is an especially important means of promoting user generation and exchange of media content. Many mobile phones now have built-in digital cameras and inherent network connectivity. These features have greatly facilitated the creation and sharing of media content. For instance, users can immediately upload photos on Flickr with their mobile phones as well as access Flickr and browse other peoples media content. However, the constraints of a typical mobile phone---its small display and limited number of buttons---make use of mobile UGC services challenging. Only a few studies have investigated hardware or software alternatives to address these problems. This article presents a new user interface (UI) for mobile phones, one that makes use of UGC services easier and more efficient. The new interface has two key characteristics: one pertaining to content structure, and another to content visualization. More specifically, the new UI employs two major mobile Web 2.0 technologies, the tag and the tag cloud, and multi-display buttons increase the display size and flexibility of individual buttons. The interface is dedicated specifically towards supporting exploratory browsing within mobile UGC services, because users of such services are likely to focus on exploratory browsing and serendipitous discovery and be more inclined toward entertainment rather than utility. Here, we describe the new interface and investigate whether it aids in enhancing exploratory browsing within mobile UGC services.

Perceived Electronic Service Quality: Some Preliminary Results From a Cross-National Study in Mobile Internet Services

Work on how consumers evaluate electronic service quality is both topical and important due to the well-accepted criticality of electronic channels in selling products and services. However, most of the relevant research on electronic research quality is preoccupied with the website Internet context and most of the studies are single-country studies, inhibiting conclusions of generalizibility. Theoretically rooted in the Nordic Model of perceived service quality, this exploratory study uses an e-service quality scale to measure mobile Internet service quality in different national settings. Consistent with the available e-service quality literature, results indicate that e-service quality is a second-order factor, with three reflective first-order dimensions: efficiency, outcome, and customer care. Most important, cross-validation investigations using samples drawn from Korean, Hong Kong, and Japanese mobile Internet user populations, support the factorial structure invariance of the construct. Following Cheung and Reynoldss (2002) suggestions, factor means differences between the three countries contributing to the scarce cross-national electronic service quality literature are tentatively examined. These initial empirical findings imply that although consumers in different countries use the same dimensions to evaluate mobile Internet services, importance weightings assigned on these dimension are probably not the same.

Escape from infinite freedom: Effects of constraining user freedom on the prevention of dropout in an online learning context

Abstract Online learning involving Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) is often used to avoid the physical limitations of offline learning. In addition, educational equality can be achieved by redistributing sunk costs in the online context. However, the dropout rate represents a serious and avoidable waste of economic resources. Numerous researchers have conducted studies on the subject, the large majority of whom outlined possible causes of the dropout phenomenon rather than offering solutions to reduce the dropout problem in e-learning. To remedy this, we propose practical system features to counteract the dropout rate in online learning. Through original use of psychological reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) as our main theoretical framework, we make two suggestions: restricting accessibility and limiting repeatability of online courses. These two measures create a sense of scarcity and lack of control, which may help to reduce dropout rates. In an experiment using our e-learning prototype, we analyzed data collected through a survey/questionnaire and interviews with subjects after the experiment. The results indicate that the perception of scarcity and lack of control in the online learning context may enhance e-learners’ concentration and increase their intention to continue and engage more deeply in online learning.