Characterizing the Context of Use in Mobile Work

Abstract

The context of use has been widely acknowledged as important when designing and evaluating systems for work related activities. This paper describes in case of mobile news making the synthesized findings on the context of use. Findings are categorized to five components and nineteen subcomponents and characterized with examples from our studies. The presented findings validate a previously presented model for context of use in mobile HCI, extend it, and elaborate the definitions for the components. The presented elaborated model can be applied by academics and practitioners in development, research and evaluation activities from identifying requirements to evaluating systems for mobile work. Findings support understanding what circumstances and how they can contribute to user experience and acceptance of designed systems.