Dimensions of context affecting user experience in mobile work

Abstract

Understanding the contextual factors affecting user experience is essential in designing and evaluating mobile systems for mobile work. The aim of this paper is to explore these contextual factors through three case studies: of safety observation at construction sites, passenger transportation with taxis, and mobile news journalism. For each case study we describe the nature of the mobile work and present our findings on the contextual factors that were found to affect the user experience. Based on the results, we present and discuss five dimensions of mobile work context affecting user experience: 1) social, 2) spatial, 3) temporal, 4) infrastructural, and 5) task context. Compared to earlier frameworks of context for mobile work, the social context as well as the infrastructural context was emphasized in our findings. The presented framework elaborates the dimensions of context affecting user experience of mobile systems and services in mobile work in particular. The framework is also applicable for mobile consumer systems and services. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.