Applications and interface requirements to engage the citizens to share information in a smart city project

Abstract

Today the cities are faced with new challenges provoked by the displacement of population to the urban areas. Cities have started to find for information and communication technologies solutions that enable high-quality and more efficient urban services. In this context, this study aims to propose a strategy to create the interfaces for a project related with smart cities. Considering that an interface acceptance by the users is important for its success, we develop a survey based in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM and adapted TAM2) and Motivational Model (MM), to understand their preferences to use different types of interfaces. The sample consisted of 225 Portuguese (107 male and 118 female, min = 18; max = 65 years old. The main results show the age is an important factor concerning their interface preferences and motivations to share information. These results demonstrate the need to develop different applications, one for younger adults that integrate all services and several applications for older adults, grouping one or more services, with different interfaces and rewards mechanisms.