Personal Digital Signage for Shared Spaces

Abstract

A wayfinding is an everyday activity where the interaction design has traditionally based on landmarks, visual maps, signs, and social collaboration. In the mobile computing era, we have witnessed more techno-centric development of wayfinding and navigation where people turn to their mobile navigation applications rather than to cues in the surrounding environment. However, in many wayfinding situations, using mobile devices is not very applicable due to safety reasons, indoor limitations or practical needs. To overcome the identified challenges, this paper introduces a personal digital signage, which combines the benefits of traditional directional signs and an underlying mobile technology for wayfinding purposes. The paper begins with formulating the design problem and introducing the premises of the solution. We evaluate and refine the solution with usability studies in a mass event (N = 24) and in a hurry situation in a campus building (N = 48). Test results show that the proposed solution was highly acceptable and rated good in usability among participants. The effectiveness as reaching the target destination was excellent and the efficiency measured as time increased only moderately compared with the optimal performance. We conclude that the solution performs well in indoor spaces where the navigational accuracy depends on the amount and positioning of screens installed as is the case with traditional signs. The study calls for re-thinking the interaction design of navigation and wayfinding without use of mobile devices.