Questions And Answers: Exploring Mobile User Needs

Abstract

The users of mobile devices increasingly use networked services to address their information needs. Questions asked by mobile users are strongly influenced by context factors, such as location and user activity. However in research which has empirically documented the link between mobile information needs and context factors, information about expected answers is scant. Therefore, the goal of this study is to explore the context factors which influence the mobile information needs and the answers expected by mobile users. The results, are obtained by analysing information from paper diaries and digital diaries. This project involved a user study, comprising two different types of studies concerning a paper diary and a digital diary. The analysis of both the paper diary and the digital diary was conducted through grounded theory and taxonomy of information needs. our results indicate a relationship between mobile information needs and context factors and expected answers. Our study explored this relationship between mobile information needs and context factors, and provides a better understanding of the expected answers related to mobile information needs.