Shaping new mobile services: is it anytime, anyplace, on the move, in the bag or in between?

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• Rachel Jones, Instrata
• Monday 29 October 2007, 18:45-20:30
• Microsoft Research Ltd, 7 J J Thomson Avenue (Off Madingley Road), Cambridge.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Michele Ide-Smith.

Please email cambridge.usability@gmail.com to reserve a place

The mobile has moved on from a simple communication tool. It now has many capabilities, many of which are now workable from the user’s point of view. For instance, the quality of the camera is nearly as good as that of a digital camera which it will surely replace; and internet connectivity is on the way to offering acceptable access times. Such capabilities can only improve.

Over these base services, new mobile services are being developed and a variety of dictums are being vaunted for framing and envisaging them. The mobile operators talk about offering services “anytime, anyplace”. For example, the mobile internet allows the internet to become ubiquitous – we can access anything online from anywhere. User experience experts frown at this approach and advocate the importance of “context” – different services are appropriate at different times, at different places, by different people. For example, with people’s position now determinable, we could identify the sort of services people will want to use based on their location.

In this talk, I explore various ways of thinking about new services, including anytime, anyplace, on the move, in the bag and in between. I suggest that each framework both opens up and restricts the way we explore the design space and therefore the way we envisage new services. I propose that we continue to explore new frameworks to help shape our thinking.

About the speaker

Rachel Jones founded Instrata 6 years ago. Instrata specialises in people-centred design and provides expertise across a broad range of services and products, including mobile, web, television, medical, travel, and personal care services. Instrata offerings include strategic innovation, ethnographic research, user requirements understanding, design mapping and design solutions. Clients include Microsoft, Vodafone, Yahoo, Nokia, Proctor & Gamble, Smith & Nephew, Virgin Atlantic, and the Countryside Agency.

Rachel has over 20 years experience in people-centred design and has been involved in mentoring organisations and teams, managing research and design projects, and developing novel methods and tools. Rachel’s specific experience and expertise comes in selecting or developing the appropriate techniques for a project and guiding the process.

Prior to starting Instrata, Rachel was employed by two of the foremost pioneers of people-centred design techniques, Xerox EuroPARC and Sapient (formerly E-lab). Rachel spent four years at Xerox EuroPARC, which is a world leader in understanding the human and organisational aspects of technologies in use, and on reflecting this understanding in novel design. At Sapient, a leading e-commerce consultancy, Rachel was involved in developing major corporate web sites and services for mobile devices. Rachel has a PhD in Computer Studies, over 40 international publications and has authored 10 patents.

This talk is part of the Cambridge Usability Group series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• Cambridge Usability Group
• Microsoft Research Ltd, 7 J J Thomson Avenue (Off Madingley Road), Cambridge
• School of Technology

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