On the go; Research on user behavior analysis in subway environment

Abstract

With the development of smart appliances, users can use a variety of contents without constraints of time and space. As it becomes possible for users to use various functions with a single appliance simultaneously, various modalities become necessary. This paper tries to suggest a direction of multimodal interface which requires a variety of modality input/output and designs in the digital environment. The researches on multimodal interface up to now have centered on technological aspects. And there have not been sufficient researches based on the aspects of users: in what kind of user environment multimodal interface is possible. Considering that the user environments such as static situation, dynamic situation, personal appliance, or public appliance, etc. work as important contexts in the researches on multimodal interface, I try to extract scenarios through tasks based on aims of users. To achieve the aims, I intend to do research by ethnography method in the subway where one can easily observe those who use various devices. Observing patterns of using devices among subway passengers and classifying types of users, I extract scenarios suitable for various users and various device environments. This study will serve as a basis for suggesting intuitive multimodal interface vocabularies in future researches. © 2012 IADIS.