Search

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the users' cross-app behavior characteristics in mobile search and to predict users' cross-app behavior using multi-dimensional information. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a longitudinal user experiment in 15 days. This paper recruited 30 participants and collected their mobile phone log data in the whole experiment. The structured diary method was also used to collect contextual information in mobile search. Findings: This study focused on the users' cross-app behavior in mobile search and described cross-app behavior's basic characteristics. Usage of communication app and tool apps could trigger more cross-app behavior in mobile search. The method of cross-app behavior prediction in the mobile search was proposed. Collecting users' more contextual information, such as search tasks, search motivation and other environmental information, can effectively improve the prediction accuracy of cross-app behavior in mobile search. Practical implications: The future research on cross-app behavior prediction should focus on context information in mobile search. Better prediction of cross-app behavior can reduce the users' interaction burden. Originality/value: This paper contributes to research into cross-app behavior, especially in the mobile search research domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper relayed an important line of Mark Hepworth’s work, which engages with information technologies and development. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a subfield of library and information science (LIS) for development to reclaim the role of information services and systems for social change in rural areas. The paper looked at the extent of development gained with the advent of mobile phones.Design/methodology/approach Rather than undertaking traditional large-scale, quantitative, context-independent and survey-type research, the paper employed capability approach and semi-structured interviews to ascertain the experiences that mobile phone kiosk vendors in the rural Congo had of mobile phones.Findings It was found that mobile phones should be geared towards the liberation, and not utilization or commodification of humans and their needs and that mobile phones were not a catalyst of human basic capabilities.Research limitations/implications Since the method employed is an in-depth qualitative analysis of mobile phone kiosk vendors, obtained results can be used to enrich or inform mobile phone experiences in other settings and groups.Practical implications This paper provided empirical evidence as to how an important group of mobile phone users could harness development with their mobiles.Originality/value Most LIS literature has presented mobile phones along the lines of information freedom or access, mass subscription, adoption rates, technological and entrepreneurial innovation, micro-credits, etc. However, the paper placed the topic development at the heart of LIS debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Web search is more and more moving into mobile contexts. However, screen size of mobile devices is limited and search engine result pages face a trade-off between offering informative snippets and optimal use of space. One factor clearly influencing this trade-off is snippet length. The purpose of this paper is to find out what snippet size to use in mobile web search. Design/methodology/approach: For this purpose, an eye-tracking experiment was conducted showing participants search interfaces with snippets of one, three or five lines on a mobile device to analyze 17 dependent variables. In total, 31 participants took part in the study. Each of the participants solved informational and navigational tasks. Findings: Results indicate a strong influence of page fold on scrolling behavior and attention distribution across search results. Regardless of query type, short snippets seem to provide too little information about the result, so that search performance and subjective measures are negatively affected. Long snippets of five lines lead to better performance than medium snippets for navigational queries, but to worse performance for informational queries. Originality/value: Although space in mobile search is limited, this study shows that longer snippets improve usability and user experience. It further emphasizes that page fold plays a stronger role in mobile than in desktop search for attention distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- Research has shown that when presenting large amounts of social media information on small devices, design should consider multiple contexts which include user preferences, time, location, environment and so on. It should also take into account the purpose of use, for example, the kind of tasks undertaken by users. However, little research has been done on the organization of social media information by multiple context and tasks. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach -- Using tourism as a domain, the authors conducted a user evaluation study with a prototype to investigate users' preferred ways of organizing different types of social media information based on multiple contexts. Findings -- In this paper, the authors present a sequence of context types for organizing four types of social media information (recommendations, events, friends and media elements). The study revealed that users preferred to view recommendations by location and environment context, events by location and temporal context, contacts by location and identity context and finally, list of media elements by environment and identity context. Research limitations/implications -- There may be different sequences of context types for organizing social media information in domains other than tourism. Researchers are encouraged to analyze users' needs in other domains so as to find their preferred ways of organizing social media information. Practical implications -- This paper includes implications for the design and development of user interface, in particular, for mobile applications presenting large amount of social media information. Originality/value -- It presents a new way of organizing social media information using multiple context types and with consideration of users' needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of information literacy (IL) in food logging, the activity of recording food intake and monitoring weight and other health conditions that may be affected by diet, using applications (apps) accessed through mobile devices and personal computers.Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from a small group of food logging app users through a focus group and interviews. Analysis was informed by practice theory and the growing interest in IL outside educational settings.Findings Food logging revolves around the epistemic modality of information, but it is the user who creates information and it is not textual. Food logging is associated with a discourse of focussing on data and downplaying the corporeal information associated with eating and its effect on the body. Social information was an important source for choosing an app, but data were rarely shared with others. Food loggers are very concerned with data quality at the point of data entry. They have a strong sense of learning about healthy eating. They were not well informed about the data privacy and access issues.Practical implications Food loggers need to be better informed about data risks around food logging.Originality/value This is the first study of food logging from an IL perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]