Designing Ambient Intelligence Applications for Smart Office Environments: An Empirical Cross-Cultural Study Analyzing the Requirements for Ambient Intelligence Applications in Work Environments
Final Report Abstract
The project aimed to identify the desires as well as concerns of potential users regarding the Implementation of Ambient Intelligence technologies in work environments. While addressing this overall goal, the project especially investigated the following three research aspects: the acceptance of core functionalities, the perception of threats commonly associated with the usage of Ambient Intelligence technologies, and the influence of interpersonal differences on the adoption process. The research work was carried out in a five-step process. In a first step, existing application scenarios were analyzed and the provided functionalities and potential usage situations were extracted. In a second step, the potential concerns of Ambient Intelligence technologies were identified. Based on the functionalities and usage situations identified in the first step, a representative application scenario was constructed. In the next step, the acceptance of the core functionalities as well as the perception of the Identified concerns was tested in a scenario-based user study. The main goal of the evaluation was to verify, whether the functionalities, provided by existing Ambient Intelligence applications, are regarded as useful and are realized in an acceptable way, and if the identified concerns actually reflect the concerns of potential users. In order to identify cross-cultural differences, the study involved participants from Germany and the United States. In the final step of the project, essential user requirements were extracted from the evaluation data. The results of the study show that the participants regard the described Ambient Intelligence technologies as rather useful and easy to use. Nevertheless, the moderate overall ratings for both factors Indicate that the acceptance of Ambient Intelligence technologies is not as high as often argued. This is reinforced by the relatively low intention of the participants to use the illustrated services. The evaluation also shows that interpersonal differences have a significant influence on the perception of Ambient Intelligence technologies. With significant effects on over half of all questionnaire Items, the participants' nationality is the factor with the strongest influence on the overall acceptance of the described services. Especially the willingness to provide personal information differs enormously between German and American participants. Moreover, the duration of computer usage per day and the level of self-assessed computer knowledge have significant influences on at least one third of all questionnaire items. This shows that there are considerable differences, regarding the design requirements of Ambient Intelligence technologies, between user groups with different cultural backgrounds and different degrees of computer literacy. The study was also able to confirm that the social situation significantly affects the participants' intention to use specific functionalities, and that the employed data capturing mechanisms have a highly significant influence on the participants' willingness to provide personal information.
Publications
- (2007). Classifying Pervasive Games: On Pervasive Computing and Mixed Reality. In: C. Magerkurth, C. Röcker (Eds.): Concepts and Technologies for Pervasive Games: A Reader for Pervasive Gaming Research, Volume 1. Shaker Verlag, Aachen, Germany, pp. 11 - 38
Hinske, S., Lampe, M., Magerkurth, C., Röcker, C.
- (2007). Concepts and Technologies for Pervasive Games: A Reader for Pervasive Gaming Research, Volume 1. Shaker Verlag, Aachen, Germany. ISBN 978-3-8322-6223-5
Magerkurth, C., Röcker, C.
- (2007). Designing User-Friendly Interfaces for Pervasive Gaming Applications. In: C. Magerkurth, C. Röcker (Eds.): Pervasive Gaming Applications: A Reader for Pervasive Gaming Research, Volume 2. Shaker Verlag, Aachen, Germany, pp. 67 - 84
Röcker, C., Magerkurth, C., Hinske, S., Lampe, M.
- (2007). Intelligent Privacy Support for Large Public Displays. In: C. Stephanidis (Ed.): Universal Access in HCl, Part II, HCII 2007, LNCS 4555 Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCl International 2007), July 22 - 27, Beijing International Conference Center, Beijing, P.R. China. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, pp. 198 - 207
Röcker, C., Hinske, S., Magerkurth, C.
- (2007). Novel Gaming Applications for Smart Home Environments. In: C. Magerkurth, C. Röcker (Eds.): Pervasive Gaming Applications: A Reader for Pervasive Gaming Research, Volume 2. Shaker Verlag, Aachen, Germany, pp. 85 - 106
Magerkurth, C., Engelke, T., Röcker, C.
- (2007). Pervasive Gaming Applications: A Reader for Pervasive Gaming Research, Volume 2. Shaker Verlag, Aachen, Germany. ISBN 978-3-8322- 6224-2
Magerkurth, C., Röcker, C.
- (2007). Privacy and Interruptions in Team Awareness Systems. In: C. Stephanidis (Ed.): Universal Access in HCl, Part I, HCII 2007, LNCS 4554, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCl International 2007), July 22 - 27, Beijing International Conference Center, Beijing, P.R. China. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, pp. 273 - 283
Röcker, C., Magerkurth, C.
- (2007). Prototyping Pervasive Games: A New Dimension of Complexity. In: C. Magerkurth, C. Röcker (Eds.): Pervasive Gaming Applications: A Reader for Pervasive Gaming Research, Volume 2. Shaker Verlag, Aachen, Germany, pp. 5 - 10
Magerkurth, C., Röcker, C.
- (2007). Smart Artefacts as Affordances for Awareness in Distributed Teams. In: N. Streitz, A. Kameas, I. Mavrommati (Eds.): The Disappearing Computer, Springer LNCS 4500, pp. 3 - 29
Streitz, N. A., Prante, T., Röcker, C., van Alphen, D., Stenzel, R., Magerkurth, C., Lahlou, S., Nosulenko, V., Jegou. F., Sonder, F., Plewe, D.
- (2007). Towards the Emergence of a New Application Domain. In: C. Magerkurth, C. Röcker (Eds.): Concepts and Technologies for Pervasive Games: A Reader for Pervasive Gaming Research, Volume 1. Shaker Verlag, Aachen, Germany, pp. 5 - 10
Magerkurth, C., Röcker, C.
- (2009). Design Requirements for Future and Emerging Business Technologies: An Empirical Cross-Cultural Study Analyzing the Requirements for Ambient Intelligence Applications in Work Environments. Verlag Dr. Driesen, Taunusstein, Germany
Röcker, C.
- (2009). Information Security at Large Public Displays. In: M. Gupta, R. Sharman (Eds.): Social and Human Elements of Information Security: Emerging Trends and Countermeasures. IGI Publishing, Niagara Falls, NY
Röcker, C., Hinske, S., Magerkurth, C.
- (2009). Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease-of-Use of Ambient Intelligence Applications in Office Environments. Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII'09), San Diego, USA
Röcker, C.
- Ambient Intelligence in the Production and Retail Sector: Emerging Opportunities and Potential Pitfalls. International Conference on Innovation, Management and Technology (ICIMT'09), May 27-29, 2009, Tokyo, Japan
Röcker, C.
- Universal Access to Awareness Information: Using Smart Artefacts to Mediate Awareness in Distributed Teams. International Journal on Universal Access in the Information Society
Röcker, C.
