Social Evaluation of MobileMAN Meeting with the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) Helsinki – June, 7th 2004 Dr. Jennifer Duyne Claudia Brazzola

2 Agenda DSAS – Department of Social and Administrative Sciences Social Evaluation of MobileMAN Objectives Activities Questions and discussion

3 Social Evaluation: Objectives  Analyse the social viability of MobileMAN  Anticipate social responses  Enhance communication between system developers and potential end- users

4 Research Activities 1.Users-oriented website/WIKI 2.Analysis of social responses to wireless technologies in use (WLAN and mobile phones) 3.Assessment of needs and concerns of elderly and disabled people 4.Social evaluation of pilot tests 5.Analysis of factors affecting cooperation

5 1. Users-oriented website Objective  Participatory development of applications and scenarios of use for MobileMAN Methodology  Pilot study: Dissemination of MobileMAN concept through stories and scenarios  WIKIMobileMAN: An open Website ( Phase I: pilot test with students (4 weeks) Phase II: Involvement of real potential end-users

6 2.Analysis of social responses to wireless technologies in use  Objective Anticipate attitudes and responses to MobileMAN  Questions What difficulties do different categories of people encounter with the use of wireless ICTs? Which functions and applications are most appreciated and diffused?  Methodology Analysis of secondary data on social issues of WLAN and mobile phones Case studies on experiences with WLAN at the University of Lugano and ETH Zürich

7 3.Needs Assessment of elderly and disabled people  Objective Raise awareness about the needs and constraints of socially excluded groups of people  Question What are the attitudes, fears, and difficulties faced by elderly and disabled people in the use of wireless ICTs, such as bracelets and mobile phones?  Methodology Review of secondary data Case studies Semi-structured interviews with representative sample of elderly and disabled people

8 4. Social evaluation of pilot tests  Objectives Record and analyse attitudes and responses of testers Analyse encountered difficulties Capture immagination of testers  Methodology Participatory observation Semi-structured interviews with testers Involvement of testers in WIKI

9 5.Analysis of factors affecting cooperation  Objective Evaluate the viability of the cooperation model underlying MobileMAN  Question Under what conditions does a group of people voluntarily organise and overcome conflicts between individual and collective interests?  Methodology Review of secondary literature on collective action theory

10 Conclusions  Questions?  Comments?  Thank you for your attention!