Papers

When we as developers and designers create a system that requires user interaction-whether it is computer software, a kitchen appliance, or a door knob-we often fall victim to a common mistake: we use ourselves as the model for our system's potential users. Even developing for an "average user" is a pitfall that results in numerous users whose needs are overlooked. The average user might account for the largest spike under a bell curve, but nonaverage users account for a much...

While wireless communication and other information linked technologies have rapidly achieved widespread levels of adoption, a significant array of stakeholder groups have been effectively excluded, not by as much by active intent as by inadvertent oversight and lack of awareness. Many of these technologies routinely used by the general population are frequently inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Barriers to the use of these technologies by people with varying disabilities may be...

Wearable computers have the potential to act as intelligent agents in everyday life and to assist the user in a variety of tasks, using context to determine how to act. Location is the most common form of context used by these agents to determine the user's task. However, another potential use of location context is the creation of a predictive model of the user's future movements. We present a system that automatically clusters GPS data taken over an extended period of time into...

The typing rates of today's text-entry methods using the mobile phone's number pad are two to five times slower than that expected with a desktop keyboard. For mobile phone service providers to enable mobile email, faster typing methods must be devised. Several methods currently exist for improving mobile-text-entry speeds.

Understanding existing threats against mobile phones helps us better protect our information and prepare for future dangers. Mobile phones have evolved from their roots as analog walkie-talkies to full-scale Internet-enabled computers. Today, mobile phone handsets are arguably the dominant computer form factor consumers purchase. But having such powerful networked computers leads to a new class of malware: viruses, worms, and trojans specifically designed for the mobile environment. Merely...

Energy harvesting has grown from long-established concepts into devices for powering ubiquitously deployed sensor networks and mobile electronics. Systems can scavenge power from human activity or derive limited energy from ambient heat, light, radio, or vibrations. Ongoing power management developments enable battery-powered electronics to live longer. Such advances include dynamic optimization of voltage and clock rate, hybrid analog-digital designs, and clever wake-up procedures that keep...

This article presents the results to date of an ongoing research project of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Mobile Wireless Technologies for Persons with Disabilities (Wireless RERC), which was established in the fall of 2001. The purpose of this project is to identify, prioritize, and disseminate information about the ergonomic needs of users with disabilities for mobile wireless technologies. This article describes the findings of two parts of this research project: (a) a...

This Works in Progress department features: The Shepherd Centerýs use of mobile wireless technology to develop a compensatory aid for individuals with cognitive impairments; and the University of Bathýs research project that seeks to evaluate widely used context-aware mobile services and to develop an efficient method for further evaluation.

The mobile or smart phone is ushering in the real age of ubiquitous computing, and we shouldn't undervalue its importance. This issue highlights work that presents specific smart phone applications as well as programming infrastructure for further development and studies of emergent uses.