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Utilizing mobile technologies as a component of living labs
Last modified: 2009-11-24
Abstract
Introduction
As the implementation of Living Labs enjoy momentum from communities across the world, so does the need for widespread availability to the benefits provided by these experiments. The problem that most countries face is a lack of adequate technology available to the average end-user, this creates a technology wall between technologically advanced nations and those lacking in even the most basic of technology infrastructures.
Studies have shown that mobile handsets are more prevalent than standard Desktop Computers; this is proven by a study that found that in countries like East Asia at least 90% of all households own cellular phones, Europe follows suite with at least 80% of all households owning cellular phones. The study also showed that most households own about two cellular phones.
This helps to illustrate that the mobile platform can be used as a powerful component in a Living Lab. This broadens the reachable demographic, allowing us to provide content and services to individuals in remote location on the go.
Vision For Mobile Enabled Living Labs
Cellular phone technology is growing at a very fast pace, new features appear daily and current technologies are adapted to the mobile platform. With the growth of these technologies, it becomes possible to provide rich content and multimedia to end-users via handheld devices.
Technologies like Silverlight and Flash Lite are already being adopted by most cellular phone manufacturers and this opens many possibilities for creating rich interfaces and mashing applications, suitable for the use in Living Lab environments.
We are of the opinion that using mobile technology provides the necessary means of content distribution without sacrificing the intended presentation to the end-user. Technologies like Silverlight will allow us to provide video, animation, imaging as well as integration of Web technologies on the mobile platform, providing the end-user with a similar experience as would be achieved by a Desktop Computer.
What makes the mobile platform more appealing than the desktop is the fact that we may provide services from any location, thus providing the end-user with solutions or aid “On-Location”, without the need to find access to the internet from a fixed location.
Current Mobile Technologies
Silverlight is a key component to rich content creation for mobile devices and provides the means for easy application development and integration due to the fact that it is based upon Microsoft’s widely used and successful presentation API known as the Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF. This allows programmer familiar with WPF to create interfaces and applications using Silverlight without the need for special training.
Flash Lite provides an equally appealing platform, as there is a large community of flash developers already developing for web sites on the internet, allowing for faster adaption to the mobile platform reducing the learning curve.
Application Of Mobile Technologies
The research performed on this topic will provide insights to how these technologies may be utilized to achieve the goal of providing content to end-users, helping realize mobile Living Labs.
As the implementation of Living Labs enjoy momentum from communities across the world, so does the need for widespread availability to the benefits provided by these experiments. The problem that most countries face is a lack of adequate technology available to the average end-user, this creates a technology wall between technologically advanced nations and those lacking in even the most basic of technology infrastructures.
Studies have shown that mobile handsets are more prevalent than standard Desktop Computers; this is proven by a study that found that in countries like East Asia at least 90% of all households own cellular phones, Europe follows suite with at least 80% of all households owning cellular phones. The study also showed that most households own about two cellular phones.
This helps to illustrate that the mobile platform can be used as a powerful component in a Living Lab. This broadens the reachable demographic, allowing us to provide content and services to individuals in remote location on the go.
Vision For Mobile Enabled Living Labs
Cellular phone technology is growing at a very fast pace, new features appear daily and current technologies are adapted to the mobile platform. With the growth of these technologies, it becomes possible to provide rich content and multimedia to end-users via handheld devices.
Technologies like Silverlight and Flash Lite are already being adopted by most cellular phone manufacturers and this opens many possibilities for creating rich interfaces and mashing applications, suitable for the use in Living Lab environments.
We are of the opinion that using mobile technology provides the necessary means of content distribution without sacrificing the intended presentation to the end-user. Technologies like Silverlight will allow us to provide video, animation, imaging as well as integration of Web technologies on the mobile platform, providing the end-user with a similar experience as would be achieved by a Desktop Computer.
What makes the mobile platform more appealing than the desktop is the fact that we may provide services from any location, thus providing the end-user with solutions or aid “On-Location”, without the need to find access to the internet from a fixed location.
Current Mobile Technologies
Silverlight is a key component to rich content creation for mobile devices and provides the means for easy application development and integration due to the fact that it is based upon Microsoft’s widely used and successful presentation API known as the Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF. This allows programmer familiar with WPF to create interfaces and applications using Silverlight without the need for special training.
Flash Lite provides an equally appealing platform, as there is a large community of flash developers already developing for web sites on the internet, allowing for faster adaption to the mobile platform reducing the learning curve.
Application Of Mobile Technologies
The research performed on this topic will provide insights to how these technologies may be utilized to achieve the goal of providing content to end-users, helping realize mobile Living Labs.
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