Behavioral Analysis of Switching Information Devices
Yu Koitabashi (AY 2015)
In recent years, the information and communication devices (devices) that people use in their daily lives are not limited to desktop PCs, but also include smartphones, tablet terminals, and game consoles that can connect to the Internet via wireless LAN. We have multiple devices and use them at different times, places, and for different purposes. In this situation, understanding the characteristics of devices in terms of the situation where multiple devices are used intermittently will be of great help in developing new devices and systems that connect devices. However, it has been pointed out that previous studies (Wong, 2013, Montanez, 2014) were quantitative studies that only considered actual switching logs, leaving knowledge of the context in which device users switch between devices speculative, and that qualitative studies need to be followed up to gain a better understanding. The need for follow-up was noted.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to elucidate how major device switching occurs in the modern era and what factors contribute to such switching. We believed that this study would provide a more detailed understanding of device switching behavior and how users perceive the relationships and characteristics between each device.
To achieve this goal, this study conducted an experiment focusing on three types of device switching in a laboratory setting to accurately observe device switching: PCs, smartphones, and tablet devices. We assigned several tasks in which device switching was assumed to occur in daily life, analyzed the switching behavior that occurred under these conditions, and conducted interviews using the retrospective method with 21 undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Tsukuba.
Behavioral analysis of the experimental participants revealed that the coordination between the two types of devices, PC and tablet, deepened as they switched devices and performed tasks simultaneously. These trends were caused by a combination of the participants' familiarity with PCs, the operability of PCs due to the availability of a full range of input devices such as keyboards, and the mobility and ease of browsing of tablet devices. In addition, the majority of reasons for switching to smartphones were to move the very tasks they were performing to another device. The retrospective study revealed that this is because the impression of specialization in two points, carrying and web connection, is deeply rooted in the consciousness of the experimental participants, and when multiple devices are present, the connection between the other devices is weak and the expectation of the task is low.
In the future, we will investigate the relationship between multiple devices, including other devices not covered in this experiment, such as televisions, which are expected to develop further as information communication devices, and game consoles that can connect to the Internet, taking into account a wide range of age groups and genders, etc., to cover a wider range of relationships and motivations for switching between multiple devices. It is considered necessary to cover a wider range of relationships and motivations for switching between multiple devices.
(Translated by DeepL)