First experiences with a mobile information system supporting reflective exploration of unknown terrain

Abstract

Supporting people "on the move" introduces a number of constraints that are not present in traditional human-computer interaction settings. In this paper, we describe first experiences with a mobile information device supporting tourists during what we call reflective exploration of areas of interest. The modified mobile game client provides information about the area explored plus information about the tourist's own ongoing and past activities. Feedback captured during and immediately after field experiments suggests that participants appreciate that the device offers a range of annotation modalities allowing participants to choose whatever modality fits their current annotation needs. The device's distinct way of visualizing information about past explorative activities also seems to help participants orientate themselves in the unknown terrain and plan next steps of the explorative activity.