Creating for the Multi-platform Context,
and Challenges of Media and Place

Mobile content may consist of content ported from other disciplines and platforms, and increasingly we see adaptations of existing media, and the world wide web, for the mobile realm. This content is key for industry content aggregators, and can be a valuable source of content for the mobile realm. Such content must, however, make sense within the social context of mobile phone use, and should be appropriately adapted for the mobile platform. Questions addressed by the designers, scholars, broadcasters and industry experts at Mobile Nation are: What types of methods are appropriate for designing location-based experience? How are mobile technologies designed and how are they adapted for multiple platforms? What are the changing objectives and uses within mobile communication design? In which contexts is mobility valuable, and when does mobile communication become intrusive? How do we design content to be both appropriate for multiple platforms, and appropriately device specific? The migration of traditional forms of content to mobile platforms is challenging and requires a thorough understanding of perception, economies of scale, and the context of reception.

Participatory Culture, Ethnography,
Participatory Design and the End-User

In that all of our researchers and industry professionals are also end-users, Mobile Nation provides a large audience with a lively and engaging opportunity for professional, student and non-professional end-users to compare user contexts and to share ideas and information. With a focus on ethnographic research methodologies, Mobile Nation's expert speakers and scholars make strong links to achieve our objective of moving forward the study and application of ethnographic study within the fields of art, design and communication research. These include participatory and user-centered design and charettes, ethnographic research, participant observation, iterative design and improvisation. Presentations in this realm give researchers and industry professionals the opportunity to share their ideas and innovations, to 'try out' ideas, and to receive valuable feedback from end-users, who become participants in the design process. Questions of particular importance are: How does the participatory design model work within the mobile context? What can we learn from user adoption, adaptation and change? How do social-geographic and ethnographic research approaches contribute to our knowledge? And what approaches can be taken to increase accessibility of mobile content, for a variety of users? The social, co-operative use of mobile telephones breaks from earlier individual-centered design protocols, and the potential new uses of the technology demonstrate the ways in which technologies can be 're-imagined' and 'repurposed' by new user communities.

Mobile Communication and Education

Mobile Nation focuses on the value of art and design research in the field of mobile communication and related mobile technologies. Artists and designers use a range of approaches for creating new applications in this changing field. These include design charettes, participatory design, improvisation, information architecture and flow diagramming, mind mapping and modeling, engineering iteration, context-specific design, and user observation and interviews. Mobile Nation's roster of multi-disciplinary speakers includes accomplished researchers and scholars, technological innovators, industry experts, graduate and undergraduate students who are expanding the field's knowledge of research, design and engineering methodologies. In so doing, these players provide positive outcomes for the academic and educational, industrial and design communities. New questions concerning design research and education are emerging and include: in what context do education and learning methodologies figure in design research for mobile technology? How do we engage teens and young adults—our students are the largest demographic for mobile communication uptake and use—in this important research? In investigating the new forms of utility in educational environments, and the resulting evaluations of usability, the social nature of mobile use requires new and innovative research creation methods.

Pervasive and Social Computing

The conjoined theme of pervasive and social computing affords the opportunity to involve the public in Mobile Nation.

The extension of mobile computing into the realm of pervasive computing includes the embedding of computer technologies and sensors into spaces and artifacts, in combination with artificial intelligence software that can, in turn, respond to and 'reason' about human actions and behaviours. In fact, mobile experiences can move beyond text, sound and image. In response to the needs and desires of the user, spaces will become highly intuitive. We can think of architecture or outdoor spaces 'software'—the ephemeral sounds, smells, images, temperatures and even social relations that surround them—and program the way these spaces interact with their community of end-users. In the area of wearable computing, Mobile Nation further investigates the potential of devices to deliver a rich variety of engaging user experiences that enhance everyday activities and situations, through context-sensitive media and interaction. The potential for new forms of mobile expression are only beginning to emerge and deserve attention from both the research community and industry.

Engineering Methodologies and Solutions Meet Humanities and Social Science Approaches

Technological design needs to be conducted in close proximity to content and application design, requiring that artists, designers and engineers develop effective forms of collaboration. Mobile Nation is interested in methods and research questions for engineering experience design such as: How does open-source work effectively with proprietary platforms and software design? What are set procedures for mobile content design and engineering? How can interoperability be designed and engineered within this evolving space? And where are the points of crossover with existing social science and other media research and design methods? Mobile Nation focuses on the acceleration of these design and engineering methodologies, and compares the approaches of commercial research environments, such as Yahoo Research, Nokia and other providers of integrated mobile solutions, to the participatory methods used by Mobile Digital Commons Network researchers, and in scholarly contexts, such as those at Carleton University, Concordia University, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Simon Fraser University, and the Ontario College of Art & Design.

Martha Ladly, Mobile Nation Conference Leader