Mobile devices for motorcyclists

Some research done by the Mobility, Interactive Institute in Sweden describes the evaluation of a mobile device designed to help motorcyclists learn more about each other while riding their bikes. This is a great example of using computer mediated communication to foster face-to-face meetings.

Motorcyclists using Hocman – Field Trials on Mobile Interaction
Mattias Esbjörnsson, Oskar Juhlin, Mattias Östergren
2003

Abstract:
We have performed an ethnographic study that reveals the impor-tance of social interaction, and especially traffic encounters, for the enjoyment of biking. We summarized these findings into a set of design requirements for a service supporting mobile interaction among motorcyclists. The Hocman proto-type is designed to meet these requirements. It is an application for handheld devices equipped with wireless ad hoc networking interfaces. It uses a peer-to-peer architecture to accomplish sharing of HTML documents with peers in the immediate proximity. The aim of sharing is to spark social interaction among motorcyclists during brief encounters. We report a field trial on the prototype service in its naturalistic setting. Despite the unmanageable setting, e.g. the vast area, the speed, and unacquainted users, we demonstrate field trials as an effec-tive approach to get feedback on how well a prototype service fulfils the design requirements. The results indicate that the conceptual idea of Hocman was ap-preciated, which suggest that the focus on interaction in traffic encounters fit with current practice of motorcycling.

[full-text pdf]