User Centered Design for Fully Mobile Devices

Summary:
This paper introduces a lot of taxonomies to help understand different form-factors and mobile usage contexts. It is arguing for the application of a User Centered Design process for mobile devices, and presumably within IBM. They strongly differentiate the differences with Fully Mobile Wirelessly
Connected (FMWC) devices. A number of examples of UCD activities are given. In particular the effects of context are shown with examples and the need for task-analysis that includes the surrounding activities is promoted.

They comment on mobile collaboration:
"The connected nature of FMWC products and the flexibility of the users in the FMWC environment intensely stimulate collaborative work. Significant efforts
of application designers have been dedicated to developing a wide variety of mobile collaborative applications. UCD is difficult enough for non-mobile
collaborative applications, and it will certainly become more difficult for mobile collaboration."

"Since mobility imposes significant cognitive and ergonomic constraints affecting device and application usability, ease of use is central to devices in the fully mobile wirelessly connected (FMWC) world."

Taxonomy of form factors:
- desktops
- laptops
- palmtops
- handhelds
- wearables

No wires attached: Usability challenges in the connected mobile world, 2003, 13 pgs
L. Gorlenko, R. Merrick
[Full-text pdf]