See you on the subway: exploring mobile social software

This project explores the social possibilities of mobile technology in transitional spaces such as public transport. Based on a cultural probes study of Stockholm subway commuters, we designed a locationbased friend finder that displays only people in the same train as the user. We aim at reaching a critical mass of users and therefore decided to make the system compatible with as many phones as possible, thus it was designed as a simple web application. An initial informal study pointed out consequences of certain design decisions on the user experience and highlighted social tensions created by presence awareness. Keywords Mobile social software, commuting, cultural probes ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI): Miscellaneous.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Nicolas Belloni, Lars Erik Holmquist, Jakob Tholander
• Keywords: CHI 2009, Cultural Probes, Cultural Probes Study, Human Computer Interaction, Stockholm Subway Commuters