Use of Mobile Apps in Information Seeking:
An International Viewpoint
PANEL ORGANIZER:
Hsin-liang Chen
School of Library and Information Science, Indiana
University--Indianapolis
PANELISTS:





Hsin-liang Chen
Associate Professor, School of Library and
Information Science, Indiana University—
Indianapolis, chenhsin@iupui.edu
Crystal Fulton
Senior Lecturer, School of Information and
Library Studies, University College
Dublin, Ireland, crystal.fulton@ucd.ie
Hannah Gleave
Doctoral student, School of Information
and Library Studies, University College
Dublin,
Ireland,
hannah.gleave@ucdconnect.ie
Yin-Leng Theng
Associate Professor, Wee Kim Wee School
of Communication and Information
National
Nanyang
Technological
University,
Singapore,
tyltheng@ntu.edu.sg
Mei-Mei Wu
Professor, Graduate Institute of Library and
Information Studies, National Taiwan
Normal University, Taiwan, R.O.C.,
meiwu@ntnu.edu.tw
devices/applications in mobile situations.
For example, Hufford and Shields (2002)
pointed out that there was a growing preference
among clinical researchers for the use of electronic
diaries in collecting self-report data from subjects in
the field; their survey of the literature found that
using electronic diaries boosted data quality,
decreased time to data lock, and increased subject
compliance. Gerken and his colleagues (2010)
developed a not-yet-marketed “multi-modal diary
for field research” called the Pocket Bee on the
Android platform.
In general, the mobile
devices/applications have been popular tools in the
health-related fields. Additionally, many software
applications are available for various device
platforms (e.g., desktop, laptop, smartphone, table
computer).
Goggins, Mascaro and Valetto (2013)
emphasize
three
important
areas:
data
collection/analysis, the size of a study body and
research ontology when studying group informatics,
and propose a methodological approach for
sociotechnical group research (Figure 1).
Keywords
Mobile Apps, information seeking, use study, user
studies, research methods
INTRODUCTION
Due to global advances in mobile technology,
smartphones have become a regular personal
electronic device in daily life. The mobile devices
and their supporting software applications promise
of on-the-go information-seeking convenience are
now backed by more robust industry infrastructure,
sophisticated built input devices, and hundreds of
thousands of downloadable applications. Research
has focused on the use of these handheld
ASIST 2013, November 1-6, 2013, Montreal, QC, Canada.
©2013 Hsin-liang Chen, Crystal Fulton, Hannah Gleave, YinLeng Theng, and Mei-Mei Wu
Figure 1. Model overview of group informatics
Based on Goggins, Mascaro and Valetto’s
methodological approach, this panel will focus on
methodological approaches and research strategies
for the use of mobile devices/applications that play
an important role in information seeking as well as
information use from an international viewpoint.
In examining the challenges of international
technical infrastructure, cultural difference, public
policies, and research mandates, this panel will pose
and address a number of questions, including:
1. What philosophical approaches do we take
to understanding the benefits of diary
mobile apps in information seeking and/or
information use?
2. How can we thoroughly address the ethical
issues surrounding the use of diary mobile
apps?
3. What methods do we currently use for
gathering and analyzing such data?
4. What challenges do diary mobile apps
present to researchers and scholars, and
how can we overcome these challenges?
Digital diary apps and data collection: Research
considerations/Hsin-liang Chen
Thompson and Chen (2012) conducted a pilot
study in which they asked 7 participants to employ
the diary format—physical or digital—with which
they felt most comfortable. Diary formats included
paper and various electronic versions, including
diary entries submitted by SMS (Short Message
Service).
The participants recorded each
smartphone use in the diary for the period of one
week. Participants included the “where,” “what,”
“who,” and “why” for each smartphone use entry.
Diaries provided a valuable glimpse into the
situations in which participants use their
smartphones and revealed how smartphones have
not only continued to transform mobile information
seeking but have also changed human-computer
interaction in non-mobile situations.
Thompson and Chen’s study was benefited by
the pre-fixed diary format for data collection and
analysis. Based on this result, two formats of diary
apps are chosen to be discussed on the panel:
structured vs. open (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Diary apps
My Diet Diary is a structured diary app in
which users can enter their daily food consumption
from a food database with a minimum effort. The
data entry procedure can be done by keyword
search, food labels, barcodes, etc. The daily meal
table also helps to collect data.
On the other side, Evernote is an open-ended
diary app equipped with audio-video functions
allows users to type text, take photos and videos as
well voice notes. Users can choose those functions
anyway they prefer.
Regarding data exportation and analysis, both
apps pose some challenges. My Diet Diary does
not have a data exportation function but account
holders can let “buddies” view their diet diary. That
means a researcher must manually re-code the data.
Evernote users can share their diaries via email.
However, the diaries may not in an order as in My
Diet Diary. Plus, AV files need to be downloaded
and organized based on the researcher’s needs.
In February 2013, I reviewed the latest 50 user
reviews of both apps. For My Diet Diary, “easy to
use” was the most common phrase in the user
reviews. Particularly, users can easily track their
daily calorie count and input data. Some users also
complained about the fixed format limiting
additional information.
For Evernote, many users liked that it serves
several platforms and various devices. Users can
sync the data between different devices under the
same account. The AV note-taking and typing
functions were also popular with many users.
Additionally, several users favored its organization
capability with a keyword search function.
In sum, both apps are relatively favorable by
users.
That means researchers can motivate
participants to use apps like My Diet Diary and
Evernote to collect data. However, data analysis is a
challenge to the researcher.
Students and Mobile Phone Apps -Everyday
Uses for Problem-Solving/Crystal Fulton and
Hannah Gleave
A small exploratory study of social media use
behaviour, in particular via mobile phone app, is
raising interesting results. Undergraduate students
enrolled in a social computing and media course
were invited to discuss how, when and why they
select, use and deselect social media. Although
students are specifically introduced to a wide range
of social media and building a mobile phone app is a
major assessment outcome for this course, students
were not interested in using a mobile app to keep a
diary of their social media and app use. Instead,
volunteers participated in brief focus group
discussions of approximately twenty minutes about
this topic. This paper offers the results of focus
group discussions and offers insight into students'
reported adoption behaviour in contrast with their
perception of themselves as creators of innovation.
Perceptions on online discussions for learning:
A comparative study on engineering and social
sciences graduate students/Yin-Leng Theng
Information technology (IT) and the Internet
have made inroads into teaching and learning in
higher education. Students accustomed to a high
degree of IT and Internet penetration in everyday
life have themselves come to expect schools to use
IT and the Internet to deliver education. Further, the
current trend in education away from instructorcentred teaching and towards to student-centred
learning has necessitated corresponding changes to
delivery modes and instructional design, and have
prompted instructors to look towards IT- and Webbased tools for solutions.
For example, there is an increasing focus on
developing adaptive environments in which socially
constructed, collaborative and peer learning are
investigated.
Current
information
and
communication tools (ICTs) are getting more
sophisticated and powerful, enabling humans to
interact, share and collaborate with ease and speed.
To respond to the need that human interactions are
equally important in the virtual space as it is in
traditional classroom setting, a variety of social
software has been developed to facilitate studentteacher and peer-to-peer interactions. Connell
(2004) and Boyd (2003) contend that generally
accepted definitions of social software are those that
address the desire of individuals to be pulled into
groups to achieve goals and feature support for
conversational interaction between individuals or
groups, support for social feedback, and/or support
for social networks. Kaplan-Leiserson (2003) argues
that while the initial focus of online learning was on
the technology that drove it, these new social
software tools are being adapted for use ranging
from teens and business people to keep in touch,
collaborate and learn from each other. One of these
software tools is the “online discussion”, an
important aspect of online learning systems
designed to facilitate social learning on the go
beyond face-to-face discussions.
Argued by some that there are positive learning
outcomes using online discussion tools, several
studies (e.g. Bures et. al., 2000; Cheung & Huang,
2005; Landry et. al., 2006; etc.) continue to probe
and investigate the motivational factors behind
students’ participation, or the lack of it, in online
discussion forums.
The purpose of this study was to conduct a
comparative study on the perceptions of online
discussions on graduate students from two different
disciplines in a local university in Singapore:
Engineering (EE) and Social Science (SS). A survey
instrument was developed to determine students’
perceptions and usage of online communication
mediated tools. A total of 202 students, who used
online discussion forums, took part in the survey.
While students agreed that ‘EdveNTUre’
(university’s learning management system powered
by ‘BlackBoard’) was useful to help them complete
their assignments; participation in online discussions
was largely tutor-driven. Students from SS showed a
higher level of usage of online discussion boards
and considered them important to achieving good
grades; whereas the students from EE did not think
so.
On-going work should include investigations
into understanding factors for acceptance and
adoption of computer-mediated discussions for
learning.
Apps use behavior of graduate students in the
contexts of learning and everyday life: NTNU’s
experience/Mei-Mei Wu
Mills’ concept of “Intellectual Craftsmanship”
(Mills, 1959) is particularly important in the digital
age, with countless Apps for diary/note-taking
developed everyday. This talk reports two studies,
one is the analysis from the existing data, a goodle
survey. Google Survey released the results of their
annual Mobil Use Survey (Google, 2012) of which
includes Taiwan as their survey target for the first
time. By comparing Ireland, Singapore, Taiwan and
US, (the components of this panel), it is found that
some similarities and differences, e.g., similar
pattern appears in the length of online sessions on
smartphone.
There are also differences, e.g.,
Taiwan users view more web pages while less
satisfied with webpage browsing. Although mobile
use patterns are not the focus of the study, it
suggests different use behavior in these countries.
The second study is to survey how the current young
generation at the graduate level uses Apps, the
edge-cut device, to take notes of all kinds, and to get
themselves as “Intellecture craftsman.” Qualitative
approach is applied for journal survey (Sohn, etc.,
2008). A pilot study is conducted by asking
graduate students to record their daily information
seeking and/or use activities by filling a Google
form sent out everyday for a period of two weeks.
Twelve graduate students participate as volunteers
among the total of 19 in the Research Method Class
2013 spring. A total of 61transactions are collected.
The preliminary analysis found that students
preferred using PC for note taking then Apps at the
current stage.
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