Date: 6/10/10
Location: UCSF
Interviewer: Rachael
Note taker: Alison
Script: Are you interested in participating in an interview about mobile internet use? It should take
about approximately 30-40 minutes. If you qualify for the interview, we will give you a $15 Amazon.com
gift certificate. We’re looking for students/faculty who currently own a mobile device that can access
the internet.
Do you own a smartphone
or other mobile device with
Internet? What kind?
Ipod touch, owned 2.5 years
Are you a student?/What is
your occupation? What
year? Field of study?
Student, 4th year, biomedical sciences, graduate
Microbiology, immunology
Script (yes): Great. It sounds like you’re just the person we want to talk to. First, we’d like you to read
through and sign this consent form. Do you mind if I record our conversation?
Script (no): I’m sorry. We’ve already heard from several people in your department, and we want to get
a range on experience. Thanks for your interest in talking to us though.
Do you own any additional
mobile devices that can
access the internet?
What other electronic
devices do you own?
Laptop? iPod?
Do you plan to purchase any
more in the near future?
Regular phone without internet
Had a macbook, stolen
Yes, but not sure what yet
Needs a new phone
In terms of mobile internet, can’t say I would pay month iphone charge
Like the separation of phone and internet right now, but fine if it’s
together
How long have you owned
your device?
2.5 years
How do you use it during the
day? For work/school? For
Doesn’t have a computer at home
Uses it to look things up at home
leisure?
Mostly spend time at work, use computer at work
When not, would use itouch
If not mentioned above, are
there other activities that
you do with your device?
Take pictures, upload files to
internet, shopping, banking,
making reservations?
Mostly checking email
Making reservations
Directions
Do you visit websites on
your device? Which ones?
Blogs, friends websites
Wikipedia
What is your favorite app or
mobile site?
Boggle
On the bus
How do you find apps?
Hears from friends, “one super techy friend who always tells me about
apps”
Mainly free ones, has paid for 1 or 2
Don’t have an exorbitant number them
Would pay for it was amazing
Can only use with wifi
(would be willing to pay for) “If I had an iphone that could gps me and
could like tell things around me, I find that to be really cool” (4:55)
Thinks she bought music recognition one
Doesn’t use in class
Do you use your device in
class or for instructional
purposes? How?
Do you often look for
information on your device?
Doesn’t use it for work at all
Uses computer or laptop to do that stuff
Whatever browser is built into it
Always use google
What kind of information
are you generally looking
for? If you have your laptop
or a computer nearby, do
you prefer to use one device
over another for searching?
Have you used your mobile
device for research/
searching? What resources
do you use to search?
Laptop: on campus
Where do you go for
content (books, video etc)?
How do you find content?
Reads news articles. Doesn’t purchase books
Sometimes watches video
(video) “Mostly things people refer me to”
Can go to itunes to download something specific
Do you read on your device?
For how long? What do you
read?
Do you take notes or
highlight while reading on
devices? Do you use a
special program?
Do you use a library or
database service on your
mobile device? How did you
learn about it?
Have you run into any
difficulties trying to access
resources or use a system
where you have to log in?
Not on mobile
“I don’t know many functions of library website besides searching for
book or article” (10:31)
“Library has never been very useful for me, maybe I’m not very good at
searching”
“School has a subscription to most journals. Those are available as PDFs”
Google them or pubmed
UCSF network: “I’ve tried that with every device I’ve ever had, and it’s
never worked for me. And I’m not sure, I think I have to have a special
login.”
Has tried to authentitcate with ever device I’ve ever had, and it’s never
Do you notice if you use the
cellular network over the
wifi network?
Can you tell me about a time
that you tried to do
something on your mobile
device that did not work
well?
worked
I think it might be vpn login
We have our own network in our lab
Wifi only
Some websites aren’t really made to be used [on mobile devices],
they’re just too heavy, or flash.”
They just don’t work well
Issue with the software, not the device
Have you ever used a mobile
website that links to other
materials that are not easy
to use on a mobile device?
How did you proceed? What
was your frustration level?
Do you use text messaging
often?
Quite a bit
Do you typically prefer to be
notified or alerted by text
message or by email?
From friends, text message is faster
Official things, would prefer email
“I take them [emails] more seriously“
Have you ever sent yourself
information (either by text
or email) or kept notes in
some way so that you’ll have
information on the go?
Sends emails to herself
Lists of things to do
“If I see something online that I want to find later, I’ll email it to myself”
Is there a service that you
would like on your mobile
device that you don’t
currently have? (Perhaps
find a way to relate this
question back to an activity
that they do to help them
think of ideas for this
question.)
If you have both your
laptop/desktop and your
mobile device in front of
you, how do you decide
which device to use for
certain activities?
Is there anything else I
should know about? Does
the note-taker have any
questions?
Having wireless all the time
If it worked better with every website
Other notes
Feels like grad or at least PhD students here don’t use library much,
mostly primary articles, not often physical materials
Uses endnote
Hasn’t used PubMed on Touch
“I can’t quite imagine just because usually when I’m using PubMed I’m
looking for a PDF of the article, and I don’t think…can you open PDFs on
it [iPod Touch]? I don’t know actually” (14:39)
“I can’t imaging reading a whole science journal on my iTouch” (see
photo)
Would rather print it out
Carries iPod touch with all the time. Only uses where she knows she’ll
have wireless