行政院國家科學委員會專題研究計畫 成果報告
比較台灣與美國行動內容消費的差異：從社會情境與互動
介面討論
研究成果報告(精簡版)
計 畫 類 別 ： 個別型 計 畫 編 號 ： NSC 99-2410-H-004-173- 執 行 期 間 ： 99 年 08 月 01 日至 100 年 12 月 31 日 執 行 單 位 ： 國立政治大學廣播電視學系 計 畫 主 持 人 ： 曾國峰 計畫參與人員： 碩士班研究生-兼任助理人員：林宏曄 公 開 資 訊 ： 本計畫可公開查詢中 華 民 國 101 年 03 月 31 日
中 文 摘 要 ： 手機算是媒體嗎？如果是，使用者必須願意透過手機消費各 種的影音、新聞、娛樂、遊戲或是書籍內容。雖然台灣手機 的普及率相當高，電信業也已經可以提供各種多媒體服務， 但實際上媒體內容仍乏人問津。目前的問題只是單純的因為 價格太高而已，還是手機的使用情境與互動介面設計，根本 就不適合使用者消費現有的媒體內容呢？因此，本研究將比 較在美國與台灣不同的社會場域中，以「活動理論」的分析 脈絡，面訪了共 24 位台灣與美國學生，以及 6 位台灣畢業 生，每位並記錄兩星期的使用日誌，從使用者每日使用手機 的社會情境，了解在不同特定的時空脈絡下，使用者是如何 與手機內容互動；另外，他心跳、皮膚知覺設備，觀察與測 量使用者面對手機小螢幕的互動介面時，在「心智資源有限 性」的理論架構下，討論手機在閱讀與觀看過程中，認知資 源的分配是否與傳統媒體有何不同。希望從巨觀的社會使用 情境，與微觀的認知心理歷程，提供未來討論使用者在手機 消費數位內容的經濟模式基礎。 中文關鍵詞： 手機、使用情境、認知互動、介面設計、行動內容經濟 英 文 摘 要 ： Could mobile phones become mass media, like
television, radio, newspaper or Internet, which provide us information and entertainment? Although the penetration rates of mobile phones are very high in many countries, most users only make phone calls and texts, but not willing to spend time and money on the consumption of mobile online services. To
explore those factors, this research analyzed 24 Taiwanese and American graduate students in different social contexts, Taiwan and the U.S. The results found that the school life style, WiFi on campus, high mobile service fees, low incomes and low usage utilities made students not willing to spend money on the mobile contents. Instead, the notebooks are the homework and mass media center for most students, and they get those information and entertainment content from the alternative choice, the Internet for free. Also, this research completed 39 student subjects for the mobile vs. PC experiment. Although there were little difference in some of the psychophysiclogical index, such as heart rate, skin conductance and facial muscle, however most of them were not significant. Therefore, the screen size may have
some impacts in watching and reading the media contents, however other factors, like types of
contents or social content, might play more important roles in explaining the media consumption.
英文關鍵詞： Mobile phone, context, cognitive interaction, interface design, mobile content business model
行政院國家科學委員會補助專題研究計畫
■成果報告
□期中進度報告
比較台灣與美國行動內容消費的差異：
從社會情境與互動介面討論
計畫類別：■個別型計畫 □整合型計畫
計畫編號：NSC 99－2410－H－004－173
－
執行期間：99 年 8 月 1 日至 100 年 7 月 31 日（延長至 100 年 12 月 31 日）
執行機構及系所：政大廣電系
計畫主持人：曾國峰
共同主持人：
計畫參與人員：林宏曄碩士生兼任助理
成果報告類型(依經費核定清單規定繳交)：■精簡報告 □完整報告
本計畫除繳交成果報告外，另須繳交以下出國心得報告：
□赴國外出差或研習心得報告
□赴大陸地區出差或研習心得報告
□出席國際學術會議心得報告
□國際合作研究計畫國外研究報告
處理方式：
除列管計畫及下列情形者外，得立即公開查詢
□涉及專利或其他智慧財產權，□一年□二年後可公開查詢
關鍵詞：手機、使用情境、認知互動、介面設計、行動內容經濟 中文摘要 手機算是媒體嗎？如果是，使用者必須願意透過手機消費各種的影音、新聞、娛樂、遊戲或是書 籍內容。雖然台灣手機的普及率相當高，電信業也已經可以提供各種多媒體服務，但實際上媒體內容 仍乏人問津。目前的問題只是單純的因為價格太高而已，還是手機的使用情境與互動介面設計，根本 就不適合使用者消費現有的媒體內容呢？因此，本研究將比較在美國與台灣不同的社會場域中，以「活 動理論」的分析脈絡，面訪了共 24 位台灣與美國學生，以及 6 位台灣畢業生，每位並記錄兩星期的使 用日誌，從使用者每日使用手機的社會情境，了解在不同特定的時空脈絡下，使用者是如何與手機內 容互動；另外，他心跳、皮膚知覺設備，觀察與測量使用者面對手機小螢幕的互動介面時，在「心智 資源有限性」的理論架構下，討論手機在閱讀與觀看過程中，認知資源的分配是否與傳統媒體有何不 同。希望從巨觀的社會使用情境，與微觀的認知心理歷程，提供未來討論使用者在手機消費數位內容 的經濟模式基礎。 Abstract
Key words: Mobile phone, context, cognitive interaction, interface design, mobile content business model Could mobile phones become mass media, like television, radio, newspaper or Internet, which provide us information and entertainment? Although the penetration rates of mobile phones are very high in many countries, most users only make phone calls and texts, but not willing to spend time and money on the consumption of mobile online services. To explore those factors, this research analyzed 24 Taiwanese and American graduate students in different social contexts, Taiwan and the U.S. The results found that the school life style, WiFi on campus, high mobile service fees, low incomes and low usage utilities made students not willing to spend money on the mobile contents. Instead, the notebooks are the homework and mass media center for most students, and they get those information and entertainment content from the alternative choice, the Internet for free. Also, this research completed 39 student subjects for the mobile vs. PC experiment. Although there were little difference in some of the psychophysiclogical index, such as heart rate, skin conductance and facial muscle, however most of them were not significant. Therefore, the screen size may have some impacts in watching and reading the media contents, however other factors, like types of contents or social content, might play more important roles in explaining the media consumption.
前言：
手機算是媒體嗎？原本只能講電話的行動通信服務，這幾年，隨著 SMS、MMS、blog 到行動電視， 使用者可以隨時隨地的使用文字、音樂與影像，幾乎所有傳統媒體與網路的功能，全都可以透過這支 隨身的個人 gadget 實現，大家似乎樂觀的認為手機就是每個人專屬的行動媒體，手機將會是未來所有 媒體的匯流（Drotner, 2005; May & Hearn, 2005; Richardson, 2007; Wilson, 2007）。
但另一方面，雖然台灣各家電信業者鋪天蓋地的廣告行銷、所有業務人員每天努力的電話直銷， 3G 電信業者號稱已經有超過 1000 萬門號，但絕大部分使用者卻還是拿手機來講講電話、傳傳簡訊、 拍拍照片，少部分消費者只有剛開始更換成 3G 服務時，會好奇地上過一、二次網路服務，更多的人是 從來不知道這些手機還可以用來做什麼？ 價格當然是最主要原因，目前手機的上網費用雖然號稱是定額吃到飽，但透過電信業平台使用的 手機網站的加值服務，卻還是要另外收費，且價格相對不低，消費者即使是偶而使用，一個月累積下 來也要負擔相當高的費用（Baldi & Thaung, 2002; Kim & Kim, 2003）。另外，目前透過電信業者平 台的線上內容不多、品質參差不齊，即使每項服務價格都只有數十元至百元內，也始終無法吸引消費 者長期使用的興趣（Baye et al, 2007; Kannan & Kopalle, 2001）。
如果只是價格偏高與內容有待加強，或許隨著 3G 的普及率逐漸增加後，價格將會下滑、也能吸引 更多較高品質的內容加入。但最怕的，是否從使用情境的脈絡來看，消費者根本就不適合以手機來消 費部分傳統的媒體內容形式；或是，相對來說，如果我們真得希望透過手機來閱讀報紙、雜誌，收看 電視、電影等內容時，由於手機使用情境與互動介面大小的不同，業者們必須重新思考製作適合行動 情境的數位內容，並設計合理的付費機制與廣告環境，而不只是一股腦的把其他平台的內容直接往手
機上擺，就想要消費者付上大把鈔票，消極的抱怨消費者的喜好難以捉摸（Mort & Drennan, 2007）。
研究目的 不同於過去討論新科技採用因素時，大都是以量化問卷方式調查使用者意願，本研究希望透過觀 察記錄使用者每日使用手機的社會情境，了解在不同特定的時空脈絡場域、在那些社會文化制約下， 影響使用者與手機內容的互動；同時，透過心跳與皮膚知覺設備等，觀察與測量使用者面對手機特有 的小螢幕互動介面時，閱讀與觀看內容時的認知心理過程，是否與過去傳統媒體有無不同，做為未來 使用者在手機消費數位內容可能經濟模式的基礎？ 文獻探討 使用情境、活動理論與個人模擬 如果研究問題本身不再只是直接詢問使用者評估結果，而是要了解使用者在不同公私領域、時間、 空間場域、人際關係與社會規範等每日生活情境中，是如何與手機是進行脈絡式細微的互動，則便要 改變研究資料收集的方式。早期認為所謂 context（情境脈絡） 可是說是 as which surrounds us，
內，教室又是在大學之中，大學又是在一個社區之中，而社區又是在整個社會文化之下，因此，只要 還能從擴大的 context 範圍，獲得新的資料與意義，就應該不斷持續。不過，Cole（1996）認為 context 還應該是 that which weaves together，特別強調是在怎樣的社會規範與脈絡之下，建構出人們使用 科技間的互動關係，環境會影響科技使用，相對的，科技使用也會影響周遭情境意義的建構，人們是 整個社會結構（matrix）中的一環，科技使用行為不能單獨抽離討論。 Activity theory 了解使用者多種面向的使用動機，與實際行動的關係，同時觀察是在怎樣的社會、文化脈絡下， 又會受到什麼制約規範影響（Viljamaa, et al, 2005）。從過去手機的相關研究可以發現，由於手機 使用研究橫跨不同的時間與空間，甚至挑戰過去社會學的人際關係與社會控制理論（Fortunati, 2002），因此，更需要放在更巨觀的社會情境下，而不單單只是手機與個人之間的互動關係。 但是如何有系統的分析使用者在複雜、隨著變化的情境脈絡中？這幾年有愈來愈多的研究應用「活 動理論」（activity theory），因為可以提供探討新科技使用與情境間關係的分析架構，包含了解什麼 是情境、包含那些要素，設計者如何經由對使用情境的了解，從過去使用的歷程，檢討科技與使用者 的關係，可以提出合適的改進策略，幫助研究者完整的建構一個思考比較的空間（Bannon & Bødker， 1991；Bedny & Harris，2005）。不過，嚴格來說，活動理論並不是一個制式的理論，也沒有精確的
文字來敘述理論內含（Kuutti, 1996），相對的，是由一套原則性的思考面向所組成，可以被用來當作
探討特定理論的基礎。
活動理論認為人們（subject）要實現任何的目的（object），都需要中介工具（tool）才能完成，
事情不會自然、直接的就發生，這些工具可能是透過實體的科技、或是概念的語言，研究者可以透過
觀察不同分析單位的活動 activity（what people do），也就是在那個特定的環境中的行動 action，
了解使用者是如何將不同活動，轉化（transform）為原本設想的成果（outcome）。不過，在這過程中，
必須考量還有那些成員、組織參與（division of labour or roles），以及在怎樣的時空環境下操作
這些活動的（community），最後不同的文化與社會規範（rules）也會影響使用者的活動方式 （Engeström，1987）。 如果我們應用活動理論來了解使用者是如何消費行動內容服務，則需要討論：誰是在這個行動內 容消費過程的主體，可能是各種行業、上班族或是學生，不同的主體會有什麼文化、社會或是個人情 感上的特質？消費行動內容的目的為何，是為了獲得資訊、學習、愉悅還是玩樂？要達到這個目的， 需要透過怎樣型式的工具，像是多媒體手機、電信服務，以及怎樣的 action，例如訂閱線上新聞、下 載音樂、遊戲等，了解消費者是否會將這樣的行動 object，轉換成為具體透過手機，而不是其他媒介， 行動消費文字、音樂、圖片與影像等的結果。此外，在整個行動消費過程中，是由那些不同的電信業 者提供行動內容服務，各家的系統有無差異；使用者會選擇在怎樣的時間、地點與誰使用行動上網； 同時，是否在不同的文化差異、社會家庭要求、或是政府規範會影響不同的行動內容消費。 另外，Matthews et al（2007）則透過活動理論，有系統的了解使用者在不同生活情境中，是那 些因素影響一般大眾，如何有效的使用各種電子周邊設備螢幕，同時提出相關的評估與分析面向，可
是學習效率上都大大提昇。Matthews et al（2007）同時還設計了兩個不同性別的 personas，Bob 和 Jane，同時透過他們兩人不同的工作性質-「飛行員與教師」，以及在生活中會使用到的各種不同的電 子周邊設螢幕，例如，電子時鐘、嬰兒監控器、飛行計速器等，討論不同的使用情境與影響。 研究問題 1-1：透過活動理論，分析使用者是如何透過手機與社會情境互動，比較在美國不同文 化背景的各國留學生、以及具有相同文化背景的在美國台灣留學生與台灣本地學生之間的差異。例如： 美國與台灣不同手機使用的社會情境。包括：從早到晚短暫等人時間、長途開車或是捷運通勤；在私 人臥房、廁所或是公共空間；各種例行工作連絡、還是喜怒哀樂的分享；獨自一人還是與誰對話；美 國與台灣不同電信業者的服務情境；家庭、社會與文化規範又會如何制約。 Personas 雖然以使用者為中心的設計觀念，早就融入目前大多數產品與程式設計過程，不過在實際的研究 操作上，由於市場上的使用人數眾多，設計者通常無法長期與合適的使用者互動接觸（engagement）； 同時，使用者的社會、文化與政治傾向特質等經常被排除，無法真正描繪與再現複雜的使用歷程（Grudin & Pruitt, 2002），因此，設計者經常相對的是一個模糊的可能使用者，有時，甚至可能只是設計者自 己的想像投射。 之後，雖然也有研究開始強調使用者的個人簡介（profile），以及從情境考量（contextual inquiry）不同的可能故事情節，不過，Carroll（2000）認為以情節為主（scenario-center）的互動 分析中，雖然可以假設不同的情節故事，從各種議題事件與背景脈絡，透過劇中人物表現出所要達到 的工作目標，但其中對所謂的「actors」的討論卻不多，也就是並沒有考量不同使用者的特質，包括 生活型態、價值觀、甚至是個人抱負等對情境的各種反應。 為了讓產品設計者更能了解使用者的需求與目的，不至於製造出不符合消費者實際操作的問題， 因此，會先根據深度訪談與參與觀察使用者的不同使用需求目的，創造不同特質的個體，稱為 persona， 甚至會給與名字與臉，似乎就是一個虛擬的真正使用者，每一個 persona 會有一個被賦予需要滿足的 使用需求，一般來說，根據未來產品使用者的型態多寡，會有三至七個不同 personas，之後，再透過 假設的 scenarios，了解使用者與設計產品的互動過程（Cooper, 2002）。 例如，事實上，每一個虛構的 persona 是非常完整的人物，不但有名字、性別、種族、朋友、家 庭、衣物與寵物等；還有教育程度、工作職業、社經地位，甚至還有個人偏好、心情故事、未來人生 目標等。這裡仍然有不同設計產品的使用情節，不過事先建構出 personas，他們是真正使用新科技的 人物，而不只是劇中的 actors，同時，人物雖然是虛構的，但是相對的行為舉止，卻都是從真實生活 中整理而來的資料組成，這些看似沒有相關的個人描述，等到在討論實際的使用互動時，就可以看出 在資料分析時的優勢了。 另外，過去大部分手機使用情境的研究，主要都是以青少年為研究對象，這是因為相對於其他年 齡層，手機已經成為青少年生活中不可或缺的 gadget。過去幾個以田野調查方式（ethnographic
要有關，但也從來不會真得取代面對面接觸的互動。不過，愈來愈多的韓國青少年花在線上遊戲互動
的時間與空間，已經成為他們與人相處的主要溝通平台了（Chee, 2005）。
另外，由於手機具備拍照功能，隨身自拍、團拍或情境拍攝，也逐漸成為使用者經驗再現與詮釋
的重要功具（Gye, 2005）。Lee & Sohn（2004）發現在韓國，不同於其他新的傳播科技的採用大都是
以男性為主，手機拍照等多媒體的使用過程，反而是女性的參與程度更深入、情境經驗更豐富，同時 更強化人際關係與認同的重要媒介（Hjorth，2007）。羅紓筠（2008）以 11 位台灣國高中女生為個案， 透過訪談與分析她們的手機圖片、簡訊等文本內容，發現青少女如何藉由手機的集體使用，在分享與 認同中形成與社會結構控制對抗的基礎，並發展出在各種學校與家庭限制中遊擊的戰術，並透過手機 自拍，自行記錄定義生命中的重要場景，將詮釋的權力下放至青少女手中。 研究問題 1-2：跳脫過去一直將手機行動內容消費的使用者，侷限在一成不變的旅行商務人士， 透過建構新的 personas，他們可能是青少年、上班族、或是宅男宅女，不過共同的特色，就是如果價 格許可，會是比較有時間花在各種多媒體行動內容上的主要消費群，不管是 MP3、線上電視、電玩、 網路新聞與雜誌等，了解他們透過目前的智慧型手機的各種行動內容消費的互動過程（engagement）， 提供電信服務業者未來更多加值服務的想像。 LC4MP 模型的基本概念 Annie Lang（2000）結合認知心理學的訊息處理理論，以及社會科學的傳播影響研究，以過去數 十年的各種不同實證研究數據為基礎，建立了所謂的 Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing（LC4MP）模型，希望了解當閱聽人接觸到不同的媒介內容與結構形式時，大腦中 的黑盒子是如何接收、處理、儲存與回復訊息，同時在每個不同階段，測量不同的生理反應，以實證 數據支持研究假設。雖然 LC4MP 模型過去廣泛的被應用在各種不同的傳統媒介分析，例如，提供容易
記憶的電視新聞製作原則（Lang, Potter & Grabe, 2003），不過對於透過手機消費行動內容的研究，
則仍然還未開始。 LC4MP 有兩個主要的假設，第一，人們是主要的訊息處理者，而處理的過程包括在環境中接觸刺 激、轉化成腦中可以處理儲存的訊息、以及隨時能夠將訊息再次重現的機制，也就是訊息處理的過程 又可分為製碼（encoding）、儲存（storage）與復原（retrieval）（如圖五），不過，這並不是一個線 性的流程，大腦是隨時、同時、非線性的執行不同階段。第二，一個人處理訊息的能力是有限的，這 是因為訊息處理是需要有足夠的心智資源（mental resources），而這部分是有限或固定的；或許有些 人可以同時處理一件、二件，甚至是五件、六件事情，但總有一個極限，一旦再處理新的訊息，必須 要放棄既有的事情時，就代表已經超過個人的處理能力了（Lang, 2000）。此外，在整個製碼、儲存與 復原訊息的過程中，如果人們只願意選擇提供較少的心智資源，或是這個訊息處理需要較多的心智資 源時，因為製碼、儲存與復原是獨立的分配資源，結果是：可能製碼獲得足夠資源，但此時儲存、復 原則只有有限的資源，在任何一種情況，訊息處理就無法完全執行。 手機內容設計與 LC4MP
的反應（orienting responses），必須要與使用者個人動機相關時才會發生；也就是說，電腦中介的
訊息需要透過控制（controlled）資源分配（使用者要主動有意識的想要觀看），而不是像在電視觀看
時的自動（automatic）資源分配（受到刺激就直接反應），就能產生製碼過程（Lang et al., 2002）。
這可以部分解釋為什麼很多人在電腦上閱讀報紙或雜誌時，經常感覺雖然有在看、但似乎比較沒有讀 到內容，需要更專注的閱讀才能了解意義。此外，線上閱讀與其他媒體不同，使用者必須先從眾多的 文字與圖片中決定標題，此時大部分的心智資源會先集中在快速的製碼，之後進入所點選的內容後， 轉而從記憶區復原相關訊息、符碼與知識，然後再開始閱讀理解一連串的文字句子（Wise, 2008）。 如果延伸上述的結果至手機上觀看內容時，不但可能也會有類似需要主動閱讀的問題，同時手機 還有其他介面過小的介面設計困境，更會影響心智資源分配不足的情形。不同的訊息結構會影響使用 者的專注、記憶與理解能力，手機與其他媒介最明顯的不同是螢幕大小只有約為 3 吋左右，因此，在 單位時間內只能呈現極少部分的內容，所以對使用者觀看同一則在電腦與手機上的新聞內容時，就必 須在手機上很快的換行，以及不斷的換頁，單位時間內能閱讀的內容較少，同時增加眼球移動的負擔 （如圖六所示），因此，會增加使用者需要處理這則手機新聞所需要的心智資源。 不同的文字編排陳列方式，會影響閱讀速讀與理解力（Dyson, 2004），由於手機螢幕較小，如果 要閱讀與電腦螢幕相同的資訊量，要嘛就是延伸螢幕下拉的垂直縱深、不然就是要水平的前後換頁， 雖然垂直下拉可以減少手機再次向網頁伺服器請求下載的時間，不過卻增加操作上的錯誤率。同時， 不管是那種方法，如果要再看其他上下或前後頁的內容，使用者都需要再次點選操作鍵盤、上下 bar 或是按鈕，因此，會減緩網頁閱讀的速度，以及增加訊息呈現的困難度（Chae & Kim, 2004; Paap & Cooke,
1997）。此外，使用者在閱讀過程，需要有一個參考點（anchor），不斷的根據既有的資訊，理解新的 訊息；而如果螢幕愈小，代表需要下拉或前後換頁的頻率愈多，也需要更多的參考點，因此，就需要 愈多的心智資源才能處理。 研究假設 2-1：目前的手機使用軟硬體介面，在閱讀行動網頁的過程，由於螢幕較小，加上過多 的超連結與 layout 層次，每次所能處理的訊息有限，需要不斷的垂直換行或是水平換頁，因此，會比 一般電腦螢幕更難專心在文本內容上，將影響使用者持續長期閱讀的意願。 目前大部分的網頁內容，原本設計都是以電腦觀看為主，因此，手機或 PDA 如果要閱讀網路上的 內容時，由於螢幕較小，目前大都是將網站的 HTML，轉為 CHTML 或 XML 格式，使得原本適合 1024x768 的多媒體網頁資訊，簡化為以條列方式為主的文字內容，Zhang（2007）認為當 push 手機網頁內容時， 如果可以透過記錄使用者的登入資料，就可以直接自動傳送適合 PDA 大小螢幕的網頁格式。希望透過 較符合手機大小的網頁介面內容、資訊格式與數量改變、以及連結（hyperlink）方式與階層簡化，而
能提昇使用者較長期時間持續使用手機內容的意願（Zhang & Adipat, 2005）。
有時如果透過簡單的按鍵，也因為能簡化工作程序的，反而可以獲得較高的滿意度。例如，Roto （2003）以 Google 搜尋工作為例，討論是否大部分使用者會比較偏好超連結，而儘量不去使用鍵盤， 這是目前 Nokia 在設計互動內容介面的基本原則。研究過程共有 20 位使用者參與，所要執行的工作是： （1）找到一個特定地點在某個時期的天氣資訊，以及（2）某一位職業籃球球員在特定球季中的表現 資料。結果發現卻令人意想不到的結果，由於這個實驗如果簡單鍵入字母，便容易完成所交待的工作，
不過，最近一、二年來，隨著 iPhone 等手機提出多點觸控螢幕（multi-touch screen）的互動介 面功能後，目前愈來愈多的多媒體手機也都可以直接顯示傳統完整的 Internet 網頁大小，然後再透過 手指放大所需要閱讀的文本部分，這對使用者來說將改變過去使用者在較小螢幕上的觀看行為，不過 是否也會因此改變心智資源的需求，並進而影響使用時的專注力，則還沒有相關的研究出現。 研究假設 2-2：透過智慧型手機的多點觸控螢幕功能，使用者可以比過去條列方式，更快速的閱 讀更多文字與圖片內容，減少使用者眼球停留的時間、簡化資料尋找的過程與資訊處理的時間，同時 增加使用者的專注力，因此會提高使用者閱讀手機內容的可能性。 因此，如果訊息內容簡單，就可以配合較複雜的訊息結構，可以引起使用者的注意；但是如果訊 息內容本身，對使用者來說是比較不熟悉或不容易了解的，需要較多的心智資源，就不應該再設計過 多的結構變化，反而因此造成使用者更不容易理解（Fox et al., 2004；Thorson & Lang, 1992）此 外，也要考量是那些使用者而設計不同形態的訊息結構，例如，老人心智資源的分配方式與年輕人不 同，通常老人對外在反應習慣較慢，與刺激引起注意力和動機較小；年輕人則對訊息結構較複雜、或 是影像變化步調較快的內容有興趣（Kane et al., 1994., Light, Prull, & Kennison, 2000），這可 以部分解釋為什麼年經人相對於老年人更能夠自在的使用手機。 手機的使用社會情境並不固定，經常會是在公共場合消費私人的行動內容服務，相對於傳統的其 他媒體使用情境，例如，電視大都是在客廳收視，既使還有家人、朋友在場，也還是算在自己熟悉的 環境中，但觀看行動電視時，使用者可能是在捷運車箱內，隨時有其他乘客進出，人潮圍繞在身旁， 還會有到站的廣播等，因此需要挪出額外的心智資源，以應付周遭隨時出現的各種刺激，導致剩下比 較少的資源能夠應用在消費手機螢幕上的內容文本，因此，手機上也就不適合處理過於複雜的訊息結 構。例如，Habuchi（2005）調查日本一般民眾的手機使用服務，音樂、鈴聲與桌布下載是最多使用者 操作的服務，其次是網站搜尋、新聞、交通資訊與遊戲等。 有多少的新訊息能夠被儲存，要看是否能與既有記憶區連結有關，相較於電腦螢幕內的新聞可以 較完整的被眼球感官所製碼，但在手機上閱讀時，單位時間所能製碼的訊息量較少，所以被儲存在記 憶區中的相關訊息就會較慢，因此需要更多的心智資源才能儲存，同時也較不易記憶。而由於製碼與 儲存會同時與復原競爭有限的心智資源，又因為在手機閱讀文字與觀看影像時，所需要的心智資源會 比其他媒體要高，從記憶區復原相關的訊息時就會較少較慢，因此，如果當使用者是在手機上閱讀科 學知識時，會比消費娛樂內容需要更多的復原訊息，才能以幫助製碼與儲存時，就會感受到似乎超越 自己的心智資源所能負擔了。 研究假設 2-3：由於手機使用情境容易分散注意力，加上螢幕較小產生過多的換頁、換行與按鈕 動作，造成使用者已經需要更多的心智資源，才能完成在其他媒體的相同閱讀動作，因此，使用者會 比較偏好在手機上使用比較不消耗過多的心智資源的服務，例如娛樂影像的注專力時間，會明顯大於 科學新聞的文字閱讀。
研究方法 本研究比較美國與台灣不同社會與文化情境的行動手機使用行為，因此在美國 recruit 了 6 位美 國學生與 6 位台灣留學生，在台灣也 recruit 了 6 位台灣學生與 6 位美國留學生，另外，希望了解不 同身份轉換是否也會有所差異，因此也訪談了台灣 6 位剛畢業職場新鮮人。 透過滾雪球的方式，或是詢問周遭符合研究對像條件的同學，台灣部分則由研究助理執行，使用 者儘量是使用智慧型手機與一般手機各半，同時男女比例儘量平衡。受訪對像要填寫二個星期的詳細 手機使用日誌，包括 when, where, whom, what, how…，使用記錄過程，可以拍照記錄手機使用行為， 兩週後再面訪使用者訪談。除了面訪與使用日誌外，也觀察校園中學生在不同 contexts 時的手機使用 情形？ 例如：公車內、等公車時、行走、上課時、圖書館…等不同情境時，使用者是如何使用行動裝 置。
本研究在下半年時，以 Biopac 簡易學生版（四個 channels）與 Media lab 軟體同時問卷調查實 驗結果，透過測量 psychophysiclogical 的指標，例如：heart rate, skin conductance, facial muscle，從生理反應了解心理狀態。研究透過美國大學的課堂中 recruit 學生，共 39 位（男 19 女 20） ， 先請同學填寫同意書後，分別將七個 sensors 分別貼在手上與臉部，同時確認信號品質後，受測者開 始操作手機或 PC，並同時測量信號。實驗設計如下，是以組內 2x2x4x2 的實驗。
Within group (fractionated) experimental design
2(screen size) x 2 (task) x 4(content type) x 2(repetition) Independent variables:
Screen Size: iPod Touch vs. desktop PC Task: Reading Text vs. Watching Video
Content Type: Drama: Athlete: Entertainment: News
研究結果
即使是在美國提供更多的行動內容服務的社會情境下，台灣留學生在美國使用智慧型手機的比例 仍不高，而價格、經濟能力、之前是否使用仍為主要因素。其中，大學部反而比研究生更多人會使用 類似 iPhone 等觸控智慧型手機，主要是出國留學的台灣大學生的經濟條件反而更佳。而在美國的美國 學生使用智慧型手機卻沒有想像中高，同時偏向比較有經濟能力的博士班學生，而在校園中經常看到 很多大學生是拿 iPod touch 而不是 iPhone，學生 texting 比例與頻率高，因此大學部學生會以一般 手機打電話與傳簡訊，而透過 iPod touch 與 wifi 上網使用免費的行動加值內容。
對於美國留學生在台灣來說，台灣電話的費率相對較低，提高他們的使用意願，同時如果學生是 搭公車或捷運，空檔時間較多，也增加使用機會。相對來說，台灣學生使用智慧型手機比例較低，但 在這幾年的費率下降、各種觸控手機增加、同儕比較壓力等，但與前幾年相比，也已逐漸增加。而相 較於學生來說有限的經濟能力，畢業後雖然月薪仍低，但增辦智慧型手機的人數提高，一方面是經濟 能力提高，再來是同事間的比較壓力更大，同時在工作上的需求也增加，因此購買意願更高。 在美國校園中，筆記型電腦是學生主要學習與娛樂的多媒體來源，在大部分的上課、圖書館中幾 乎人手一台，這也可以從學生主要背包 Northface 的電腦包的流行性可以看出，不會像台灣很多大學 生仍然帶著漂亮的小包包上課。另外，美國學生使用 Macbook 的比較高，而附贈 iPod touch 與隨處 wifi 可以隨時上網。當然不管是美國或是台灣學生，價格仍然是主要影響消費的因素，因此當 willing to pay 低與可替代性高時，大部分的行動內容消費比例偏低，免費內容仍是主流。
而在實驗結果部分，對使用者而言，在 mobile 上觀看 video 時與 pc 類似，但在 mobile 上閱讀 text 的時間較短，有時會有快速 preview。不同的內容主題有明顯影響，例如 drama 較有吸引力時，不管 是在 mobile 或 pc 的觀看時間均較長。如果測量使用者的心跳速度，不管是 mobile 或 pc，戲劇類節 目，使用者較進入情境中，心跳較低、比較專注。而在 skin conductance 的測量比較上，Mobile vs pc 並沒有明顯差別，但戲劇類節目影響情緒，有較明顯變化。而在 Facial muscle 指標上，部分使用 mobile 過程中，眨眼頻率較高，同時有 tension 的比例較高。
Facial muscle 指標容易受到干擾，例如：耳機位置、電源線，或是身體移動，尤其是感冒過敏時， 生理指標數據就完全不能用，需要 clean data。雖然實驗操弄 screen size，但缺乏真正的實驗使用 情境。Mobile vs pc 的 screen size 有些微影響使用者的專注度，但卻沒有大到會影響使用者的消費 意願，可以發現內容型態品質、操作介面方便性、使用 context 等的影響更大。
結論
不同 screen size、操作介面與使用 contexts 可能對行動內容消費有所影響，但如何影響、程度 大小、因素等，都還待更進一步的研究。從日常生活、慣性、文化研究…等，質性深入分析，未來可 以結合科技，像是 GPS 定位、地圖資料與操作軟體、內容等，串連成一完整的 maps。而更進一步量化 的生理反應測量，包括 FMRI 等或許也能提供更詳細的資訊，如此可以更完整的了解未來互動媒介使用 者的使用行為。
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請就研究內容與原計畫相符程度、達成預期目標情況、研究成果之學術或應用價
值（簡要敘述成果所代表之意義、價值、影響或進一步發展之可能性）
、是否適
合在學術期刊發表或申請專利、主要發現或其他有關價值等，作一綜合評估。
1. 請就研究內容與原計畫相符程度、達成預期目標情況作一綜合評估
■達成目標
□ 未達成目標（請說明，以 100 字為限）
□ 實驗失敗
□ 因故實驗中斷
□ 其他原因
說明：
2. 研究成果在學術期刊發表或申請專利等情形：
論文：□已發表 ■未發表之文稿 □撰寫中 □無
專利：□已獲得 □申請中 □無
技轉：□已技轉 □洽談中 □無
其他：（以 100 字為限）
3. 請依學術成就、技術創新、社會影響等方面，評估研究成果之學術或應用價
值（簡要敘述成果所代表之意義、價值、影響或進一步發展之可能性）（以
500 字為限）
本研究結果可以提供學術社群與產業界，了解文化與社會情境對行動加值服
務消費方式的影響，以及在手機螢幕上設計互動內容時，需要處理的認知問
題。可以進一步協助開發適合行動內容的設計，以及在日常生活脈絡中的文
化社會使用情境下，即時、合理的推出消費者有需求性的加值服務。提昇了
解使用者是否消費行動內容的原因，可以協助未來行動產業的發展。
The future of the mobile content consumption: users’ social contexts, cognitive interface design, and economic model.
Abstract
Could mobile phones become mass media, like television, radio, newspaper or Internet, which provide us information and entertainment? Although the penetration rates of mobile phones are very high in many countries, most users only make phone calls and texts, but not willing to spend time and money on the consumption of mobile online services. To explore those factors, this research analyzed 24 Taiwanese and American graduate students in different social contexts, Taiwan and the U.S. The results found that the school life style, WiFi on campus, high mobile service fees, low incomes and low usage utilities made students not willing to spend money on the mobile contents. Instead, the notebooks are the homework and mass media center for most students, and they get those information and entertainment content from the alternative choice, the Internet for free. Also, this research completed 39 student subjects for the mobile vs. PC experiment. Although there were little difference in some of the psychophysiclogical index, such as heart rate, skin conductance and facial muscle, however most of them were not significant. Therefore, the screen size may have some impacts in watching and reading the media contents, however other factors, like types of contents or social content, might play more important roles in explaining the media consumption.
I. Introduction: the research purpose and significance
“The medium is the message” as McLuhan said, and different media formats will generate contents for various purposes. Can the 3.5 inches size of the small screen mobile phones replace other media (May & Hearn, 2005)? That is, can users get used to watching television programming, reading newspapers, or surfing the Internet through the personal gadget (Habuchi et al, 2005; Ji et al, 2006)? Almost everyone has a mobile phone and ideally the gadget can provide any kind of multimedia contents. It looks that the mobile phone should become the most powerful personal media than any others. However, for the small screen and complex usage procedures, few people are willing to spend money on those services in their everyday lives (Baldi & Thaung, 2002; Chae & Kim, 2004).
The penetration rates of mobile phones in Taiwan had been the highest in the world, but the percentages of consuming mobile contents were still low in the past few year. Not only the industries worry about the future development of mobile phones, but also the academics are eager to solve the deadlock (Hjorth, 2007). For the ubiquitous characteristics of mobile phones, this research suggests that both the industries and
academics should conduct mobile research in a specific cultural and social context (Dourish, 2004; Drotner, 2005; Hjorth & Heewon, 2005; Verkasalo, 2007).
This research will answer the questions from two perspectives. Instead of using the traditional adoption model of the quantitative survey methodology, it will apply the activity theory as the theoretical foundation, including the five elements (Wali et al, 2008): the subjects of mobile phone users, their intents and activities of usages, the division to provide the mobile services, cultural and society rules, under what community and environment. It will focus on graduate students as the personas example to systematically observe the interaction between mobile phones and different culture background students under their specific social contexts for a period of time.
II. Literature Review:
1. Traditional Adoption Theory of New Technology
There are many different models explaining the adoption of new technology. For example, Technology of Acceptance Model (TAM) or Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA). The factors of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of uses and subjects’ technology
believes are considered as the major influences on their attitudes and the decisions of technology adoption. Recently, the academics propose a Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of Technology (UTAUT), which integrated eight previous models, held four key constructs (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions), and explained more variation (Wang et al, 2006).
and they found that perceived usefulness and ease of uses are the most important factors. Kwon (2007) considered the innovative personality, social economic status and the perceived online safety were more significant in the GPS context. Also, Westlund (2008) analyzed the mobile news consumption of over 5000 users during 2005 to 2007 years, and found that the prices and perceived usefulness of mobile news services were the most important factors.
However, Mort & Drennan (2007) survey 250 users about the adoption of mobile contents in what usages of circumstances, but they found that involvement of new technology was more important than previous results of self-efficacy. Sarker & Wells agreed the same arguments. They proposed an analyzed structure of IPO (Inputs-Process-Outputs) considering the special characteristics of mobile phones, and suggested that the researches should pay more attention to the social context. This was consistent with other findings that most of the advertisements of mobile phones emphasized on the feelings share, social network and entertainment experiences, instead of the functions of usages (Aguado & Martinez, 2007; Lee & Benbasat, 2003; Longoria, 2001).
2. Context, Activity Theory and Personas
Therefore, recently the mobile phone industry also became to analyze usages in the natural environment (Caroll, 2000; Kangas & Kinnuneu, 2005). For example, the Norkia’ research center compared the MP3 and radio usages among three different countries of Korea, Japan and Finland. Except for interviewing their emotions and difficulties of experiences, the research also requested users to record texts and take pictures while they consumed the mobile music contents. From the rich information of observation, Nokia researchers could further understand how to design the interactive interface and satisfy needs of different users (Viljamma et al, 2005).
To analyze the usages of mobile technologies in the social context is more important because they are used in ubiquitous, anytime and personal (Henderson, et al, 2002; Maguire, 2001). For example,
traditionally audiences were used to watch television in the fixed context of being with family in the living room at night. However, for the mobile television, do users ideally watch the on-demand video anytime, anyplace with anyone, or users might access to mobile online services only in certain conditions? Therefore, researchers cannot avoid the users’ social contexts of personal emotion, time pressure, or environmental distraction (Lee et al, 2005).
This research will apply the activity theory in order to systematically analyze the interaction between users and technologies in their contexts (Blomquist & Arvola, 2002; Kuutti, 1996). As the figure 1 presented, the elements of activity theory include who the subject is, what the objects are, what activities the subject does, who providing the services, in what social rules and community, and transform what the subjects expect
(Engeström, 1987; Nardi, 1996).
in the available business model; will there be different usage results in various family, community or society under specific contexts?
Figure 1, the structure of context, activity theory, and personas
Except for the observation of usages in the contexts, this research will apply personas method to enhance engagement in reality. Personas are fictional people. They have names, likenesses, clothes, occupations, families, friends, pets, possessions, and so forth. They have age, gender, ethnicity, educational achievement, and socioeconomic status. They have life stories, goals and tasks. Scenarios can be constructed around personas, but the personas come first. They are not ‘agents’ or ‘actors’ in a script, they are people. Photographs of the personas and their workplaces and homes are created and displayed in public places (Grudin & Pruitt, 2002).
Although most of the mobile content firms did not apply the persona method for evaluation during the interface design, they actually had a “shadow persona” of “travelling business man” in their minds for a long time (Avgerinou, & Andersson, 2007; Blomquist & Arvola, 2002; Waycott et al, 2005). The smart phones were usually focused on the functions of emails, schedules and documents. However, if smart phones would become media, the users should be extended to other younger groups who might have time to consume the game, movie, music and MSN. Until now, most of the research found that the teenage use phone as social media and were eager to use the functions of MP3, photos and SMS, instead of spending money on the mobile contents (Grant, 2007; Grant & O’Donohoe, 2007; Yoon, 2003). Therefore, in order to explore the future consumption of mobile contents, this research will also create various personas based on the U.S. and Taiwanese contexts. tool subjects rules community Division of labour object transformation process outcome Personas emotion Context distraction crowding
Except for the macro perspective of understanding the mobile phone usages in the social contexts, this research will apply the Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing (LC4MP) model to analyze the relationship between the message structure and the interface design from the micro perspective. There are two basic assumptions of LC4MP. First, the information processes include encoding, storage and retrieval, but they are nonlinearly proceeding in the brain (Figure 3). Second, users have only limited mental resources to process. If they have to deal with many tasks at the same time, or some of the tasks are difficult and need more mental resources, they might have to give up some of new tasks in order to accomplish the others (Lang, 2000; 2006).
Usually, users will perceive the information through the sensory receptors, such as the eyes, ears, nose and skin. However, since the users’ brains can only have limited capacity to storage the information, the old information will be replaced by the new information if there are not further proceeded. What information will be stored in the area of activity memory depends on the users’ interests, believes and the contexts.
Figure 2, LC4MP model for mobile phone usages
The various formats of media contents will need different mental resources to process the information. For example, as the audio and video of the television programming are continuously broadcasting, the main mental resources of audiences will be forced to focus on responding to the encoding process (Lang, et al, 2007). Therefore, there are few resources for storage and retrieval, and that is why audiences usually did not remember what specific contents they had watched yesterday (Lang, Potter & Grabe, 2003).
lost
Limited cognitive resource
encodee storage retrieval Measurements
Heart rate, skin conductance, eye movement, reaction time…
attention memory persuasion text, sound picture, video news, game, entertainment Serious, Sad, happy, angry Message structure auto、control
the contents in the public places. For example, in the past, audiences can only watch television
programming in the living room, but now users can watch video while sitting in the bus, walking along the street, or waiting in the restaurant. However, the outside stimulus will distract the attention of users, and therefore they need more mental resources to concentrate on the screens. So users could tend to such as playing games, viewing SMS or listening to the MP3 music in the public, instead of some serious scientific articles (Habuchi, 2005).
Unlike the allocation of mental resources in watching television, surfing the online webpage will not automatically produce orienting responses (Wise et al, 2008). The users need to have motives to actively control and allocate the mental resources for encoding, storage and retrieval (Lang et al, 2002). Users can decide what webpage they want to read in the speed that they can handle. So they are able to memorize the information and critically compare with their prior schemes.
However, compared to the general 20” size of computer screens, when users read text on the 3.5” small screens of mobile phones for the same amount of words, users need to pull more pages or link to the other hyperlinks (Bautsch-Vitense et al, 2001; Dyson, 2004; Lang, et al, 2002; Őquist, 2008) (Figure 4). Therefore, their eyeballs move more quickly for the same information on the larger computer screen. In addition, users need an anchor of references in reading every page. The more frequency of the eyes transaction and anchors request, the more mental resources the users need to process the information (Chae & Kim, 2004; Paap & Cooke, 1997). Therefore, the consumption of mobile contents will need more mental resources than the traditional computer screens.
Figure 3, different formats of web pages for mobile phones
Source: Zhang, D. (2007). Web content adaptation for mobile handheld devices. Communications of ACM, 50(2), 75-79. On the other hand, with the interactive functions of multi-touch screens, users can very quickly and easily to view multimedia contents, such as using their fingers directly to enlarger or flip the pictures instead of the mouse index. So, with the help of multi-touch screens, now there are many new interfaces designed to reduce the obstacles of usages. It is expected that users will spend less time and need less mental resources to consume the mobile contents than the traditional push/pull buttons in the future.
Figure 4, the Iphone’s mulit-touch functions Source: http://www.mobile30.com/images/zwo4_iphone.jpg
III. Research questions
1. From the framework of the activity theory, what are the determinative factors affecting the dynamic interaction between the smart phones and different social contexts? Is there any difference of mobile online behaviors between Taiwanese and American graduate students? What do the culture, social structure and life style impact on the habits of mobile phone usages?
2. Unlike previous research only targeting smart phones on businessmen, this study will construct new personas, such as graduate students who should be more willing to spend much time on mobile contents. If academics and content providers could fully understand about the possible preferences of the future major consumers, it will help to create more new appropriate mobile services
3. To understand whether there is any difference in the psychophysiclogical index while consuming media content, this research will measure the subjects’ heart rate, skin conductance and facial muscle. The stimulus will include text/video, news/drama/science, and mobile/PC.
IV. Methodology
1. Social Context
Viljamma et al (2005) thought that the consumption research of mobile phones should be studied in the specific social context and consider the impacts of other media in the real world. For example, users could easily get the free newspaper in the afternoon in many cities of Finland. Therefore, it was more realistic to observe around the streets, instead of conduct survey indoors, and you will found out why few people use mobile phone to access only newspaper contents at that moment (Södergård, 2003).
Because the usages of mobile phones will be ubiquitous and anytime, it is very difficult to record the processes in detail completely (Tamminen et al, 2004). There are different methods to record field observation of mobile phone usages. For example, Nokia research center had done a study of comparing
participants were recorded by shadowing video, pictures or diaries by themselves (Blom et al, 2005; Zhang & Adipat, 2005).
Different methods of observation have their advantages and disadvantages. For example, the video records of the participants can completely have the whole dynamic usage process of mobile phones, but it is not easily to follow if the participants drive, take buses, or in the private rooms. On the other hand, the participant diaries have the least interruption to their usages. The method of using pens and paper is the easy way to record any time and any place. Although it will result in the insufficiency of multimedia data, the participants can take pictures by mobile phones to compensate for the lack of images (Blom et al, 2005). Recently, with the online technology, Lee et al (2005) designed a web interface for participants to fill in their using experiences to avoid later forgetfulness.
In order to understand the mobile phone usages in the different contexts, this research recruited 6 Taiwanese and 6 American students from a university in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan; as well as 6 Taiwanese and 6 American students from a university of the Midwest cities in the U.S. The four categories of personas are illustrated in Appendix A.
Different Social Contexts
Taipei, Taiwan U.S. Midwest college town Different
Cultural Contexts
Taiwanese 6 students 6 students American 6 students 6 students
Table 1, 24 Taiwanese and American graduate students participated in this research
Each of the participants will collect their 14 day diaries of mobile phone usages. It took 10-15 minutes every day for them to write down what they had done. Everything made by the phone would be needed to be filled in the table (Table 2 as an example). Even though they made a one minute phone call or just checked the current temperature, they still needed to record them. Besides, the participants also took some pictures to illustrate their phone usages but their face would not be recognized for privacy concerns. Finally, based on the diary, pictures and the content in their phones, the researcher would conduct an hour interview with each participant to explore the factors behind their mobile consumption.
Day Time Issue where Whom Note 9/23 0800-0805AM Check out the temperature My room Myself
0900-0930AM Watch youtube video School bus Friend Ipod touch 1200-1210PM Make a phone call One the way Classmate
0200-2030PM Buy ebook from APP STORE In class Myself $2 USD
0300-0400PM Take pictures Campus Friend
Table 2, the example of 14 day diaries of mobile phone usages
In addition to the participants’ self-reports and interviews, the researcher also observed the general phone usages of Taiwanese and American students in public from the universities in Taiwan and the U.S.. For the privacy issues and inference with the observation, no video, audio or pictures would be taken. The research also expected to understand what most students would make with their mobile phones in public. Although there were some scientific measurements, such as, in what percentage of students will listen to MP3 while they are walking, the results did not represent any statistic significance and the interpretation came from the researcher subjective judgment.
2. LC4MP experiment
This research applied the instruments from the Institute of communication research (ICR) to conduct the experiments. The data of heart rates and skin conductance will be collected from the Biopac. Physiological sensors would be explained to the subject. This research collected heart rate, skin conductance, corrugator activity, and orbicularis oculi muscle activity (OO). Electrodes for measuring heart rate, skin conductance, corrugator activity, startle reflex, and OO will be attached to the subject' forearms (for heart rate),
non-dominant hand palm (for skin conductance), right above the right eye brown (for corrugator), and beneath the left eye (for both OO and startle).
Figure 5, instruments in ICR, Telecommunication at Indiana University, Bloomington Source:：http://www.indiana.edu/~icr/facilities.htm
This research recruited 39 students, and the factors of the different sex and experience are controlled. The independent variables include (1) mobile vs. computer; (2) multi-touch vs. traditional buttons; (3)
entertainment vs. science. The dependent variables will be the degree of attention which can be measured by the heart rates. The slower the heart rates, the more concentrated users are. In addition, the levels of skin conductance are the index of arousal which would need more mental resources in the intervened environment.
The content for comparative attention of mobile and computer screens will be several selected news web pages. When users read on the small screens for the same amount of information, they need to move or pull the mouse index which would spend more time and mental resources. The entertainment video and scientific
constraint of mental resources. V. Findings and Discussions
1. Graduate student life style and social context between Taiwan & U.S.
The mobile phone is embedded in different social contexts. To understand the mobile online content usages, we have to know users’ everyday life styles in the specific social contexts. During the weekday, the school activity is the life focus of most graduate students and their everyday itineraries are among classroom, dormitory, library and laboratory. Some of them probably also have to work part-time jobs to pay for tuition and living expenditure. At the weekend, they may take a break by hanging out with friends, watch DVD or sometimes catch up the readings behind.
I am very busy everyday in teaching classes, writing paper with group member, and contacting with the laboratory subjects, so I need my iPhone to structure my schedule. (TA-5)
Under this context of school life, how will they access the information and entertainment contents, and how much will they be willing to pay for? Graduates students are very busy and they do not have the luxury time to enjoy the media. Therefore, they usually will pay for the lowest price for the similar media contents, and the unlimited online free contents become the major resources.
There are many free contents in the Internet, such as PPStream for all kinds of videos. So it is not necessary to buy them. (TA-3)
The social contexts between Taiwan and the U.S. are quite different. In this study, the both Taiwanese and American students live Taipei, the capital of Taiwan and they spend more time with their mobile phone for the online activity while commuting between home and school by MRT or buses. On the other hand, the Taiwanese or American students live in the typical college town of Midwest state. They walk in the short distance or drive for long way on campus and it is hard to use other mobile service except for MP3.
I do not have a car and I usually took the MRT and buses from my home to school. It took about half an hour and I sometimes listen to MP3, play game or check my facebook and email. (AT-1)
2. Notebooks as the studying, media and communication center
The notebooks for most of the graduate student have become the center for studying, information, entertainment and communication. Although the interview tried to understand the behaviors of mobile phone usages, the students kept telling you how much time they spend with their notebooks.
They used notebooks almost everywhere in the bedroom, classroom and library for writing a paper, reading article, watching video, listen to music, communicating with email, Facebook and MSN. Just looking around in the library, you probably could not find a single student without a notebook with them now and you see that students’ backpacks could be able to fill in their notebooks.
The notebook is all for the serious work, such as reading journal article, writing a research paper or analyzing data. (TA-5)
I like to watch PPStream drama from my notebook while I am having my dinner. (TA-6)
In Figure 6, many functions of the traditional mass media have been replaced by the notebooks. For example, very few of the graduate students will ever read the printed newspaper, but they acquire the news and information from online. Students might still consume those traditional media only because they could not satisfy with the quality of online contents, such as big screen in the movie theater, or certain football games in the pay television channels. Otherwise, they will find anything free from the Internet.
I never buy any printed newspaper since long time ago that I could not remember. I check the New York Times and CNN everyday when I have time available. (AA-6)
We subscribed for the dish multichannel television with the sport channels, because I like to watch the football games. (AA-3)
Book Mobile Game Movie Radio Facebook & MSN Newspaper Email &
School Reading & Homework Online Video, Game, Music, Book and News
Multichannel TV
Mass Media
Mobile Phone
Notebook
Phone TextFigure 6, the notebook is the studying and information center for graduate students, and also extends to the functions of mass media; so does the mobile phone.
3. Mobile phone only complementary to certain context
Although the mobile phone can access all kinds of multimedia contents, most students actually only make a phone call, text or email; although the mobile phone should be used ubiquitously, they will only use the mobile phone in the certain time and location under their everyday life contexts.
As I look as the 14 diary of mobile phone usages, I was a little surprised that I did not use the iPhone to access online content often as I originally planned for. (AA-4)
From the diaries and interviews, most students mentioned that the purposes of the mobile phone are still to make phones and texts. Currently, the notebooks are the center of everything, and the mobile phones can only fill in some slots that using the notebooks could be impossible or less convenient. For example, while walking or waiting for bus, students may check the temperature, email, social network or schedule by mobile phones. However, when they are in the classroom, library or at home, they will prefer to use the notebooks for the big screen watching, keyboard to type and fast CPU for all kinds of software.
I used my iPhone to wake me up every day, check the temperature as well as bus schedule, apply google map for travelling and contact with my friends with Facebook all the time. (TA-1)
I seldom used my iPhone on weekend while I read or cook at home. Sometimes I even could not find where it was. (AA-1)
As illustrated in figure 2, as the process ability of the mobile CPU increased and usage interface improved, the mobile phone can replace many functions of notebooks. For example, spontaneously shopping or social interaction on mobile Internet may happen more often under certain social contexts. In the coming future, the improvements of the quality of sounds or interactive in the small screen will make users be willing to read books or watch video from their mobile phones.
I can use the 3.5” screen phone to read the whole books after I pass the critical point of 10,000 words. (TA-2)
I did not expect to read books from the iPhone when I have it. But now there is over 1/4 time using the phone that I devoted to reading books. (AT-1)
4. Less utilities of mobile contents for free or lower prices
Although many students have the experiences of consuming mobile online contents, they still consider that it is fun but not practical, and they will not be willing to pay for those contents, especially for books and videos. With the limitation of the small screen, students feel that the utility of consuming the multimedia
I may use mobile phone to read books or watch video occasionally only if they are free. (TA-3)
The mobile phone is their last choice if they have other options and the only advantages of mobile phone is handy, convenient and ubiquitous. Therefore, the mobile contents are hard to charge a high flat rate or only lower price per download.
I will not pay for the flat rate since I seldom use them. I do not want to pay for the per view either, since the price is still too high to me. (TT-5)
Although the prices of the mobile contents are low, such as many of them being $0.99-$1.99, however the utilities of consuming those are even lower. I will not pay anything to read books or watch video through my iPhone. (AA-4)
Graduate students are busy in academic research and have the limited budgets to spend on media. They will consume those contents with lower prices but maximize their utilities. Therefore, they will not be willing to pay for the mobile online contents
I already pay so much for the iPhone service and I will not pay for contents anymore. Besides, I only use those mobile contents once a while and their current prices are too high. (AA-4)
You can see from the figure 7, the income curve of most graduate students is I1. Or the small screen size
made their usage utility is located in U1. For them to be willing to pay for the higher price (P2>P1), either the
students graduated and began to work, or the utility or experience of using the mobile contents had to increase for better interface design.
Figure 7, the prices of students’ willing to pay largely depend on the utilities and their incomes where I1>I2 and U1>U2
D2 D1
Price
Quantity
P1 P2 Q1 Q2 I1, I2, U2 S5. Different mobile services and prices
The mobile services are similar between Taiwan and the U.S., however the price strategies are different that could change the willing of the student subscription. Although the price of the highest package is similar, there are many other packages provided in Taiwan that can attract students who can access Internet by school WiFi and subscribe the basic package for very low price.
I think that the mobile price is lower in Taiwan for the same service that in the U.S. (AT-1)
When students study aboard in different countries, their previous consumption experiences would affect their current buying decisions. Most of the American students in Taiwan considered that it is cheaper to use the smart phone in Taiwan than in the U.S but most Taiwanese students in the U.S. considered that the monthly mobile phone bill is much expensive.
Originally, I was planning to buy a smart phone when I arrived in the U.S. However, as see the price here, I decided to just use the pre-paid phone. (TA-2)
In addition, students’ other spending may also limit the mobile expenditure. For example, the tuition in the U.S. is almost 10 times than that in Taiwan. So, some Taiwanese students will reduce the unnecessary data services and only keep the basic mobile telephone by sharing the family plan.
Taiwan U.S.
Major Telecoms providers CHT AT&T
Unlimited call, limited text, unlimited data plan $60 $90
700 minutes call, 500 texts, 2Gbps/m $45 $80
700 minutes call, 200Mbps/m $30 $50
500 minutes call, 100Mbps/m $15 --
Table 3, different telecom price strategies between Taiwan and the U.S.
6. Measurement of mobile and PC usages
For most of the subjects, on average they spent around the same time watching video content in mobile and PC. However, they spent less time reading text in mobile than in PC. This is because when subjects read text in mobile, they usually previewed the contents and not concentrated in processing the messages. In addition, the categories of contents also made time spent different. For example, they spend much time in watching video or reading drama articles in mobile and PC.
that they spent more time in drama. On the other hand, there is no significant result in skin conductance for any content consumption comparing mobile and PC. For the index of facial muscle, many subjects would frequently brink their eyes and also show more tension in OO measurements while using the mobile device.
When conducting the experiment, there were many factors affecting the correct of the results. For example, the index of facial muscle would easily be interfered with the headphones. Also, if the subjects sneezed and moved their bodies, the data would be in a mess and needed to clean the data.
Figure 8. Examples of mobile and PC usages VI. Conclusion
This research collected the total 24 Taiwanese and American graduate students from Taiwan and the U.S. By analyzing their diaries and interviews, it found that currently the notebooks are students’ center of studying, information, entertainment and communication. On the other hand, mobile phone only compensated in the certain moving contexts that the notebook could not make it or be in the inconvenient situation. So, the utilities of using mobile phone are lower than the notebooks in most of time. Therefore, some students will not be willing to pay for the expensive smart phones. Or even with the smart phones and the data plans, those students usually will only download the free online mobile contents.
Each subject of the qualitative research is unique as well as different, and should not be considered as a sample to infer the population. This research only analyzed graduate students and therefore should not be argued with different life style users, such as business people. However, with the profound information of diaries, interview and observation, this research is complementary to other quantitative researches and could help the future research and mobile phone companies to understand the usage scenario in specific social contexts.
This research completed 39 student subjects for the mobile vs. PC experiment. Although there were little difference in some of the psychophysiclogical index, such as heart rate, skin conductance and facial muscle, most of them were not significant. Therefore, the screen size may have some impacts in watching and reading the media contents, but other factors, like types of contents or social content, might play more important roles in explaining the media consumption.
