Touch-Based Access to Mobile Internet

Abstract

This article reports user experience findings from two field trials where Mobile Internet access was supported through Near Field Communication (NFC)-based tag infrastructure. The authors’ results show that touch-based interaction can provide enhancement to the Mobile Internet user experience in: (1) content and service discovery, (2) Mobile Internet access, and (3) integrated situated and embodied experience. The problems related to service discovery can be solved by providing location-based access, and by using visual cues embedded into the environment for discovering content and services. Mobile Internet access through touch solves the problem of memorizing complicated URLs and the challenge of typing with a mobile device keypad. As touch-based access builds a semantic bridge between the physical context of use and the Mobile Internet experience, the user experience converges seamlessly into one where both the physical and digital worlds play a role.