Editor’s Note: This article proposes several models of community, including a model of “mobile community”—an extension of physical community merged with online community. The authors also provide examples of how these models have contributed to the development of community applications in their work at Samsung.—Hugh Dubberly

A Model of Mobile Community:
Designing User Interfaces to
Support Group Interaction
Youngho Rhee

Samsung Electronics SAIT CS Lab | [e-mail]

Juyeon Lee

Samsung Electronics SAIT CS Lab | [e-mail]

[ 1] “Uniting Communitites,” a white paper published as part of Nokia Siemens Networks Industry Themes series, 2007.

November + December 2009

[ 2] Newman, D. Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005.

interactions

For the past decade, mobile phones have been used primarily to make phone calls. However, with an increase in the number of mobile phone users and improvements to mobile phone technology, new forms of interaction and new kinds of applications become possible. Now the role of mobile phones is expanding to support forming and maintaining “community”—both geographic-based communities and communities based on diverse cultural interests—creating new ways for people to connect and communicate.

The rise of online communities is one of the most exciting commercial and social opportunities of this decade. Today anyone working in the converging worlds of communications, media, and technology knows that communities are perhaps the most influential factor and value-added service in the emerging market—potentially exceeding games, voting or polling applications, or music and video downloads—because of their long-term sustainability. In fact, a public report estimates that the market value of community will be around €673 billion by 2010 [ 1].

Traditionally, the term “community” defined a group of people living in a common location [ 2]. But as the Internet reduced the limitations of distance, “community” has expanded to include groups organized around common values and common interests. Early Internet community applications limited online interaction for members—the community was active only when members were in front of a personal computer. In contrast, mobile phones support interaction virtually anywhere, but until recently mobile phones did a poor job of support-

ing community. A new generation of mobile phone applications is beginning to support not just one-to-one communications, but also one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many communications—an essential part of creating, reinforcing, and managing a community (see Figure 1).

Consumers expect mobile devices to support rich forms of media: audio, text, photo, and video. And they expect to use rich media to communicate. Consumers will also expect mobile community applications to support rich media. And they will expect applications to be aware of users’ context— both their physical environment as well as their virtual environment:

their location, • the tasks in which they are engaged, • the information they are browsing, • the people with whom they are interacting, • and the history of each. •

These contextual elements (location, task, domain, contacts, and history) may combine to “trigger” realization of both individual and group goals. Some goals and activities will already be “in play,” while others will emerge from interaction. Browsing a library shelf may lead to the discovery of a new book. Stepping into a cafe may involve running into a friend. Mobile community applications become especially valuable when they support serendipity—spontaneous or unplanned events— and aid the formation of ad hoc communities or “flash groups” (which may dissolve after the event). This last feature is a main difference between mobile communities and communities in the online and physical worlds.