Affiliations: School of Information Systems, Computing and
Mathematics, Brunel University, UB8 3PH, UK
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Stephen R. Gulliver, School of
Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics, Brunel University, UB8 3PH, UK.
Tel.: +44 1895 2661 03; Fax: +44 1895 2516 86; E-mail:
Stephen.Gulliver@brunel.ac.uk
Abstract: Although examples of tourist guides abound, the role of context
aware feedback in such systems is an issue that has been insufficiently
explored. Given the potential importance of such feedback, this paper
investigates, from a usability perspective, two tour guide systems developed
for Brunel University: one with context-aware user feedback and the other
without. An empirical study was undertaken in which each of the applications
was assessed through the prism of three usability measurements: efficiency,
effectiveness, and satisfaction. Incorporating the participant feedback
gathered as a result, the paper compares the use of the two applications in
order to determine the impact of real-time feedback with respect to user
location. Efficiency, understood as the time taken by a participant to
successfully complete a task, was found to be significantly affected by the use
of context-aware functionality. Effectiveness, understood as the amount of
information a participant assimilated from the application, was shown not to be
impacted by the provision of context-aware feedback, even though average
experiment duration was found to be significantly shorter in this case. Lastly,
participants' subjective satisfaction when using context-aware functionality
was shown to be significantly higher than when using the non-context aware
application.
Keywords: Context-aware, Tour Guide, user, perception
