Mobile UX - The Next Ten Years?

Mobile phones are the ubiquitous platform used by billions of people globally, every day. However, two concerns signal a pause for reflection and change. First, while mobiles have rapidly become indispensable, the effect that constant device use has on our lives, our experiences, and the interactions we have with others, has caused growing discomfort [4, 7]. At the same time, there is a broad sense that mainstream mobile devices have fallen into a period of innovation limbo, with recent releases seemingly being distinguished only by ever narrowing feature gaps. As a recent Economist article bleakly reports, "More black rectangles made their debut" [2]. This course will challenge attendees to play a part in reinvigorating mobile interaction design. We celebrate the success that is apps, services, and the hugely popular ecology of mobile devices, but want to promote a return to radical innovation. We have been fortunate enough to have collaborated with a broad range of industrial and academic researchers and practitioners over many years. More importantly, however, we have worked with a wide range of people who are not considered to be typical "future makers," and are also not usually considered when designing mobile user experiences. Typically these people - who have been called "emergent" users [1] - are often drawn from developing regions, with lower literacy, lower socioeconomic conditions, and other constraints. Our experience in working with these people has demonstrated how their unique and contrasting outlooks on both technology and the world and ways of seeing it are invaluable in generating radically new and exciting digital innovations.