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Promoting serendipity online: Recommendations for tool design

  • February 2012
DOI:10.1145/2132176.2132274
  • Conference: iConference 2012, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 7-10, 2012
Authors:
Jacquelyn A Burkell at The University of Western Ontario
Jacquelyn A Burkell
Anabel Quan-Haase at The University of Western Ontario
Anabel Quan-Haase
Victoria Rubin at The University of Western Ontario
Victoria Rubin
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Abstract

Some researchers have suggested that opportunities for serendipitous discovery of information may be limited in the online environment as a result of technological facilitation of information behavior. In response, they suggest building tools that enhance opportunities for serendipity. Based on our model of everyday serendipity, we offer design suggestions for tools that could enhance various conceptual facets of everyday serendipitous chance encounters.
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Promoting Serendipity Online:
Recommendations for Tool Design
Jacquelyn Burkell
Faculty of Information and Media
Studies
ICT Research Cluster
University of Western Ontario
Tel.: 1 (519) 661-2111 ext. 88506
jburkell@uwo.ca
Anabel Quan-Haase
Faculty of Information and Media
Studies
ICT Research Cluster
University of Western Ontario
Tel.: 1 (519) 661-2111 ext. 81405
aquan@uwo.ca
Victoria L. Rubin
Faculty of Information and Media
Studies
ICT Research Cluster
University of Western Ontario
Tel.: 1 (519) 661-2111 ext. 81405
vrubin@uwo.ca
ABSTRACT
Some researchers have suggested that opportunities for
serendipitous discovery of information may be limited in the
online environment as a result of technological facilitation of
information behavior. In response, they suggest building tools that
enhance opportunities for serendipity. Based on our model of
everyday serendipity, we offer design suggestions for tools that
could enhance various conceptual facets of everyday
serendipitous chance encounters.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
H.1.2 [Information Systems]: User/Machine Systems – human
factors, human information processing, software psychology;
H.3.3 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: Information Search
and Retrieval; H.5.2: [Information Systems]: Information
Interfaces and Presentation – User Interfaces; K.4 [Computers
and Society]
General Terms
Design, Human Factors.
Keywords
Serendipity, serendipitous discovery, opportunistic information
encountering, chance encounters; psychology of system design,
information behavior, information-seeking; conceptual model,
system development suggestions.
1. INTRODUCTION
Chance encounters with information, objects, or people that lead
to fortuitous outcomes are an integral part of everyday
information behaviour. Erdelez stresses that “[r]esearch-driven
and anecdotal evidence suggests that users often find interesting
and useful information without purposeful application of
information searching skills and strategies” [3, p. 1013]. She
labels this type of discovery ‘information encountering’ [3]; other
terms include “opportunistic discovery of information” and,
perhaps most commonly, “serendipitous discovery”. Some
researchers have expressed concern that opportunity for this type
of encounter may be reduced as a result of technological
facilitation of information behaviour [5]. In response to this
concern, work in information systems has proposed the
development of interfaces that support or enable serendipity [5,6].
In previous work [7], Rubin, Burkell, and Quan-Haase developed
a model identifying the facets involved in everyday chance
encounters. In the current paper, we explore the ways in which
information systems could be designed to support the various
facets of serendipity identified in the model.
2. FACETS OF SERENDIPITY
Based on a review of the literature [7], Rubin, Burkell, and Quan-
Haase, identified two necessary conditions for serendipity: (1) a
chance observation that is (2) instrumental in bringing about a
fortuitous outcome. In that same paper we used a grounded theory
approach to the analysis of naturally occurring accounts of
serendipitous encounters (defined by the two necessary conditions
mentioned above) in order to identify the facets of serendipity in
everyday life and to explore their inter-connections. Based on our
results, we developed a model of everyday serendipitous
encounters (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. The Conceptual Model of Serendipity Facets in
Everyday Chance Encounters [per 7].
In our model, we conceptualize ‘the find’ as the key to
understanding serendipity because it is the focus of the
serendipitous encounter. ‘The find’ is the information, object or
person that, when encountered unexpectedly, triggers or facilitates
the fortuitous outcome. Serendipity necessarily involves an
element of chance (or at least the perception thereof: Facet C),
since it occurs only when the encounter with the find is
unanticipated, either because the find is encountered in an
unexpected place or at an unexpected time, or because the very
existence of the find is unknown to the individual. In order to
result in a fortuitous outcome, the find must be noticed (Facet B)
or brought to consciousness. Finally, the meaning or significance
of the find is defined in relation to a prior problem, possibly (or
even necessarily) a problem that is, at the time of the encounter,
not ‘top of mind’ or the focus of activity. Thus, a prepared mind
(Facet A) is necessary for a serendipitous encounter, and in most
cases the relevant problem must be activated or brought to the
foreground before the significance of the find can become
evident.
3. DESIGNING FOR SERENDIPITY
Based on this model, what are the recommendations for the
design of tools to support serendipitous encounters? Our position
is that serendipity-enhancing tools should promote or support one
or more of the facets that are the preconditions for a serendipitous
encounter: Chance, Noticing, and Activation of the Prepared
Mind. We will present strategies to support these facets in the
context of a common online activity: searching.
Adding an element of chance to online searching is perhaps the
most obvious intervention to support serendipity. The
combination of deterministic computational algorithms for search
and relevance determination and utilization of social
recommender approaches for item and resource identification can
result in predictable search results [see 5]. One obvious approach
to supporting serendipity in the online context is to reduce the
predictability of these results by explicitly introducing a random
element into search strings (one search engine, BananaSlug, does
exactly this), perturbing the order in which search items are
returned, or using algorithms to extend and enhance search
strategies [see 2]. The goal of these strategies is to effectively
broaden the search space, promoting encounters with items that
might not, under existing algorithms, be identified.
Noticing is obviously critical to serendipitous encounters.
Although noticing can be influenced in a top-down fashion by
problem requirements [7], the primary influences on noticing are
perceptual in nature. Thus, for example, we are apt to notice
elements on the basis of perceptual characteristics: unique colour,
animation, brightness, etc. [4]. Serendipity-enhancing tools can
capitalize on this tendency of the visual system to orient to salient
items by giving potentially relevant items ‘interesting’ perceptual
characteristics (e.g., putting them in a slightly larger font in a
results display). This ‘low level’ approach to encouraging
noticing is potentially better than the ‘push’ notifications used by
some tools [2] because users are better able to ignore the
suggested items, particularly if they are focally engaged in an
alternative task.
Perhaps the most complex, yet potentially the most important,
way to support serendipity is to support the activation of the
prepared mind. Serendipitous encounters often involve a switch
of focus from a problem that is ‘top of mind’ to one that is, at the
time of the serendipitous encounter, still active but not the
immediate focus of cognitive activity. Tools that support this
facet of serendipity could assist searchers to maintain an active
‘problem list’, perhaps scanning encountered information and
alerting the user (using the noticing strategies identified above)
when something relevant to a background problem is
encountered. Prompting a switch of ‘problem set’ could be as
simple as allowing the user to associate each problem with a
specific colour, and presenting potentially relevant search results
in the appropriate coloured font. Tools that allow users to quickly
and easily annotate and associate search results could support the
activation of relevant problems by supporting the recording of
even fleeting associations, allowing users to return later for a
fuller exploration.
Everyday serendipitous encounters are experienced as ‘happy
accidents’, sometimes drawing the encounterer away from a focal
task, but never requiring that shift. In fact, interventions that
demand attention (even if the end result is positive) are likely to
be experienced as distractions [1], and tools that support
serendipitous encounters should ideally blend seamlessly into the
user’s online environment. This is perhaps the most critical aspect
of tools to support serendipity, and the one that may be most
difficult to achieve.
4. CONCLUSIONS
As we move toward larger integration of digital tools into
everyday information seeking, it is necessary to better understand
how these tools affect the chance encountering of information.
The current paper presents an approach to designing tools to
support various facets of serendipity.
5. REFERENCES
[1] André, P, schraefel, m.c., Teevan, J., and Dumais, S.T. 2009.
Discovery is never by chance: designing for (un)serendipity.
Proceedings of the 7th ACM Conference on Creativity and
Cognition (Berkeley, Cal, US, Oct 26-30, 2009), 305-314.
[2] Campos, J. and Dias de Figueiredo. 2001. Searching the
unsearchable: Inducing serendipitous insights. In
Proceedings Workshop Program at the Fourth International
Conference on Case-Based Reasoning – Technical Note
AIC-01-003. Washington, DC: Naval Research Laboratory,
Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence.
[3] Erdelez, S. 2004. Investigation of information encountering
in the controlled research environment. Information
Processing and Management, 40, 1013-1024.
[4] Folk, C.L., Remington, R., and Johnston, J.C. 1992.
Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional
control settings. Journal of Experimental psychology:
Human Perception and Performance. 18, 1030-1044.
[5] Thom-Santelli, J. 2007. Mobile social software: Facilitating
serendipity or encouraging homogeneity? Pervasive
Computing, 6, 3, 46-51.
[6] Toms, E. and McCay-Peet, L. 2009. Chance encounters in
the digital library. Springer-Verlag, City.
[7] Rubin, V. L., Burkell, J. and Quan-Haase, A. 2011. Facets of
serendipity in everyday chance encounters: A grounded
theory approach to blog analysis. Information Research-an
International Electronic Journal, 16, 3, available online at
http://informationr.net/ir/16-3/paper488.html.
... Since exploratory behavior is a facilitator for serendipity, the design of digital information systems that enable exploratory search and define the way a person interacts with as well as explores the information environment is crucial to increase the opportunities for serendipitous encounters. As illustrated in the conceptual model for serendipity of Burkell et al. (2012), not only user factors such as "the prepared mind" or "sagacity" are of great importance for experiencing serendipitous encounters, but also the "find" which is the object or piece of information provided by the system as well as the "accidental nature of the finding" and "the act of noticing" it. ...
... Hence, we argue that the way information is presented to the user is an enabler for serendipity. Information presentation may be supported through different visualizations, such as colors, fonts, re-organization of content, combination of different types of information in a context, draw attention and stimulate one's perception into recognizing interesting information that otherwise would be difficult to notice (Björneborn, 2010;Burkell et al., 2012;Kules, 2005). The design of exploratory search interfaces should enable users to see how different explorations can lead to the same or related results or to identify analogies across different domains. ...
... In particular, these works address the "results diversification" problem, or "diversity-aware search" (Denecke, 2012) that is to find the best tradeoff balance between relevance and dissimilarity of results. For instance, Carbonell and Goldstein (1998) propose the maximal marginal relevance (MMR) method which selects a document that has the highest combination of What interaction models will be adopted to enable the user explore the information environment (Burkell et al., 2012), (Björneborn 2008), (Björneborn 2010), (André et al., 2009a;Andre et al.,2009b), (Kules, 2005) How the system chooses to visualize clues i.e., through colors, fonts, or other visualization techniques that support the user into query formulation Search results presentation Proper organization and ranking of search results ...
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In creative tasks, there is a need to explore the space of available information in order to come up with diverse views before converging to a solution. In such tasks, typical search engines that follow the direct search paradigm fail to inspire users. It is hypothesized that contrary to typical engines, interactive exploratory search, which aims at revealing latent, alternative directions in the information space enabling user orientation and engagement, is better suited to assist users in their quest for serendipitous discoveries and inspiration. In this study, an interactive exploratory search tool that combines diversification of content and sources with a user interface design that visualizes clues from the social chatter – generated with micro-blogging services such as Twitter – and lets users interactively explore the available information space is presented. A profiling service and recommendation module in charge of delivering personalized social content complements the setting. A pilot and two task-based user studies comparing our system to a query-based baseline indicate that our system significantly improves inspirational discoveries by providing access to more interesting and serendipitous information.
... Therefore a serendipity-based approach for information retrieval systems can bear huge potential [1,16], but due to its lack of systematic control and prediction, this effect is difficult to archive in real world systems [14]. While [4,1] describes a number of strategies that could possibly contribute to a serendipity effect, these strategies are still apart from the vision of blending "serendipitous content seamlessly into the user's online environment." [4]. ...
... While [4,1] describes a number of strategies that could possibly contribute to a serendipity effect, these strategies are still apart from the vision of blending "serendipitous content seamlessly into the user's online environment." [4]. So, to our best knowledge, a working serendipity effect in a search system remains to be a highly desired and futuristic [18], highly beneficial [3] holy grail in research and practise of search systems. ...
... Serendipity involves chance, a prepared mind and the act of noticing [4]. Primary research demands for sophisticated utilisation of serendipity-based information retrieval systems and presents initial requirements. ...
Finding without Searching: A Serendipity-based Approach for Digital Cultural Heritage
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... Taramigkou et al. [7] raise a graph search approach to find serendipitous items in music recommender systems. In [29] serendipity is relevant with the estimated purchase time. Andre et al. consider serendipity occurs in diverse results. ...
... Bordino et al. use an so-called "random walk" algorithm to gain unexpected items in web searching service. In [29], by stressing randomness and decreasing predictability, a strategy is designed to heighten serendipity. Lu et al. [10] insist that popularity contributes to serendipity. ...
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In recent years, information overload has led to the development of a wide variety of different types of recommender systems (RSs), which aim at harnessing the problem in different domains. Most RSs spare no effort to improve the accuracy to help users find items matching their latest preferences. However, RSs with high accuracy not always capture user satisfaction due to that users might get bored with the items which are similar to what they liked in the past. Furthermore, they narrow the horizon of users and limiting the dynamic nature of user interests. Given this, serendipity draws more attention when evaluating RSs. In this paper, we review the studies on serendipity. Working toward this direction, we propose a new metric aiming at evaluating serendipity of RSs and a new strategy to balance the tension between accuracy and serendipity in movie recommender domain.
... Because of serendipity's elusive and unpredictable nature, SKD is challenging to understand within existing information behaviour models (Foster and Ford, 2003). Multiple factors such as age, education, task, personality, information need, and prior knowledge influence SKD (Burkell et al., 2012;Heinström, 2006;Spink, 2004). Yet, despite these fundamental complexities, the study of SKD is vital in today's information world. ...
Evaluating physicians’ serendipitous knowledge discovery in online discovery systems: A new approach
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Purpose A new approach to investigate serendipitous knowledge discovery (SKD) of health information is developed and tested to evaluate the information flow-serendipitous knowledge discovery (IF-SKD) model. The purpose of this paper is to determine the degree to which IF-SKD reflects physicians’ information behaviour in a clinical setting and explore how the information system, Spark, designed to support physicians’ SKD, meets its goals. Design/methodology/approach The proposed pre-experimental study design employs an adapted version of the McCay-Peet’s (2013) and McCay-Peet et al. ’s (2015) serendipitous digital environment (SDE) questionnaire research tool to address the complexity associated with defining the way in which SKD is understood and applied in system design. To test the IF-SKD model, the new data analysis approach combining confirmatory factor analysis, data imputation and Monte Carlo simulations was developed. Findings The piloting of the proposed novel analysis approach demonstrated that small sample information behaviour survey data can be meaningfully examined using a confirmatory factor analysis technique. Research limitations/implications This method allows to improve the reliability in measuring SKD and the generalisability of findings. Originality/value This paper makes an original contribution to developing and refining methods and tools of research into information-system-supported serendipitous discovery of information by health providers.
... Recent information retrieval systems lack the ability to promote unexpected exploration and discovery; rather these systems relatively try to reinforce the same limited set of information [5]. In this study, we incorporated the concept of surprise to deliver richer information to the user. ...
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... As a locationaware tool, STAK will sense the user's position in the library and identify likely candidates for serendipitous discovery from among nearby holdings, by matching keywords from a usergenerated model of research interests with metadata from the library catalogue. Our goal is not to seed random catalogue searches: serendipity does not arise from mere randomness, but rather from the prepared mind of the user: their knowledge base and interests (current and past), and their ability to make links to these interests and the information presented to them by the tool (Burkell, QuanHaase, and Rubin 2012). At the same time, we recognize the paradox in designing an algorithm to reliably generate serendipity, which is anything but a rational phenomenon. ...
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Résumé Humanities scholars have long claimed the importance of browsing in the library stacks as part of their research process. The digitization practices of libraries and archives, while meant to assist with preservation and access, make the physical browsing experience impossible. While there have been various attempts to recreate this experience online, none as yet has created a digital tool which users can interact with as they move through the physical material in the library. This paper aims to introduce the concept of the Serendipitous Tool for Augmenting Knowledge (STAK), a geolocative app that allows users to access material complementary to what they are looking at on library shelves. The authors outline the research behind STAK, the potential for locative media and augmented reality in libraries, and the design requirements for STAK. Finally, they outline two elements of serendipity that they hope to emulate in STAK: Noticing, and Capture and Recall. By enhancing the physical collection with digital information, STAK aims to bring scholars the best of both worlds, and to encourage them to return to the physical library to explore, learn, and browse. Depuis longtemps, les chercheurs des sciences humaines soulignent l'importance dans leur processus de recherche de parcourir des ouvrages dans les rayons des bibliothèques. Bien que les pratiques de numérisation des bibliothèques et des archives aient pour objet d'aider la préservation et l'accès, elles rendent aussi impossible l'expérience de la consultation physique sur place. Il y a bien eu diverses tentatives pour recréer cette expérience en ligne, mais aucune n'a jusqu'à présent créé un outil numérique avec lequel les usagers peuvent interagir alors qu'ils consultent physiquement la documentation dans la bibliothèque. Cet article vise à introduire le concept de Serendipitous Tool for Augmenting Knowledge (STAK) (Outil fortuit pour l'enrichissement de la connaissance), une application géo­ locative qui permet aux usagers d'avoir accès à une documentation complémentaire à celle qu'ils recherchent dans les rayons de la bibliothèque. Les auteurs présentent la recherche motivant STAK, le potentiel des médias locatifs et de la réalité enrichie dans les bibliothèques, et les exigences de la conception de STAK. Enfin, ils soulignent deux éléments d'heureux hasard qu'ils espèrent imiter dans STAK: Constater, et Saisir et Rappeler. En optimisant la collection physique au moyen de l'information numérique, STAK vise à apporter aux chercheurs le meilleur des deux mondes, et à les encourager à retourner dans la bibliothèque physique pour explorer, apprendre et parcourir les ouvrages.
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In recent years, there has been an increased focus on information encountering and serendipity within information behavior research and practice. Serendipity has the potential to facilitate creativity and innovation in various spheres, including in libraries, archives and museums. However, do we wait for chance to occur, or can serendipity be designed and facilitated? What are the characteristics of systems that support serendipitous discovery, and what methods can be used to study its occurrence? Extending and building on the concepts and definitions introduced at a 2016 ASIS&T Annual Meeting panel led by Erdelez, we feature in this 40‐min panel innovative work that creates opportunities for discovery within research spaces. Attendees engage through an interactive two‐part discussion and a hands‐on ideation session on impacts and guidelines for systems designed to facilitate serendipity, emphasizing sustainable, accessible researcher and user experiences. Presenters focus on the role of socio‐technical constraints and affordances to inform systems' design in a variety of research contexts, each contributing expertise in navigating particular issues in serendipity research.
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Serendipity has been recognized to have the potential of enhancing unexpected information discovery. This study shows that decomposing the concept of serendipity into unexpectedness and interest is a useful way for implementing this concept. Experts’ domain knowledge helps in providing serendipitous recommendation, which can be further improved by adaptively incorporating users’ real-time feedback. This research also conducts an empirical user-study to analyze the influence of serendipity in a health news delivery context. A personalized filtering system named MedSDFilter was developed, on top of which serendipitous recommendation was implemented using three approaches: random, static-knowledge-based, and adaptive-knowledge-based models. The three different models were compared. The results indicate that the adaptive-knowledge-based method has the highest ability in helping people discover unexpected and interesting contents. The insights of the research will make researchers and practitioners rethink the way in which search engines and recommender systems operate to address the challenges of discovering unexpected and interesting information. The outcome will have implications for empowering ordinary people with more chances of bumping into beneficial information.
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  • Jan 2009
Serendipity has a long tradition in the history of science as having played a key role in many significant discoveries. Computer scientists, valuing the role of serendipity in discovery, have attempted to design systems that encourage serendipity. However, that research has focused primarily on only one aspect of serendipity: that of chance encounters. In reality, for serendipity to be valuable chance encounters must be synthesized into insight. In this paper we show, through a formal consideration of serendipity and analysis of how various systems have seized on attributes of interpreting serendipity, that there is a richer space for design to support serendipitous creativity, innovation and discovery than has been tapped to date. We discuss how ideas might be encoded to be shared or discovered by ‘association-hunting’ agents. We propose considering not only the inventor’s role in perceiving serendipity, but also how that inventor’s perception may be enhanced to increase the opportunity for serendipity. We explore the role of environment and how we can better enable serendipitous discoveries to find a home more readily and immediately.
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Article
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  • Dec 1992
Four experiments tested a new hypothesis that involuntary attention shifts are contingent on the relationship between the properties of the eliciting event and the properties required for task performance. In a variant of the spatial cuing paradigm, the relation between cue property and the property useful in locating the target was systematically manipulated. In Experiment 1, invalid abrupt-onset precues produced costs for targets characterized by an abrupt onset but not for targets characterized by a discontinuity in color. In Experiment 2, invalid color precues produced greater costs for color targets than for abrupt-onset targets. Experiment 3 provided converging evidence for this pattern. Experiment 4 investigated the boundary conditions and time course for attention shifts elicited by color discontinuities. The results of these experiments suggest that attention capture is contingent on attentional control settings induced by task demands.
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Article
Full-text available
  • Aug 2001
Although no serious efforts seem to have been devoted yet to the theoretical and experimental study of the phenomenon, the web is recognizably a well suited medium for information encountering, the accidental discovery of information that is not sought for. This is the very essence of serendipity, the faculty of making fortunate and unexpected discoveries by accident. This paper presents Max, a sof t ware agent that uses simple information retrieval techniques and heuristic search to wander on the Internet and uncover useful, and not sought for, information that may stimulate serendipitous insights.
Discovery Is Never By Chance: Designing for (Un)Serendipity
Conference Paper
  • Jan 2009
Serendipity has a long tradition in the history of science as having played a key role in many significant discoveries. Computer scientists, valuing the role of serendipity in discovery, have attempted to design systems that encourage serendipity. However, that research has focused primarily on only one aspect of serendipity: that of chance encounters. In reality, for serendipity to be valuable chance encounters must be synthesized into insight. In this paper we show, through a formal consideration of serendipity and analysis of how various systems have seized on attributes of interpreting serendipity, that there is a richer space for design to support serendipitous creativity, innovation and discovery than has been tapped to date. We discuss how ideas might be encoded to be shared or discovered by ‘association-hunting’ agents. We propose considering not only the inventor’s role in perceiving serendipity, but also how that inventor’s perception may be enhanced to increase the opportunity for serendipity. We explore the role of environment and how we can better enable serendipitous discoveries to find a home more readily and immediately.
Chance Encounters in the Digital Library
Conference Paper
While many digital libraries focus on supporting defined tasks that require targeted searching, there is potential for enabling serendipitous discovery that can serve multiple purposes from aiding with the targeted search to suggesting new approaches, methods and ideas. In this research we embedded a tool in a novel interface to suggest other pages to examine in order to assess how that tool might be used while doing focused searching. While only 40% of the participants used the tool, all assessed its usefulness or perceived usefulness. Most participants used it as a source of new terms and concepts to support their current tasks; a few noted the novelty and perceived its potential value in serving as a stimulant.
Mobile Social Software: Facilitating Serendipity or Encouraging Homogeneity?
Article
  • Aug 2007
Mobile social software offers heterogeneous views of cities rather than encouraging users to socialize with people they know and privileging consumption- and entertainment-based urban experiences. The software allows users connect to social networks through mobile phones and devices. These systems attempt to facilitate serendipitous social connections by providing additional context. It has largely targeted cities on the assumption that urban areas provide a sufficient density of people that users will encounter compatriots. The design of mobile social systems privileges a type of urban experience, which is centered on an idealized category of users. Design methods of mobile social software require three aspects, namely critical awareness, use of interventions, and encouragement of flexible interpretation.