Mobile Computing

Friday 22^nd April 2005 in the Alexander Fleming Building
at Imperial College, London

Programme | Exhibitors

We invited contributions from organisations that are either developing or exploiting new technology in the field of mobile data collection and have received a number of interesting proposals. The platforms being used include laptops, tablet PCs, PDAs, kiosks, mobile phones and digital pens. These may be running a variety of operating systems and may be using either off-the-shelf or bespoke software.

The conference explored both the opportunities and limitations of the mobile mode with particular reference to:

• Usability for both respondent and data collector
• Sampling implications
• Quality control
• Limitations in the length of questionnaire and the size of the dataset
• Communicating with the host
• Cost and efficiency benefits

Our audience sought answers to a number of questions:

• How well do interviewers and respondents cope with these technologies?
• Will PDAs replace mobile telephones, or vice versa?
• Can Microsoft dent Palm’s current supremacy – is there anyone else out there?
• Will Tablet PCs replace the conventional laptops for CAI?
• What’s the lifecycle of the hardware?
• What are the compatibility issues surrounding the various hardware and software platforms?
• Does the mode of interviewing influence the answers given by respondents?

Programme (Click on title to see abstract and to download the presentation - full papers are also available for the starred presentations)

Exhibition

As usual, there was an exhibition of related software and services at the conference. The exhibitors were

Askia UK,
Box Technologies Ltd.,
Gamma Associates Ltd.,
Interview Technology,
Mobile Data UK,
Pulse Train Ltd.,
Snap Surveys and
Techneos. 

A map of the location is available, as are details and a campus map for Imperial College.