International Journal of Computer Applications |
Foundation of Computer Science (FCS), NY, USA |
Volume 32 - Number 10 |
Year of Publication: 2011 |
Authors: Abdul Wahab Muzaffar, Farooque Azam, Hina Anwar, Ali Saeed Khan |
10.5120/3946-5279 |
Abdul Wahab Muzaffar, Farooque Azam, Hina Anwar, Ali Saeed Khan . Article:Usability Aspects in Pervasive Computing: Needs and Challenges. International Journal of Computer Applications. 32, 10 ( October 2011), 18-24. DOI=10.5120/3946-5279
Computing is generally a combination of tools and technologies, which we may broadly refer to as software, hardware, connectivity, protocols and standards. In the recent years, mobile industry has experienced a phenomenal growth in mobile computing also known as pervasive computing. The field of pervasive computing is painting the picture of future as this is the most needed and sought after technology of tomorrow. The high demand for mobility and ubiquity has set a stage for the wide spread use of pervasive computing. In the past few decades the focus of the technology has shifted from technology perspective to utility and usability perspective and one may safely deduce that technology is more social and people oriented. Usability is a general concern that is more related to how humans efficiently and effectively utilize the solutions and applications offered on top of computing platforms. Usability concern becomes more critical when one comes to the world of pervasive computing. The aim of this paper is to review and analyze the existing literature in usability of in different applications from two aspects, i.e. needs and challenges. Furthermore critical success factors and concepts associate with the above mentioned metrics are identified and categorized under different views. A model is proposed to categorize usability characteristics.