‘Do you smell rotten eggs?’ Evaluating interactions with mobile agents in crisis response situations (original) (raw)
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Crisis response relies on information dissemination and decisions made from real-time data. Sensor networks, especially in an environmental context, are a source of real-time data and used in both military and industrial applications for information gathering. However, sensor data usage for more pervasive system applications, especially mobile applications outside the battlefield, is limited. Mobile devices play key roles in crisis management, but little research exists on their effectiveness under duress. This research extends a previous study on user (responder) preparation in crisis management to mobile device readiness and real-time data acquisition. This paper steps beyond application use to focus on mobile device capabilities and the interface with wireless sensor networks towards an integrated mobile system framework that provides information and real-time decision data for crisis management. In particular, the approach being proposed incorporates novel strategies for maintai...
MOBILE AGENTS IN CRISIS SITUATIONS – ADAPTING INFORMATION TO USER’S AFFECTIVE STATE
Emotion has been found to influence humans’ cognitive information processing and decision-making (Schwarz, 2000). A state of sadness, for example, is accompanied by substantive information processing, with greater attention to detail, whereas people in a happier state tend to process information more heuristically. Mobile applications or services presenting information to users, especially those used primarily in emotionally laden contexts, could adapt information presentation to users’ current emotional state to improve compliance. This paper reports the results of an 2x2 between- subject survey experiment (N=91) with affective state (happy vs. sad) and information presentation style (heuristic vs. substantive) as dimensions. The results confirm that participants in a sad affective state are more likely to comply with mobile agents’ advice when information is tailored to a substantive processing style. They base decisions on substantive information and provide longer descriptions. In contrast, people in a happy affective state prefer heuristic information. These findings reinforce the importance of affect-sensitive adaptation, especially for mobile agents in potentially emotionally laden contexts.