A visualization design repository for mobile devices

Abstract

Mobile devices with multimedia and graphics capabilities have great potential in a wide variety of applications. In addition to location-based services, mobile-commerce and multimedia entertainment that are often viewed as promising applications of third generation mobile networks mobile devices also offer a potential solution to bridging the digital divide in developing countries. Mobile devices could be used to provide essential IT services like internet access, communication, information, education and banking in areas where no fully developed infrastructures like the electric grid and wire-based net connections are available. Highly usable interfaces will be a critical factor in the development of successful mobile devices and applications. This is especially true if such IT services should become accessible to illiterate or semi-literate users and users without any previous computer experience where the interface will have to rely largely on graphics and speech as interaction mechanisms. However, the design of multimedia-based interfaces for mobile devices is currently complicated by a lack of standardized visualization techniques and interaction mechanisms and the absence of related component libraries and style guides. As a first step towards the development of a standardized set of device-independent presentation and interaction techniques we are currently working on a repository of visualization design solutions for mobile UIs which will later be extended to include general interaction techniques.