Situationally aware mobile devices for overcoming situational impairments

Situationally induced impairments and disabilities (SIIDs) can compromise people's use of mobile devices. Factors like walking, divided attention, cold temperatures, low light levels, glare, inebriation, fear, loud noises, or rainwater can make using a device in off-desktop environments challenging and even unsafe. Unfortunately, today's mobile devices know almost nothing about their users' situations, contexts, or environments, instead employing many of the same interaction concepts found on desktop systems from the 1980s. This article presents a decade's worth of work from 2008 - 2018 in making mobile devices more situationally aware and capable of improving interaction for users experiencing SIIDs. Also presented is a categorized list of factors that can cause SIIDs, and a two-dimensional space for characterizing impairments. Seven specific research projects are summarized, which variously address walking, hand grips, divided attention, distraction, inebriation, and rainwater interference. A "sense-model-adapt" design pattern emerges from many of these projects for addressing SIIDs. Taken together, these projects demonstrate how mobile devices can be made more situationally aware and better capable of supporting users' interactions on-the-go.