Outline Social Issues that Ubiquitous What is Ubiquitous - PDF document

Outline Social Issues that Ubiquitous • What is Ubiquitous Computing? Computing brings • Rethink Individual Behavior • Challenges to Team Behavior Presenter: Huiyong Xiao • Reassess Behavior of Organizations Advisor: Ouri Wolfson • Redefinition of the key aspects of the Co-advisor: Goce Trajcevski business-customer relationship • Conclusion What is Ubiquitous Computing Rethink Individual Behavior 1 st example: Ubiquitous computing is the method of enhancing computer use by making many computers available • The Pied Piper of Concourse C throughout the physical environment, but making them – Once: Fixed positions of computers, furniture; effectively invisible to the user personnel at the check-in counters. – Mark Weiser – Now: Wireless computers; personnel roaming freely throughout the concourse to check in passengers. Ubiquitous computing, or calm technology, is a – Consequence: paradigm shift where technology becomes virtually • Passengers who don’t understand how to behave try to invisible in our lives. follow the only norm they knew for that context. -- Marcia Riley • mobile queues snaking through Concourse C. (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.) Rethink Individual Behavior Rethink Individual Behavior 2 nd example: Challenges & Research Issues: • What prevailing social norms are • Supervisory activity on Employees challenged by the advent of ubiquitous – Once: evaluation of behaviors and appearance; watched through glass office walls. computing? – Now: evaluation of work output including end results • How can employees be supervised in and intermediate activities; digital representation of technology-rich, mobile working performance evaluation. environment? – Consequence: • How are definitions of action and work • The value of employees’ contributions might be obscured • Roaming employees may receive little guidance to necessary redefined by ubiquitous computing? skills learning, or development on organizational commitment. 1

Challenges to Team Behavior Challenges to Team Behavior Study of a virtual teamwork on rocket design Challenges & Research Issues: • The team used a dedicated “Notebook” technology to • How do work teams adopt and adapt coordinate and insisted logging the all voice communications into the discussion database. ubiquitous computing technology? • Data entry was laborious; Members couldn’t express the • How can virtual teams be most effective? complex rationales underlying design recommendations. • Regularly scheduled telephone conferences were • How are social interactions redefined by introduced to add verbal communication, which facilitate ubiquitous computing? the successful design task. • Team behaviors in ubiquitous computing environment might reveal contradictory mixtures of old and new practice. Reassess Behavior of Organizations Reassess Behavior of Organizations • Virtual Organizations Challenges & Research Issues: – Virtual corporations without material basis. E.g. the • What new organizational forms can be “paper” corporations formed at Enron Corporation. realized with ubiquitous computing? – Virtual companies that merely coordinate the activities of other firms. • How can reasonable and effective social • Virtual Nonexistence boundaries be created and maintained in – Spatial boundaries: the home laying outside technology-rich environment? workplaces � everywhere; many households • How are organizations redefined by becoming primary workplaces ubiquitous computing? – Temporal boundaries: the 40-hour, five -day workweek � anytime Redefinition of the key aspects of Redefinition of the key aspects of the business-customer relationship the business-customer relationship • Two examples: • A business-customer relationship involves awareness, accessibility and responsiveness. – Online Medicine Cabinet • Current CRM applications: just focus on identifying and – Mobile Valet targeting the right customers. • Ubiquitous computing: • Emerging technologies associated with ubiquitous – Enables the three characteristics (awareness, computing such as mobile phones, wireless PDAs, access, and responsiveness) of a relationship. instant messaging, video conferencing, and kiosks will – Transforms some key characteristics of expand and alter today ’s CRM functionality. customer interaction: the role of their location, • New ways of achieving awareness, new channels for the scope, duration and frequency of the accessibility, and new techniques for responding. services. 2

Redefinition of the key aspects of Redefinition of the key aspects of the business-customer relationship the business-customer relationship Role of customers ’ location Scope of the services • The remote service providers’ constraints (remote, have • Often location is a critical indicator of the user’s no staff at the location) limit the nature of the service task and a implication of available resources they can deliver � collaborate with the local staff, and there. provide a better service in both interests. • Online world and physical world should not be • Personal service provider viewed as adversarial. – Customer service is dissociated from a particular location. • Privacy concerns: • Deliberate choice of the physical presence of – Privacy management services services is competitively necessary, must – Business should think carefully about the collection, share and consider critical elements like awareness, use of customers’ privacy access, and responsiveness. – Combination of technology, legislation, and business policies. Redefinition of the key aspects of Conclusion the business-customer relationship Duration and frequency of the services Changes brought by ubiquitous computing: • Service providers must pay continuous attention • Innovative forms of social actions to their customers • Novel organizational forms • New business models – ubiquitous commerce – Are companies ready to offer this level of customer attention today? Challenges to social scientists: • Exploit and modify existing social theory to explain individual • Service providers will have to be very selective behavior and precise in their interactions with their • Study teams as they actually behave, not as they are designed to customers function – relationship between service providers and • Make theory relevant to organizations as they exist now and in the customers: a few long, intense interactions (checkups) future, not as they existed years ago � frequent, brief interactions (“microservices”). • Redefine the key aspects of business-customer relationship Thanks for attendance! Questions? 3