유무선인터넷 연계를 통한 휴대폰 무선인터넷 사용성 향상에 관한 연구

Abstract

After the development of internet in 1990’s, wireless internet connection through mobile phones, which has been rapidly evolving since its first appearance in late 1990’s, have secured its place as a new medium for information technology. According to a recent report prepared by the National Internet Development Agency, 40.2% of all mobile phone users over the age of 12, which translates to roughly 14,510,000 people, reported using the mobile wireless internet at least once in a given 6-month period. This illustrates the great growth potential of the wireless internet market. On the other hand, the most popular usage for the wireless internet connection was ring tones and music related services with 88%. Other usages for the wireless internet connection were checking emails (13%), using search engines (9%) and GPS Navigation services at just above 3.1%. If you follow closely at the above phenomenon, you would find the reasons for those in the limited size of interface of wireless internet and the telecommunication oriented development of such devices. For the above reasons it is hard to connect and use wireless internet from a mobile phone. There may be both physical and cognitive factors to the causes of this phenomenon. However, since there is very little difference in operational procedures or level of difficulty when accessing different internet contents via mobile phones, it is safe to assume that physical factors are rather insignificant in their effect on how and for what purpose people access the mobile wireless internet. On the other hand, considering the cognitive factors, we see that most users start their wireless internet use by logging onto those internet contents that are accessible as additional services of their mobile phones. This phenomenon is mainly due to the fact that users usually access the wireless internet through those contents that they are familiar with. In other words, users feel more inclined to access wireless internet contents that they are already familiar with from prior use. Particularly, in our country, where there is a high level of uncertainty avoidance amongst people, people are not taking full advantage of newly developed technologies and services mostly because of the uncertainties they have about using them. In this case, the uncertainties affecting the users’ cognitive experience spring from the apparent lack of conceptual models of the new content services and systems. Accordingly, this study will start with the assumption that the users will find it much easier to access information through their mobile phones if they are provided with, prior to their wireless internet use, these conceptual models of new contents via the wired internet(digital convergence). Then the study will try to see if it is indeed the case. The study was carried out based on the Location Based Service(LBS). LBS, a communications service that effectively utilizes the mobile nature of the wireless internet, is one of those new mobile services with much potential for growth and future development. The experiment was carried out by comparing differences in user experience of two test groups, one with the prior exposure to the wired internet contents and the other without, and by evaluating the reduction in user uncertainty and the corresponding enhancement in user usability that came with the prior exposure to the wired internet contents. According to the survey taken about the length of wireless internet use and about the user’s usability and uncertainty level, those users who accessed the wired internet contents prior to using the wireless internet reported an increase in usability and a reduction in their uncertainty. Moreover, during personal interviews, those with the prior use of the wired internet contents reported success rates higher than expected since their prior exposure had the effect of increasing their expectation for the final outcome. Therefore, experiencing the wired internet prior to using the mobile wireless internet had overall a positive effect on the usability of the wireless internet via mobile phones. The study found that it was unreasonable to expect users to freely use without much difficulty those new contents about which they had no prior knowledge or experience and that failing to resolve this problem will keep the uncertainly level high and will therefore become an obstacle to future development of new services. It was also found that compared to the wired internet, which is regarded stable and reliable by most, the mobile wireless internet caused greater level of uncertainty on the part of the users when accessing new services and thus had lower usability. Accordingly, if we eliminate the high uncertainty factor associated with the wireless internet by making use of the wired internet with its high usability, we can expect a significant enhancement in usability of the mobile wireless internet. Moreover, this conclusion may also be a proof of the hypothesis that having prior experience of similar content forms will help reduce the level of uncertainty associated with using new content forms. Through this study it may be possible to systemize the process of accessing information via the wireless internet and of developing conceptual models for improving usability of new services and technologies.;최근 휴대폰 무선인터넷이 급격한 발전을 이루면서 높은 사용률을 보여주고 있으나 실제 주로 사용되고 있는 서비스는 현재 휴대폰 무선인터넷 기술의 발전 수준에 미치지 못하고 있다. 그 원인으로 물리적 원인과 인지적 원인이 존재하는데, 그 중 인지적 원인으로는 불확실성으로 인한 영향이 있다. 불확실성 회피성향이 높은 우리나라에서는 새로운 기술에 대한 불확실성으로 인해서 높은 사용 효과를 보지 못한다는 연구 결과가 있다. 여기서 불확실성은 새로운 매체의 시스템에 대한 인지적 모델과 부재와 정보의 부족이라고 할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 휴대폰 무선인터넷에 대한 불확실성을 유사 매체 양식(modelity)인 유선인터넷의 사용 경험을 통해서 해소시킬 수 있을 것이라고 생각하여, 지도 검색 서비스를 예로 유선인터넷의 경험이 휴대폰 무선인터넷의 불확실성을 해소시키는지의 여부를 사용성 평가를 통해서 검증해보고자 한다. 본 연구의 목적은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 불확실성과 휴대폰 무선인터넷에 대한 선행 연구를 통하여 휴대폰 무선인터넷의 불확실성에 대해서 알아보고, 둘째, 휴대폰 무선인터넷의 사용성에 대해서 알아보기 위해 지금까지 더 많은 연구가 있어온 유선인터넷의 웹사이트에 대한 사용성과, 유선인터넷과 휴대폰 무선인터넷의 차이점에 대해서 살펴본다. 셋째, 사용성 평가 역시 유선인터넷 웹사이트에 대한 사용성 평가의 참고 문헌을 바탕으로 사용성 평가 방법에 대해서 알아보고, 본 연구에 적당한 연구 방법을 찾고자 한다. 넷째, 휴대폰 무선인터넷의 인지적 모델 형성으로 인한 불확실성 해소 효과를 평가할 불확실성 평가항목과 사용성 평가항목을 개발한다. 마지막으로, 사용자 실험을 통해서 유선인터넷 사용 경험이 휴대폰 무선인터넷에 대한 불확실성 해소와 사용성 향상에 효과가 있는지에 대해서 검증해보고자 한다. 본 연구의 방법은 사용자 실험으로, 실험은 특정 컨텐츠의 서비스에 대해서 유선인터넷 경험의 유무에 따라서 휴대폰 무선인터넷의 사용 시간 측정과 수행 과정 관찰, 불확실성과 사용성에 대한 설문 평가 응답의 결과로 이루어진다. 본 연구를 통해서 새로운 매체의 기술 및 서비스의 불확실성 해소와 사용성 향상을 위한 인지적 모델의 개발과 정보 제공의 체계화가 이루어질 수 있을 것이라고 기대한다.