A Sample of

Technology

SubstitutionIlya Shmorgun

Mattias Saks

David Lamas

1

Introduction

2

Technology

Substitution

• Our activities are being supported by a

wide range of digital artifacts.

• These artifacts can be dynamically

substituted based on the context of the

activity.

3

Goal of Research

Gain an understanding, which artifacts are

being used and continuously substituted

and under which circumstances.

4

Research Questions

• Which types of devices people use?

• In which circumstances people use their

devices?

• Which types of services people use on

their devices?

• Which specific features of those

services are used on which devices?

5

Survey

6

Method

• Semi-structured questionnaire.

• Quantitative data about users’ activities.

• Qualitative data through open-ended

questions.

7

Pilot Study

• Accidental sampling with 4 respondents

for online and 3 for face-to-face testing.

• Insights into completion times and

potential areas of misunderstanding.

• Improvements to the list of service

types.

8

Deployed Study

• Self-selection sampling.

• People were invited through Facebook

and university mailing lists.

9

Structure

• Section 1: Personal information

• Section 2: Services and devices

• Section 3: Additional questions

10

Results

• 101 full responses.

• 58,4% - male; 41,6% - female.

• 53,5% - under 26 years old; 46,5% - 26

and older.

• 9 countries represented, with most

respondents from Estonia and Cape

Verde.

11

Usage of Devices

0

25

50

75

100

Laptop Smartphone Desktop Tablet Smart TV

12

Device Ranking

Rank 1st Rank 2nd Rank 3rd Rank 4th Rank 5th

Smartphon

e22.8% 36.6% 21.8% 5% 4%

Tablet 3% 9.9% 21.8% 15.8% 5%

Laptop 53.5% 30.7% 12.9% 1% 0%

Desktop 20.8% 17.8% 21.8% 11.9% 3%

Smart TV 0% 3% 2% 11.9% 22.8%

13

Regularly Used

Services

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Communication

Social networking

Office applications

File sharing

Calendars

Reading

Blogging

Note-taking

Task management

14

Service Usage on

DevicesSmartphone Tablet Laptop Desktop

Communication 96.1% 96.9% 94.5% 94.4%

Social

networking90.9% 84.4% 87.9% 90.7%

Office

applications84.4% 90.6% 85.7% 85.2%

File sharing 71.4% 68.8% 65.9% 70.4%

Calendars 62.3% 68.8% 54.9% 61.1%

Reading 51.9% 62.5% 47.3% 48.1%

Blogging 48.1% 46.9% 42.9% 40.7%

Note-taking 48.1% 43.8% 42.9% 44.4%

Task

management40.3% 46.9% 37.4% 37%

15

Additional Analysis

Based on the collected demographics we

compared:

• Men and women

• Estonians and Cape Verdeans

• People under and above 26

The significance threshold was 10%.

16

Device Usage by

Gender

• Men use more desktops, tablets, and

Smart TV-s.

• Women use more laptops and

smartphones.

17

Device Usage by

Country

• Estonians use more devices in general

than Cape Verdeans.

• The most significant difference is in the

usage of smartphones and Smart TV-s.

18

Device Usage by Age

• Older people use more devices.

• There was an almost 2x difference in

usage of desktops and tablets.

19

Device Ranking

20

1st place 2nd place 3rd place 4th place 5th place

Laptop Smartphone Desktop Tablet Desktop Smartphone Desktop Tablet Smart TV

All Men Cape Verdeans Men Women Cape Verdeans Men Cape Verdeans All

Women Estonians Under 26 Estonians

Estonians Over 26 Over 26

Under 26

Over 26

Service Usage• Social network usage is skewed more

towards women.

• Men prefer to use calendaring, reading,

note-taking, and task management

services.

• Estonians use more calendaring, file

sharing, blogging, and task management.

• Usage of file sharing, calendaring, and

blogging is skewed towards those above

26.21

Service Usage on

Devices

22

Men Women Estonians Cape Verdeans Under 26 Over 26

Blogging and task

managements

done most on

tablets, the least

on desktops.

Use laptops the

least across all

services.

Use laptops the

least for reading

and calendaring.

Do not use

smartphones for

calendaring at all.

Service usage is

unevenly

distributed,

especially in case

of file sharing,

calendaring,

reading, and

blogging.

Tablets are

preferred for

reading and

blogging.

In case of file

sharing there is a

preference

towards desktop

usage, whereas

reading is done

more on tablets,

less on laptops.

For file sharing,

calendaring,

reading, blogging,

note-taking, and

task

management,

service usage is

very unevenly

distributed.

Smartphones are

quite commonly

used as well,

while laptops are

used less.

Task

management is

preferred on

mobile devices

instead of the

desktop.

Discussion• People want to be up-to-date anytime,

anywhere, and on any device.

• Cross-device services and the

possibility to synchronize data put users

on top of things.

• Yet survey results also show that there

are differences in all of the analyzed

segments across both device and

service usage.

23

Conclusion• Take a close look at unique features of each

target group when designing solutions for

technology substitution.

• Understand whether people want to have

access to services across all of their devices,

but are currently not able to, or whether they

prefer to use specific devices for specific

purposes.

• Address the implications of designing for

ever-changing software and hardware

configurations. 24