Field experience and user evaluation from a real-world internet application in an urban-scale environment

In this paper, we present experience and evaluation results from an urban-scale real-world internet application deployment. Our application invites people to share memories, relate them to the city space, form a collective memory by identifying relations among them and finally, to interact with it via diverse interfaces dispersed in the physical city landscape. We have followed an iterative development and research process, starting with a web-based internet application, moving to a mobile app and finally, deploying it on an array of interactive pervasive displays. On each iteration, we have conducted user evaluations in the physical landscape of a city. Our findings shed light on how users perceive diverse interfaces, on how to blend digital layers of content with the physical landscape, and on how a real-world internet application can foster social interactions.