Usability Evaluation of mobile Applications in leisure-oriented Contexts

Contextual aspects play a major role within the usage of mobile devices. Conventional usability methods lack the possibility to consider contextual information. The benefits of a prototypical setting for the observation possibilities of different non-work related applications are discussed on the basis of an example the characteristics of which seem to be applicable to different contexts. The system consists of a camera mounted on a standard baseball cap which is used to observe contextual information when using a mobile device. The content of the mobile device’s screen is tracked by software and transferred to an observation desk. Preliminary results support the necessity of considering contextual aspects.