"Need to Know": Examining Information Need in Location Discourse

Location discourse involves the active or passive sharing of location information between individuals. Related applications include mobile friend locators, and location-dependent messaging. Privacy issues pertaining to location disclosure have been considered in research and relevant design guidelines are emerging, however what location information a user actually “needs to know” has received little systematic analysis to date. In this paper we present results from a questionnaire study and a diary study considering location information need. We provide a classification of location discourse and the factors which impact location need, showing that seemingly small changes in a scenario can yield drastically different location information needs. Finally, we summarize trends that are of interest to designers of location discourse applications.

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