Introduction
An important consideration for the TravelSafe app is the scope of the intended area for its use. Although we fully intend for the app to be used on a global scale, this is not possible for a small group project with limited time. Therefore, we have decided to use the UK as a case study in which to test the app before its launch for use world wide.
Why the UK?
We have selected the UK primarily because all of the group work and live here, which makes tailoring the app and planning its stages easier for us. Also, we know the area very well, which will mean that app can be planned out very well. Along the same lines Miluzzo et al., (2008) reccommend that for apps which need testing in a smaller situation before expanding, a familiar area for the designers should be used which may then be scaled up.
Kangas and Kinnunen (2005) go on to further explain that user testing for an app should be tested in a single cultural and language zone first. Bigger areas should then be used so that easily identification of social, cultural and language barrier issues can be more easily identified and tackled (Kangas and Kinnunen, 2005). Therefore, this advice makes the UK the perfect area to demonstrate the usability of the TravelSafe app, as the area is small and the app can be adjusted before further use.
Limitations
By using the UK as a case study there will be limitations. One limitation is that in the UK there may be different demographics who may use the app, for example maybe more English people will use it when travelling to a different city rather than a different country. This should be fully considered in the qualitative testing in the future. Another limitation is that because of the previously mentioned one, the app may not be fully tested in different countries, therefore it may be difficult to know whether it works correctly. This will be addressed when the app is tested on a bigger scale. We suggest that future testing should begin in the UK, then expand to some other selected countries for example in Europe, and then if this works well, it should be scaled up once again. Finally this will be on a global scale.
Conclusions
The TravelSafe app should use a small area for extensive testing to make sure that any social issues can be addressed on a wider scale (Kangas and Kinnunen, 2005). The UK is the perfect starting point for the testing app as it is small, and the designers/engineers are english-speakers (Miluzzo et al., 2008). The aim of the project is to develop an idea that is at the stage of being able to be tested commercially and extensively, therefore the TravelSafe app at the end of this project will list future testing and technological considerations which may discuss how the app may be release on a global scale.
References
Kangas, E., & Kinnunen, T. (2005). Applying user-centered design to mobile application development. Communications of the ACM, 48(7), 55-59.
Miluzzo, E., Lane, N. D., Fodor, K., Peterson, R., Lu, H., Musolesi, M., … & Campbell, A. T. (2008, November). Sensing meets mobile social networks: the design, implementation and evaluation of the cenceme application. InProceedings of the 6th ACM conference on Embedded network sensor systems(pp. 337-350). ACM.