Background

MOBILE AUGMENTED REALITY SYSTEM (MARS)
AR systems are studied for over 20 years. With smartphone and wearable communication and information technologies (ICT) are ubiquitous, mobile AR systems (MARS) open various opportunities for users to experience and interact with physical location information on the move (Kourouthanassis, Boletsis, Bardaki, & Chasanidou, 2015)

MARS examples:

Layar

The Museum of London's Streetmuseum

[ print version thesis available upon request ]

current MARS use highlights:

for storytelling: “Situated Documentaries” that the MARS embeds multimedia presentations in the real world for users to consume at the location (Hollerer et al., 1999; Pavlik, 2001)
for entertainment: Ingress (Majorek and du Vall, 2016)

Pokémon Go

Studies on the MARS for health reasons (e.g., Althoff et al., 2016; Howe et al., 2016)
More than a game: “cultural phenomenon,” was ranked the most-downloaded worldwide mobile iOS system in 2016 (Leswing, 2017)
First normalizing MARS for the masses
A lack of the systematic research to understand social and cultural consequences and implications of Pokémon Go use

Purpose of the Study

Theorizing regarding the use of the MARS (as in Pokémon Go) is in the beginning stages, with some published research focusing on how the system increases physical activities and provides health benefits (e.g., Althoff et al., 2016; Howe et al., 2016; Tong et al., 2017; Watanabe et al., 2017).
The MARS seems to be increasing in popularity as Pavlik and McIntosh's (2006) prediction with advanced mobile broadband systems and mobile interface development.
The current research aims to explore users’ attitudes and perceptions toward Pokémon Go and hopes to provide design recommendations for the system or future MARS.

Users-Media Figures Para-Social Interactions for Companionship Needs
Media researchers have studied the perceived relationship that media users develop with media figures. Research on traditional media (e.g., TV, radio) use finds media users interact with media figures, but do not identify with those figures.

A relationship of friendship or intimacy by a television viewer with a remote media character It is based on affective ties by the viewer with the media character. As such it may take the form of seeking guidance from the characters, making friends with them and imagining being part of the program’s social world (Michael Antecol, as cited in Orlik, 2015).

Theoretical Framework

The Domestication Approach has four partial phases or processes: appropriation, objectification, incorporation, and conversion (Silverstone et al., 2005)
The Uses and Gratification Theory aims “to explain something of the way in which individuals use communication, among other resources in their environment, to satisfy their needs and to achieve their goal, and to do so by simply asking them (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974, p. 21).

Significance of the Study

Research on other media and companionship has been conducted. There is a need to study the relationship between the MARS users and companionship because mobile devices provide always connect (Ling, 2004; Ling, 2012) and perpetual contact (Katz & Aakhus, 2002) to its users. . It might increase the para-social relationship from MARS figures to the MARS users.
Moreover, design research on designing technology system to support companionship for special groups has also been conducted.
The current research aims to study how a MARS support personal companionship with all age groups in everyday life. And then, it designs a MARS to facilitate users’ companionship needs.

Research Questions

How do users use the MARS in everyday life?
To what degree do users dependent on the MARS in their everyday life?
What are users’ motivations for use the MARS?
Which motives in use of the MARS predict a higher level of the MARS dependency?
To what degree does users’ MARS dependency increase their companionship?

Literature Review

The Domestication of Media in Everyday Life
Traditional Media and Companionship

Rubin and Rubin's (1982) study found that television users utilized game show and daytime serial viewing than to news viewing for companionship.
Tramer and Jeffres (1983) found that radio users called Cleveland talk radio shows to seek companionship.

Interactive Media and Companionship

Several mobile music device studies found that mobile music device users utilized their devices to keep them company while commuting in cities (Bull, 2000; 2007).
mobile phone

more Literature Review

Mobile Augmented Reality System for Location Experience

Mobile location-based systems (mLBS) for tourists (Cheverst, Davies, Mitchell, & Friday, 2000; van Setten, Pokraev, & Koolwaaij, 2004 )
MARS: Yovcheva, Buhalis, and Gatzidis (2012) argued that a MARS (1) provided location-based systems (LBS) information for tourists to know where they were; (2) enabled access to content for tourists to know what to do in real time; (3) were flexible to share and find texts, photos, and videos of locations.

Design for Facilitating Companionship PARO Theraputic Robot

Methodology

The Domestication Approach (Silverstone et al., 2005) was used to examine the use patterns of Pokémon Go whereas the Uses and Gratification Theory (Katz et al., 1974) was utilized to investigate use motivations. A triangulation method combined a participant observation in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and a qualitative content analysis from a popular Taiwanese Facebook Group Page to learn patterns and motivations of the MARS experience.

Why Taiwan

Observation

The observation field data was collected from June 22, 2017, to August 7, 2017 (i.e., the PokéGym system was reworked and the addition of Raids to before the Zapdos arrived).
Reserach site: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
During the time period, the researcher selected two or more PokéGyms when there were level 4 or legendary raids happened in Kaohsiung, Taiwan to observe how users used the MARS every day.
The researcher paid special attention to interactions (1) between the MARS users and non-users, (2) between the MARS users and other MARS users, and (3) between the MARS users and Pokémon.

more Methodology

Content Analysis of Posts on the Facebook Group Page

This study analyzed posts on a Facebook Group Page between June 22, 2017 and August 7, 2017.
The “Pokémon Go Kaohsiung” Facebook Group as a result of 2,109 posts

Data Analysis

Findings

The Domestication of the MARS
Content is Crucial
Socialization (social)
Location (local)
Companionship (emotion)
- Para-social interactions between the MARS users and their Pokémon/ avatars
- Companionship between the MARS users and other users
- Companionship among the MARS users- Pokémon/avatars- other users
Mobile Design: Everyone’s System (mobile)

In summary, this study found that the Taiwanese MARS users utilized the system to fulfill their information, communication, socialization, entertainment, and companionship needs. They also incorporated the system into their everyday life activities.

Discussions

This research finds all four phases of the Domestication Approach: appropriation, objectification, incorporation and conversion (Silverstone et al., 2005) among the Pokémon Go MARS users.
Katz, Haas, and Gurevitch (1973) point out that utilizing the Uses and Gratification Theory could learn how media users use media to fulfill their socialization, information, entrainment, decision, and companionship needs.
In this study: While using patterns for information, entertainment, socialization and decision needs are similar to other media use, the companionship needs that are fulfilled by online friends (as Pokémon, avatars, and human friends whom they have online interactions only) and offline friends (as other MARS users) and by the personal social networks and by Pokémon networks seem to be unique for the MARS use.

Implications and Conclusions

In this study, MARS users meet friends from online to offline as well as offline to online.
They build friendships with other users and media characters (i.e., Pokémon).
The interactions between online and offline and the friendships between real people and media characters seem to be blurred because of the MARS.
Another interesting aspect of this study is how most of the MARS users make the system fit into their everyday life.

Limitations and Suggestions for Future Studies
For future study, applying the traditional companionship scales to conduct quantitative research might help to generalize with more accuracy than the researcher’s personal experience and impressions.

Design Reserach

According to the primary research findings:

MARS users utilize the system in their everyday life to fulfill their information, communication, decision, entertainment, socialization, and companionship needs.
They also seem to develop a para-social relationship with their media figures.
They take their MARS everywhere they go when they have free time and incorporate the MARS into their everyday activities.
Specifically, the current study finds that the MARS seems to increase in value when users enhance their personal social networks and build their MARS network.

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mTourist

Tourists use digital media to seek trip information, to plan and book trips, to document trips, and to share their tourist experience by writing reviews, blogging, and sharing videos and photos.
Prior research finds that mobile media users utilize their mobile media to kill time and to bring “dead time” to live in everyday life (Bittman, Brown, & Wajcman, 2009; O’Hara, Perry, Sellen, & Brown, 2002).
Mobile media are also used for purposes not directly travel-related when users are travelling. Tourists “pack” their social networks with them while traveling.

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See What I See” MARS Design

Concept

A “See What I See” MARS is designed for users who are going to navigate a location accompanied by their social networks. The “See What I See” could be used for people who are visiting tourist attractions, taking a new job at a new location, going to a college for the first time, or finding a required item from a (grocery) store.
“See What I See” MARS does not aim to design a fully functional tourist system because hotels and flight companies are already providing free systems to attract tourists (Wang & Wang, 2010).
“See What I See” MARS system is about a travel companion design of user-generated situated documentaries for someone(s) special to experience the location when they have “dead time” or “free time” to spend at the location.

Why Kaohsiung

Best in Travel 2018: Top Cities (Lonely Plant, 2017)
Welcome to Kaohsiung

“See What I See” MARS Prototype

Points of Interest
Places to Eat
Useful Spots
Find People