Paper Reading #20: Rush: Repeated Recommendations on Mobile Devices

 Rush: Repeated Recommendations on Mobile Devices
Dominikus Baur
Sebastian Boring
Andreas Butz
Intelligent User Interfaces

Comment 1: http://chi-jacob.blogspot.com/2011/04/paper-reading-20-rush-repeated.html?showComment
Comment 2: http://jip-tamuchi-spring2011.blogspot.com/2011/04/paper-reading-20-lowering-barriers-to.html

In this paper we find another application written for mobile phones that allows the user to brows different purchasing options and weigh and compare them to choose the correct one. This application is known as Rush and it allows the user to search through multiple devices with a simply flick motion on the phone. Essentially you try to find a product on your phone and then search through similar items until you find one or more that you enjoy and then you can choose one or more of them. The app is designed as an informative user study that allows the shopper to select their items and then get more intuitive results for similar product or products that allow the user to find out more information about what they are shopping for. Essentially the user starts with one recommendation and then can swipe through multiple other selections 3-5 at a time looking for more information or the product that they want to find. Tests were done with usability and the accuracy involved with the user being able to select the correct item. The tests were largely successful but the algorightm for selecting similar items need the authors feel needs to be more robust and needs to be able to select more items and be able to get the user to the item they are looking for faster. The participants who used this were mostly younger people average age of 27 and they are going to see if the application appeals to older people as well.

I think this paper was fairly interesting, it seems like a good enough application for people to use. The problem I have with this application is they didn't talk much about how the app worked or the kinds of information that it can give you and mostly about the technical specs of the app. I thought it was interesting that they only used younger people as well in their initial tests and would have liked to see a wider range of people testing the application. I thought that it was good in what it was trying to do get you to your item faster but I wonder how many people really just go browsing for different items online anymore. It seems like a lot of people I know if they want to just go shopping in general they will typically go to the mall or some other kind of shopping establishment. That or what I do is I know the item I want to get and I go directly to it and order it. I really cant see a lot of people wanting to swipe through various items on their phone and then find out more about them or take the time to try and guess and navigate to the item they want to find. I also sort of feel like this has already been done as most shopping websites provide links to similar items that are a bit less interactive but still have the same general idea. I think it is a good idea but I question how many people would use something like this.