How do you charge yours?

Visual data gathered from android app showing battery levels and location of phone and user.

Pedro Ferriera and Moira McGregor are investigating how people manage the battery level of their mobile phone over a week, as well as learning how they think and feel about the battery. Interviews with participants are supported by data gathered from their phones over 7 day sessions via an Android app. The app records and visualizes the battery level, temperature of the battery as well as GPS location data of the phone and its user. This data helps jog the user's memory about what they were doing and how they felt at different points in the week - this helps the user reflect on how they managed their phone's battery over time, how they felt when their battery ran out and other issues related with batteries.

The data is still in analysis, however preliminary work highlights the striking discrepancies between self-reported battery usage and concerns before and after the user has access to their GPS data over time. The data provides a rich support for reflection from which many interesting themes and topics emerge that did not come up during our interviews without the support of this data.

Project leader: Pedro Ferriera