Text messaging is a functionality that has been widely used in user studies due to its presence in smartphones and feature phones alike. However, the ability to use cell phones for data collection has been limited to researchers that have programming abilities. We present SMSPress, a web-based SMS management system that allows non-technical users to configure SMS studies, and schedule text messages for delivery to participants via a web-interface. We establish the requirements for such a system and present the results from two case studies. One is a four-month health deployment with cardiac patients; the other is a usability evaluation of a study to help parents keep track of their child's development.
We are interested in ubiquitous computing and the research issues involved in building and evaluating ubicomp applications and services that impact our lives. Much of our work is situated in settings of everyday activity, such as the classroom, the office and the home. Our research focuses on several topics including, automated capture and access to live experiences, context-aware computing, applications and services in the home, natural interaction, software architecture, technology policy, security and privacy issues, and technology for individuals with special needs.
