1. Expectation of Travel Experiences
with Wearable Computing Devices
Iis P. Tussyadiah
Hospitality Business Management
College of Business
Washington State University Vancouver, USA
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2. PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY &
TOURISM EXPERIENCE
Encounters as essential parts of tourism experience
The use of technology leads to more meaningful
encounters
Technology-mediated tourism experiences
Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009; Wang, Park & Fesenmaier, 2012;
Neuhofer, Buhalis & Ladkin, 2012; etc.
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3. ENTER 2014 Research Track
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4. Image: Icon Finder; Google Glass
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5. Image: Huffington Post
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6. WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY
Major impacts on the ways people interact with
surroundings.
Challenges facing the integration of wearable tech
into society.
How wearable tech can revolutionize tourists?
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7. STUDY GOAL
Identify and explore people’s expectation of use of
wearable computing technology for travel-related
experiences.
Specifically, potential users’ ideas and imagination
of use for Glass.
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8. THE NEED FOR
AN ALTERNATIVE THEORY
Positioning of personal technology in human
experiences.
Wearable tech  potential changes in ways users
interact with technology and with others.
Theoretical explanation from HCI studies: from
mediation to embodiment.
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9. MEDIATION
[ I ] – [Glasses] – [The world]
Ihde’s (1990) non-neutrality of of technology-mediated experiences.
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10. Technology appears in between humans and the world and change experiences.
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11. EMBODIMENT
[ I – Glasses] – [The world]
Ihde (1990)
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12. Technology becomes “unnoticeable”, but an essential part of experience.
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13. Embodiment
Technology “withdraw”
?
Technology’s capability to
extend perceptual bodily
(and cognitive) capacity
Ihde (1990); Ehn & Linde (2004)
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14. PROJECT GLASS
Competition for a chance to purchase the Explorer
edition of Glass (Feb 21–27, 2013)
Ideas to use Glass submitted via Google+ and twitter
using #ifihadglass
Tweets were harvested from twitter developer API
through apps script programming in Google
Spreadsheet (Feb 23-27, 2013)
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15. DATA GATHERING
& MANAGEMENT
Manual cleanup:
duplicates, RTs,
bashtag, etc.
Open coding,
standard content
analysis
(Kassarjian, 1977)
17,373 total tweets
17,373 total tweets
10,035 unique tweets
10,035 unique tweets
930 travel-related tweets
930 travel-related tweets
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16. ABSTRACTION
Means-End Chain Analysis
Consumers relate to products through a
hierarchy (A-C-V chain):
– Product attributes (A)
– Consequences of use (C)
– Personal values (V)
Gutman (1982); Perkins & Reynolds (1988); Reynolds & Perkins (1987)
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17. ABSTRACTION
A-C-V framework was used to guide interpretation
of emerging themes (patterns, categorization) from
tweets
– A: features & functionalities
– C: travel activities
– V: motivation
*Note: missing co-occurrences prevent quantifiable links
between A-C-V chain
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18. VALUE: TRAVEL MOTIVATION
Explore
Self
Challenge
Capture
Other
Share
Transform
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19. 1. World Exploration
A shift from being a “tourist” to being an “explorer”
Emphasis on enjoyment of the “journey”
– Road trip, motorbike, walking
New ways of interacting with others &
environments
– AR, translation, navigation
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20. 2. Adventure Tourism
Revolutionary impacts
Extreme outdoor sports and challenges
– Mountain climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving
Associated with “capture” and “share”
– FPV, navigation, social publishing, real-time
connectivity
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21. 2. Travel Documentation
Convenience and unique camera feature drive an
emphasis on documenting journeys
– POV images
Storing memories – travel documentary
– “A day in the life of xxx”
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22. 4. Travel Reporting
Subthemes:
– Value from showcasing personal perspectives &
experience
– Value from enabling others to experience places
(altruism) – opening access to places
FPV, real time connectivity, social publishing, navigation.
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23. 5. Positive Transformation
Spreading influence that leads to positive societal
transformation:
– Promote mutual understanding, encourage crosscultural learning
– Travel as a way to make a difference
– FPV – “spontaneous kindness”
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24. Transform
s
Share
Explore
(V)
(C)
Culture
Tour
Capture
Challenge
Hiking
Walking
Biking
Road Trip
Skiing; Mt.
Climbing
Skydiving
(A)
Instant
Translation
Informatio
n – AR
Navigation
– Map
FPV
Capture
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Real-time
Connection
Social
Publishing
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25. TECH & EXPERIENCE
• Indication of mediation:
– “I will use Glass to…”
• Indication of embodiment:
– Perceived extension of the body and the mind
– “Seeing through Glass eyes…”
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26. CONCLUSION
Key differentiation:
– Instant information and translation  Glass as “an
extension of the mind”  confidence and convenience
– hands-free capturing of images with FPV  creating
and sharing with personalization;
– Real-time connectivity to social network  validation
and altruism
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27. IMPLICATION
Independent, well-informed tourists enjoying enroute experiences  destination management:
facets of experience
First-person visual narratives of destinations
experiences  destination marketing: microsegmentation, personas
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28. LIMITATION &
FURTHER RESEARCH
Limitation
– Competition: creative use of Glass
– Potential use: limited information
Future research
– Actual use of Glass for travel (#throughglass)
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29. THANK YOU!
Contact:
iis.tussyadiah@vancouver.wsu.edu
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