The Users' Perspective
Bringing the Users’ Perspective to InterConnect through Research and Tests
InterDigital is at the forefront of the development of the next generation of mobile networking. What was missing was the voice of the everyday user. What do they need? What are they worried about? We went looking for some answers.
From extended reality to smart home personalization, we studied how users perceive emerging technologies and some of their core needs and behaviors.
Among the many findings, these insights stood out as the driving forces behind a potential 6G rollout and adoption.
While users seek unique experiences, their willingness to try them out is driven by trend & convenience.
Users will readily adopt new experiences only when the experience is socially validated and is conveniently accessible to them.
An all-connected world should allow users to forego control with a deep sense of safety to accomplish goals, without sacrificing their personal agency.
As more experiences become personalized to the user, the experience needs to establish trust with the user for the user to be willing to forego decision-making power over the experience.
While immersive technology helps users to escape reality, appealing content in appropriate context are what drives presence.
No matter how powerful immersive technology becomes, true immersion as a state of presence is achieved only through content that is appealing to the user.
Ubiquitous data collection for personalized services increases need for perceived privacy, from the core network all the way to the interface.
As experiences use more data from users, users have a greater need for the feeling for the privacy and that their data will not be misused.
With a clearer understanding of the larger umbrella of user needs and concerns that would affect 6G’s development and adoption, we doubled down on identifying specific factors that can measure the quality of experience for the user.
From 5 tests covering privacy, agency, immersion in public spaces, and cognitive load, we listed 24 Quality of Experience Factors that describe what the user interacts with and what the recommended course of action is to make experience ideal.
Quality of Experience Factors
Cognitive Load / Ease
Idleness / Agency
Exposedness / Perceived Privacy
Physical Exhaustion / Activity
Physical Discomfort / Comfort
Mental Harm / Health
Overstimulation / Understimulation
Uninvolvement / Escapism
Negative / Positive Emotions
Social Isolation / Connection
Difficulty / Ease of Use
Incompatibility / Seamlessness
Labor / Assistance
Disconcertment / Familiarity
Opaqueness / Transparency
Physical Harm / Safety
Motion Sickness / Synchrony Perception
Psychological Distress / Comfort
Nuisance & Distraction / Enjoyment
Disengagement / Immersion
Self-consciousness / Social Comfort
Inaccessibility / Universal Accessibility
Low / High Connectivity
Data Vulnerability / Security
Critical Thinking Prompts
Coupled with the Quality of Experience Factors, we framed a series of open-ended critical thinking prompts that help strategists at InterDigital think from the perspective of the user and spark conversations around the why behind the development of 6G from the lens of the user.
What is the nature of the relationship between the user and the application?
In what ways does the application impact the user's life? How will the impacts change over time?
What are the application boundaries? What decisions cannot be taken over by the application?
How is the application learning from the user to improve?
How does the user benefit from the application?
In what scenarios could the application harm the user? And how will you mitigate potential harms?
What are potential unintended consequences (individual, community, or societal) of the application?
What potential biases might the application perpetuate?
How is the network and infrastructure supporting application safety?
What kind of data security measures can 6G impose?
Try InterConnect
Grounded on this research, InterConnect guides the analysis of possible 6G use cases based on people, context, technology, and the relationships between them.
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