Insights and Lessons Learned from the Design, Development and Deployment of Pervasive Location-Based Mobile Systems “in the Wild”

This paper, based on a reflective approach, presents several insights and lessons learned from the design, development, and deployment of a location-based social network and a location-based game. These are analyzed and discussed against the life-cycle of our studies, and range from engaging with the participants, to dealing with technical issues while on the field. Overall, the insights and lessons learned illustrate that one should be prepared and flexible enough to accommodate any issues as they arise in a professional manner considering not only the results of the study but also the participants and the researchers involved. The aim of this work to inform researchers and designers about some of the key challenges we encountered during our research into pervasive location-based mobile technologies in the wild.