Mqol: experiences of the ´mobile communications and computing for quality of life´ living lab

Widespread acceptance and use of personalized mobile devices facilitates the provision of the ubiquitous mobile communications and computing applications that enable the human Quality of Life (QoL) improvement. However, there are multiple human factors influencing these applications, stemming from their users´ needs, expectations, and ways of maximizing their experience and the impact on their QoL. For a successful adoption of these applications, our mobile technologies lab, mQoL, employs an iterative, user-centric, Living Lab approach for the applications´ design and evaluation. This paper introduces the concept of mobile technologies for QoL specifically aiming to first understand the individual´s QoL from information available in mobile devices, i.e., assess physical, psychological, social or environmental aspects of a daily life of an individual, and, based on this understanding, provide services to improve this individual´s QoL. This paper also explains the methodological aspects of our research, including transdisciplinarity aspects, and delineates the research challenges for a Living Lab approach at large.