The application of mobile computing is currently altering patterns of our behavior to a greater degree than perhaps any other invention. In combination with the introduction of power efficient wireless communication technologies, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), designers are today increasingly empowered to shape the way we interact with our physical surroundings and thus build entirely new experiences. However, our evaluations of BLE and its abilities to facilitate mobile location-based experiences in public environments revealed a number of potential problems. Most notably, the position and orientation of the user in combination with various environmental factors, such as crowds of people traversing the space, were found to cause major fluctuations of the received BLE signal strength. These issues are rendering a seamless functioning of any location-based application practically impossible. Instead of achieving seamlessness by eliminating these technical issues, we thus choose to advocate the use of a seamful approach, i.e. to reveal and exploit these problems and turn them into a part of the actual experience. In order to demonstrate the viability of this approach, we designed, implemented and evaluated the Ghost Detector - an educational location-based museum game for children. By presenting a qualitative evaluation of this game and by motivating our design decisions, this paper provides insight into some of the challenges and possible solutions connected to the process of developing location-based BLE-enabled experiences for public cultural spaces.
Regardless of the design approach, the practice of implementing new media technology into traditional knowledge spaces has been generating predominantly positive results. Jones and Jo @cite_31 studied the use of ubiquitous technology in learning environments and argued that it enables students to access education more naturally. They went as far as concluding that ubiquitous computing may in fact be the new hope for the future of education.
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Education has undergone major changes in recent years, with the development of digital information transfer, storage and communication methods having a significant effect. This development has allowed for access to global communications and the number of resources available to today's students at all levels of schooling. After the initial impact of computers and their applications in education, the introduction of e-learning and m-learning epitomised the constant transformations that were occurring in education. Now, the assimilation of ubiquitous computing in education marks another great step forward, with Ubiquitous Learning (u-learning) emerging through the concept of ubiquitous computing. It is reported to be both pervasive and persistent, allowing students to access education flexibly, calmly and seamlessly. U-learning has the potential to revolutionise education and remove many of the physical constraints of traditional learning. Furthermore, the integration of adaptive learning with ubiquitous computing and u-learning may offer great innovation in the delivery of education, allowing for personalisation and customisation to student needs.