Applying Situation-Service Fit to Physical Environments Enhanced by Ubiquitous Information Systems

Ubiquitous Information Systems (UIS) embedded in everyday environments are required to provide means for supporting complex behavioral task requirements. With the concept of a situation, we propose a knowledge level that can be used by users for understanding UIS-enhanced environments. It is discussed how the concept of situation differs from the concept of context. Situations are used to identify supporting services. At the core of this paper, we present how the Situation-Service Fit construct is used in early design stages (study 1) and later during the prototype phase (study 2). In study 2 we introduce an instrument for three more detailed fit constructs, i.e., Behavior-Service Fit, Modality-Service Fit, and Spatial-Service Fit. By additional evaluation of constructs known from various technology acceptance theories, we provide an innovative instrument for investigating UIS during the whole design cycle.