Information for Air Travelers: Participatory Research and Design

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The Challenge
Background: The European Union Framework Programme 7 (FP7) Interconnectivity through Infoconnectivity (IC-IC) Project
Assessing User Needs
Potential Value Added to Future Research through the Application of Gendered Innovations Methods
Value Added 1: Researching the Needs of Caregivers and Available Airport Infrastructure
Method: Analyzing Intersecting Factors
Value Added 2: Providing Information to Support Traveling Caregivers and their Dependents
Method: Rethinking Research Priorities and Outcomes
Method: Participatory Research and Design
Conclusions
Next Steps

The Challenge

International travelers face a variety of difficulties. Even well-traveled individuals can be challenged when transferring from one transport system to another in foreign airports. Information related challenges in airports and other transit facilities can include:

• ● Inconsistent or absent signage, maps, transit information, etc. (Boëzennec, 2012).
  ● Unavailability of information in a traveler’s native language (Jiajun, 2009).
  ● Lack of personalized and contextualized information (Rehrl et al., 2007).
  

Background: The European Union Framework Programme 7 (FP7) Interconnectivity through Infoconnectivity (IC-IC) Project

The IC-IC project aims to develop an ICS (InfoConnectivity System) for long-distance travelers at four major European airports: Amsterdam (Schipol), Frankfurt, Paris (Charles de Gaulle), and Vienna. The goal is to offer information to passengers that enhances the speed and ease of transfer between long- and short-distance transportation networks (aeronautics, road, and rail). (CORDIS, 2012)—see image below.

IC-IC intends to provide information to travelers in waiting situations, including standing in security screening lines, waiting in airplanes and lounges, etc. (CORDIS, 2012). ICS is to deliver information in two general categories:

• 1. Transit, including check-in, ticketing, schedules, connecting ground transportation, immigration and customs requirements, security, etc.
• 2. Facilities and Services, including both in-airport services (lost and found, security, shopping, restaurants, currency exchange, etc.) and outside facilities and services (hotels, healthcare centers, etc.) with maps, directions, opening hours, etc. (International Institute for Information Design, 2012).

Information is to be made available for airports to install through low-cost QR (Quick Response) codes. These codes can be read by travelers’ mobile phones. Mobile phones then link travelers to information provided either locally or via the Internet. Certain EU airports and train operators currently provide complimentary internet access (Flughafen Wien, 2012; WESTbahn, 2012). EU regulators have worked to reduce data roaming fees, and projects including the Framework Programme 7 (FP7) “Privacy-Preserving Contract-less, User Centric, Seamless Roaming for Always Best Connected Future Internet” (PERIMITER) aim to further boost internet service availability (Shortall, 2010; Cleary et al., 2009). Such developments could support access to the ICS.

Information is to be developed in English. Machine translation software is to allow information to be displayed in English or one of thirteen additional languages, depending on the users’ profile. More traditional forms of information dissemination, such as booklets, pamphlets, in-flight entertainment systems, or posters, could also be used.

Assessing User Needs

ICS’ success requires understanding the needs of business and tourist travelers from different countries and backgrounds. The project employs a variety of methodologies:

• 1. Interviews with potential future users. Researchers collected information from 4,531 travelers from Poland, Russia, and Spain (International Institute for Information Design, 2011b). Online surveys explored situations that travelers may face while undertaking a journey that involves flying, to determine where information needs exist. These situations were specifically related to information needs while:
           ● traveling to the airport using public transportation
           ● at the airport
           ● or approaching the airport as a passenger on a plane (Private Communication, 2012).
• 2. Collaboration with institutional stakeholders. As of 2011, this includes four airports, four airlines, and nine surface transit operators. IC-IC is also working with the: aircraft manufacturer Airbus, European Disability Forum, Airport Regions Conference, Airports Council International Europe, European Travel Commission and International Association of Public Transport (IC-IC, 2011a).
• 3. Studies of existing information systems. Researchers have investigated airport ticketing systems, self check-in stations, and other facilities that travelers currently use. This allows IC-IC investigators to determine what useful information is “missing” and how IC-IC might fill these gaps.
• 4. Collaboration with experts. A scientific advisory board was constituted that included experts from India, Japan, Taiwan, the U.S., and a number of European countries.
• 5. The “age simulator.” Test personnel used an age simulation suit to study the needs of elderly travelers (IC-IC, 2011b).

Data from these sources was combined to build personas representing the most representative passenger target groups and typical journeys representing their movements. Personas included women and men business and touristic travelers. The objective is to identify the current level and quality of information provided to travelers, and to identify significant shortfalls. From these diverse sources, as well as fact finding activities carried out at airports and connecting ground transportation, model ICS applications will be developed and implemented to serve in real life situations (Private Communication, 2012).

Potential Value Added to Future Research through the Application of Gendered Innovations Methods

 

Value Added 1: Researching the Needs of Caregivers and Available Airport Infrastructure

People traveling by air for business or professional purposes may travel with children (Urry, 2007). Several effects of long-distance travel on family life have been described (Espino et al., 2002). Major institutions, such as Stanford University, provide junior faculty with grants applicable to “reasonable dependent care expenses” if dependents must accompany them on trips. Such funding may also be used to support “dependent care at a conference or research site” (Stanford University, 2012). For these reasons, the ICS will be enhanced if it provides information concerning care facilities. In airports, this may include lactation or quiet bottle-feeding rooms, changing rooms, play areas, etc. In arrival cities, this might include information about parks and playgrounds, child activity centers, childcare services and emergency pediatric health care.

Method: Analyzing Intersecting Factors

Researchers can apply this method by:

1. Studying the demographics of travelers who fly with dependents (children, elderly persons, etc.). The proportion of travelers who travel as caregivers should be disaggregated by variables such as:
         ● Sex
         ● Age
         ● Relationship to dependent (mother/father, other relative, etc.)
         ● Main trip purpose (business or leisure)
         ● Travel route (origin and destination)
         ● Native language
         ● Type of employment (field of work, seniority, private-sector/public-sector/academic), etc.
         ● Level of employer’s support (if any) for traveling with dependents (Private Communication, 2012).

Such information could be obtained through surveys, which would be designed to capture the behaviours of diverse groups of travelers. For example, academic workers might be more likely to travel with children than private-sector workers, and a survey which captured only private-sector workers would then be non-representative.

2. Compiling information on the availability of childcare facilities (lactation rooms, changing rooms, etc.) in various airports, possibly including air traveler’s evaluations of the quality of these facilities. Currently, the IC-IC project has benchmarked the quality of information available to travelers at several airports and other transit facilities (such as train and metro stations). This benchmarking could be expanded to include variables related to childcare—see image below.

In the short term, these actions would assist travelers with children in identifying the resources available to them. In the long term, consistent and standardized data about such facilities could encourage improvement in the availability of such resources.

View General Methods

Value Added 2: Providing Information to Support Traveling Caregivers and their Dependents

Once information is gathered, it may be distributed by:

• 1. Providing airport maps (“hyperlocal maps”) showing the locations of care facilities.
• 2. Delivering customized information to traveling caregivers; that is, including “caregivers” as a categorical profile in considering different travel scenarios. An ICS user could select “traveling with children” so as to receive relevant, customized information—just as this user might select a specific language, traveling with or without checked baggage, etc.

Method: Rethinking Research Priorities and Outcomes

ICS designers may wish to show routes within airports and ground transportation that provide step-free access to planes, trains, subways, and buses. This accommodates strollers, heavy luggage, wheelchairs, and similar devices, helping the ICS to achieve the stated goal of providing “intertwined information, ‘designed for all’” (Simlinger, 2011). Prioritizing research on traveling caregivers could be incorporated into IC-IC Planning Actions—see image below.

View General Methods

Method: Participatory Research and Design

As of 2011, IC-IC researchers have interviewed “more than 4500 persons in Poland, Russia, and Spain” to understand the travel needs of potential ICS users (IC-IC, 2011b). Including sufficient numbers of caregivers during ICS evaluation could increase the ICS user base, and could be incorporated into ICS Planning Actions—see image below.

View General Methods

Conclusions

Design research must be conceived to ensure that all users’ needs are adequately addressed. IC-IC analyzed typical travelers and modeled the special needs of the elderly. Various strategies beyond those contained in the original IC-IC project description can be used to add value through the application of gendered innovations methods. Analyzing the demographics of travelers who fly with dependents and compiling information on the availability of childcare facilities in various airports might further enhance ICS.

Next Steps

Transportation researchers may work to:

• ● incorporate the needs of caregivers (locations for parents to prepare food, and lactation rooms; and childcare services and
  emergency pediatric health care in arrival city) as requirements in the ICS
  ● deliver customized information to traveling caregivers
  ● allow users to select their “needs”
  ● include “caring work” as a subset of health and well being