Pecan Park Project

Pecan Park Project aims at understanding the interaction between wireless mobile computing technologies and underserved urban communities and subsequently optimizing the technologies for these communities.

Collaborators

Rice Networks Group (Wireless Network)
The Abramson Center for the Future of Health (Health applications)
Jerome Crowder (Anthropology)
Rice Human Factors Research Lab (Psychology)
Technology For All (Community Connection)

Community

Pecan Park is a community is Southeast Houston with 5,000 single-family residences. Click here to see it on Google Map.

Wireless Network

Since 2003, Technology For All and Rice Network Group (Knightly) have built and maintained an open-access multi-tier multi-hop 802.11 network in Pecan Park. The network currently covers about 3km² and have seen over 4000 unique users. Click here for more information.

Mobile Devices

Our research interest is in wireless broadband-ready mobile phones and their applications. Coupled with the open-access wireless network, such phones and their applications provide an unprecedented opportunity for Pecan Park residents to access information technologies with low cost. Our research objectives are multifold, including:

Unique values of mobile devices to the community, in comparison with conventional personal computers
Impact of social/cultural factors on the use of mobile systems
Unique usage patterns by the community
Human-centered and community-driven optimization of mobile systems and its applications

Publications

Yunxin Liu, Ahmad Rahmati, Yuanhe Huang, Hyukjae Jang, Lin Zhong, Yongguang Zhang, and Shensheng Zhang, "xShare: supporting impromptu sharing of mobile phones," in Proc. ACM/USENIX Int. Conf. Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys), June 2009. (PDF)
Ahmad Rahmati and Lin Zhong, "A longitudinal study of non-voice mobile phone usage by teens from an underserved urban community," Techical Report 0515-09, Rice University, May 2009. (PDF)
Ahmad Rahmati and Lin Zhong, "Usability evaluation of a commercial Pocket PC phone: A pilot study," in Proc. ACM Int. Conf. Mobile Technology, Applications and Systems (Mobility), September 2007. (PDF)