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A spontaneous social network based on mobile devices

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Abstract

Social networks provide a growing mean of communication that still preserves our human social interaction. Due to the widespread use of mobile devices, and the vast development of applications targeting these platforms, people tend to use their smartphone or tablet as the main way to make that interaction. Furthermore, applications developed to these devices are fostering the use of contextual information, such as the location of the user. In this way, this article describes a model for a spontaneous social network targeted at mobile devices. In our proposal, named Mingle, the social network is spontaneous, i.e., involves only people who are physically present in a specific location. Besides presenting the model, we show a developed prototype using Android-based devices. We evaluated Mingle employing two strategies. The first evaluation consisted of a performance evaluation of the server. The second assessment focused on usability, regarding effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of users in using Mingle. The results were encouraging and show the potential of deploying Mingle in real situations.

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Notes

  1. http://www.fadyart.com/ontologies/data/Finance.owl.

  2. http://www.fipa.org/specs/fipa00091/SI00091E.html.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for partially financing this research. Finally, we thank University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos), and particularly Applied Computing Graduate Program (PIPCA) for their support in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Computing Graduate Program (PIPCA), University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), São Leopoldo, Brazil

    Cristiano André da Costa, Dante Zaupa, Jorge Luis Victoria Barbosa, Rodrigo da Rosa Righi, João de Camargo & Nikolas Daroit

  2. Graduate Program in Computer Science (PPGC), Federal University of Pelotas (UFPEL), Pelotas, Brazil

    Adenauer Correa Yamin

Authors
  1. Cristiano André da Costa
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  2. Dante Zaupa
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  3. Jorge Luis Victoria Barbosa
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  4. Rodrigo da Rosa Righi
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  5. João de Camargo
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  6. Nikolas Daroit
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  7. Adenauer Correa Yamin
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Correspondence to Cristiano André da Costa.

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da Costa, C.A., Zaupa, D., Barbosa, J.L.V. et al. A spontaneous social network based on mobile devices. Soc. Netw. Anal. Min. 4, 158 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-014-0158-8

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