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The purpose of this paper is to review an emerging type of dwelling, indicated as Smart Home, with a focus on future user lifestyles and needs. Trends toward sustainability and technological changes dramatically alter the concepts of Smart Home. Consequently, real estate decisions are going to be affected by the Smart Home development. Inspired by research in the field of user centered design and future lifestyles, the authors redefine the housing design to increase the acceptance of Smart Homes in the society.

Upcoming trends and developments in housing technologies and concepts are reviewed and analyzed. A multidimensional definition of a Smart Home is suggested which allows a better understanding of the new elements and spaces of this future home. A new concept of a home environment is presented in which virtual space and ambient intelligent space is integrated within the physical space. Furthermore, possible changes in lifestyles enabled by new technological developments are identified. Linking the new home environment concepts with the user's lifestyles provides a research framework for the investigation of Smart Homes. This framework is helpful in addressing the trends of sustainable society inside the domain of Smart Homes and Smart Real Estate.

In this paper, the authors provide answers to questions on the feasibility and impact of new technologies on future lifestyle and dwelling in the domain of real estate.

The presented research framework is not only relevant for academic researchers but also for real estate investors, because it highlights the risks that need to be managed when developing Smart Real Estate.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of internet on the e-lifestyle of the youth of emerging markets (EMs) in contemporary digital world using Ghanaian youth as a case study.

Survey data were obtained from students of five leading universities in Accra, the nation’s capital, between February and June 2017. Of the 300 questionnaires administered, 276 were usable representing 92 per cent collection rate. Respondents were randomly approached and oriented on the object of the study and asked to complete the instrument voluntarily using the face-to-face approach at student events. Both the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the structural equation modelling procedure of partial least square (PLS-SEM) were used to analyse the data.

From the study, drivers of the e-lifestyle of youth in EMs were listed in order of importance: socio-importance, interest, entertainment, necessity, novelty, academic, transaction and concern needs. Surprisingly, the quest for academic information does not motivate the youth to surf the internet compared to aspiration to satisfy social, interest and entertainment-driven needs.

E-lifestyle addiction compels the youth to surf the internet via mobile phones, computers and other devices for e-lifestyle satisfaction, requiring internet service providers, marketers and academics to develop innovative e-lifestyle products to stimulate continuous internet usage of internet by the youth.

This study provides practical insight for internet service providers, web and application developers and members of the academic community to consciously develop internet-based products that direct the youth towards fulfilling e-lifestyle motivation.

The convergence of the youth on the internet will in no doubt impact social behaviour, thereby influencing lifestyles.

As very little work has been done on youth e-lifestyle in EMs, this study serves as a pioneering work in EMs using Ghanaian youth as a case study. Ironically, students of EMs spend less time on the internet doing academic concerns compared to social activities. Additionally, the importance of transaction (payments) needs as a driver of internet use among the youth has been emphasised in this study.

The purpose of this paper is to show that in a time of dramatic social change and progress in information communications technology, surveys and analysis were used to identify residents' lifestyles and their views and attitudes toward public libraries.

Two series of surveys were conducted in suburban/rural cities of Japan in 2004 and 2006. The first survey was across all local residents, and the second among library users. The results of these surveys were analyzed in depth, and different lifestyle groups were identified. Library use by each of these groups was investigated in detail.

The findings demonstrate that those who positively appreciated the various benefits of the public library tended to be frequent/regular visitors and to belong to the “Group of ‘actively striving’” and the “Group of ‘respecting others’” in the 2004 survey, and similar types of group in the 2006 survey. In addition, the 2006 survey also showed that the visitors include those who were not necessarily conscious about library services, and 10 per cent of the respondents were not much interested in them at all.

The results demonstrate that the libraries acquire new user groups according to their service innovations. However, it was found that people have already started to utilize search engines on the internet, regardless of the presence/absence of the corresponding service in the library to acquire various types of information.

This paper re‐examines the traditional understanding of the user profile of public libraries, and demonstrates a tool to help identify changes in use and users.

The aim of this article is to identify the main approaches and discuss their perspectives, including their strengths and weaknesses in, especially, public library contexts. The purpose is also to present and discuss the results of a recent – 2014 – Danish library user segmentation project using computer-generated clusters. Compared to traditional marketing texts, this article also tries to identify users segments or images created by the library profession itself. Segmentation of users can help libraries in the process of understanding user similarities and differences. Segmentation can also form the basis for selecting segments as target users and for developing tailored services for specific target segments. Thus, several approaches and techniques have been tested in library contexts.

Basically, the article is built upon a literature review concerning different approaches to user segmentation in, especially, public library context from approximately 1980 till now (May 2014).

The article reveals that – at least – five different principal approaches to user segmentation have been applied by the library sector during the past 30-35 years. Characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches are identified, discussed and evaluated.

When making decisions on future library user surveys, it is certainly an advantage, concerning the ability to make qualified decision, to know what opportunities that are at hand for identifying important segments.

Some of the approaches have been treated individually in the library literature; however, it is probably the first time that the professions own user images and metaphors are dealt with in a user segmentation context.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new approach recommending friends to social networking users who are also using weight loss app in the context of social networks.

Social network has been recognized as an effective way to enhance overweight and obesity interventions in past studies. However, effective measures integrating social network with weight loss are very limited in the healthcare area. To bridge this gap, this study develops a measure for friend recommendation using the data obtained by weight loss apps; designs methods to model weight-gain-related behaviors (WGRB); constructs a novel “behavior network;” and develops two measurements in experiments to examine the proposed approach.

The approach for friend recommendation is based on Friend Recommendation for Health Weight (FRHW) algorithm. By running this algorithm on a real data set, the experiment results show that the algorithm can recommend a friend who has a healthy lifestyle to a target user. The advantages of the proposed mechanism have been well justified via comparisons with popular friend recommenders in past studies.

The conventional methods for friend recommenders in social networks are only concerned with similarities of pairs rather than interactions between people. The system cannot account for the potential influences among people. The method pioneers to model a WGRB as recommendation mechanism that allow recommended friends to simultaneously fulfill two criteria. They are: first, similarity to the target person; and second, ensuring the positive influence toward weight loss. The second criterion is obviously important in practice and thus the approach is valuable to the literature.

The exponential growth of smartphones is complemented by an astronomical development of mobile apps that have been changing ways in which humans interact with each other, as well as how brands and customers interact. This study aims to examine the effect of mobile device and mobile app innovations on user lifestylisation among consumers from developing countries.

Through a qualitative approach, data was collected via focus group interviews from 32 participants from across 15 developing countries who were largely emerging cosmopolitans.

Using the thematic analysis technique, the study finds that consumer lifestylisations, based on consumption and utilisation of mobile devices and mobile apps, hinge on either pre-purchase considerations or post-purchase discoveries that stem from a bouquet of hedonic and/or utilitarian motivations. Two consumer categories are identified, with each category exhibiting unique patterns.

The empirical findings provide valuable theoretical contributions to new knowledge as well as practical implications for mobile gadget manufacturers and mobile app developers domiciled, or those aiming to establish their presence, in developing economies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adaptations that have been made to traditional courtyard houses (TCHs) in Baghdad, Iraq. The aim is to develop an understanding of various factors in the adaptation of these buildings to suit contemporary lifestyles, which will contribute to the wider field of building adaptability.

Empirical evidence was collected through case studies of 12 TCHs in the Al-Kadhimiya area of Baghdad, which involved a physical survey of buildings and semi-structured interviews with 24 occupants.

Case study analysis show that building adaptability involves both a change to physical spaces and also to lifestyles; with the latter being more likely when there are limitations in how much change can be made to the physical structure.

The focus of this research is mainly on users’ adaptation of spaces and therefore does not consider the full range of stakeholders involved in the adaptation process. The findings also only apply to the cases considered and may not be applicable to other house types or locations.

Studies on building adaptability mostly focus on the ease of change to the building fabric, although the role of users is acknowledged. This study provides insights into the complexity and variety of changes that users can make, which are influenced by lifestyles and driven by the need for comfort. These insights are represented in an adaptation model, which can serve as a basis for further research.

Social question and answer (social Q&A) sites have become a popular tool for obtaining music information. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what users ask about, what experience the questions convey, and how users specify their questions.

A total of 3,897 music questions from the social Q&A site Yahoo! Answers were categorized according to their question type, user experience, and question specification.

The music questions were diverse with (dis)approval (42 percent), factual (21 percent), and advice (15 percent) questions as the most frequent types. Advice questions were the longest and roughly twice as long as (dis)approval and factual questions. The user experience associated with the questions was most often pragmatic (24 percent) or senso-emotional (12 percent). Pragmatic questions were typically about the user’s own performance of music, while senso-emotional questions were about finding music for listening. Notably, half of the questions did not convey information about the user experience but the absence of such information did not reduce the number of answers. In specifying the questions, the most frequent information was about the music context and the user context.

This study suggests a division of labor between social Q&A sites and search engines for music information retrieval. It should be noted that the study is restricted to one social Q&A site.

Social Q&A sites provide an opportunity for studying what information real users seek about music and what information they specify to retrieve it, thereby elucidating the role of social Q&A in music information seeking.

Despite over two decades of crack use in the UK, there is little UK‐focused research and little understanding of the social context of crack use and health‐related risks. This is of concern because research in the UK suggests that service provision for crack users is inadequate. Research also suggests that there are high attrition rates of crack users in drug support services. Based on data collected in 2004/2005, this paper will examine how crack cocaine users start using crack, what happens over time, and where they end up as a consequence ‐ the crack scene. Many become mistrustful because of the manipulative and violent interactions that take place in these spaces. This is not helped when crack users reflect on past mistakes, which only results in increased crack use. As practical and health issues become too problematic, ways out, too, become more difficult. In addition, many find it difficult to place trust in welfare and drug support services because of negative past experiences, and feel ashamed about past failures in treatment. Taken together, I will also show how this is not helped by the configuration of drug support services.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the use of a user-centric service map to facilitate the visual exploration and monitoring of user context information for proactive market analysis.

The paper supports a context-based market analysis by developing a user-centric service map which comprehensively visualizes a variety of contexts, users, and services. Empirical data were gathered from service descriptions and reviews of 100 mobile application services in the Apple App Store’s lifestyle and healthcare and fitness categories.

The user-centric service map supports the analysis of the context information from using various mobile app services, and can therefore be effectively applied for market-segment analysis and user-value analysis.

The user-centric service map involves implications in terms of multi-disciplinary proactive market orientation and data-driven strategy development, allowing firms to respond to changing market conditions in the mobile business promptly and even preemptively.

The initiative uncovering of latent needs through examining context of use have been an important focus of prior work, but little attempt has been presented in the way of frameworks for converting abundant context data into strategic information. The paper provides new methods and procedures to establish and interpret service maps using flexible visual features.