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Due to the impact of the pandemic that enforced mass closures and lock downs, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums [GLAM] institutions around the world were required to re-think how they interacted with the public. As a result of the measures that enforced isolation, distancing, and increased hygiene requirements, the usefulness of virtual technologies as a storytelling medium has come into sharper focus. This chapter will explore the emergence of augmented reality as a viable post-COVID-19 solution to meaningful digital narrative creation and user interaction in the museum environment. This chapter will concentrate on the development of a project between the University of South Australia [UniSA] and the South Australian Museum [SAM] to explore how it might be possible to create sustainable immersive stories within this environment.

Despite the existing gaps in the use of technology in East Africa, the region is among the fastest-growing mobile data users on the continent. This progress is partially attributed to local initiatives to develop and adapt homegrown technologies to local contexts to increase their accessibility and use even in the remotest areas. In this chapter we identify a few of these innovations in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda and examine how they have been indigenised to fit local contexts as well as the processes of their diffusion, adoption, affordability and accessibility among users and their everyday gratifications from the innovations. The socio-technological assemblage theory, which illuminates the influences of, and the connections between various types of actors and their roles, visions, ideas, concepts and the technological products, informs our inquiry. Other related concepts including ‘innovation’, ‘indigenisation’ and ‘diffusion’ are discussed to understand the homegrown technology innovations and their adaptability. Discussions with both innovators and users/beneficiaries reveal rigorous proactiveness and responsiveness of innovation creators and users in the three countries – reflected in numerous attestations of life transformation. Nevertheless, there is a paradigm shift in the diffusion of innovations amongst users – contrary to the discourse around its early precepts.

The application of user involvement in the design and implementation of research has progressed through various frameworks and is an increasingly recognized and expected as a key element of ethical research methodologies. The practice of engaging users (the public, patients, service recipients, etc.) beyond the traditional scope of subject, and elevating their role as partner or co-designer of the research process, is theoretically rooted in civil rights and social justice ideologies. The success of these types of models are influenced by various factors including the people involved, their capacities and values; the physical and funding environment in which the research occurs and the approaches used to engage. In theory, user involved research is most successful when the people, approaches and environment are genuinely interested and centralized around inclusive methods that posit that populations researched have the right to contribute to research done and researchers have the ethical responsibility to engage them using measurable strategies. User involved research frameworks have the potential to create a space that both values and uplifts historically marginalized voices, while touting the demonstrated advantage of improved effectiveness in research outcomes and implications. Yet there exists a dissonance between theory and practice in the field, due to a lack of consistent understanding, practices and standards tied to the approach.

In recent times, mobile banking has become the best alternative for transactions associated with payments like bills, fees, and peer-to-peer payments. Therefore, the pace of adoption is increasing day after other. However, the numbers of customers are not equal to the expectations as there are several challenges and threats hindering in the way of excellence and growth of mobile banking. Therefore, this chapter has been written purposively to address all the elements that are associated with the use of mobile banking with special emphasis on Pakistan and other developing sides of Asia. In fact, concern towards Asian sides is mandatory as the continent has the massive charm to attract users towards the use of mobile banking, but there is a need for proper policy and concern from stakeholders in order to give a push to the technology, which is fruitful for society, environment, as well as economy. The study includes an in-depth discussion on factors that need attention to make the study implicative and thorough for conducting further research in the field of Fin-Tech and mobile banking.

This study attempts to identify and explicate the unique segmentation of the increasingly growing virtual reality (VR) user market based on the user experience. Consequently, it collects five hundred forty-five online survey questionnaires through the Prolific platform and deploys cluster analysis to identify mutually exclusive groups of VR users. The research variable, user experience, contains 16 indicators explained by four dimensions. As a result, this study is able to unveil three mutually exclusive markets which are labeled as (1) beginner, (2) aficionado, and (3) utilitarian. The unique features of these three groups are further compared based on their VR tour behaviors. In the conclusion section, it offers managerial implications for devising novel marketing strategies.