Mobile Peer-to-Peer Technology used to Promote Spontaneous Collaboration

Mobile devices have in the recent years been able to form peer-to-peer networks making it possible for people to share information and interact. This technology makes it possible to create new tools that initiate and improve human collaboration. The paper presents experiences from creating a prototype for spontaneous collaboration, supported through the appliance of peer-to-peer applications on wireless mobile devices with the ability to form ad-hoc wireless networks. The paper gives an example of an application that promotes human collaboration by using peer-to-peer technology, and describes the technological challenges faced when implementing such applications. The paper re- flects on some user tests that were carried out using this prototype.