Customer Value Research and ServQual Surveys as Methods for Information Need Analysis: The Ubiquitous City Songdo as a Case Study

Introduction. This article introduces two methods of information need analysis
to study the acceptance of so-called “ubiquitous services” (u-services) in a
ubiquitous and “smart” city. Case study is New Songdo City in South Korea.
Our research is motivated by questions like: (1) Do such cities really react to
the information needs of people? and (2) How can one ascertain the success
of a u-city in regard to the information needs?
Methods. To capture both questions we applied a ServQual-like survey as
well as Customer Value Research as methods of information need analysis
and interviewed residents in Songdo in early 2013.
Results. In regard to methodology, both methods proved to be very useful.
The information needs of our residents are more or less satisfied with the
offered u-services; the grade of irritation between developers and customers
is rather low.
Discussion. Our research in Songdo provides first results in regard to the informationneed of the customers and the usefulness of the u-services in
Songdo. For the future work it is important to continue and expand the research.