Mobile Lexicography: Let’s Do it Right This Time!

Mobile phones are ubiquitous and have completely transformed the way we live, work, learn and conduct our everyday activities. Mobile phones have also changed the way users access lexicographic data. In fact, it can be argued that mobile phones and lexicography are not yet compatible. Modern users are already mobile – but lexicography is not yet fully ready for the mobile challenge, mobile users and mobile user situations. The article is based on empirical data from two surveys comprising 10 medical doctors, who were asked to look up five medical substances with the medical dictionary app Medicin.dk and five students, who were asked to look up five terms with the dictionary app Gyldendal Engelsk-Dansk. The empirical data comprise approximately 15 hours of recordings of user behavior, think-aloud data and interview data. The data indicate that there is still much to be done in this area and that lexicographic innovation is needed. A new type of users, new user situations and new access methods call for new lexicographic solutions, and this article proposes a six-pointed hexagram model, which can be used during dictionary app design to lexicographically calibrate the six dimensions in mobile lexicography.