A functional taxonomy of SMSblR systems

Short Short Message Service (SMS) based Information Systems (SMSbIR) provide an excellent alternative to a traditional approach of obtaining specific information by direct (through phone) or indirect (IVRS, Web, Email) probing. Number of key players in search industry including Microsoft and Google are attracted by the expected increase in volume of use of such applications. Several SMSblR systems are available and each one supports a typical class of features. In this review paper, we present functional taxonomy of SMSblR systems. We explicitly identify and describe 18 distinct functional features of SMSblR systems, which are further grouped into five categories. These five functional categories are then used to establish a taxonomy under which the analyzed systems are classified. We present a tabular classification for each functional category, with the aim of providing a starting point for researchers to construct their own SMSblR system.