Applying persuasive design in a diabetes mellitus application

This paper describes persuasive design methods and compares this to an application currently under development for diabetes mellitus patients. Various elements of persuasion and a categorization of persuasion types are mentioned. Also discussed are principles of how successful persuasion should be designed, as well as the practical applications and ethics of persuasive design. This paper is not striving for completeness of theories on the topic, but uses the theories to compare it to an application intended for diabetes mellitus patients. The results of this comparison can be used for improvements of the application

Elckerlyc goes mobile - Enabling natural interaction in mobile user interfaces

The fast growth of computational resources and speech technology available on mobile devices makes it possible to entertain users of these devices in having a natural dialogue with service systems. These systems are sometimes perceived as social agents and this can be supported by presenting them on the interface by means of an animated embodied conversational agent. To take the full advantage of the power of embodied conversational agents in service systems it is important to support real-time, online and responsive interaction with the system through the embodied conversational agent. The design of responsive animated conversational agents is a daunting task. Elckerlyc is a model-based platform for the specification and animation of synchronised multi-modal responsive animated agents. This paper presents a new light-weight PictureEngine that allows to run this platform in mobile applications. We describe the integration of the PictureEngine in the user interface of two different coaching applications and discuss the findings from user evaluations. We also conducted a study to evaluate an editing tool for the specification of the agent’s communicative behaviour. Twenty one participants had to specify the behaviour of an embodied conversational agent using the PictureEngine. We may conclude that this new lightweight back-end engine for the Elckerlyc platform makes it easier to build embodied conversational interfaces for mobile devices

Feedback presentation for mobile personalised digital physical activity coaching platforms

User interface design and feedback are important in personalised behavior change support systems. This paper discusses two service platforms that monitor user’s physical activity through wearable sensors and that present the user personalised feedback. Important principles for effectiveness of such systems are personalisation or tailoring, context- awareness, feedback and interaction. We focus here on the presentation of feedback to the user. We present results of a number of short and long term user studies in which we compare different forms of feedback presentation: text, graphics and with or without an anthropomorphic graphical talking character. Results show that although some users like the talking character they don’t have a positive effect on adherence to the activity program. The outcomes of the user evaluations support our beliefs that personal motivation is of primary importance for the effectiveness of these systems. Technical challenges ahead are to support more personal and context-aware feedback, more variations as well as the possibility for more interaction with the coaching system

Let us Get Real! Integrated Approach for Virtual Coaching and Real Time Activity Monitoring in Lifestyle Change Support Systems

There is a fast growing number of eHealth systems aiming at supporting a healthy lifestyle. Tailored lifestyle coaching services offer individual users access to web portals where they can communicate about a growing number of ingredients of everyday life concern: physical activity, nutrition, medication, mood, sleep. Mobile technology in combination with body worn sensors support user’s awareness of their physical condition and lifestyle. Despite the large number of available lifestyle interventions and pilot trials, only very few are successfully transferred into the real health care practice. This paper presents new insights and recommendations for the design of lifestyle \ud support systems with personalized virtual coaching based on two user studies. The first study focuses on the mobile physical activity coaching for diabetes patients and office workers. The second study summarizes the persuasive factors on attitudes of \ud high-risk adolescents towards a virtual coach in mobile eHealth applications and social media. We present a new approach that integrates an animated digital coach in an activity monitoring lifestyle change support system

Proceedings of the 2012 Workshop on Ambient Intelligence Infrastructures (WAmIi)

This is a technical report including the papers presented at the Workshop on Ambient Intelligence Infrastructures (WAmIi) that took place in conjunction with the International Joint Conference on Ambient Intelligence (AmI) in Pisa, Italy on November 13, 2012. The motivation for organizing the workshop was the wish to learn from past experience on Ambient Intelligence systems, and in particular, on the lessons learned on the system architecture of such systems. A significant number of European projects and other research have been performed, often with the goal of developing AmI technology to showcase AmI scenarios. We believe that for AmI to become further successfully accepted the system architecture is essential

Proceedings of the 2012 Workshop on Ambient Intelligence Infrastructures (WAmIi)

This is a technical report including the papers presented at the Workshop on Ambient Intelligence Infrastructures (WAmIi) that took place in conjunction with the International Joint Conference on Ambient Intelligence (AmI) in Pisa, Italy on November 13, 2012. The motivation for organizing the workshop was the wish to learn from past experience on Ambient Intelligence systems, and in particular, on the lessons learned on the system architecture of such systems. A significant number of European projects and other research have been performed, often with the goal of developing AmI technology to showcase AmI scenarios. We believe that for AmI to become further successfully accepted the system architecture is essential

Elckerlyc goes mobile - Enabling natural interaction in mobile user interfaces

The fast growth of computational resources and speech technology available on mobile devices makes it possible to entertain users of these devices in having a natural dialogue with service systems. These systems are sometimes perceived as social agents and this can be supported by presenting them on the interface by means of an animated embodied conversational agent. To take the full advantage of the power of embodied conversational agents in service systems it is important to support real-time, online and responsive interaction with the system through the embodied conversational agent. The design of responsive animated conversational agents is a daunting task. Elckerlyc is a model-based platform for the speci﬿cation and animation of synchronised multi-modal responsive animated agents. This paper presents a new light-weight PictureEngine that allows to run this platform in mobile applications. We describe the integration of the PictureEngine in the user interface of two different coaching applications and discuss the ﬿ndings from user evaluations. We also conducted a study to evaluate an editing tool for the speci﬿cation of the agent’s communicative behaviour. Twenty one participants had to specify the behaviour of an embodied conversational agent using the PictureEngine. We may conclude that this new lightweight back-end engine for the Elckerlyc platform makes it easier to build embodied conversational interfaces for mobile devices

User preferences for multi-device context-aware feedback in a digital coaching system

We present the development of the user interfaces of a multi-device digital coaching service that provides tailored feedback to users concerning their physical activity level and medication intake. We present the outcomes of a survey study of user preferences regarding the situation, device and timing of feedback they receive from their personal attentive digital coach. There are clear preferences among the subjects for different types of messages on different devices. Results were implemented in a first prototype. We present the results of a user evaluations with a real version of the digital health coach and we compare them with the results of the survey study