Ambient persuasion needs goal-striving: the effect of goal activation on the persuasive power of subliminal feedback

No abstract

Competitive carbon counting: can social networking sites Make saving energy more enjoyable?

This paper reports on the design, deployment and initial evaluation of “Wattsup”, an innovative Facebook application which displays live data from a commercial off-the-shelf energy monitor. The Wattsup application was deployed and trialled in eight homes over an eighteen day period in two conditions - personal energy data viewable and friend’s energy data viewable. A significant reduction in energy was observed in the socially enabled condition. The paper argues that socially-mediated discussion and competition made for a more enjoyable user experience

Wattsup? Motivating reductions in domestic energy consumption using social networks

This paper reports on the design, deployment and evaluation of “Wattsup”, an innovative application which displays live autonomously logged data from the Wattson energy monitor, allowing users to compare domestic energy consumption on Facebook. Discussions and sketches from a workshop with Facebook users were used to develop a final design implemented using the Facebook API. Wattson energy monitors and the Wattsup app were deployed and trialled in eight homes over an eighteen day period in two conditions. In the first condition participants could only access their personal energy data, whilst in the second they could access each others’ data to make comparisons. A significant reduction in energy was observed in the socially enabled condition. Comments on discussion boards and semi-structured interviews with the participants indicated that the element of competition helped motivate energy savings. The paper argues that socially-mediated banter and competition made for a more enjoyable user experience

Encouraging Sustainable Energy Use in the Office with Persuasive Mobile Information Systems

Faced with growing pressures to be more environmentally sustainable, many companies are increasingly exploring innovative ways to incorporate “green” practices into their business processes. We focus on employees and their potential contributions to organization-wide sustainability goals through their pro-environmental behaviours. This article reports on current progress with a multi-year study targeting the use of mobile media to encourage pro-environmental behaviours. To do so, we provide employees with feedback on their computer-based energy usage. We discuss our combined design science and experimental approach to developing and studying a mobile application with embedded persuasive characteristics. Our future interventions will use this persuasive media platform to examine the impact of social-psychological theories on encouraging more sustainable energy use by employees

Human-Computer Interaction against climate change: review of a controversy

Un des moyens par lesquels les Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication peuvent contribuer à faire face au défi du changement climatique est par l’Interaction Homme-Machine. Des travaux de recherche ont déjà été conduits en ce sens depuis deux décennies. La voie empruntée, d’un changement progressif par réduction de la consommation individuelle, est cependant remise en cause sur certains points, ce qui doit amener la communauté à réorienter les prochains travaux de recherche. Cet article assemble les principales critiques issues de la controverse qui animent la communauté et envisage une voie ouverte pour remédier à cette remise en question : un changement radical par de nouvelles pratiques sociales.Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a means for Information and Communication Technologies to help facing the climate-change challenge. Researchers have conducted work on this way for two decades. They followed the track of progressive change through persuasion for individual consumption reduction. This track is however seriously discussed, what leads the community to retarget coming research. This paper reviews the main criticisms of the controversy that takes place in the community, and considers a possible track to overcome the problems: a radical change through new social practices

Can ambient persuasive technology persuade unconsciously? : using subliminal feedback to influence energy consumption ratings of household appliances

In this paper we explore a fundamental characteristic of Ambient Persuasive Technology: Can it persuade the user without receiving the user's conscious attention? In a task consisting of 90 trials, participants had to indicate which of three household appliances uses the lowest average amount of energy. After each choice, participants in the supraliminal feedback condition received feedback about the correctness of their choice through presentation of a smiling or a sad face for 150 ms. Participants in the subliminal feedback condition received identical feedback, but the faces were presented only for 25 ms, which prohibited conscious perception of these stimuli. The final third of the participants received no feedback. In the next task, participants rated the energy consumption of all presented appliances. Results indicated that supraliminal feedback and subliminal feedback both led to more correct energy consumption ratings as compared to receiving no feedback. Implications are discussed

Can ambient persuasive technology persuade unconsciously? : using subliminal feedback to influence energy consumption ratings of household appliances

In this paper we explore a fundamental characteristic of Ambient Persuasive Technology: Can it persuade the user without receiving the user's conscious attention? In a task consisting of 90 trials, participants had to indicate which of three household appliances uses the lowest average amount of energy. After each choice, participants in the supraliminal feedback condition received feedback about the correctness of their choice through presentation of a smiling or a sad face for 150 ms. Participants in the subliminal feedback condition received identical feedback, but the faces were presented only for 25 ms, which prohibited conscious perception of these stimuli. The final third of the participants received no feedback. In the next task, participants rated the energy consumption of all presented appliances. Results indicated that supraliminal feedback and subliminal feedback both led to more correct energy consumption ratings as compared to receiving no feedback. Implications are discussed

Design feedback interventions for household energy consumption reduction

Design for Sustainable Behaviour [DfSB] is an emerging research area concerned with the application of design strategies to influence consumer behaviour during the use phase of a product towards more sustainable action. Current DfSB research has primarily focussed on strategy definition and selection within a design process, with surprisingly little research into understanding the actual impact of the behaviour changing interventions yielded through such investigation. Furthermore, the suitability of evaluation methods and the transferability of evaluation results have seldom been discussed. This paper reports on the findings of a three-year research project within the UK social housing sector, research that aimed to reduce energy consumption within the home through behaviour changing intervention, whilst maintaining occupants comfort levels. A behaviour changing prototype was developed through a user-centred design process, resulting in a physical manifestation of one specific DfSB strategy – feedback; a user agentive performance indicator. In order to evaluate this feedback prototype, an evaluation framework was developed, targeted at the three fundamental questions that arise when faced with the evaluation of a DfSB strategy led intervention: (1) Does the produced design solution function for the specified context? (2) Has the user’s behaviour changed as a consequence of the design intervention? (3) Is the change in user’s behaviour sustainable? Applying these core questions in practice resulted in an evaluation of unparalleled depth. The function and usability of the design were evaluated with users and against extensive feedback design criteria. In addition, behavioural changes in the intentions and habitual processes of the user and their facilitating conditions as well as sustainability changes in energy consumption and comfort were evaluated against pre-intervention state benchmarks. Fitting within the remit of sustainability, the associated ethical dimensions and impact of this DfSB research were also evaluated. Using data collection methods that included focus groups and user trials, the results of this research project illustrate the success of using this tripartite questioning strategy towards the evaluation of a DfSB strategy led intervention, building a vital knowledge platform for the formalisation of transferable DfSB research and evaluation methods

Evaluating feedback interventions: a design for sustainable behaviour case study

Design for Sustainable Behaviour is an emerging research area concerned with the application of design interventions to influence consumer behaviour during the use phase towards more sustainable action. However, current research is focussed on strategy definition and selection with little research into understanding the actual impact of the interventions debated. Here, the author’s present three themes as different entry points to the evaluation of a feedback intervention designed to change behaviour towards a sustainable goal: an evaluation of the behaviour changed by the intervention; an evaluation of the interventions functionality; and an evaluation of the interventions sustainable consequences. This paper explores these themes through a case study of a physical feedback intervention prototype designed with the intention of reducing domestic energy consumption through behaviour change whilst maintaining occupant comfort. In this paper, the authors suggest that questions for evaluating functionality and usability are dependent upon the intervention strategy employed; questions for the evaluation of behavioural antecedents and ethics are applicable to all intervention strategies; finally, questions for the evaluation of sustainable metrics are dependent upon the interventions context. More universal lines of questioning are then presented based on the findings of this study, suitable for cross-study comparison