Gamification: software usage ecology

Gamification is applied in academia and industry and is being studied in the last years. Gamification is nowadays applied to several areas, such as learning, computer science, business, marketing, tourism, among others. Research performed till now suggests that its usage may improve students' and workers' motivation and increase study, productivity and sales. Nevertheless, there are many forms of implementing, according to each industry. Supported in the literature, we identified the game components, game mechanics, and game dynamics, used as part of any gamification implementation. Then, we selected some specific cases in e-learning, computer program learning, open source software development, and crowdsourcing. Finally, we list some of the main software employed in this fields, identifying also implemented features. This allowed us to find the great complexity and variety of implementations. It also enabled us to find ether practitioners or researcher use the word gamification for a broad range of approaches.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

BinCam:designing for engagement with Facebook for behavior change

Abstract. In this paper we continue work to investigate how we can engage young adults in behaviors of recycling and the prevention of food waste through social media and persuasive and ubiquitous computing systems. Our previous work with BinCam, a two-part design combining a system for the collection of waste-related behaviors with a Facebook application, suggested that although this ubiquitous system could raise awareness of recycling behavior, engagement with social media remained low. In this paper we reconsider our design in terms of engagement, examining both the theoretical and practical ways in which engagement can be designed for. This paper presents findings from a new user study exploring the redesign of the social media interface following this analysis. By incorporating elements of gamification, social support and improved data visualization, we contribute insights on the relative potential of these techniques to engage individuals across the lifespan of a system’s deployment

Design elements of conflict : A design study of a gamified smartphone application for employee onboarding

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Gamification Elements for Learning Applications

Gamification technique is getting popular to be implemented in learning or training application. It is referred to the use of game elements or game thinking in a non-game context in order to increase engagement between students and learning application. Since there are many elements of games that are identified from previous works, this study focuses on game elements from Gamification technique that positively affect learning when applied to a learning application. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to identify game elements that can be gamified in a learning application; and to verify those elements by multiple users (gamers, students, and experts). Suitable game elements are identified through literature reviews. Two approaches are used to verify these elements; interview experts and administer a survey to gamers and students. The finding of this study suggests the use of a group of game elements with three aims, (1) increase the level of fun and entertainment; (2) motivate students to challenge each other; and (3) improve gaming and learning skills. In a further study, these elements will be implemented in a learning application and its effectiveness shall be tested

What are the prospects for citizen science in agriculture? Evidence from three continents on motivation and mobile telephone use of resource-poor farmers

As the sustainability of agricultural citizen science projects depends on volunteer farmers who contribute their time, energy and skills, understanding their motivation is important to attract and retain participants in citizen science projects. The objectives of this study were to assess 1) farmers’ motivations to participate as citizen scientists and 2) farmers’ mobile telephone usage. Building on motivational factors identified from previous citizen science studies, a questionnaire based methodology was developed which allowed the analysis of motivational factors and their relation to farmers’ characteristics. The questionnaire was applied in three communities of farmers, in countries from different continents, participating as citizen scientists. We used statistical tests to compare motivational factors within and among the three countries. In addition, the relations between motivational factors and farmers characteristics were assessed. Lastly, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to group farmers based on their motivations. Although there was an overlap between the types of motivations, for Indian farmers a collectivistic type of motivation (i.e., contribute to scientific research) was more important than egoistic and altruistic motivations. For Ethiopian and Honduran farmers an egoistic intrinsic type of motivation (i.e., interest in sharing information) was most important. While fun has appeared to be an important egoistic intrinsic factor to participate in other citizen science projects, the smallholder farmers involved in this research valued ‘passing free time’ the lowest. Two major groups of farmers were distinguished: one motivated by sharing information (egoistic intrinsic), helping (altruism) and contribute to scientific research (collectivistic) and one motivated by egoistic extrinsic factors (expectation, expert interaction and community interaction). Country and education level were the two most important farmers’ characteristics that explain around 20% of the variation in farmers motivations. For educated farmers, contributing to scientific research was a more important motivation to participate as citizen scientists compared to less educated farmers. We conclude that motivations to participate in citizen science are different for smallholders in agriculture compared to other sectors. Citizen science does have high potential, but easy to use mechanisms are needed. Moreover, gamification may increase the egoistic intrinsic motivation of farmers

Designing Technology to Overcome the Lack of Transmission of HPV Facts: Step One-”A Theory of the Problem

The lack of health knowledge among people may cause serious health problems. Cervical cancer, which kills hundreds of thousands of women around the world each year, is almost always caused by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Much is known about HPV that women could use to avoid infections, but widespread lack of transmission of HPV facts to women prevents them from taking the steps necessary to avoid infection. This paper theorizes about the problem of lack of transmission of HPV facts. Hence, HPV Facts Transmission Model, Including Barriers and Resources Factors has been identified. A theory of the problem [1] may assist in developing a theory of the solution, in which to-be-developed IT artifacts could play an important role