The Polite Pop-Up: An Experimental Study of Pop-Up Design Characteristics and User Experience

Pop-up boxes have been widely used to catch users’ attention and highlight specific information. Yet, according to previous research, there is a high degree of perceived irritation and dissatisfaction related to pop-ups. In this study, we explore the user experience of what is referred to as “polite pop-up,” i.e., a modal pop-up, created based on click events. The intention was to eliminate negative perceptions that pop-ups usually generate. The research method involves a constructed user test of a prototype of a website where polite pop-ups were placed in the interface. Thirteen users participated, where most of the users noticed the polite pop-up and voluntarily chose to access the information within the pop-up. The contribution includes increased insight into the relation between polite pop-up and user satisfaction, as well as design implications for user-centered design.  

Polite Interaction Design: Capturing the Users Attention Without Compromising their Experienced Trust

Pop-ups have been widely used to control users’ attention, causing a high degree of irritation and dissatisfaction. We explore so-called ‘polite’ pop-ups, i.e., pop-ups implemented into the interface eliminating the intrusive and surprising factors. We hypothesize that: H1) Users pay less attention to, and interact less with, polite pop-ups than traditional pop-ups, and; H2) Users perceive a higher degree of trust in applications with polite pop-ups compared to traditional pop-ups. The research approach includes: i) comparative user tests with 88 participants; ii) observations of user tests; iii) assessment questionnaire, and; iv) data-driven analysis of interaction patterns. We analyze the data through the theoretical lens of trust and show that users pay less attention to, yet perceive a higher degree of trust. Our contributions include conceptualizing ‘polite’ design elements and the research agenda of Polite Interaction Design that aims to capture users’ attention without causing unpleasant experiences or decreased trust

Web Portal for Home Buyer’s Selections

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important factors in home building industry for a successful business. Furthermore, customer service is the most important component affecting home buyer satisfaction. Visiting a design center usually takes 5--7 hours for each customer to select all the interior options for the whole house. Time would be saved and frustration avoided if the options could be reviewed beforehand. The goal of this project is to implement a customer portal for home buyers to select options for their homes. Before the web portal can be implemented, a literature review is required about the technologies needed for the implementation. Several technologies are researched about web application framework, application programming interface, user interface design and security. This thesis presents a design and implementation for a web portal using modern technologies. React is selected from the frameworks for the implementation because of its performance and suitability for small projects. In addition, Web API is used as the application programming interface due to its evolvability, flexibility, performance and ease of use. User interface design tips and guidelines are given about website design, navigation and page design. The page navigation guidelines proved to be the most useful of the tips for this project. The security part of this project reviews common security risks, access control, token-based authentication and single sign-on. The technologies selected for the implementation proved to be appropriate for this project. Thus, they can be recommended for anyone implementing a web application.Asiakastyytyväisyys on yksi tärkeimmistä tekijöistä liiketoiminnalle kotien rakentamisessa. Asiakaspalvelu on tärkein kodinostajan tyytyväisyyteen vaikuttava asia. Asiakkaiden vierailuun suunnittelukeskussa ja taloon kuuluvien lisävarusteiden valintaan saattaa kulua aikaa viidestä seitsemään tuntia. Aikaa säästettäisiin ja turhautumiselta vältyttäisiin, jos lisävarusteita voisi tarkastella etukäteen. Tämän hankkeen tavoitteena on kehittää asiakasportaali kodinostajille talon lisävarusteiden valintaan. Ennen kuin verkkoportaali voidaan toteuttaa, siihen tarvittavista tekniikoista täytyy tehdä kirjallisuustutkimus. Useita tekniikoita tutkittiin liittyen web-sovelluskehykseen, ohjelmointirajapintoihin, käyttöliittymäsuunnitteluun ja tietoturvaan. Tämä tutkielma esittelee suunnitelman ja toteutuksen verkkoportaalille käyttäen nykyaikaisia tekniikoita. Toteutukseen valitaan sovelluskehyksistä React johtuen sen suorituskyvystä ja sopivuudesta pieniin projekteihin. Ohjelmointirajapinnoista toteutukseen valitaan Web API, koska se on helposti jatkokehitettävä, joustava, suorituskykyinen ja helppokäyttöinen. Käyttöliittymäsuunnittelusta annetaan ohjeita ja vinkkejä verkkosivuston suunnitteluun, navigointiin ja verkkosivun suunnitteluun. Verkkosivun navigointiin liittyvät ohjeet osoittautuivat hyödyllisimmiksi käsitellyistä vinkeistä. Tietoturva osio käsittelee yleisiä tietoturvauhkia, pääsyn hallintaa, tietuepohjaista todennusta ja kertakirjautumista. Toteutukseen valitut tekniikat havaittiin sopivaksi tähän projektiin, ja niitä voi suositella myös muihin verkkosovelluksiin

The impacts of new technologies on physical activities: Based on fitness app use and fitness social media postings

Focusing on fitness app use and social context of fitness postings on social media, this study examined the implications of mHealth technologies use for fitness. This study explored descriptive information about respondents’ use of fitness apps such as self-monitoring, self-regulation, social facilitators, and rewards. Furthermore, respondents’ fitness posting experience was also explored. For respondents who saw others’ fitness posts, this study examined how viewers’ social comparison on fitness postings (upward and downward) related to their physical activity (PA) self-efficacy, motivation, and participation. For those who posted about their fitness information on social media, this study investigated fitness posters’ ways of self-presentation related to receiving supportive feedback, and how supportive feedback related to fitness posters’ PA motivation and participation. This study recruited fitness app users from a crowdsourcing internet marketplace. Quantitative data analysis examined the role of social comparison, self-presentation, and supportive feedback in respondents’ PA self-efficacy, motivation, and participation. The results revealed that people mostly used the fitness apps for physical activity-related self-monitoring and self-regulation. For those who engaged in upward social comparison tended to have more self-efficacy for PA, PA motivation, and therefore participated more in PA. Both positive and negative self-presenters received more supportive feedback from others. The more supportive feedback fitness posters received, the more self-efficacy for PA they had. The more self-efficacy for PA fitness posters had, the more PA motivation they had. The results also showed that people received more esteem support and emotional support from others when they positively presented their fitness on social media. Fitness posters with negative self-presentation received more emotional support and informational support

Revenge of the Nerds: Tech Masculinity and Digital Hegemony

Revenge of the Nerds provides a cultural history of the evolution of white nerd masculinities in American culture through interpretations of a wide variety of texts and representations using the methods of literary studies and American studies. The dissertation is organized around four overlapping stages of nerd masculinity based on changes in technology and their effects on culture, as well as white male nerds’ efforts to remain culturally relevant and gain the benefits of being close to hegemonic masculinity. The four nerd types are the computer nerd, the gamer, the gatekeeper nerd, and the maladaptive nerd which reflect the following movement through chronological development: the introduction of computers into the mainstream of American culture, the early years of video gaming culture, the nerds’ cultural power and influence as early adopters of the Internet and the white male nerds’ participation in a backlash against factors like social media which made gaming and Internet cultures more mainstream and diverse. Throughout these changes, white male nerds chased a promise they felt was implied by the adoption of “revenge of the nerds” as an American pop cultural myth, but the nerd identity was constructed in such a way that it would never be perceived as fully congruent with hegemonic American masculinity. Therefore, the identity was based on an insecurity about masculinity, which nerds tried to assuage by being especially aggressive in their pursuit and enforcement of American norms of masculinity

Civil Good - A Platform For Sustainable and Inclusive Online Discussion

Civil Good is a website concept proposed by Alan Mandel with the goal of enabling safe, anonymous, productive, and civil discourse without the disruptive behavior and language common to much of the Internet. The goal of Civil Good is to improve the critical thinking and discussion skills of its users while combating the effects of political polarization and misinformation in society. This paper analyzes Mandel\u27s proposed concept, providing additional research to either support or refute the various features proposed, and recommendations to simplify user interactions. It also examines topics mentioned only briefly or not discussed by Mandel, such as data protection methods, the psychology of Web browsing, marketing, operational costs, legal issues, monetization options, and mobile presence

Civic Engagement 2.0: A Blended Pedagogy of Multiliteracies and Activism

This study looks at the practice of teaching civic engagement through digital and Web 2.0 tools and examines the impact on agency and self-efficacy of first-year writing students. The primary focus is studying student attitudes toward use of these tools, civic engagement in general, and the perceived value of engaging civically through use of these tools with the hopes of better understanding the value of this work and the impact it will have on future civic, community, and political engagement. Based on the findings of a triad of studies published in 2012 – a CIRCLE study (“That’s Not Democracy”), Giovanna Mascheroni’s study of Italian youth and political uses of the web, and a study conducted by DoSomething.org – the researcher designed a first-year composition course that asked students to choose a cause or issue for the duration of the semester and take on roles of informer, reformer, advocate, and activist on three fronts: Twitter (microblogging), Wordpress (blogging), and YouTube (digital advocacy videos). A feminist methodology was used for this study, understanding that the participatory nature of the research was an essential part of the ethos of the researcher. Qualitative data was collected through analysis of student work, reflection essays, and semi-structured focus group conversations. Through the focus group discussions, the student participants and the researcher worked collaboratively to create knowledge. The findings of this study echoed those of the three studies mentioned above. In addition to showing that instruction and experience with digital civic engagement are linked to an increased likelihood to engage in the future, the study showed that there are numerous benefits to teaching new media, civic, and academic literacies through an activist lens in writing studies. Students acquire a host of academic and professional skills that will help them succeed in the classroom and their future careers. Beyond acquisition of research and 21st century writing skills, teaching digital activism empowers students, increases agency, and helps them grasp the value of disrupting existing, outdated, or oppressive power dynamics in effective ways. Finally, it helps develop lifelong learners who are self-motivated

Making Sense of Successful Global Teams

Global teams tend to underperform. Teamwork often frustrates members compromising the results as well as employee motivation. In practice, bad results are often camouflaged, and both management and team members lack insight into what is really driving teams and why they do not reach their goals. The underlying metaphor our economic model is built on is the “machine” where people instead of active agents with true influence are implicitly seen as resources, executors of processes and walking curriculum vitaes to be aligned in precise ways to achieve often arbitrary goals and to meet unrealistic expectations. This study takes a critical stand towards this mainstream view and applies reflexive methodology, the lens of sensemaking as well as the metaphor and the narrative as rhetorical devices to study how and why global teams form and evolve the way they do over time. The insights of this study are based on an experimental methodology studying many teams from a close range, and reveal how different structurally identical well-performing global teams executing the same tasks can be. Teams when studied from within, are dynamic phenomena rather than static sums of their parts. Alternative team metaphors, such as the “chain gang”, “dysfunctional family”, “sandbox”, “scouts” and “master cooks”, for instance, emerge. The very different team dynamics are in part explained by how successful team members are at social sensemaking – establishing shared understandings around such basic concepts as “leadership”, “good communication” and “team goals”. Individual team members and their capability and willingness to engage in self-reflection and their decisions to act or not to act on what may first appear mundane events, can have huge influence over what their teams become. Sustainably successful teams work both on the task and the team itself and consider the team as a constant work-in-progress and not a fixed entity. This study proposes innovative ways of looking at and studying global teams. People, team members, can be considered active agents, capable human beings on whose sensemaking paths depend on what these teams become and how they evolve over time

Design and Instantiation of an Interactive Multidimensional Ontology for Game Design Elements – a Design and Behavioral Approach

While games and play are commonly perceived as leisure tools, focus on the strategic implementation of isolated gameful elements outside of games has risen in recent years under the term gamification. Given their ease of implementation and impact in competitive games, a small set of game design elements, namely points, badges, and leaderboards, initially dominated research and practice. However, these elements reflect only a small group of components that game designers use to achieve positive outcomes in their systems. Current research has shifted towards focusing on the game design process instead of the isolated implementation of single elements under the term gameful design. But the problem of a tendency toward a monocultural selection of prominent design elements persists in-game and gameful design, preventing the method from reaching its full potential. This dissertation addresses this problem by designing and developing a digital, interactive game design element ontology that scholars and practitioners can use to make more informed and inspired decisions in creating gameful solutions to their problems. The first part of this work is concerned with the collation and development of the digital ontology. First, two datasets were collated from game design and gamification literature (game design elements and playing motivations). Next, four explorative studies were conducted to add user-relevant metadata and connect their items into an ontological structure. The first two studies use card sorting to assess game theory frameworks regarding their suitability as foundational categories for the game design element dataset and to gain an overview of different viewpoints from which categorizations can be derived. The second set of studies builds on an explorative method of matching dataset entries via their descriptive keywords to arrive at a connected graph. The first of these studies connects items of the playing motivations dataset with themselves, while the second connects them with an additional dataset of human needs. The first part closes with the documentation of the design and development of the tool Kubun, reporting on the outcome of its evaluation via iterative expert interviews and a field study. The results suggest that the tool serves its preset goals of affording intuitive browsing for dedicated searches and serendipitous findings. While the first part of this work reports on the top-down development process of the ontology and related navigation tool, the second part presents an in-depth research of specific learning-oriented game design elements to complement the overall research goal through a complementary bottom-up approach. Therein, two studies on learning-oriented game design elements are reported regarding their effect on performance, long-term learning outcome, and knowledge transfer. The studies are conducted with a game dedicated to teaching correct waste sorting. The first study focuses on a reward-based game design element in terms of its motivatory effect on perfect play. The second study evaluates two learning-enhancing game design elements, repeat, and look-up, in terms of their contribution to a long-term learning outcome. The comprehensive insights gained through the in-depth research manifest in the design of a module dedicated to reporting research outcomes in the ontology. The dissertation concludes with a discussion on the studies’ varying limitations and an outlook on pathways for future research