Affording Affordances

A striking feature of the latest version of Dennett’s ‘big picture’ of the evolution of life and mind is frequent reference to ‘affordances’. An affordance is, roughly, a possibility for action for a creature in an environment. Given more than one possibility for action, a good question is: what will the creature actually do? I argue that affordances pose a problem of selection, and that a good general solution to this problem of mind-design is to implement a system of preferences

User Satisfaction with Wearables

This study investigates user satisfaction with wearable technologies. It proposes that the integration of expectation confirmation theory with affordance theory sheds light on the sources of user’s (dis)confirmation when evaluating technology performance experiences and explains the origins of satisfaction ratings. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of online user reviews of a popular fitness wristband supports the research model. Since the band lacks buttons and numeric displays, users need to interact with the companion software to obtain the information they need. Findings indicate that satisfaction depends on the interaction’s quality, the value of digitalizing physical activity, and the extent to which the informational feedback meets users’ needs. Moreover, the results suggest that digitalizing physical activity has different effects for different users. While some appreciate data availability in general regardless of their accuracy, those who look for precision do not find such quantification useful. Thus, their evaluative judgments depend on the wearable system’s actual performance and the influence that the feedback has on their pursuit of their fitness goals. These results provide theoretical and practical contributions to advance our understanding of wearable technologies

DON’T HURT ME… NO MORE? AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON THE POSITIVE AND ADVERSE MOTIVATIONAL EFFECTS IN FITNESS APPS

Lacking regular physical activity is a prevailing issue of our society causing high costs in health care, productivity losses, and million deaths. To counteract this problem, fitness apps are increasingly considered as a means to motivate individuals towards more physical activity. However, many people discontinue their fitness app use. User stories point to a ‘darker side’ of fitness apps indicating adverse effects on users’ competence feelings leading to fitness app discontinuance. To better understand the positive and detrimental motivational effects, this paper draws on self-determination theory and motivational affordances explicating how self-monitoring, rewards, and social recognition affordances of fitness apps affect competence needs and fitness app continuance decisions in consequence. Empirical validation with 283 fitness app user reveals the positive and negative motivational effects. Thereby, this study contributes to research with a motivation-based explanation of fitness app continuance, explicates the ‘darker side’ of fitness apps, and explains the need-relevant characteristics of motivational affordances. The results guide the application and tailoring of motivational affordances in fitness apps

Explore the relations between personality and gamification

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Successful gamification motivates users to engage in systems using game-like experiences. However, a one-size-fits-all approach to gamification is often unsuccessful; prior studies suggest that personality serves as a key differentiator in the effectiveness of the approach. To advance the understanding of personality differences and their influence on users’ behavior and motivation in gamification, this dissertation is comprised of three studies that: 1) explore the relationships among individuals’ personality traits and preferences for different gamification features through an online survey; 2) investigate how people with different personality traits respond to the motivational affordances in a gamified application over a period of time through a diary study; and 3) reveal how individuals respond differentially to different kinds of leaderboard experiences based on their leaderboard rankings, the application domain, and the individuals’ personality traits through their responses to 9 dynamic leaderboards. The results from the first study show that extraversion and emotional stability are the two primary personality traits that differentiate users’ preferences for gamification. Among the 10 types of motivational affordances, extraverts are more likely to be motivated by Points, Levels, and Leaderboards. However, the results from the second (diary) study indicate that, after the first week, extraverts’ preferences for Points decreased. The motivation effects of Points and Leaderboards changed over the course of using the gamified application. The results from the third study confirm the findings from the first two studies about extraversion and revealed that ranking and domain differences are also effective factors in users’ experiences of Leaderboards in gamification. Design guidelines for gamification are presented based on the results of each of the three studies. Based on a synthesis of the results from these three studies, this dissertation proposes a conceptual model for gamification design. The model describes not only the impact of personality traits, domain differences, and users’ experience over time, but also illustrates the importance of considering individual differences, application context, and the potential significance of user persistence in gamification design. This research contributes to the HCI and gamification communities by uncovering factors that will affect the way that people respond to gamification systems, considered holistically

Life is an Adventure! An agent-based reconciliation of narrative and scientific worldviews\ud

The scientific worldview is based on laws, which are supposed to be certain, objective, and independent of time and context. The narrative worldview found in literature, myth and religion, is based on stories, which relate the events experienced by a subject in a particular context with an uncertain outcome. This paper argues that the concept of “agent”, supported by the theories of evolution, cybernetics and complex adaptive systems, allows us to reconcile scientific and narrative perspectives. An agent follows a course of action through its environment with the aim of maximizing its fitness. Navigation along that course combines the strategies of regulation, exploitation and exploration, but needs to cope with often-unforeseen diversions. These can be positive (affordances, opportunities), negative (disturbances, dangers) or neutral (surprises). The resulting sequence of encounters and actions can be conceptualized as an adventure. Thus, the agent appears to play the role of the hero in a tale of challenge and mystery that is very similar to the "monomyth", the basic storyline that underlies all myths and fairy tales according to Campbell [1949]. This narrative dynamics is driven forward in particular by the alternation between prospect (the ability to foresee diversions) and mystery (the possibility of achieving an as yet absent prospect), two aspects of the environment that are particularly attractive to agents. This dynamics generalizes the scientific notion of a deterministic trajectory by introducing a variable “horizon of knowability”: the agent is never fully certain of its further course, but can anticipate depending on its degree of prospect

Screen Time and Productivity: An Extension of Goal-setting Theory to Explain Optimum Smartphone Use

Over the past several years, much research has examined the negative consequences that can arise from smartphone use. To help reduce these consequences, companies have developed smartphone applications and features to enable self-monitoring behaviors. However, the mechanisms that have caused smartphone-enabled self-monitoring behaviors to emerge and the positive outcomes that might result from such behaviors have received limited scholarly attention. In this study, we ameliorate this gap by proposing a framework that highlights key antecedents and outcomes of screen- time self-monitoring success based on a smartphone-based self-monitoring intervention. Informed by a short-term longitudinal study, our results show how smartphone-based self-monitoring can enhance awareness of smartphone use and, consequently, lead to positive outcomes for users. Our findings reveal that how users perceive smartphone self- monitoring affordances, their outcome expectations, and their smartphone self-monitoring efficacy positively relate to the extent they engage in smartphone-based self-monitoring behavior. In turn, self-monitoring enhances user productivity and leads to an overall sense of contentment with achievement. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that self-monitoring fatigue negatively moderates these relationships. This study offers novel theoretical and practical insights to encourage users to use smartphones in a more regulated manner. More generally, this study contributes to the literature on self-monitoring and self-regulation in digitally enabled environments

Wearable Computing for Health and Fitness: Exploring the Relationship between Data and Human Behaviour

Health and fitness wearable technology has recently advanced, making it easier for an individual to monitor their behaviours. Previously self generated data interacts with the user to motivate positive behaviour change, but issues arise when relating this to long term mention of wearable devices. Previous studies within this area are discussed. We also consider a new approach where data is used to support instead of motivate, through monitoring and logging to encourage reflection. Based on issues highlighted, we then make recommendations on the direction in which future work could be most beneficial

Open World Learning

This book provides state-of-the-art contemporary research insights into key applications and processes in open world learning. Open world learning seeks to understand access to education, structures, and the presence of dialogue and support systems. It explores how the application of open world and educational technologies can be used to create opportunities for open and high-quality education. Presenting ground-breaking research from an award winning Leverhulme doctoral training programme, the book provides several integrated and cohesive perspectives of the affordances and limitations of open world learning. The chapters feature a wide range of open world learning topics, ranging from theoretical and methodological discussions to empirical demonstrations of how open world learning can be effectively implemented, evaluated, and used to inform theory and practice. The book brings together a range of innovative uses of technology and practice in open world learning from 387,134 learners and educators learning and working in 136 unique learning contexts across the globe and considers the enablers and disablers of openness in learning, ethical and privacy implications, and how open world learning can be used to foster inclusive approaches to learning across educational sectors, disciplines and countries. The book is unique in exploring the complex, contradictory and multi-disciplinary nature of open world learning at an international level and will be of great interest to academics, researchers, professionals, and policy makers in the field of education technology, e-learning and digital education

Behind the scenes of emerging technologies Opportunities, challenges, and solution approaches along a socio-technical continuum

Digitalization is a socio-technical phenomenon that shapes our lives as individuals, economies, and societies. The perceived complexity of technologies continues to increase, and technology convergence makes a clear separation between technologies impossible. A good example of this is the Internet of Things (IoT) with its embedded Artificial Intelligence (AI). Furthermore, a separation of the social and the technical component has become near enough impossible, for which there is increasing awareness in the Information Systems (IS) community. Overall, emerging technologies such as AI or IoT are becoming less understandable and transparent, which is evident for instance when AI is described in terms of a black box. This opacity undermines humans trust in emerging technologies, which, however, is crucial for both its usage and spread, especially as emerging technologies start to perform tasks that bear high risks for humans, such as autonomous driving. Critical perspectives on emerging technologies are often discussed in terms of ethics, including such aspects as the responsibility for decisions made by algorithms, the limited data privacy, and the moral values that are encoded in technology. In sum, the varied opportunities that come with digitalization are accompanied by significant challenges. Research on the negative ramifications of AI is crucial if we are to foster a human-centered technological development that is not simply driven by opportunities but by utility for humanity. As the IS community is positioned at the intersection of the technological and the social context, it plays a central role in finding answers to the question as to how the advantages outweigh the challenges that come with emerging technologies. Challenges are examined under the label of dark side of IS, a research area which receives considerably less attention in existing literature than the positive aspects (Gimpel & Schmied, 2019). With its focus on challenges, this dissertation aims to counterbalance this. Since the remit of IS research is the entire information system, rather than merely the technology, humanistic and instrumental goals ought to be considered in equal measure. This dissertation follows calls for research for a healthy distribution along the so-called socio-technical continuum (Sarker et al., 2019), that broadens its focus to include the social as well as the technical, rather than looking at one or the other. With that in mind, this dissertation aims to advance knowledge on IS with regard to opportunities, and in particular with a focus on challenges of two emerging technologies, IoT and AI, along the socio-technical continuum. This dissertation provides novel insights for individuals to better understand opportunities, but in particular possible negative side effects. It guides organizations on how to address these challenges and suggests not only the necessity of further research along the socio-technical continuum but also several ideas on where to take this future research. Chapter 2 contributes to research on opportunities and challenges of IoT. Section 2.1 identifies and structures opportunities that IoT devices provide for retail commerce customers. By conducting a structured literature review, affordances are identified, and by examining a sample of 337 IoT devices, completeness and parsimony are validated. Section 2.2 takes a close look at the ethical challenges posed by IoT, also known as IoT ethics. Based on a structured literature review, it first identifies and structures IoT ethics, then provides detailed guidance for further research in this important and yet under-appreciated field of study. Together, these two research articles underline that IoT has the potential to radically transform our lives, but they also illustrate the urgent need for further research on possible ethical issues that are associated with IoTs specific features. Chapter 3 contributes to research on AI along the socio-technical continuum. Section 3.1 examines algorithms underlying AI. Through a structured literature review and semi-structured interviews analyzed with a qualitative content analysis, this section identifies, structures and communicates concerns about algorithmic decision-making and is supposed to improve offers and services. Section 3.2 takes a deep dive into the concept of moral agency in AI to discuss whether responsibility in human-computer interaction can be grasped better with the concept of agency. In section 3.3, data from an online experiment with a self-developed AI system is used to examine the role of a users domain-specific expertise in trusting and following suggestions from AI decision support systems. Finally, section 3.4 draws on design science research to present a framework for ethical software development that considers ethical issues from the beginning of the design and development process. By looking at the multiple facets of this topic, these four research articles ought to guide practitioners in deciding which challenges to consider during product development. With a view to subsequent steps, they also offer first ideas on how these challenges could be addressed. Furthermore, the articles offer a basis for further, solution-oriented research on AIs challenges and encourage users to form their own, informed, opinions.Die Digitalisierung ist ein sozio-technisches Phänomen, das unser persönliches Leben, aber auch die Wirtschaft und die gesamte Gesellschaft prägt. Die wahrgenommene Komplexität von Technologie nimmt stetig zu. Die Technologiekonvergenz macht eine klare Trennung zwischen Technologien praktisch unmöglich, wofür das Internet der Dinge (IoT) mit seiner eingebetteten Künstlichen Intelligenz (KI) ein gutes Beispiel ist. Darüber hinaus wird eine Trennung der sozialen und der technischen Komponente nahezu unmöglich, wofür es ein steigendes Bewusstsein in der Information Systems (IS) Community gibt. Insgesamt werden aufstrebende Technologien wie KI oder IoT weniger verständlich und transparent, was sich beispielsweise darin zeigt, dass KI der Begriff der Black Box zugeschrieben wird. Die Undurchsichtigkeit untergräbt das Vertrauen der Menschen in aufstrebende Technologien, das jedoch für die Nutzung und Verbreitung dieser entscheidend ist, insbesondere wenn Technologien Aufgaben übernehmen oder unterstützen, die hohe Risiken für den Menschen bergen, wie z. B. autonomes Fahren. Kritische Perspektiven auf neue Technologien werden oft unter dem Begriff der Ethik diskutiert, darunter Aspekte wie die Verantwortung für Entscheidungen, die von Algorithmen getroffen werden, moralische Werte, die in die Technologie eingebettet sind, und Datenschutz. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die vielfältigen Chancen der Digitalisierung mit Herausforderungen einhergehen. Die Forschung zu Risiken und Nebenwirkungen ist entscheidend, um eine menschenzentrierte technologische Entwicklung zu fördern, die nicht nur von den Möglichkeiten, sondern insbesondere vom Nutzenstiften für die Menschheit getrieben ist. An der Schnittstelle zwischen Technologie und sozialem Kontext angesiedelt, spielt die IS-Community eine wichtige Rolle bei der Suche nach Antworten auf die Frage, wie die Vorteile die Risiken neuer Technologien überwiegen können. Herausforderungen werden im Forschungsbereich dark side of IS untersucht, welcher in der bestehenden Literatur deutlich weniger Aufmerksamkeit erhält als die positiven Aspekte (Gimpel & Schmied, 2019). Dem möchte diese Dissertation ein Stück weit entgegenwirken, indem ein Fokus auf die Herausforderungen gelegt wird. Da in der IS-Forschung das gesamte Informationssystem und nicht nur die Technologie im Mittelpunkt der Betrachtung steht, sollen humanistische und instrumentelle Ziele gleichermaßen berücksichtigt werden. Darüber hinaus folgt diese Dissertation dem Aufruf nach einer angemessenen Verteilung der Forschung entlang des sogenannten sozio-technischen Kontinuums (Sarker et al., 2019) und löst sich somit von Forschung, die am sozialen oder technischen Endpunkt des Kontinuums angesiedelt ist. Zusammenfassend zielt diese Dissertation darauf ab, das Wissen über IS im Hinblick auf die Chancen und insbesondere die Herausforderungen entlang des sozio-technischen Kontinuums der aufkommenden Technologien IoT und KI voranzutreiben. Damit liefert die Dissertation neue Einblicke für Individuen, um die Möglichkeiten, aber insbesondere die potenziellen negativen Nebenwirkungen der Digitalisierung besser zu verstehen, bietet Orientierung für Organisationen, um diese Herausforderungen zu adressieren, und veranschaulicht die Notwendigkeit und Ideen für weitere Forschung entlang des sozio-technischen Kontinuums. Kapitel 2 leistet einen Beitrag zur Forschung über Chancen und Herausforderungen des IoT. Kapitel 2.1 identifiziert und strukturiert Chancen von IoT-Geräten für Kunden im Einzelhandel. Mit einer strukturierten Literaturrecherche werden Affordanzen von IoT-Geräten für Kunden identifiziert und mit einer Stichprobe von 337 IoT-Geräten wird eine Validierung hinsichtlich Vollständigkeit und Sparsamkeit durchgeführt. Kapitel 2.2 beschäftigt sich mit ethischen Herausforderungen des IoT, genannt IoT-Ethik. Basierend auf einer strukturierten Literaturrecherche identifiziert und strukturiert es die IoT-Ethik und gibt detaillierte Hinweise für die weitere Erforschung dieses wichtigen, aber noch zu wenig erforschten Feldes. Mit diesen beiden Forschungsartikeln unterstreicht diese Dissertation das Potenzial des IoT, unser Leben radikal zu verändern, verdeutlicht aber auch den Bedarf an weiterer Forschung zu potenziellen ethischen Fragen, die mit den spezifischen Eigenschaften des IoT verbunden sind. Kapitel 3 trägt zur Forschung über KI entlang des sozio-technischen Kontinuums bei. Kapitel 3.1 untersucht die Algorithmen, die KI zugrunde liegen. Eine strukturierte Literaturrecherche und semi-strukturierte Interviews, die mit einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse analysiert werden, zielen darauf ab, Bedenken gegenüber algorithmischer Entscheidungsfindung zu identifizieren, zu strukturieren und zu kommunizieren, um darauf basierend Angebote und Dienstleistungen zu verbessern. Kapitel 3.2 bietet eine ethische Vertiefung in das Konzept der moralischen Handlungsfähigkeit und untersucht, ob Verantwortung in der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion mit dem Konzept der Agency besser erfasst werden kann. In Kapitel 3.3 wird anhand von Daten aus einem Online-Experiment mit einem selbst entwickelten KI-System untersucht, welche Rolle das domänenspezifische Fachwissen der Nutzer für das Vertrauen in und das Befolgen von Vorschlägen von KI-Entscheidungsunterstützungssystemen spielt. Schließlich wird in Kapitel 3.4 auf der Grundlage designwissenschaftlicher Forschung ein Rahmenwerk für ethische Softwareentwicklung vorgestellt, das ethische Aspekte bereits zu Beginn des Design- und Entwicklungsprozesses berücksichtigt. Diese vier Forschungsartikel können Praktikern als Orientierung dienen, welche Herausforderungen bei der Produktentwicklung zu berücksichtigen sind und bieten erste Ideen, wie sie diese angehen können. Darüber hinaus bieten die Forschungsergebnisse eine Grundlage für weitere, lösungsorientierte Forschung zu den Herausforderungen von KI und ermutigen Nutzer, sich eine eigene, fundierte Meinung zu bilden