Finding what fits: Explorative self-experimentation for health behaviour change

Changing a specific health behaviour can be highly complex and is often influenced by many personal, social, and environmental factors. Therefore, interventions that aim at behaviour change cannot be one-size-fits-all solutions, and no behaviour change technique is effective for everyone. One potential solution could be to support individuals in finding interventions through self-experimentation. This research explored the requirements for an explorative self-experimentation intervention and developed tools that support users in the process, complementing developments in quantitative self-experimentation. Based on a research through design approach, we developed three different prototypes for supporting a change in health-related behaviour, which were used and evaluated by fourteen participants over a four-week period. A thematic analysis of interviews with participants led to seven themes, which can be used as a starting point when designing for explorative self-experimentation

Digital nudging: a human component automation tool

Technological advances make people increasingly use computer systems to perform various actions such as shopping, watching the news, making payments, etc. Through digital nudges, which are the change of the user interface to choose a certain previously determined option, it is possible to implement human component automation tools that facilitate the integration of nudges in different sites. The implementation of nudges on websites is not simple and requires technical knowledge to change the interfaces previously chosen so that users can make choices predetermined by the site managers. Currently, there are no defined methods or tools that help site managers to implement nudges for their users, thus it is intended to take an initial step towards the creation of a tool that allows this first step to be taken and facilitates the implementation of nudges on the various websites without the need of specialized staff to provide nudges. Through the nudging tool we implemented, it is intended to automate the human component so that site managers can add nudges to their websites through a plugin. The addition of a nudge will be done in a simple way and require little technical intervention by the site managers. A plugin was developed in WordPress, through which three nudges were created. To validate the tool that was developed two similar sites (one without nudges and another with nudges) were made available to a set of users and the interaction of users with both sites was collected through Google Analytics. The results show that applying digital nudging through the variation of the default slider and the size variation of the content has changed users’ behavior. On the website with nudges, 75% of the actions performed by users were the intended ones. The website with nudges equally gathered a higher percentage of clicks (more 32.35% in comparison to the no nudges website). The very positive results encourage the continuous use of nudges in digital environments and shed some light to future works.O avanço tecnológico faz com que as pessoas cada vez mais utilizem os sistemas informáti cos para realizar diversas ações tais como compras, ver noticias, efetuar pagamentos, etc. Através dos nudges digitais, que são a alteração da interface do utilizador para a escolha de uma determinada opção previamente determinada, possibilita-se a implementação ferramen tas de automação da componente humana que facilitam a integração de nudges nos diversos websites. A implementação de nudges em websites não é algo simples e requer algum con hecimento técnico para que se consiga alterar as interfaces previamente escolhidas para que os utilizadores efetuem escolhas predeterminadas pelos gestores dos websites. Atualmente, ainda não existem métodos definidos nem ferramentas que ajudem os gestores de websites a implementar nudges perante os seus utilizadores, deste modo, pretende-se dar um passo inicial para a criação de uma ferramenta que permita dar este primeiro passo e facilite a im plementação de nudges nos diversos websites sem que seja necessário pessoal especializado na disponibilização dos nudges. Através da ferramenta de nudging que se implementou, pretendeu-se automatizar a componente humana de modo que um gestor de websites con siga adicionar um nudge ao seu website através de um plugin. A adição de um nudge será efetuada de forma simples e irá requerer pouco intervenção de forma técnica por parte dos gestores do website. Foi desenvolvido um plugin no WordPress, através deste foram cria dos três nudges. Para validar a ferramenta que se desenvolveu foram disponibilizados dois sites semelhantes (um sem nudges e outro com nudges) a um conjunto de utilizadores, onde através do Google Analitycs se recolheu a interação dos utilizadores perante ambos os websites. Os resultados mostram que a aplicação de nudges digitais através da variação da posição inicial do scroll e da variação do tamanho do conteúdo, alterou o comportamento dos utilizadores. No website com nudges, 75 % das ações relizadas pelos utilizadores foram as esperadas. O website com nudges também obteve uma maior percentagem de cliques (mais 32,35 % em comparação com o site sem nudges). Os resultados são muito positivos e incentivam o uso contínuo de nudges em ambientes digitais, proporcionando um avanço para trabalhos futuros

Experience design in the automotive context

Various experiences in modern life are in one or another form connected to car rides. However, the automotive industry so far only regards driving as the only relevant experience, a perspective which consequently dominates the field of interaction design for vehicles. Yet, the car is an exceptionally potential space for experiences that go beyond the actual driving task, such as intensive conversation or exploration. So how is it possible to design for special situations like those, and thereby create positive emotions for drivers and passengers alike? To meet this objective it is necessary to use the human, instead of the function, as the starting point. The design approach of "Experience Design" defined by Marc Hassenzahl provides exactly this focus on the human and concentrates first on their experience. Here, positive emotions are specifically created through the fulfilling of psychological needs. Experience Design enables the precise analysis of experiences in advance of the design by clarifying with the help of psychological needs why a considered experience is viewed as positive. Furthermore, Experience Design supports the composition of an Experience Story, which is attuned to the desired psychological needs and which defines the experience to be designed. This experience can then gradually be translated into an interaction design. Finally, with the help of technology, the created experience can be lived through in situ by participants and later analysed. Based upon this design approach and by means of methods drawn from the fields of human machine-interaction as well as psychology, four studies on the design of experiences through interaction products in the automotive domain are presented. The created experiences are divided into "Experiences at Group Drives in the Car for Pleasure" and "Experiences While Commuting Alone". These experiences take place in different scenarios, namely: in a motorcade, an exploratory cruise, a commuting ride, and while driving considerately. Out of the practical application of Experience Design in these studies a best practice for the use of the employed methods is developed. Thereby, this work brings to light the possibilities for using technology to design experiences that go beyond the mere act of driving. Furthermore, the challenges of designing experiences in usability-focused environments are shown. Thus, this work is aimed at offering inspiration to designers and researchers particularly in the automotive domain for designing experiences and thereby furthering innovation.Viele unterschiedliche Erlebnisse im Leben sind auf die eine oder andere Weise mit Autofahrten verbunden. Jedoch wird in der Automobilindustrie das Erlebnis im Auto bisher gleichgestellt mit dem Fahrerlebnis selbst, was folglich auch das Interaktionsdesign in Fahrzeugen bestimmt. Dahingegen bietet gerade das Auto Raum für Erlebnisse, die über die eigentliche Fahraufgabe hinausgehen, wie intensive Gespräche oder Entdeckungen. Wie also lassen sich derartige Erlebnisse gestalten, und wie kann dies auf eine Art und Weise geschehen, dass bei FahrerIn als auch Mitfahrenden positive Emotionen ausgelöst werden? Zu diesem Ziel sollte beim Menschen und nicht bei der Technologie angesetzt werden. Der von Marc Hassenzahl aufgestellte Designansatz „Experience Design“ bietet eben diesen Fokus auf den Menschen und konzentriert sich auf das Gestalten von deren Erlebnissen. Hierbei werden durch das Erfüllen psychologischer Bedürfnisse gezielt positive Emotionen erzeugt. Experience Design ermöglicht, Erlebnisse im Vorfeld der Gestaltung genauer zu analysieren, indem anhand psychologischer Bedürfnisse geklärt wird, warum ein betreffende Erlebnis positiv empfunden wird. Weiterhin unterstützt Experience Design das Konzipieren einer Erlebnisgeschichte, welche auf die zu erfüllenden psychologischen Bedürfnisse ausgerichtet ist und das zu gestaltende Erlebnis definiert. Dieses Erlebnis lässt sich dann Schritt für Schritt in ein Interaktionsdesign übertragen. Schließlich kann das gestaltete Erlebnis von StudienteilnehmerInnen mithilfe der Technologie in situ durchlebt und analysiert werden. Aufbauend auf diesem Designansatz und mittels Methoden insbesondere aus den Bereichen Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion sowie Psychologie werden vier Studien der Gestaltung von Erlebnissen durch Interaktionsprodukte im automobilen Bereich vorgestellt. Die gestalteten Erlebnisse lassen sich untergliedern in Erlebnisse bei gemeinsamen Fahrten in unbekannten Gegenden sowie in Erlebnisse beim alleine Fahren auf bekannten Strecken. Sie finden in unterschiedlichen Szenarios statt, nämlich in einer Kolonnenfahrt, einer Entdeckungsreise, einer Pendelfahrt und im rücksichtsvollen Straßenverkehr. Aus der praktischen Anwendung von Experience Design in diesen Designstudien wird eine „Best Practice“ zur Verwendung der benutzten Methoden erstellt. Damit werden in dieser Arbeit Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, wie über die Fahraufgabe hinausgehende Erlebnisse mithilfe von Technologie gestaltet werden können. Diskutiert werden weiterhin Herausforderungen des Gestaltens von Erlebnissen in Umfeldern, die auf Benutzbarkeit spezialisiert sind. So soll diese Arbeit Designer und Forscher insbesondere im automobilen Bereich dahingehend inspirieren, Erlebnisse zu gestalten und damit neue Wege für Innovationen zu finden

Exploring Techno-Spirituality: Design strategies for transcendent user experiences

This thesis presents a study of transcendent experiences (TXs) — experiences of connection with something greater than oneself — focusing on what they are, how artefacts support them, and how design can contribute to that support. People often find such experiences transformative, and artefacts do support them — but the literature rarely addresses designing artefact support for TXs. This thesis provides a step toward filling that gap. The first phase of research involved the conduct and analysis of 24 interviews with adults of diverse spiritual perspectives, using constructivist Grounded Theory methods informed by relevant literature and by studies performed earlier in the PhD programme. Analysis found that TXs proceed in three phases — creating the context, living the experience, integrating the experience — and that artefacts support two phases and people desire enhancements to all three. This TX framework supports and extends experience structures from the literature: it recognises the top-level categories as phases in a cycle where integration may alter future contexts, and it extends the structure of TX by incorporating the relationships of artefacts and of enhancement desires to the phases of these experiences. This extended structure constitutes a grounded theory of transcendent user experience (TUX). The second phase involved the design and conduct of three “Transcendhance” game workshops for enhancing transcendence, which incorporated themes from the grounded theory and aimed to elicit design ideas in an atmosphere of imagination, fun, and play. Participants sketched 69 speculative ideas for techno-spiritual artefacts, and analysis mapped them to TX phases and identified possible extensions inspired by relevant research. The great majority of ideas mapped to the phase Creating the Context, with very few mapping to Living the Experience, which suggests that context may be easier than lived experience to understand and address directly. This point is especially important for experiences such as TX that are tricky to define, impossible to arrange or anticipate, and thus unsuitable for straight-forward “classic” user experience methods. The final phase involved the elaboration of workshop ideas to explore the extension of design fiction for TUX. Analysis related design fiction to the TX phases and suggested features that affect design ideas’ potential for TUX design fiction. This phase ended with the proposal and analysis of three new forms of design fiction — extended imaginary abstracts, comparative imaginary abstracts, and design poetry — using workshop ideas to illustrate the forms, their construction and use, and their benefits to TUX design. Transcendhance workshops and TUX design fictions approach techno-spiritual design peripherally, “sneaking up” on lived experience by addressing context and enabling the consideration of ineffable experience through storytelling, metaphors, and oblique imagery. This thesis combines the grounded theory of transcendent user experience with the Transcendhance workshop process and new forms of design fiction, presenting peripheral design as a promising strategy for facilitating design to enhance transcendent experience