Gamification: Stimulating User Smart City Application

The urban problems have led to an increase in the population in urban areas considering the needs of many government employees to provide service to all citizens. However, in actual conditions, government employees are limited, therefore, need community empowerment involved to support government management of the city. The solution for community empowerment is using communication technology as a public space for the citizens to communicate with the government. Citizen participation used smart city application ass public space to inform the sentiment public to the government. Citizens have adapted from traditional public play to public technological space. Gamification on smart city application devices motivates citizens, which has a growing influence on reporting and complaint activity. Technology set up gamification to create active citizens by reporting complaints of city infrastructure. Results identified gamification encourage a lot of citizen participation in reporting sentiment and complaint inside smart city applications

SISTEM PENGOLAHAN SAMPAH ORGANIK dan ANORGANIK DALAM PENERAPAN GAMIFIKASI

Sampah organik dan anorganik adalah senyawa berdasarkan jenis limbah. Dalam lingkungan kota, masyarakat selalu dibuat kewalahan dalam menanggulangi sampah yang setiap hari menjadi perdebatan untuk mendapatkan solusi cara menanggulangi sampah yang dibuang atau diproduksi setiap hari. Tempat pembuangan sampah yang dikelola pemerintah terkadang masih ada kekurangan yang membuat masyarakat kecewa dalam pelayanan penanggulangan sampah. Pengolahan sampah dengan proses menentukan pengelompokan organik atau anorganik dan gamifikasi membuat desain dalam menarik masyarakt untuk terlibat dalam pengolahan sampah. Metode yang digunakan gamifikasi dan analisis data. Dengan “Sistem Pengolahan Sampah Organik dan Anorganik Dalam Penerapan Gamifikasi” memperoleh cara pengolahan sampah untuk penerapan mengurangi jumlah sampah yang dibuang atau diproduksi setiap hari

A serious game for raising air pollution awareness in children

Air pollution has been one of the most discussed topics in the world in the last years, due to its effects on the atmosphere of our planet and our health overall. Currently, over 2.6 billion people are exposed to indoor air pollution, which tells us that efforts are needed to raise people’s awareness about air pollution. The use of serious games and gamification of apps have raised people’s perception, but these effects end up being short-term. This work presents “Problemas no Ar”, a game developed in Unity about air pollution where the player’s goal is to control a character tasked to monitor indoor and outdoor air pollution with sensors in several city zones. While playing, children are expected to learn the possible causes of pollution in each zone and, this way, the game attempts to promote pro-environmental behaviours. This game allows educators to configure the problems that the player has to solve. Pre- and post-surveys about air pollution were elaborated to evaluate perception of twenty students of an elementary school before and after playing the game. Participants’ gameplay experience was also evaluated through a usability score. Results show that the game provided some significant positive effects on participants’ perception. In terms of usability scores, the mean value was 75 out of 100, a value that is acceptable.A poluição atmosférica tem sido um dos temas mais discutidos no mundo nos últimos anos, o que está a afetar a atmosfera do nosso planeta e a nossa saúde em geral. Mais de 2.6 mil milhões de pessoas no mundo sofrem de poluição do ar interior dentro das suas casas, isto diz-nos que são necessários esforços para aumentar a consciência das pessoas sobre a poluição do ar. A utilização de jogos sérios e a gamificação de aplicações têm aumentado a perceção das pessoas, mas estes efeitos acabam por ser de curto prazo. Este trabalho apresenta "Problemas no Ar", um jogo desenvolvido em Unity sobre poluição atmosférica onde o objetivo do jogador é monitorizar a poluição atmosférica interior e exterior com sensores dispostos por várias zonas urbanas e aprender as possíveis causas da poluição em cada zona, tentando promover comportamentos pró-ambientais nas crianças. Este jogo permite que educadores consigam configurar os problemas que o jogador tem de resolver. Questionários pré- e pós- jogo sobre a poluição do ar foram elaborados para avaliar a perceção de vinte alunos do ensino básico antes e depois de jogar o jogo, a pontuação de usabilidade do jogo também foi medida. Os resultados mostram que o jogo teve efeitos positivos na perceção dos participantes, alguns itens foram significativos, outros não tão significativos. Em termos de usabilidade do jogo, o valor médio foi de 75 de 100, o que é aceitável

Bringing trust and transparency to the opaque world of waste management with blockchain: a Polkadot parathread application

Scott, Ian and de Castro Neto, Miguel and Pinheiro, Flavio L., Bringing Trust and Transparency to the Opaque World of Waste Management with Blockchain: A Polkadot Parathread Application (March 22, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3825072 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3825072The majority of countries are currently struggling to achieve sustainable levels of recycling and waste treatment, particularly relating to household waste, and this area is in urgent need of new solutions. In general, the waste management sector has struggled with low consumer trust, fraud, manipulation, significant manual processes, and low levels of information and control. Here we propose a hybrid blockchain solution called a Polkadot parachain. Polkadot is a blockchain technology that allows for the development of a network of blockchains, each called a parachain that can be customised to the business needs of a given application. This solution provides the cost benefits, scalability, and control of a permissioned blockchain while providing the security, verifiability, and trust of a public blockchain. The solution combines three typically separate blockchain use cases: supply chain tracking, incentivisation through a payment system, and gamification to achieve a complete solution for waste management. We provide a detailed discussion on the design of this blockchain solution with the use of blockchain functionality assessed against the criteria and development approaches found in the literature. Finally, we demonstrate how such a blockchain can be implemented with the Substrate blockchain development framework and detail a pilot project where this system will be implemented.publishersversionpublishe

EcoMegot communication plan: using creative and impactful strategies for the greater good

The growing concerns towards environmental issues and the raising awareness of the importance of sustainable development and recycling efforts have modified the way people behave or at least their intentions of having more responsible behaviors. Not to mention the digital revolution with the advent of social media coming along with the society evolution which have forever changed the communication’s landscape. These factors have pushed some organizations to take action for the greater good but it is crucial for them to understand how to effectively communicate their actions so that they reach the desired target in the most impactful way. Let alone the information overload due to our very connected world that will force these organizations to use innovative and powerful strategies to grab people’s attention and guide them toward more responsible behaviors. In this project thesis, the focus will be in developing and proposing an innovative and effective communication plan for EcoMegot, an association dedicated to the cigarettes’ pollution sensitization and the collect and recycling of cigarette butts, which definitely needed assistance to design, with a very small budget, impactful strategies to successfully achieve its ambitious goals and vision. Therefore, the main goals of this project are first to increase general awareness and knowledge of EcoMegot, but also to increase its reach and visibility, to finally increase its number of sensitized people and find creative and impactful strategies such as gamification or nudging to close the gap between intentions and actual behaviors toward cigarettes butts’ pollution. In order to do so, a literature review has been conducted around the disruptive factors and new strategies of the communication landscape but also on the drivers under people intentions and actual behaviors. Combined with an internal analysis of EcoMegot which has allowed having a better overview of its constraints and objectives; an empirical study has been performed to grasp people’s perceptions, motivations, and current behaviors but more importantly to have a greater understanding of the discrepancy between their intentions and actual behaviors. In regards to the overall project findings, several strategies have been designed aiming at addressing EcoMegot issues in an inventive and impactful ways. These findings have allowed the creation of an innovative, impactful and effective communication plan that will be a turnkey solution addressing EcoMegot issues and meet its ambitious goals.As preocupações crescentes com as questões ambientais e a sensibilização para a importância do desenvolvimento sustentável e dos esforços de reciclagem modificaram a forma como as pessoas se comportam ou, pelo menos, as suas intenções em terem comportamentos mais responsáveis. Ainda, a revolução digital com o advento das redes sociais influenciou novas atitudes na sociedade e impulsionou novas formas de comunicação. Estes fatores têm impulsionado algumas organizações a agirem para um ambiente sustentável, mas é crucial que elas entendam como comunicar suas ações de forma eficaz para que atinjam o alvo desejado da forma mais impactante. Sem mencionar que a sobrecarga de informação devido ao ambiente muito competitivo pressionaessas organizações a usar estratégias inovadoras para atrair a atenção das pessoas e orientá-las para comportamentos mais responsáveis. Nesta tese de projeto, o foco estará em desenvolver e propor um plano de comunicação inovador e eficaz para a EcoMegot, uma associação dedicada à sensibilização da poluição dos cigarros e à recolha e reciclagem de pontas de cigarro, que precisava de assistência para definir, com um orçamento muito pequeno, estratégias impactantes para alcançar com sucesso suas ambiciosas metas e visão. Assim, os principais objetivos deste projeto são: (1) aumentar a conscientização geral e o conhecimento do EcoMegot, (2) ampliar o seu alcance e visibilidade, (3) atingir um maior número de pessoas sensibilizadas e encontrar estratégias inovadoras e impactantes para promover a convergência entre intenções e comportamentos reais perante a poluição com beatas de cigarro. Para isso, uma revisão da literatura foi conduzida em torno dos fatores disruptivos e novas estratégias do cenário de comunicação, mas também sobre os factores determinantes nas intenções e comportamentos reais das pessoas. Combinado com uma análise interna do EcoMegot que permitiu ter uma melhor visão geral de suas restrições e objetivos; um estudo empírico foi realizado para entender as percepções, motivações e comportamentos atuais das pessoas, mas sobretudo ter uma maior compreensão da discrepância entre suas intenções e comportamentos reais. No que diz respeito aos resultados gerais do projeto, várias estratégias foram desenhadas com o objetivo de abordar as questões do EcoMegot de forma inovadora e impactante. Estas conclusões permitiram a criação de um plano de comunicação inovador, impactante e eficaz que será uma solução chave-na-mão para resolver os problemas da EcoMegot e cumprir os seus objetivos ambiciosos

Generating Personalized Challenges to Enhance the Persuasive Power of Gamification

While gamification is often effective in incentivizing behavioral changes, well-known limitations concern retaining the interest of players over the long term, and sustaining the new behaviors promoted through the game. To make the gamification user experience more varied and compelling, we propose an approach based on the Procedural Content Generation of personalized and contextualized playable units that appeal individually to each player. We have implemented this approach as a system that generates and recommends personalized challenges, based on the player’s preference, history, game state and performance, and we have evaluated it using a smart urban mobility game that proposed weekly challenges to hundreds of citizens/players

Smart contract and web dapp for tracing sustainability indicators in the textile and clothing value chain

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática na Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão do Instituto Politécnico de Viana do CasteloNa sociedade atual, o têxtil e vestuário é um dos maiores setores de mercado do mundo. O rápido crescimento desta indústria está a ter impactos sem precedentes na sustentabilidade do planeta, respondendo por consequências negativas ambientais, sociais e de saúde. As tendências da fast-fashion, juntamente com a falta de transparência na cadeia de valor têxtil global, somam-se a cenários desfavoráveis para o mundo, à medida que os níveis crescentes de poluição e consumo de recursos dentro da cadeia de valor atingem máximos históricos a cada ano que passa. O ciclo de vida de uma peça de roupa precisa de se adaptar a um modelo económico regenerativo em vez de linear, que acaba no equivalente a um caminhão de lixo de produtos têxteis sendo descartado num aterro sanitário a cada segundo [1]. Não só as indústrias precisam de reformular os seus processos para circularizar as suas cadeias de valor e promover ações sustentáveis, mas também os consumidores precisam de participar do processo de manter os produtos no círculo da cadeia de valor, pois cabe a eles decidir o destino final de um produto vestuário aquando o seu fim da vida útil. Com estas questões em mente, esta dissertação visa desenvolver duas soluções que possam mitigar os problemas a cima mencionados e promover ações sustentáveis rumo a uma economia circular na cadeia de valor do têxtil e vestuário. Uma solução business-to-business baseada em smart contracts do Hyperledger Fabric para gerir a cadeia de valor do têxtil e vestuário com funcionalidade de rastreabilidade foi desenvolvida como prova de conceito para apoiar as reivindicações de sustentabilidade dos participantes na cadeia de valor, da fibra à peça final de vestuário. A actual funcionabilidade de rastreabilidade desenvolvida no smart contract fornece aos operadores da cadeia de valor a capacidade de rastrear um lote até à sua origem, contudo, também limita a escalabilidade devido ao aumento exponencial do tamanho do bloco, especialmente se considerarmos uma cadeia de valor circular. Para os consumidores, foi proposta uma aplicação descentralizada business-to-consumer-to-consumer com elementos de eco-gamificação para promover o envolvimento e motivação do utilizador para a realização de tarefas que contribuam para a adoção de uma economia circular na cadeia de valor do têxtil e vestuário. Após testar a usabilidade da aplicação com o questionário AttrakDiff, concluiu-se que o sistema precisa de focar a sua usabilidade em prol de um produto orientado à tarefa em vez da orientação pessoal atual da aplicação a fim de promover ações que contribuam para a economia circular da cadeia de valor do têxtil e vestuário.In today’s society, Textile and Clothing (T&C) is one of the biggest market sectors world wide.The sheer size and fast growth of this industry is having unprecedented impacts on sustainability, accounting for negative environmental, social and health consequences. The fast-fashion trends along side the lack of transparency in the global T&C value chain add up to unfavorable scenarios for the world as the increas- ing levels of pollution and resource consumption within the value chain reach historic highs with every year that passes. The lifecycle of a clothing item needs to adapt to a regenerative economic model instead of a linear one that ends up in the equivalent of a garbage truck full of textiles being disposed into a landfill every second [1]. Not only do the industries need to revamp their processes to circularize their value chains and promote sustainable actions, but the consumers also need to partake in the process of keeping the products in the value chain loop as it is up to them to make the final decision upon the end-of-life of an item of clothing. With these issues in mind,this dissertation aims to develop two solutions that can mitigate the aforementioned problems and promote sustainable actions towards a circular economy in the T&C value chain. A Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Business-to-Business (B2B) T&C value chainmanagement smart contract solution builton Hyperledger Fabric with traceability features was developed to support the sustainability claims of participants in the value chain, from fiber to garment. The current traceability feature developed into the smart contract provides value chain operators the capabilities to trace a batch back to its origin, however, it also constraints scalability due to the exponential in crease in block size specially if considering a circular value chain. For the consumers, a Business-to-Consumer-to-Consumer (B2C2C) Decentralized Application (DApp) was proposed with eco-gamification elements fo rpromoting the user’s engagement and motivation to complete tasks that contribute for the adoption of a circular economy in the T&C value chain. After testing the consumer DApp’s usability with the AttrakDiff survey, it was concluded that the system needs to focus it susability towards a task-oriented product instead of the current self-oriented results in order to promote actions that contribute to the circular economy of the T&C value chain

Videogames and sustainability : how gaming actions can potentially contribute to less waste actions

This thesis is based on the assumption that the challenge of waste management needs to be addressed within the sustainability framework where society takes part in the solution. People’s beliefs, attitudes and values are what, ultimately, make people behave the way they do. Therefore this thesis intends to study a potential way of changing these worldviews towards more sustainable ones by utilizing a common cultural practice; namely, the act of playing videogames. The study will be focused in the U.S. since the country is placed as the world’s leader of waste production, and it ranks among the top ten consumers of videogames globally. Videogames have had varying impacts on society and studies about their potential contribution to the sustainability science field have emerged in the past decade. Despite this, little research on their effectiveness or potential uses has been done. Accordingly, within this research, a literature review of such impacts and potentials was conducted, and a quasi-experimental study was carried out among a group of U.S. citizens. The study was designed based on the TORE model, an intervention-based behavioral model designed to influence people’s attitudes, employing a game called Garbage Dreams. The videogame was played in two different contexts using the computer as a platform. The participants were U.S. citizens with no special expertise on the environmental or videogames field between the ages of 11 to 79. Data was gathered, through observations and mainly by three surveys: previous to the game experience, after the game was played and a follow-up survey sent days later. The study found that a videogame has the potential to be considered a tool for addressing people’s attitudes towards the challenge of waste management; it demonstrated that a videogame was an enjoyable medium for presenting the topic of interest and it was capable of providing new knowledge to the players. However, the results are inconclusive as to whether or not participants effectively applied the knowledge gained to their daily lives. It is suggested that further studies be performed and include other videogame platforms such as the mobile phone, which was found to be the most used among study participants