Designing for Evaluation: A New Approach for Developers of Digital Health Products

Here, in the first of our guest blogs on navigating digital health-tech regulations and evaluation, Professor Potts shares his top five tips on designing for smarter evaluation

Impact of Argument Type and Concerns in Argumentation with a Chatbot

Conversational agents, also known as chatbots, are versatile tools that have the potential of being used in dialogical argumentation. They could possibly be deployed in tasks such as persuasion for behaviour change (e.g. persuading people to eat more fruit, to take regular exercise, etc.) However, to achieve this, there is a need to develop methods for acquiring appropriate arguments and counterargument that reflect both sides of the discussion. For instance, to persuade someone to do regular exercise, the chatbot needs to know counterarguments that the user might have for not doing exercise. To address this need, we present methods for acquiring arguments and counterarguments, and importantly, meta-level information that can be useful for deciding when arguments can be used during an argumentation dialogue. We evaluate these methods in studies with participants and show how harnessing these methods in a chatbot can make it more persuasive

Flow In Video Games:With a Focus on Multiplayer First-Person Shooters

Video games are a popular form of entertainment. Since games have grown in popularity and become commonplace, studies have been carried out attempting to understand this phenomenon and players more. Many people may be familiar with the notion of “being in the zone” yet may be unaware of flow. They are fundamentally similar concepts. Since Csíkszentmihályi’s work on flow people have aimed to further understand the idea. Flow is an aspect of positive psychology, understanding it may help people focus and perform better. Flow may be a useful idea to know of when understanding users. Video games are often a form of entertainment so enjoyment is key to players and designers. Understanding flow can help creators of games create games with improved flow. Flow’s close links to immersion means understanding flow could make games more immersive. Creating a game with flow in mind could improve the gameplay experience of a game, something which will benefit many games including multiplayer first-person shooters. What follows is a master’s thesis considering flow in video games, focusing on multiplayer first person shooters, specifically, the games in the Halo series of this type. The thesis chronicles an attempt to understand flow in video games. Relevant literature and themes are discussed in this work. The work contains information on an autoethnography study carried out by the author on their experiences with games, specifically, multiplayer first-person shooters in the Halo series. Other studies are included supplementary to this including a questionnaire study and a group play session and group interview. The findings of the study and data are analysed and discussed. This thesis contributes to the subjects of flow and designing video games

Younger adolescents’ perceptions of physical activity, exergaming, and virtual reality:qualitative intervention development study

Background. Novel strategies to promote physical activity (PA) in adolescence are required. The vEngage study aims to test whether a virtual reality (VR) exergaming intervention can engage younger adolescents (13-15 year old) with physical activity. Objective: This study aimed to gather adolescents’ views of using VR to encourage PA and identify the key features they would like to see in a VR exergaming intervention via interviews. Methods: Participants were recruited through two schools in London, UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adolescents about their views on PA and what might work to increase PA, technology, knowledge and experience of VR, and desired features in a VR exergaming intervention. Data were analysed using Framework Analysis. Results: 31 13-15 year olds (58% female, 62% from non-white ethnicities) participated in this interview study. The vast majority had no awareness of government PA recommendations, but felt they should be more thoroughly informed. All participants were positive about the use of VR in PA promotion. Rewards, increasing challenges and a social/multiplayer aspect were identified by participants as crucial aspects to include in a VR exercise game. Barriers were related to cost of high-end systems. Being able to exercise at home was very appealing. VR exergaming was viewed as a way to overcome multiple perceived social and cultural barriers to PA, particularly for girls. Conclusions: Key elements that should be incorporated into a VR for health intervention were identified and described. These also included the use of rewards, novelty and enjoyment in immersive game play, multi-player options, real-world elements, as well as continual updates and new challenge levels. The use of VR to promote PA in adolescents is promising, but some barriers were raised