User awareness and user behavior in a shared space: Using plant as the information display

Abstract

People are aware of objects in physical spaces to which they may act responsively. We are interested in human behavioural changes in the presence of reactive displays in shared environments. In a limited 2-week field study, using plants (both natural and artificial) as reactive displays, we observed human trash disposal/recycling behaviour. We found that there is a significant increase in recycling (p=0.08) when there are reactive display with natural plants. We also noticed increase in recycling with displays with artificial plants. These findings suggest that people can and do alter their behaviour in shared environments, and that such behavioural changes can be effected by the use of reactive/responsive information displays