Berry Eggen

Persuasive technology for human well-being: setting the scene

In this short paper we aim to give a brief introduction to persuasive technology, especially as it pertains to human well-being. We discuss a number of current research opportunities in areas of healthcare, environmental conservation, and education. We conclude by highlighting what we regard as the key research challenges that need to be addressed, focusing on context sensing and appropriate feedback, the need for longitudinal user studies, and ethical concerns.

Designing playful interactions for social interaction and physical play

This paper describes three design values that we apply for designing playful interactions. Interactive play objects can stimulate social interaction and physical play by providing motivating feedback to players’ behavior; they can allow players to create their own game goals and rules in an open-ended play context and support social player interaction patterns. This design approach is illustrated by six design cases in which our assumptions were examined in various play contexts. The results show that the application of these design values can lead to rich and appealing innovative play concepts. Players can create a wide range of (physical) games using open-ended play objects, and properties of the play objects, such as being personal or shared, influence the type of social interaction.

Key issues for the successful design of an intelligent, interactive playground

An Intelligent Playground is an environment with interactive objects that, using advanced technology such as sensors and actuators, react to the interaction with the children and actively encourage children to play. Thus, an intelligent playground stimulates children to move and play together. In this way, it provides for a healthy alternative for popular pastimes such as computer games and television. We propose a design research agenda for Intelligent Playgrounds, identifying key issues regarding the design of these playgrounds: social interaction, simplicity, challenge, goals and feedback. We illustrate these issues by referring extensively to related work in this area. In addition, we present our design approach, initial findings and future plans on the basis of two case studies of new intelligent playground concepts.

Designing for children's physical play

In this paper we describe preliminary results of our work on designing innovative sport concepts to stimulate childrens physical play. We are exploring how embedding sensor and actuator technology in products can stimulate children to practice sport related skills. It incorporates ideas from game design, persuasive technology and sport motivation theories. We illustrate our approach with two case studies, in the context of football and basketball and discuss our experiences with embedding sensor technology to provide a motivating play experience for children.

Interactive play objects and the effects of open-ended play on social interaction and fun

This paper describes a study that examines the influence of openended play in interactive play objects on social interaction and fun experience of children. We developed a prototype to examine whether children enjoy playing with simple intelligent objects. Children between 7 and 11 years old were asked to play with the objects in a free-play and pre-set game session. The study shows that children create a wide variety of games and practice many social skills when negotiating the rules of various games. Overall, children felt playing with the objects in the free-play sessions was more fun than in the pre-set sessions. The insights will be used to design the next version of our play concept.

Leaving room for improvisation: towards a design approach for open-ended play

Open-ended play with interactive objects provides children with the freedom to construct their own rules, goals and meaning. Instead of games with strict rules, open-ended play designs offer interaction opportunities as a trigger for creating personalized games. The process of developing these designs differs from designs with predefined use. This paper presents the further development of a design approach on how to design for open-ended play. We give an overview of related work and analyze eight existing open-ended play designs. Next, interviews with design students are discussed that illustrate the process of developing open-ended play designs. As a conclusion, we describe our design approach for open-ended play, including an improved definition of open-ended play, an overview of which design parameters have to be considered and advice for tailoring a design process to consider these parameters.

Comparing early design methods for children

This paper describes a study which compares the outcome of two early design methods for children: brainstorming and prototyping. The hypothesis is that children will uncover more design ideas when prototyping than when brainstorming, because prototyping requires the use of a wider range of Intelligences according to Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The protocols were coded using Design Rationale Theory: distinguishing between Options (design solutions) and evaluation Criteria. The results show that as expected children provided more Options in sessions that appeal to a wider range of intelligences. However, unexpectedly children provided more Criteria in the session that appealed mostly to one intelligence.

Comparing the creativity of children's design solutions based on expert assessment

This paper describes a study in which the outcome of early design sessions with eight-to-twelve-year old children is assessed through expert judgment. Experts compare the outcomes of two early design methods: brainstorming and prototyping. The design case was to come up with a solution for incapacitated children that need to attend class from home. The hypothesis is that children will generate more creative design solutions when prototyping than when brainstorming, because we reason that prototyping requires a wider range of intelligences according to Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The outcome of the sessions is assessed on creativity and five explanatory criteria. The results show that a brainstorming method generates design solutions that are more creative. However, both methods produce creative design solutions; the brainstorming sessions generate more surprising and novel design solutions, the prototyping results are considered more relevant and workable.

GlowSteps A Decentralized Interactive Play Environment for Open-Ended Play

In this paper we present the interactive play environment GlowSteps. GlowSteps consists of ten flexible tiles that respond with light feedback on players actions. The play environment is developed to support both social and physical play and is designed with the intention to encourage children to create their own play and games. The tiles can be programmed with different interaction behaviors leading to a variety of play experiences. This showcase illustrates our design approach for such interactive play environments, combining the fields of decentralized systems and open-ended play.

Peripheral interaction: shaping the research and design space

In everyday life, we are able to perform various activities simultaneously without consciously paying attention to them. For example, we can easily read a newspaper while drinking coffee. This latter activity takes place in our background or periphery of attention. Contrarily, interactions with computing technology usually require focused attention. With interactive technologies becoming increasingly present in the everyday environment, it is essential to explore how these technologies could be developed such that people can interact with them both in the focus and in the periphery of attention. This upcoming field of Peripheral Interaction aims to fluently embed interactive technology into everyday life. This workshop brings together researchers and practitioners from different disciplines to share research and design work and to further shape the field of Peripheral Interaction.