Oren Zuckerman

Deconstructing gamification: evaluating the effectiveness of continuous measurement, virtual rewards, and social comparison for promoting physical activity

Game design elements are often implemented in persuasive systems aimed to promote physical activity, a process called “gamification.” Gamification is believed to motivate users to become more active, and is commonly implemented in commercial products. However, relatively few studies rigorously evaluated the effectiveness of gamification, and they yielded contradicting findings. We set out to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual rewards and social comparison—two game elements prevalent in persuasive systems. We developed a research prototype, called “StepByStep,” aimed to promote routine walking. We created different versions of StepByStep, implemented as an application on Android-based mobile devices, and compared their effectiveness in two field studies. Study 1 showed that a quantified version of the application—offering continuous measurement of walking time, a daily goal, and real-time feedback on progress toward this goal—facilitated reflection on activity and significantly increased walking time over baseline level. Study 2 showed that gamified versions offering virtual rewards and social comparison were only as effective as the quantified version. Thus, we advise designers to facilitate reflection on meaningful aspects of physical activity by developing novel ubiquitous measures. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance of systematic comparisons between quantified and gamified elements for better understanding their motivational affordances.

A new playground experience: going digital?

We explore how an interactive pathway impacts childrens play patterns in outdoor playgrounds. The paper describes our experience designing and testing the prototype at various stages of development with twenty children age three to five enrolled in a preschool childcare center. We provide examples of the childrens diverse play patterns and conclude with initial reflections on the design of responsive playground elements.

A physical interface for system dynamics simulation

We present the System Blocks, a new physical interactive system that makes it easier for kids to explore dynamic systems. A set of computationally enhanced children blocks, made of wood and electronics, the System Blocks can assist K-12 educators to teach the complex concepts of system dynamics and causalities. System dynamics and system thinking are methods for studying the world around us. They deal with understanding how complex systems change over time, and how structure influences behavior. In this paper we will show how the System Blocks enable young children (as early as four years old) to create and interact with systems that simulate real-life dynamic behavior such as a bank account; population growth; or the delicate equilibrium of an ecosystem. The System Blocks gives young children a hands-on environment to learn about complex behavior and encourage new ways of thinking.

Design and Evaluation of a Peripheral Robotic Conversation Companion

We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a peripheral empathy-evoking robotic conversation companion, Kip1. The robot’s function is to increase people’s awareness to the effect of their behavior towards others, potentially leading to behavior change. Specifically, Kip1 is designed to promote nonaggressive conversation between people. It monitors theconversation’s nonverbal aspects and maintains an emotional model of its reaction to the conversation. If the conversation seems calm, Kip1 responds by a gesture designed to communicate curious interest. If the conversation seems aggressive, Kip1 responds by a gesture designed to communicate fear. We describe the design process of Kip1, guided by the principles of peripheral and evocative. We detail its hardware and software systems, and a study evaluating the effects of the robot’s autonomous behavior on couples’ conversations. We find support for our design goals. A conversation companion reacting to the conversation led to more gaze attention, but not more verbal distraction, compared to a robot that moves but does not react to the conversation. This suggests that robotic devices could be designed as companions tohuman-human interaction without compromising the natural communication flow between people. Participants also rated the reacting robot as having significantly more social human charactertraits and as being significantly more similar to them. This points to the robot’s potential to elicit people’s empathy.Categories and Subject Descriptors H.1.2 [Models and Principles]: User/Machine Systems; J.4 [Computer Applications]: Social and Behavioral Sciences— psychology. General Terms Experimentation, Human Factors.

The future of online therapy

In this paper we suggest a model for comprehensive therapy online with a therapist at its center.We examine the principal criticisms leveled against online therapy and discuss how it can be responded to effectively.We suggest that in addition to one on one interactions, such therapy should exploit other resources available online.The paper goes on to examine ways in which the patient can increase his or her emotional abilities.The paper demonstrates how sophisticated applications may be used to give real time feedback to the patient. The digital world, and the Internet in particular, have a significant impact on almost all aspects of our lives. The realm of psychotherapy is an area in which the influence of the Internet is growing rapidly. This paper suggests a model for comprehensive online therapy online with a therapist at its center. We start by explaining the main components of both traditional therapy and online therapy. We discuss the principal criticisms leveled against online therapy and assess the efficacy of various responses. The paper moves on to explain the advantages of online therapy, focusing on the unique aspects of this approach. The paper proposes that online therapy should exploit other online resources, including online techniques for information gathering. This is true both in the therapeutic session and outside of it. In addition, the paper suggests that therapists incorporate online role play, online CBT and intervention techniques using the smartphone. All of these tools are suggested as important components in a process of comprehensive therapy run by a therapist working online.

Designing interactive environments for outdoors gaming and play

Recent years have seen an increase in the design of outdoor interactive environments. In this SIG we want to discuss the key points in the design of an outdoor interactive environment, including interaction techniques, appropriate technologies, usage patterns, robustness, and safety. The SIG organizer and presenters are researchers from four universities around the world, who are actively designing and building interactive environments. The three presenters represent state-of-the-art work in distinct areas of the field. The SIG will focus on design process, challenges, implementation, and real-world evaluation, to be followed by an open discussion about the state-of-the-art and critical design factors in the field. Since CHI is the premier conference on human-computer interaction, it is the most suitable venue to discuss these issues, the results achieved so far, compare with other groups around the world, and discuss potential collaboration. We hope that this SIG can serve as a starting point to form a community of researchers and practitioners interested in interactive environments for outdoor gaming and play.

Designing Vyo, a robotic Smart Home assistant: Bridging the gap between device and social agent

We describe the design process of “Vyo”, a personal assistant serving as a centralized interface for smart home devices. Building on the concepts of ubiquitous and engaging computing in the domestic environment, we identified five design goals for the home robot: engaging, unobtrusive, device-like, respectful, and reassuring. These goals led our design process, which included simultaneous iterative development of the robots morphology, nonverbal behavior and interaction schemas. We continued with user-centered design research using puppet prototypes of the robot to assess and refine our design choices. The resulting robot, Vyo, straddles the boundary between a monitoring device and a socially expressive agent, and presents a number of novel design outcomes: The combination of TUI “phicons” with social robotics; gesture-related screen exposure; and a non-anthropomorphic monocular expressive face. We discuss how our design goals are expressed in the elements of the robots final design.

TangiPlan: designing an assistive technology to enhance executive functioning among children with adhd

Children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) experience a deficit in cognitive processes responsible for purposeful goaldirected behaviors, known as executive functioning (EF). In an effort to improve EF, we are developing TangiPlan a set of tangible connected objects that represent tasks children perform during their morning routine. We describe the initial stages of a usercentered design process, consisting of interviews with both domain experts and potential users, followed by paper prototyping. Based on our findings, we formulated preliminary design principles for EF assistive technology: facilitate organization, time management and planning; involve caregivers in the process, but strive to reduce conflict; implement intervention techniques suggested by experts; avoid distraction by mobile phones; avoid intrusion. We discuss the benefits of implementing these principles with a tangible interface, present our prototype design, and describe future directions.

Objects for Change: A Case Study of a Tangible User Interface for Behavior Change

We present Objects for Change (OFC), a set of design considerations based on established behavior change techniques that can serve designers of Tangible User Interfaces (TUI). We highlight empirical findings from behavior change literature, and show how to apply them to inherent TUI properties: (1) visibility and persistency, (2) locality, (3) tangible representation, and (4) affordances. We demonstrate how we applied OFC in the design of a TUI prototype aimed to promote behavior change in planning and organization tasks among youth diagnosed with ADHD.

Designing digital objects for learning: lessons from Froebel and Montessori

Designers of interactive toys face many challenges when integrating digital technologies into the educational manipulatives they design. Drawing on the distinctive approaches of Friedrich Froebel and Maria Montessori – philosophers of education and pioneering toy designers – this paper proposes to qualify and distinguish between their unique design principles as manifested in traditional as well as digital learning objects and educational manipulatives. Application of these core design principles will enable modern day toy designers, particularly those operating in the interactive domain, to meet their educational objectives and maximise the learning potential in childrens interactive learning experiences.