Ambient influence: Can twinkly lights lure and abstract representations trigger behavioral change?

Yvonne Rogers*, William R. Hazlewood, Paul Marshall, Nick Dalton, Susanna Hertrich

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

123 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Can ubiquitous technologies be designed to nudge people to change their behavior? If so, how? We describe an ambient installation that was intended to help people decide - and to encourage them to reflect - when confronted with a choice. In this particular case, it was whether to take the stairs or the elevator in their place of work. The rationale was to push people towards a desired behavior at the point of decision-making and to reflect upon theirs and others' aggregate behavior. We describe the ambient displays that were developed and the prototyping studies in which they were evaluated. The findings from an in-the-wild study are then presented. They reveal that even though people said they were not aware of changing their behavior, logged data of their actual behavior showed a significant change. We discuss these mixed findings in relation to whether ambient displays can influence at an unconscious or conscious level.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUbiComp'10 - Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing
Pages261-270
Number of pages10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Dec 2010
Event12th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2010 - Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration: 26 Sept 201029 Sept 2010

Conference

Conference12th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2010
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityCopenhagen
Period26/09/1029/09/10

Research Groups and Themes

  • Bristol Interaction Group

Keywords

  • ambient displays
  • behavioral change
  • in-the-wild study
  • persuasive technology

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