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February 26, 2005

What if we designed technologies...

...to persuade us NOT to use them sometimes?
''It's in human nature to wonder whether you've got new mail,'' said Alon Halevy... Dr. Halevy and others talk about making e-mail intelligent so that it knows when to interrupt the user. ''Suppose you trusted your e-mail system enough that you're alerted to an e-mail only if it's really pertinent right now,'' Dr. Halevy said.
Full story here: You There, at the Computer: Pay Attention (New York Times) Personally, I've been playing around with a few ideas for helping people manage their email more efficiently.

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What if we created technologies...

...to persuade us NOT to use them sometimes?
''It's in human nature to wonder whether you've got new mail,'' said Alon Halevy... Dr. Halevy and others talk about making e-mail intelligent so that it knows when to interrupt the user. ''Suppose you trusted your e-mail system enough that you're alerted to an e-mail only if it's really pertinent right now,'' Dr. Halevy said."
Full story here: "You There, at the Computer: Pay Attention" (New York Times) Personally, I've been playing around with a few design ideas for helping people handle their email more efficiently.

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February 14, 2005

A haunting example of unethical persuasive technology

Here's a great (and terrifying) example of what designers could use technology for if no ethical checks existed. Imagine you called your local pizza place in the year 2020... http://www.adcritic.com/interactive/view.php?id=5927 Also note the effectiveness of this simulation as a way to get the point across quickly. Would the effect be the same if you read a paper about this?

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February 10, 2005

Revealing myself in Montréal -- Designing for Impact

On March 5th I will be giving the keynote address at IA Summit 2005 in Montréal. At this event I've decided to share perspectives on captology I've never shared before. Below is the abstract. To get the full scoop, you'll need to join us in Montréal. More info at http://www.iasummit.org/2005/index.htm ---------------
Keynote Address by BJ Fogg "Designing for Impact" It's inevitable: The computing products we design will shape what people think and do. Whether we like it or not, we are all in the business of influencing people's thoughts and behaviors; we are agents of change. As we create experiences for the Internet and mobile platforms, we should understand our role in changing the cultural landscape. The stakes are higher now than ever before. How can one design for impact with awareness, efficiency, and responsibility? Because who you are gets expressed in the products you create, designing for impact extends beyond the workplace into everyday life.
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February 08, 2005

Recent developments in Advergaming

Some recent developments in the area of advertising in gaming: USA Today article on Disney's plans to mix ads, video games to target kids, teens "As part of an 18-month global campaign that kicks off on May 5, Disney will roll out an interactive, multiplayer game called "Virtual Magic Kingdom." It aims to provide a virtual visit to Disney's five global resorts and 11 theme parks to anyone with an Internet connection. The target: "tweens" ages 8 to 12 and young teens. ... The goal: push kids to urge their parents to visit a Disney park during the anniversary promotion that also includes the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland on Sept. 12. " Activision and Nielsen measure how consumers interact with ads in video games "The two companies announced that they are launching a groundbreaking test using the newly-released Activision video game, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 to determine how long and how often players interact with brands. The test will feature Nielsen's watermarking technology that uses audio encoding to uniquely identify when players are exposed to product placements within the game. While the test is initially PC only, Activision and Nielsen Entertainment are in discussions with the console manufacturers. The Chrysler Group will be the first advertiser to take part in the test. Activision and Nielsen Entertainment will measure consumer interaction with the Jeep® brand, which is integrated within Tony Hawk's Underground 2. Activision and Nielsen Entertainment presented the results of a major new study on the power of in-game advertising.... According to the study's conclusions, the more effectively an ad is integrated within a video game, the greater a gamer's ability to recall that ad. In fact, 87% of research participants remembered seeing a high-integrated brand much more frequently than other less integrated brands. This indicates that when a brand appears throughout a game, and gamers must interact with it, that it has a strong positive impact on brand recognition and recall." Massive and Nielsen Entertainment start measuring video game advertising. "Massive enables advertisers to take full advantage of the key strengths of the video game medium: interactivity, immersion, scalability and intense user involvement, using real touch points while never interfering with game play. The Massive Network guarantees delivery and measurement of advertising in either 15 or 30 second spot exposures. As with television, advertisers can buy across the network or segment specifically to reach their desired consumer. The difference is that marketers’ brands are now part of the gamer’s world—integrated into their universe and connecting with the audience in a manner like never before. The two companies will work hand-in-hand during a beta period over the next several months to define essential standards for dynamically served in-game advertising that can be utilized in agency media planning, similar to the way TV ratings are currently used. By auditing the interaction of console and PC players with in-game ads aired across the Massive network, Nielsen and Massive will have full data on the aggregated reach and demographic profiles on the audience exposed to the ad, as well other measurement data important to TV ad buyers including day part, frequency, and geo-targeting." Advertising in Games Forum, April 14 in New York City "Reaching targeted demographics has become a critical issue for advertising agencies and their clients. The profound growth of game playing audiences now offers an unprecedented opportunity for agencies to make a impact and connect brands with content savvy consumers. Game companies are realizing the value of collaborating with agencies with additional revenue streams or adding a dash of realism to their products. "

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February 07, 2005

What does a persuasive mirror mean?

NewScientist is reporting that Accenture's European Lab is reportedly building a "persuasive mirror," which would alter your image based on your exercise, diet, and a few other factors. If you sit around all day and eat donuts, for example, you'd appear haggard, old, and overweight. Here's my take on the concept. This is an intriguing idea. It uses simulation to ostensibly change attitudes and behaviors for a very positive outcome. I had a few thoughts: Simulations are extremely effective persuasion tools because they persuade in context--we're not getting an advertisement at the grocery store or on the subway. We're alone, secure in our homes, when this persuasion would take place. When our cognitive safeguards are down, we're more easily persuaded. Also, it's important that the users are correctly informed about the function and purpose of the persuasive mirror. If they see it as credible and useful, they're more likely to be persuaded.

(Ordinarily a statement like that would make people uncomfortable--the idea that people are "more likely to be persuaded" and that it's a good thing. In this case (and many other recent examples), the goal is not to encourage people to buy yet another gadget or change their attitudes about a political issue. Here, the goal is to shift attitudes toward a healthy lifestyle and that's almost always a universally good thing.)

The mirror has a few advantages by virtue of its design. It's actually a very clever idea: It persuades at the right time and place, just as users are intentionally looking in the mirror. It's a novel technology, which can hide the persuasive intent. Our user, John, might think "This is fun!" without realizing the subtle influences it has on his attitudes and behaviors. This is, of course, a double-edged ethical sword. And the mirror is unobtrusive, responding only when users request information.

There are a few clear concerns, of course. Technology embodies our human biases. This mirror is no different. Users will experience the designers' view of how certain behaviors result in physiological change. Because this is a simulation, users will probably suspend disbelief, raising the potential for any biases in the technology to be more easily accepted. In other words, John might trust his mirror more because it is a novel technology, not realizing that human designers' biases are behind it.

Could the mirror be used in different ways? Of course. We can imagine it being used nefariously, for a certain potato-chip manufacturer to simulate a "better" look on the mirror when someone eats its chips. As is common in technologies, we might see feature creep, in which tons of unexpected features come to be found in the mirror. For example, a creative (but misguided) designer might say, "What if we allowed the mirror to track the amount of time you spent with your kids, the speed you drove on the highway, and the number of emails you responded to today? We could show how all those things affect you every day!" Perhaps, but that's not the point of the mirror. On the other hand, if this mirror is successful, we might see more sophisticated versions of it in the future.

Above all, testing is key. Is the mirror simply a cool device, or is it actually causing changes in attitudes and behaviors? How long do the effects last? The researchers will probably measure these things before and after the mirror is placed in a home in order to understand the influences it has on users. Can they be augmented with complementary technologies? If there were a "Persuasive Home Suite" of other technologies that worked together, attitude/behavior change might be more persistent over the long term. For example, as part of this Home Suite, there might be an opt-in feature on your microwave that would note what you eat every day and present you a list at the end of the week to track your calories. Your scale might praise you when you reach your sensible weight goals. And your Persuasive Mirror might one day be linked with your friends' mirrors--if you allowed it, of course--so you could see how the others were doing and work towards your goals together.

There will be more technologies like this, absolutely. We've just recently seen persuasive technologies being intentionally developed to persuade online and in public spaces. One of the next frontiers is to change private attitudes and behaviors and, naturally, the home is a logical setting. What's fascinating will be the ways in which people evaluate, accept, and reject persuasive technologies in their private spaces. Designers have a huge opportunity ahead of them but will have to be careful to carefully test and validate their assumptions before launching any persuasive technologies. They'll have to keep the ethical considerations of persuasion in mind, too.

NewScientist article: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18524856.200

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February 03, 2005

Web Credibility for Tsunami support and 10 interesting technologies

Web credibility may need to play a larger role in discerning which donation sites are spurious and which are genuine: Internet Aids in Tsunami Recovery
What Trevor Baylis, one of Britain's leading inventors and the founder of Trevor Baylis Brands, thinks of 10 technological ideas: Will your ideas work?

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Mobile Persuasion Conference 2005

If you are interested in attending this event, please email bjfogg@stanford.edu with "mobile persuasion" as the subject line. We have not yet set a date.
----------- "Mobile Persuasion Conference 2005" Can your mobile phone change what you think and do? Yes. It can . . . Just as the web became a platform for persuasion, mobile phones will soon become a conduit for changing people's attitudes and behaviors. Today a handful of mobile applications exist for changing diet, activity, and purchasing behaviors. We will soon see many such examples of "mobile persuasion," as third-party applications become more available on everyday handsets. What are the potentials in the mobile persuasion landscape? Who will be the providers of such systems? What interventions are likely to work, and which will fail? What persuasion strategies will prove most effective on mobile phones? No one has fully explored these questions. This is the first conference to focus on what will prove to be an enormous market. Stanford University will host a one-day conference to bring together researchers, designers, and industry experts interested in mobile persuasion. [101 google hits for "mobile persuasion"]

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February 02, 2005

Online video about captology

An email I received today reminded me about a talk I gave that's posted online. It's 90 minutes long, including Q&A. If you're interested you can see the video here

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