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A growing number of information technology systems and services are being developed for persuasive purposes, i.e. to change users' attitudes or behaviour or both. This paper proposes a taxonomy of general persuasive approaches, with interpersonal, computer-mediated and human-computer persuasion as the key types. It also recognizes and briefly describes related theories from social psychology, namely information processing theory, cognitive consistency theory, the elaboration likelihood model and Cialdini's influence techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classical rhetoric was the first discipline concerned with persuasion and in fact still has a lot to offer. This is exemplified by a short discussion of the persuasive appeals known from classical rhetoric as well as the so-called ‘aptum-model'. It is suggested how these sets of rhetorical concepts may be developed into guidelines for persuasive design. Moreover, classical rhetoric can be related to social psychology in an interesting and informative way. This combination of classical and modern disciplines of persuasion however also suggests that there is an inherent limit to the power of persuasive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persuasive interfaces in a class of interfaces belonging to a trend in contemporary HCI where user experiences matter more than for instance user performance. In this paper, we argue that in this shift there is also a shift in accountability, but that this shift tends to remain implicit in HCI. What makes a good user experience? To deal with these issues, we argue that HCI needs to develop a philosophy of technology. Two candidate accounts of contemporary philosophies of technology are introduced and discussed. First, Don Ihde develops a phenomenology of relations between human users, artifacts, and the world and technologies are seen as inherently non-neutral. Second, Albert Borgmann argues that we need to be cautious and rethink both the relationship as well as the often assumed correspondence between what we consider as useful and what we think of as good in terms of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of many online services today depends on the company's ability to persuade users to take specific actions, such as registering or inviting friends. We examined over 50 popular Web services of this kind to understand the influence processes and strategies used. We found that successful online services share a pattern of target behaviors that can be viewed as part of an overall framework. We call this framework the "Behavior Chain for Online Participation." This paper briefly presents the general idea of a behavior chain and applies it to understanding persuasion patterns found online. We then illustrate the Behavior Chain for Online Participation by applying it to the Web service LinkedIn and other popular services. Future research may identify behavior chains in other domains and develop new research methods for validating behavior chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recommender technologies are crucial for the effective support of customers in online sales situations. The state-of-the-art research in recommender systems is not aware of existing theories in the areas of cognitive and decision psychology and thus lacks of deeper understanding of online buying situations. In this paper we present results from user studies related to serial position effects in human memory in the context of knowledge-based recommender applications. We discuss serial position effects on the recall of product descriptions as well as on the probability of product selection. Serial position effects such as primacy and recency are major building blocks of persuasive, next generation knowledge-based recommender systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents synthetic embodied conversational agents, and how they can be used to explore the persuasive potential of real embodied conversational agents. Utilizing a novel Wizard-of-Oz style approach and a direct measure of behavior change we explore whether ‘ideal' embodied conversational agents have a similar persuasive impact as real people, and demonstrate the importance of visually perceiving for embodied conversational agents to be persuasive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social psychology shows that the effect of a persuasive argument depends on characteristics of the person to be persuaded, including the person's involvement with the topic and the discrepancy between the person's current position on the topic and the argument's position. Via a series of experiments, this paper provides insight into how the receiver's position can be modelled computationally, as a function of the strength, feature importance, and position of arguments in a set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how Web site user involvement affects perceived credibility of Web sites. The study determined the relationship between two variables: enduring involvement and situational involvement and the study measured the effect of these two independent variables and the interaction effects on the perceived credibility of Web sites. A supplemental analysis assessed whether the four groups produced by the factorial design varied with regard to the Web site element categories noticed during credibility evaluation. The research found that the interaction effect between enduring involvement and situational involvement significantly influenced perceived credibility. Additionally, the user's focus shifted to a more central focus when situational involvement was introduced and different Web site elements were noticed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lack of trust and face-to-face interaction prevents many people from purchasing online. Relevant research aimed at overcoming such problems is often based on the assumption that providing social information increases trust. These studies, however, have yielded inconsistent results, arguably because trust is usually treated as a unidimensional concept. This study targets the influence of social information on trust by taking account of the multidimensional nature of trust. Peer recommendations in product judgment tasks were hypothesized to affect consumers' product attitudes via social trust, rather than competence, if peer images are available and uncertainty associated with products is high. Results indeed support mediation by social trust, but only for experience products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the relative effectiveness of two different persuasive strategies embedded in the rationale of a website. The visitor is asked for his/her contact information either prior to or after having access to the guidelines for managing multimedia files offered by the site. Asking for personal data prior to access represents a reward strategy for obtaining such data. In contrast, asking for personal data after access represents a reciprocity strategy. In addition, the mediating effect of website features displaying "social proof" (such as visits counter) is explored. The analysis of the amount and type of contact information provided shows that a persuasive strategy based on reciprocity is more effective than one based on reward. Also, the presence of social proof features seems counterproductive when using a reciprocity strategy, while it seems to improve the visitors' compliance with the request when using a reward strategy. The results are discussed in terms of adequacy of the persuasive strategy to the specific website genre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique capabilities of mobile, context-aware, networked devices make them an interesting platform for applying suggestion in persuasive technologies. Because these devices are nearly always with their owners, can sense relevant information about the context of their use, and nearly always have network access, they enable the principle of kairos, providing the right information at the best time. Relatively little work has examined providing opportunistic, right-time, right-place suggestions or notifications that encourage people to change their behavior. This paper first discusses some of the challenges facing designers incorporating suggestions into their persuasive technologies. We then review a set of relevant persuasive technologies, focusing primarily on technologies in the health domain. We then identify a design space that represents tactics for building persuasive technologies, particularly suggestion technologies. We then explore how this design space of suggestion tactics can be used to evaluate, compare, and inform the design of new persuasive technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to develop a mobile-phone based intervention that would encourage parents to engage their children in daily literacy-learning activities. The intervention content included text messages for parents, audio messages for parents and children, and Sesame Street letter videos for children. Messaging to parents suggested real-world activities that they could use to engage their children in learning letters. Pre- and post-interviews indicated a significant increase in the frequency with which parents reported engaging their children in literacy activities after participating in this study. In addition, 75% of lower-income participants and 50% of middle-income participants reported that they believed watching the Sesame Street letter videos helped their children learn letters. More than 75% of participants reported believing that a mobile phone used in this way can be an effective learning tool, since mobile-phone delivery made it extremely easy to incorporate literacy activities into their daily routines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of digital television technologies will rapidly expand viewer interaction with computer-mediated television. This paper reports on research demonstrating how new computer-mediated TV advertising models, including iTV microsites and telescopic ads, are superior to their linear counterparts. The authors argue that, in part, such superiority may result from the degree to which interactivity heightens mental engagement (facilitating a shift from peripheral to central message processing) and empowers viewer choice, thereby positively predisposing viewers to the persuasive content they encounter. The authors warn of potential negative fallout, however, where viewer expectations are not met. Although there might be potential ‘distraction' effects associated with processing both video and interactive layered content, testing among college students demonstrated no adverse effects associated with such concurrent message processing. The opportunities associated with further research in this new arena of captology are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a persuasive communication, not only the message but also the source of the message can influence the persuasibility of the audience. This paper investigates whether displaying a static image of the source can affect the perceived credibility of a message that aims to promote regular exercise. We find a clear influence of the source's appearance on the source's credibility and that this effect is topic dependent. We also explore how the perceived source's credibility for a particular topic correlates with the perceived credibility of a message on that topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embodied virtual agents (called hereafter EVAs) are animated, virtual objects, which move, talk, and look like human beings. We propose a possible route which may help better understand how observed effects of an agent on an interface user occur. We relate the concept of embodied agent to literatures in marketing and psychology, which justify the introduction of the concept of attitude. A route of influence and a model are elaborated, proposing effects of agents presence and congruency, on attitudes, and behavioural and intentional dimension of the website power of retention, or "stickiness". The model is tested, results are discussed, research contributions and limits are commented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anchored in social agency theory, recent research has emphasized the importance of anthropomorphic interface agents' voice to impact learning-related outcomes. Nevertheless, literature on human social models suggests that the appearance of an interface agent may have important implications for its ability to influence attitudes and self-efficacy. Therefore, we hypothesized that visual presence of the interface agent would result in more positive attitudes toward engineering and greater self-efficacy than the presence of a human voice alone. In accordance to our hypothesis, results revealed that participants who interacted with the visible agents reported significantly greater utility for engineering, greater self-efficacy, and greater interest in engineering related fields than those who interacted with a human voice. Thus, the current work indicates the importance of anthropomorphic agent's visibility in changing attitudes and beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having engaged one billion users by early 2006, the Internet is the world's fastest-growing mass communications medium. As it permeates into countless lives across the planet, it offers social campaigners an opportunity to deploy interactive interventions that encourage populations to adopt healthy living, environmental protection and community development behaviours. Using a classic set of social campaigning criteria, this paper explores relationships between social campaign websites and behavioural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasingly common for online communities to rely on members rather than editors to contribute and moderate content. To motivate members to perform these tasks, some sites display social comparisons, information designed to show members how they compare to others in the system. For example, Amazon, an online book store, shows a list of top reviewers. In this study, we investigate the effect of email newsletters that tell members of an online community that their contributions are above, below, or about average. We find that these comparisons focus members' energy on the system features we highlight, but do not increase overall interest in the site. We also find that men and women perceive the comparisons very differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines strategies for generating electronic referrals (eReferrals). Acquiring customers through Word of Mouth (WOM) appeals to companies because of the perceived transmitter credibility as well as low customer acquisition cost. Company-initiated eReferrals, a form of online WOM, offer marketers a way to influence customers through encouraging WOM. This research utilized a field experiment focusing on company-initiated eReferrals. Several independent variables were manipulated including incentive magnitudes for the referring party and the party being referred. The dependent variables were the number of referrals made and the number of referrals that led to sales. As expected, larger incentives increased referral rates. In addition, we found that offering the same magnitude incentive to both the referrer and referee led to a greater number of referrals. However when offer incentive magnitudes were not equitable, those with higher offers for the referrer performed better than those with a higher offer for the referee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings on how individuals respond to receiving feedback on their participation levels during meetings. Comparing in-lab and natural group settings, repeated use, and differing information displays, we found that individuals vary on how useful and informative they found the feedback. Their ratings were most influenced by how the tool was first introduced to them and whether or not there was redundancy in the feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses an original research project in the area of education and cross-cultural rhetoric on the use of persuasive digital technologies to enable intercultural competencies among students and teachers across globally-distributed teams. The paper outlines the methodology for the research, including the use of video conferences, collaborative blogs, a project wiki, webforums, and Google documents, and presents the findings on how such information and communication technologies can influence people to approach cross-cultural communication with greater political understanding, ethical awareness, and intercultural competencies in order to bring about improved international and social relations. The paper presents statistical data pertaining to qualitative and quantitative assessment of project outcomes; it situates the project within current debates in intercultural communication and digital pedagogy; and it concludes with a projection on the scalability and sustainability of using computers to change human attitudes and behaviors in positive ways in an international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getting workers to share knowledge in situations where "knowledge" is the primary asset making them valuable is a pressing problem in many organizations - leading to what we call "the knowledge worker's prisoner's dilemma." Interesting variants of this dilemma arise in the contexts of customer support and server system administration. We begin by describing some of the reasons why the uncooperative resolution of the dilemma is so detrimental from an organizational perspective. We then discuss a successful example of a cooperative resolution to the dilemma - the Open Source initiative. We articulate an ambitious long-term thesis regarding the electronic support ecosystem and then describe a multi-pronged approach for facilitating knowledge capture and sharing in the context of IBM's service industry, thereby facilitating a "win-win" or collaborative solution to the knowledge worker's prisoner's dilemma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surveillance in public and private places, both physically and digitally, is increasing for different reasons. In this paper we intend to discuss surveillance and persuasive technology in an ethical perspective with an eye to its historical and cultural context. In section 1, we present some different tendencies of surveillance in society. In section 2, we elaborate on some important historical ideas on surveillance. In section 3, we consider the use of persuasive technology for surveillance purposes. In section 4, we discuss the development towards increasing surveillance in society, at work, in public places etc. In section 5, we draw up some ethical concerns on surveillance, and finally. In section 6, we discuss the question of a possible need for a public and democratic control of the use of surveillance technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often easier to persuade someone that something is impossible to do than that it is possible, since the absence of one necessary resource suffices. This makes lying a tempting tactic for negative persuasion. We consider the problem of finding convincing lies for it as one of maintaining consistency of a set of logical assertions; we can track that consistency with a computer program. We use an example of negative persuasion against electronic voting in elections, where automated analysis then suggests ways to prevent it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic monitoring of offenders is being increasingly used as an alternative to incarceration. Although surveillance and the threat of punishment can temporarily suppress criminal behavior, this strategy has not reduced long-term re-offending. An alternative use of monitoring technology would reward prosocial behavior on a variable schedule. Miniature and inexpensive Bluetooth or WiFi-enabled transceivers can electronically enrich designated environments in order to encourage offenders to attend classes, arrive promptly at work, or make appropriate decisions at critical choice-points in a crime-prone neighborhood. Within the criminal justice system, only small, incremental changes can be expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New persuasive technologies often make the mistake of touting how new and different they are from anything that came before. What they should really be trying to do is mask any behavior change by making their interface and interactions as familiar and mundane as possible. This lesson is illustrated in a case study of the Nike + iPod, a revolutionary device that pretends to be just a better way to go for a run while listening to music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a framework, design and study of an ambient persuasive interface. We introduce a novel framework of persua sive Cues in Ambient Intelligence (perCues). Based on this framework we designed an application for mobile devices. The application aims to persuade people to abstain from using their cars and to use public mass transportation instead in order to reduce emissions. It contains a bus schedule and information about the pollution status. We evaluated the application in two successive studies regarding user acceptance, oppor tune moments of use and persuasive effects. The perCues received a high acceptance due to its benefit for the users. The results confirm the im portance of opportune moment and user acceptance for persuasion. The findings also indicate the persuasive potential of perCues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of persuasive technology systems consist of multiple devices that enable efficient just-in-time interaction with the user. Developing multi-device systems to support a human activity bring about new challenges for interaction and user experience design. The main challenge identified in this paper is the successful designing of coherent user experience, which may improve user acceptance and have a positive effect on the overall persuasiveness of the system. This paper analyses a multi-device heart-rate monitoring environment to illustrate the target of our research. We propose the notion of distributed user experience as a key concept for studying the design of efficient persuasive technology systems consisting of multiple devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of an interactive "pet" house plant could provide the same positive health support functions as a robotic pet, and with fewer problems, if it could be shown that an emotional attachment with a human was possible. This required that an inanimate living artifact (the plant) along with its pot, be accepted as stimulating emergent emotion. An experiment comparing an interactive, apparently aware, plant with a control was conducted in three retirement homes. Individuals were found to attribute emotions to the interactive plant that increased if the plant was described as having a character similar to that of the user. Results of the study support the conclusion that interactive plants have potential for further development as supportive companions to the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational agents can motivate people to change their behaviour towards energy use in a home setting. In this paper, we investigate the design and evaluation of the iParrot, an intelligent agent that helps to persuade family members to conserve energy in their home. The iParrot was designed as a concept in the form of a video prototype with two conditions. The results from the evaluation show that people will comply with the advice from such an agent for energy conservation if the agent is friendlier. Moreover, participants were able to distinctly perceive the friendliness level for both conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging computer games can be used to change energy consumption patterns in the home. PowerAgent is a pervasive game for Java-enabled mobile phones that is designed to influence everyday activities and use of electricity in the domestic setting. PowerAgent is connected to the household's automatic electricity meter reading equipment via the cell network, and this setup makes it possible to use actual consumption data in the game. In this paper, we present a two-level model for cognitive and behavior learning, and we discuss the properties of PowerAgent in relation to the underlying situated learning, social learning, and persuasive technology components that we have included in the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is it possible to motivate users of an application through software elements? Is it also possible to do so for business applications? Having a long lasting, monotone, little challenging work task does not motivate users a lot in continuing a task, especially if this task comes up regularly, like typing numbers or addresses. We found software patterns - design recommendations - that keep a user working on such a task. We validated one of them in an experiment and found out that it is possible to motivate users through captivating software elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persuasive games are a relatively new phenomenon, and hold promise as effective vehicles for persuasion. As yet, however, there are few set rules guiding how to design persuasive games to be interesting, compelling, and effective. Furthermore, little theory exists that guides their development from a persuasive technology (PT) perspective. The results of a recent pilot test on Smoke?, our persuasive game about smoking cessation, highlighted several design issues related to persuasive games in general. In this paper we discuss some of those issues, contextualizing them in terms of B J Fogg's PT strategies, in order to both explain underlying forces, and point towards potential design solutions. The five issues we discuss are: managing player attention, balancing "replayability" with reality, player control vs. system control, identity issues, and target audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, African Americans face a disproportionate amount of diet-related health problems. For example, African American adults are 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than their Caucasian counterparts. Individuals in low-income communities may face a greater risk because they typically have less access to healthy foods. Due to the significant diet-related problems within the African American community, public health researchers call for approaches to health promotion that take into account the relationship between culture and dietary habits. In this paper, we discuss three important considerations for the design of technologies that address the diet-related health disparities in low-income African American communities. These considerations include designing for cultural relevancy, modeling health behavior, and encouraging healthy behavior through the use of social psychological theories of persuasion. We use a game design example to illustrate how each of these considerations can be incorporated into the development of new technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By mapping critical psychological processes involved in an attempt at behavioral change, we can design digital programs to deliver specific cognitive therapy at the right moments, increasing the probability of successful behavioral change in a variety of domains. This breakthrough, named Digital Therapy, has been proven in random clinical trials to be a cost-effective way for people to achieve lasting behavioral change, with the help of modern psychological science, but without seeing a therapist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation in regular physical activity (PA) is critical to sustaining good health. While a few attempts have been made to use internet-based interventions to promote PA, no system review has been conducted in determining the effectiveness of the intervention. The purpose of this study was to conduct a review under the framework of persuasive technology (PT). Based on a comprehensive of literature search, nice experimental studies were identified and evaluated using the PT functional triad defined by Fogg in 2003[1]. It was found that only two studies led to short-term impact in promoting PA and, furthermore, two studies have found that the intervention based traditional print materials worked better. From a perspective of PT, none of the studies designed its intervention based on the framework of captology and few took full advantages of PT functions. Designing new-generation, PT based internet intervention and examining related human factors are urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cueing strategies, such as real-time reminders, are among the most effective methods of persuading individuals to perform healthy behaviors such as taking their medication and exercising. However, these reminders often represent a task interruption for users who are engaged in work activities. This paper presents the results of a study which explores strategies for interrupting users at work to perform a healthy behavior, in which the primary outcome of interest is long-term adherence to a desired health behavior change regimen. We find that the degree of perceived politeness of interruptions is positively correlated with predicted long-term adherence, but negatively correlated with short-term compliance. We also find that, among several interruption coordination strategies previously explored in the literature, empathic interruptions are superior overall in gaining both short-term compliance and long-term adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiment described in this paper addressed two main questions. Can a virtual coach motivate beginning athletes? Can a virtual coach influence beginning athletes exercise behavior? The results show that doing physical exercises is more enjoyable with a virtual coach than without, consequently increasing the intrinsic motivation. Also, the extrinsic motivation is increased by a virtual coach, which is indicated by higher external regulation. Finally, participants biked more in the optimal heart beat zone in the condition with the coach. Longitudinal research is needed to find out the long-term effect of a virtual coach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persuasive technologies can be useful to modify behaviors related to energy usage. In this paper, we present the PowerHouse a computer game designed to influence behaviors associated with energy use and promote an energy-aware lifestyle among teenagers. This prototype game aims to influence a set of target activities in the home using several persuasive techniques. Employing the format of a reality TV show (docu soap), the game informs implicitly and explicitly about various energy-efficient actions. We discuss our overall game design and its advantages and disadvantages in relation to the methods we have employed in the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivationally positive property of technologies has both a functional and an attractiveness component. The first one concerns the use of interactive technology to encourage or discourage specific behaviours by controlling the conditions under which they occur. Riding a motorcycle for the excitement, is a good example of the second component. Gerontechnology, as a service of human health and well-being during development and aging, has been defined in 1991. After 15 years it is time to view the persuasiveness of current and future practices to focus our behaviour and attitude towards a lifespan with enlarged vitality and independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical framework for communication and persuasion technology is introduced, utilizing people's emotions and personality characteristics. It uses two unobtrusive psychophysiological measures to penetrate people's emotional space: heart rate variability and the variability of the fundamental frequency of the pitch of the voice. In addition, two experiments are described that validate these measures. Future systems can utilize such technology to sense people's emotions and adopt suitable persuasion strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines an approach for prospective health technologies: systems that inspire changes in midlife to prevent onset and progression of disease. Motivational hooks related to wellness, appearance and relationship satisfaction are aligned with long term disease risks and supported through dynamic feedback displays. Wireless sensor networks, inferencing, ambient displays and mobile interfaces are explored to carry biofeedback into everyday life. Several examples of display concepts - created to facilitate self-regulation of social engagement, weight, physical exertion and stress reactivity - illustrate this approach. Future work will explore mind-body relationships and extend from informational displays to experiential feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The realization of the ambient intelligence (AmI) vision will have a profound impact on our everyday lives and society. AmI applied in contexts like homes or public spaces will not only affect individual users but influence entire groups of users. The question is how we can apply such technologies to persuade groups and individual users. Our approach is to design AmI environments by borrowing a concept which works very well in biological and social systems: Collective Intelligence (CI). The intelligence of a group surpasses the individual intelligences and leads to improved problem solving capabilities of individuals and groups. From nature we borrow examples of cues in the environment to stimulate goal directed collective intelligence (perCues). The application of perCues in AmI environments helps to persuade users to reach a common goal like decreasing environmental pollution. Adopting CI for AmI we blaze a trail for the design of persuasive AmI environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The keynote speaker for this conference, Dr. B.J. Fogg, defines persuasive technology as, "interactive computing systems designed to change people's attitudes and behaviors." [1]. Such changes find their origin in changes in people's motivation. The coaching possibilities of technology may be viewed as an embellishment of conditioning and behavior therapy. With respect to aging, most people want to live a long life—indeed as long as possible—but they don't want to grow old. Literally dozens of formal and informal surveys about the ambitions and desired activities of old people have been performed [2]. The results highlight the desire of older persons to maintain their accustomed way of life, maintain and identify new social contacts; and identify and develop new recreational, educational and artistic activities, some that replace or modify earlier ones associated with family and work. With this background in mind, we will discuss persuasive technology as coaching benefits in relation to the ambitions, activities and wisdom of people as they age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) can be used persuasively to change attitudes regarding medication taking, thereby facilitating adherence for older adults. A pillbox that integrates onto the body of the PDA was created as a place to store mid-day pills. Results from a lab and field experiment on older adults' perceptions and use of PDAs for medication minding are reported. In both the lab and field experiment, older adults were successfully trained to use PDA standard programs and a program for medication reminding. At the conclusion of the 3-month field experiment, a physical pill count yielded increased compliance with two-thirds of the participants missing 1 pill or less in the third month of the study. Implications for PDA training curricula, hardware design, and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technicians from the Waag Society in Amsterdam developed an intelligent story- telling table, to be used in institutional care facilities for older persons. The core of the table is a video-equipment with installed 15 to 25 short video's (5 - 15 minutes) with historical stories from the years 1920 - 1950. Around the table there are 4 -6 TV-screens to look at the video's. The screens are located on a somewhat lower platform, in order to enable those who are sitting around the table to offer the best possibility to see the screen and each other and to exchange experiences from earlier life. The short video's are meant to start a process of exchange among those around the table by commenting on the video and telling their own life stories [1]. The involvement in the storytelling process was expected to promote social and emotional wellbeing and cognitive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the number and proportions of older people grow, those living in developed economies are increasingly likely to enjoy an active and healthy period of their life. During this time they are free to pursue old, and new, leisure interests and to travel around, both locally (often in towns, with the aid of concessionary, or free, travel passes) and to more distant places. Younger older people (up to age 75), people on higher incomes and people in better health are all more likely to move around more [1]. These trends are likely to increase in the future [2]. Meanwhile, technology developments in mobile telephony and geographic information systems are making it possible to locate the geographic position not only of vehicles and boats but also of people on foot [3]. These technical developments inspired the team working on this project to apply the sophisticated technology associated with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) , Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Location Based Services (LBS) to address the pedestrian navigational needs of two groups of people who are frequently excluded from commercial design concerns. As well as older people, the research is addressing the needs of people with severe visual impairments. However, to date, the major thrust of fieldwork has focused on older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This critical review of B.J. Fogg's book Persuasive Technology regards captology as an eclectic and formative work. It summarises two other reviewers' work and identifies several new strengths. It scrutinises Fogg's functional triad - computers functioning as tools, media and social actors - and some categorical changes are recommended. It investigates further Johnson's concerns about specific ethical omissions, nominating a new term, compusuasion, for the resultant but unintended, exogenous behaviour/attitude change effects of captological design. The review commences to more carefully define what constitutes persuasion and draws attention to the distinction between persuasion techniques in general and the behavioural changes that result from advocacy and education. The reviewer concludes that a fundamental ethic be that the designer's intent be exposed at the commencement of the user's engagement with the program and proffers the idea of persuasion resulting in a new conviction, induced by others, as a helpful definition of persuasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heating is a significant expenditure of many households today but the actual power consumption of the heating devices are seldom recognized. To help people understand and reflect upon their domestic energy consumption, we have designed an electrical radiator that emits heat entirely from light bulbs. This appliance responds to temperature changes in the room via sensors. The idea was to combine the product semantics of lamps and radiators and direct focus on the latter neglected product category. We argue that by re-designing domestic appliances adding means to visualize energy consumption in engaging and interesting ways it is possible to make energy utilization less abstract and easier to comprehend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vascular risk factors are often poorly managed. A multifactor approach with the aid of nurse practitioners (NPs) is more beneficial for achieving treatment goals of risk factors than achieved with usual care in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Objective: In the SPAIN pilot-study, we want to implement and test a secure personalized website with additional treatment and coaching of a NP for risk factors in patients with CVD. Fifty patients are going to use the patient-specific website for six months. At study begin; realistic treatment goal(s) for elevated risk factors are made between patients and the NP. Patients can enter new measurements and are stimulated to keep regular e-mail contact. The NP personally replies during working days and gives regular but protocol driven feedback and support. Data will be collected on login attempts, amount of messages, risk factor levels before and after intervention and on beliefs. Determinants of changing behaviour are collected. Results: The results can be expected at the beginning of 2007. Conclusion: This pilot-study will give insight in feasibility and satisfaction of patients and NP in electronically treatment of risk factors. Also information on the course of risk factors will be available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]