THE LANDSCAPE OF PERSUASIVE TECHNOLOGIES.

For better or for worse, persuasive technologies are already part of the everyday technological landscape that people live in. Since 1997, the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University has tracked existing and emerging computing devices designed to change human attitudes and behaviors. The article focuses on a significant, potentially controversial and new direction in the design of computing systems. This area is important for computer professionals to understand. Of all these strategies two, simulation and surveillance, are especially noteworthy. Both are made possible by computer technology in ways human systems cannot match easily. They have a high potential for persuasion but work in very different ways. While simulations allow users to draw their own conclusions and adopt appropriate behaviors, surveillance is almost the opposite, possibly compelling users to perform certain behaviors. In fact, a question that still needs an answer, at least in our minds, is whether surveillance is a type of persuasion or a type of coercion. The answer likely depends on specifics of each persuasive computing system. Despite these differences, both strategies will be common in future technologies.