Captology

In the last decade Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has started to focus attention on forms of persuasive interaction where computer technologies have the goal of changing users’ behavior and attitudes according to a predefined direction. In this work, we hypothesize a strong connection between logical fallacies (forms of reasoning which are logically invalid but cognitively effective) and some common persuasion strategies adopted within web technologies. With the aim of empirically evaluating our hypothesis, we carried out a pilot study on a sample of 150 e-commerce websites.

The semiotic approach to information systems development has proved over the years as a reliable framework for analyses, and it has been mainly focused on the development of organizational information systems. However, the usefulness of the approach extends beyond the organizational context to other areas of systems development. This paper presents a semiotic analysis of persuasive technologies, leading to the design and implementation of a system for obesity management

In this paper the authors evaluate Chevron's Energyville, as an example of a persuasive technology, which is used to change attitudes and behaviours. The authors want to explore this simulation in terms of it's potential to be transplanted as a persuasive technology into the South African context, given the fact that South Africa is experiencing an energy crisis currently and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

The development and implementation of online and mobile HIV/AIDS outreach and prevention programmes to protect public health and promote human rights through a community-owned response with populations disproportionately at risk of HIV infection is largely unexplored in the literature. This paper describes how a unique project’s use of mobile and online technologies removes barriers to learning; enables education to be delivered not-for-profit; and makes sex and human rights education available to the most marginalised in Thailand: men that have sex with men (MSM), male sex workers (MSW) and transgenders (TG). The project takes advantage of multiple entry points and opportunities for behaviour/practice change to
reduce the incidence of HIV through peer education via off and online social networks. The project also uses
animations and a legal and sexual rights handbook to promote sexual health, legal/human rights and access to
quality HIV/AIDS prevention.

Recent technological innovations in open source software and cloud computing have driven the cost of launching a software startup down to a fraction of what it was only few years ago. But as software products increasingly live in the cloud and rely on ongoing customer relationships to be profitable, understanding what drives long-term user engagement is paramount. The objective of this thesis is to shed light on this topic by answering the research question “How can user engagement be increased in SaaS and Social products?”

Through a multidisciplinary literature review and an exploratory thematic analysis of seven software startups with SaaS and Social products (e.g. social media, communities, social games), an integrated model for increasing user engagement in such products is developed. Although there are differences observed between SaaS and Social products, they are limited to a few areas such as network effects and the importance of a reliable service, rendering any effort to develop two separate models unavailing.

It is demonstrated that various measures aimed at increasing ability, motivation, and triggers are central in increasing engagement, but also that they vary throughout a user’s relationship with a product. Some recurring and important measures identified include an effective onboarding process, timing of triggers, storing value, integrating with key industry players to reduce lock-in, and using data in unique ways. From these findings, a three-stage model, consisting of activation, manual retention, and automatic retention, is proposed.

More research and experimentation is needed to empirically verifying the proposed model – and yet it is not unlikely that the findings are relevant to other online and digital services requiring ongoing usage. Finally, practitioners attempting to implement the findings should do so in a responsible manner, without exploiting their users.

https://thomas.do/thesis/
https://zenodo.org/record/2531652

Abstract: Even minor changes in user activity can bring about significant energy savings within built space. Many building performance assessment methods have been developed, however these often disregard the impact of user behavior (i.e. the social, cultural and organizational aspects of the building). Building users currently have limited means of determining how sustainable they are, in context of the specific building structure and/or when compared to other users performing similar activities, it is therefore easy for users to dismiss their energy use. To support sustainability, buildings must be able to monitor energy use, identify areas of potential change in the context of user activity and provide contextually relevant information to facilitate persuasion management. If the building is able to provide users with detailed information about how specific user activity that is wasteful, this should provide considerable motivation to implement positive change. This paper proposes using a dynamic and temporal semantic model, to populate information within a model of persuasion, to manage user change. By semantically mapping a building, and linking this to persuasion management we suggest that: i) building energy use can be monitored and analyzed over time; ii) persuasive management can be facilitated to move user activity towards sustainability.