In the morning programme there are lectures about the theory, ethics, and design of behaviour influencing technologies:
Introduction: Mediation theory and design
Prof. dr. ir. Peter-Paul Verbeek (University of Twente)
As an introduction to the symposium Verbeek will sketch theoretical background and history of the theme of designing behaviour change or guidance. In the Philosophy of Technology and Science and Technology Studies, various frameworks have been developed for conceptualizing, assessing how technologies change human behaviour and human existence at large. Examples are the mediation approach (Ihde 1990; Verbeek 2005), the script approach (Latour 1992), the field of persuasive technology (Fogg 2003), and the nudge approach (Thaler and Sunstein 2008). Application of these insights to the practice of design seems promising for better understanding and anticipating how users will approriate technologies. This symposium brings together researchers and designers who aim to link these theoretical insights with the practice of product design.
View the video of this lecture.
Design for social behaviour
Ir. Nynke Tromp (Delft University of Technology)
Nynke Tromp will present a conceptual framework for understanding behaviour change by means of design. Two questions play an important role. Why do we want to change behaviour in the first place? And next, how can we actually facilitate behaviour change by means of design?
It seems that conflicts of perspective, or of interest, often hinder desirable behaviour. As society we might for instance stimulate people to cycle to work out of care for our environment. However, people often prefer taking the car as it is a convenient, efficient and comfortable means of transport. In other words, what is in the interest of society is not always acted upon by the individual.
Tromp will show how design can be applied to overcome opposing interests, and thus be a means for behaviour change.
View the video of this lecture.
The ‘Design with intent toolkit’
Dan Lockton MPhil (Brunel University, UK)
Dan Lockton will talk about the Design with Intent toolkit, a collection of design patterns for influencing user behaviour, drawn from a range of disciplines. There’s a huge opportunity for design for behaviour change to address social and environmental issues, but as yet little in the way of a guide for designers and other stakeholders, bringing together knowledge and examples and drawing parallels which can allow concepts to be usefully transposed. The Design with Intent toolkit, in the form of a card deck usable during the design process, aims to make a start on this.
Lockton will also introduce the EMPOWER project, a new collaboration between More Associates, Brunel University and the University of Warwick in the UK, which aims to understand the behavioural aspects of workplace energy use better, and design interventions which influence more sustainable behaviour through a programme of participatory design and ethnographic investigation of mental models.
View the video of this lecture.
Product impact in the design of the ‘OV-chipkaart’
Drs. Steven Dorrestijn (University of Twente, PhD of the DfU project)
The introduction of the OV-chipkaart (public transport e-paying system) over the last years has met with a lot of trouble. Dorrestijn will make use of examplary product impact effects, obtained from diverse periods and schools of research into technology impact, to explore the effects on users of the design of the OV-chipkaart system. Whereas the issue of privacy dominated the debate eversince the card has been hacked, Dorrestijn claims that usability deserves equal or even more attention. A main deciding factor for the succes of the card will be if users can succesfully adapt their routines at the railway station and habits of travel planning, as required by the new system. Assessing and redesigning the system from the perspective behaviour guiding elements in the design seems to be helpfull or even decisive.