No abstract

Engagement, motivation and active contribution by digital volunteers are key requirements for crowdsourcing and citizen science projects. Many systems use competitive elements, for example point scoring and leaderboards, to achieve these ends. However, while competition may motivate some people, it can have a neutral or demotivating effect on others. In this paper we explore theories of personal and social norms and investigate normification as an alternative approach to engagement, to be used alongside or instead of competitive strategies. We provide a systematic review of existing crowdsourcing and citizen science literature and categorise the ways that theories of norms have been incorporated to date. We then present qualitative interview data from a pro-environmental crowdsourcing study, Close the Door, which reveals normalising attitudes in certain participants. We assess how this links with competitive behaviour and participant performance. Based on our findings and analysis of norm theories, we consider the implications for designers wishing to use normification as an engagement strategy in crowdsourcing and citizen science systems.

Abstract-Sustainability research about using Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to reduce household energy consumption has recently focused on two potential strategies: "smart homes" that rely on sensors and technological innovations to automatically reduce the energy load, and tools that seek to persuade users to change their domestic habits, such as by using eco-feedback devices to raise awareness of the amount of energy used. We propose that there is another approach: support and encouragement of existing best practice within a community to spread it more widely. One such practice is household retrofitting: the installation of domestic environmental technologies (DETs) such as increased insulation, energy efficient boilers, or renewable energy that serve to permanently reduce energy use in a household. We have developed a smartphone application to be used in conjunction with retrofitting open-home events that assists organizers in tracking their event's impact, whilst also helping users in the decision-making processes that surround retrofitting. This paper provides an overview of the app development process and initial results from in-the-wild testing, whilst also identifying potential areas for future research.

In this paper we present our initial ethnographic work from developing TopoTiles, Tangible User Interfaces designed to aid storytelling, reminiscence and community building in care homes. Our fieldwork has raised a number of questions which we discuss in this paper including: How can landscape tangibles be used as proxy objects, standing in for landscape and objects unavailable to the storyteller? How can tangible interfaces be used in an indirect or peripheral manner to aid storytelling? Can miniature landscapes aid recollection and story telling through embodied interaction? Are ambiguous depictions conducive to storytelling? Can topographic tangibles encourage inclusivity in group sharing situations? In this paper we share our initial findings to these questions and show how they will inform further TopoTiles design work.

The squeeze of an arm during a tense moment in a story … an absentminded caress on the back of the hand while listening to an engaging tale … the physical presence and interpersonal touch of a loved one can be an important part of reading to a child. However the thrill of the tale is often lost and the intimacy diluted when separated families have to resort to the flatness of a video-call or mobile app to share a bedtime story with their loved one. This project is setting out to create a physical story portal, a magical object which uses technologies to link teller and listener through sound, light and touch to help bridge this gap when families are separated.While the development of the InTouch reading system is still in the preliminary stages, a prototype handheld device has been created to allow adults and children to share touch-based messages during story time. It has been trialled with several families in the lab, and the initial results have pointed to both guidance and design considerations that should be taken into account for such a system to be successfully deployed.