This paper presents gamification concepts implemented by a gamification engine which is incorporated in a knowledge sharing web-based application. The engine aims at increasing user’s motivation and participation in knowledge sharing and training processes taking place on a factory’s shop floor, enhance socialization and support corrective feedback and positive reinforcement. In particular, it motivates workers to participate in discussions, propose solutions to work-related problems, and upload/view useful content even when being at the workplace. The gamification engine makes use of various gamification elements and is highly configurable in terms of management of gamified tasks. It is designed to support access by both standard display devices (PCs, tablets, mobile phones) as well as Mixed/Augmented Reality platforms, such as Microsoft HoloLens, which are gaining significant traction with industry verticals. The main novelty of the gamification concepts presented is the ability to utilize dynamic worker profile information which is stored in a central database, in order to improve the effectiveness of the gamified tasks, targeting at more effective usage of the knowledge sharing platform in the Industry 4.0 domain.
This study evaluates user acceptance of a gamification-enabled collaboration and knowledge sharing platform that has been developed for use by personnel in industrial work environments, aiming at increasing motivation for knowledge exchange. The platform has been evaluated at two manufacturing industries by two groups of users, workers and supervisors, with regard to five criteria: usability, knowledge integration, working experience, user acceptance and overall impact. Results showed that even though the ratings from both industries were positive on all criteria, there is room for improvement on user acceptance and knowledge integration. Driven by this fact, a rule-based adaptive gamification approach which exploits information about workers is proposed in order to further increase motivation and engagement. Based on feedback received from the evaluation, guidelines related to functionalities and design of a gamified collaboration platform are provided. These guidelines can be followed when implementing collaboration tools with gamification support for industrial environments.
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