Exploring how personalized garden information in a user interface can increase the incentive of gardening

Abstract: Gardening has been proven to have multiple health benefits, both mentally and physically. It is a common activity and it’s estimated that almost 78% of home-owners in the USA do it on a regular basis. Cities are growing and have created the challenge to make room for new green spaces to preserve the current biodiversity. This makes preserving or creating garden diversity more important than ever. This study investigates if a user interface could potentially impact and create incentive in gardening for users, with the help of personalized garden information. A prototype was developed and tested in collaboration with Husqvarna Group. The prototype was tested on 5 participants over a 10 day period combined with a qualitative interview to find out if it generated incentive for gardening. The study was done as a conceptual proof of concept and the results were evaluated using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The result implied that the conceptual solution would be perceived useful and accepted on the condition that it provides a personalized user experience. Future research is suggested to look into how to achieve a personalized user experience for user interfaces for gardening.