Investigating Attitudes of A Persuasive Eco-feedback Design for Digital Tasks

Abstract: Sustainable development as a research topic is becoming more prevalent across different fields. From a computer science perspective sustainability can incorporate anything from how to develop low-resource-use algorithms to human-computer-interaction oriented applications for behavior change. Eco-feedback systems is the collective term for solutions that can give consumers feedback regarding the environmental impact from their product use. This thesis explores how Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) and eco-feedback can be merged for a digital context, i.e. during the use of computers and software. Two design prototypes were developed where one was considered neutral and the other had PSD applied. The prototypes were included in two separate questionnaires and distributed to capture participants' use intention and perceived persuasive potential of the different designs. Further on, the PSD prototype was used in a usability test and short interview with the intention to gather more opinions in addition to the questionnaire. The results show no significant difference in the response towards the neutral against the persuasive systems design. In total the perceived ease of use and usability score high, meaning the participants regard the design to be easy to use. The response differs greatly when it comes to usefulness and intention to use a similar system in the future. The results of this thesis give an indication of where the user interest is currently at. However, further evaluation and more research is necessary to develop stronger conclusions regarding how different users perceive eco-feedback systems.