Designing VivoSpace: An online social network to motivate health behaviour changeNoreen Kamal (PhD Candidate)

Social Media CampMarch 7 2012

Who Am I?3rd year Electrical and Computer Engineering Student working in

the Domain of Human-Computer Interaction & Quality Leader at BC PSQC

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Human Communication Technologies Laboratory

Motivation

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Popularity of online social networks & social games

• Daily Active Users for facebook is 500 million• Daily Active Users for Zynga is 49

million*• 13.3 million for cityville (top)

• Daily Active Users for EA is 18 million*• 11.3 million for The Sims Social (top)

*www.appdata.com checked on September 24, 20114

So…

• How do you harness the motivational power of online social networks and games to promote health behaviour change?• What are the design principles?• We need to understand the motivations for use

and changing health behaviour!

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Approach

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Literature Review

ABC Conceptual Framework

User Inquiry

Questionnaires &

Interviews

Low-Fidelity

InterviewsOn

Paper Prototypes

Medium-Fidelity

Usability StudiesOn

Medium Fidelity Prototypes

High-Fidelity

Field TestsOn

High Fidelity Prototypes

I am here…

Literature ReviewOnline Social Networks

• Uses and Gratification Theory• Common Identity Theory• Common Bond Theory• Social Identity Theory• Organizational Commitment

Theory• Behavior Chain for online

participation• Social Network Threshold

Theory

Health Behavior Change

• The Health Belief Model• Social Cognitive Theory• Theory of Reasoned Action• Theory of Planned Behavior• Common Sense Model• The Transtheoretical Model

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Synthesis: ABC Framework

• Appeal• Individual determinants for use and

health behaviour change• Belonging• Social determinants• Commitment• Temporal consideration -> Stages• Reasons for continued use

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Design GuidelinesAPPEAL BELONGING COMMITMENT

Provide connection to family and friends

Groups and clubs Rewards through Gamification

Entertaining: individual incentives/rewards

Social norms (see what friends and family are doing)

Start and end dates

Personal health informatics

Approvals: such a medical evidence

Competition

Information to promote education

Social dialog of health information

Goals

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Evaluation of ABC• 104 respondents to an paper/online questionnaire• Good agreement with the determinants• especially on use motivation to use online social networks• to get information• to maintain connection with people• for convenience

• Less so on• social enhancement• learn about ones self

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DESIGNING VIVOSPACEUser Centered Design Process

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Paper Prototype• Paper Prototypes• Adobe Illustrator• 14 pages• Based on design guidelines extracted from ABC framework

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The Timeline

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The Dashboard

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Feedback on prototype

11 people were interviewedRESULTS:Fascinated by socialization of health informationConcerned about privacySuggested the creation of challenges and group health activities

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Medium Fidelity Prototype• Interactive• HTML, jQuery, Javascript, CSS• 32 HTML pages, 1 css file, and 2 javascript files

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Laboratory Evaluation• 36 adults participated• APPEAL determinants – evaluated directly ->questionnaire

feedback • BELONGING determinants –indirectly -> Helping Game

Experiment (behavioural economics)• COMMITMENT determinants –indirectly-> In-Group

Experiment (social psychology)

RESULTS• Found VivoSpace appealing and did lend to health behaviour

determinants• Concern about whether users would provide information• Promoted belonging & commitment

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High-Fidelity Prototype• PHP and MySQL• CodeIgniter Web Application Framework• Model-View-Controller development pattern

• Currently Under Development

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Field Evaluation• Partnering with Connect Health• An integrative Healthcare Clinic focuses on prevention

• Use of pre-post interviews• Usage data• Outcome data such as quality of life indicator can be

considered

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Food for Thought• How can social gaming improve personal health and the

healthcare system?• Do we link to facebook or keep it separate for privacy?

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QUESTIONS?

Contact:noreenk@ece.ubc.ca, nkamal@bcpsqc.ca noreenkamal.com@noreenkamal

Upcoming: In a Panel at SxSW Interactive (led by Ayogo Games)

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Related Publications:N. Kamal, S. Fels, M. Blackstock, K. Ho (2012). The ABCs of Designing Social Networks for Health Behaviour Change: The VivoSpace Social Network. In E. Kranakis et al. (Eds.), Springer Volume on Social Networks. (In Press)

N. Kamal, S. Fels, M. Blackstock, K. Ho. (2011). VivoSpace: Towards Behavior Change Using Social Gaming. In J. C. Anacleto et al. (Eds.),  Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2011, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 6972. Pages 319-330. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg.  DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-24500-8_35 (31% acceptance rate)

N. Kamal, S. Fels. (2010). Online social networks for personal informatics to promote positive health behavior. In The Second ACM SIGMM Workshop on Social Media (WSM2010). Oct 25-29, 2010. Firenze, Italy. 47-52. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1878151.1878167 (Acceptance rate 58.8%)