Research

After completing our proposal, I decided to conduct some research to help me gain a better understanding of my problem space and ways to effectively assist users within it. I looked at the effectiveness of feedback within technology to change habits, the use of smart energy technologies and how users develop trust within technology. Within the research conducted, I discovered that:

Feedback characterises within digital technologies should include feedback sign, comparison, tailoring, modality, frequency, timing, and duration. [1]
Lights, signals, buzzes, beeps, and push messages can help break habits and offers the user the opportunity for “reflection in action”. [1]
The disruption and change of habitual behaviour are effective by providing the user a high initial engagement with the product as well as having a target goal, strong motivation, or high perceived self-efficacy. [1]
High frequency feedback over a long period of time is an effective way to disrupt habitual behaviour. [1]
Users need to be provided with real time feedback, so they relate their habitual feedback to their conscious awareness. [1, 2]
The product needs to be incorporated into the user’s everyday life whilst also being attractive and interesting and accessible to all household members. [2]
To best gain the user’s trust, the product should have the following factors: reliability, etiquette, usability, social presence, and visual design. [3]

I then made alterations to my prototype to fall into line with my discoveries. However, whilst I was creating my final form, one aspect within Emily I had not explored was the comparison of the indoor and outdoor temperature whilst using the air conditioning. According to Canstar Blue, your air conditioner should be set at 25° in summer and 18° in winter, in South East Queensland [4]. This allows the system to work less to feel the difference in temperature and is said to have less of an impact on the house’s energy consumption and thus power bill [4]. Daikin estimated that for roughly every degree cooler an air conditioner is in summer, the amount of electricity used increases by 10% [5]. There is no information about the correlation of inside and outside temperatures or what they should be set to, that depends on each person. But Emily is there to help guide what temperature the air conditioner should be set at to allow for optimal energy efficiency. It is also stated that there should be different temperatures during the daytime and night-time, however the optimal temperature it should be set at during the night is undefined [5].

[1]S. Hermsen, J. Frost, R. Renes and P. Kerkhof, "Using feedback through digital technology to disrupt and change habitual behavior: A critical review of current literature", Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 57, pp. 61-74, 2016. Available: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.023 [Accessed 26 April 2020].

[2]C. Kobus, "A switch by design: User-centred design of smart energy technologies to change habits of using energy at home", 2016. Available: https://doi.org/10.4233/uuid:a2bd0f3f-ce85-464e-a8bc-a7c0b505d784 [Accessed 26 April 2020].

[3]J. Xu, K. Le, A. Deitermann and E. Montague, "How different types of users develop trust in technology: A qualitative analysis of the antecedents of active and passive user trust in a shared technology", Applied Ergonomics, vol. 45, no. 6, pp. 1495-1503, 2014. Available: http://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC4237160&blobtype=pdf. [Accessed 26 April 2020].

[4]B. O'Neill, "How Air Con Temperature Settings Impact Costs – Canstar Blue", Canstar Blue, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.canstarblue.com.au/electricity/air-con-temperature-costing/. [Accessed: 25 May 2020].

[5]"Degrees of difference - how small changes in temperature can have a big impact", Daikin, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.daikin.com.au/articles/degrees-difference-how-small-changes-temperature-can-have-big-impact. [Accessed: 25 May 2020].