Final Master Project
February – June 2010
Coach: Tilde Bekker, Ben Schouten
Final report
Movie

Curious-action: design-research on eliciting repetitive curiosity in public spaces

Persuasive technology often uses attraction to elicit behaviour; however, when this attraction fades, the persuasion fades as well. Lack of curiosity is one of the causes for this; the aim of this project was to elicit and analyse repetitive curiosity.

Through proof-of-concepts and user evaluations, it has been shown that it is possible to elicit repetitive curiosity. Four principles (novelty, interpretation, uncertainty and conflict) and two mechanisms (scaleability and scaffolding) showed to be strong evokers of repetitive curiosity. Four different types of behaviour (normal, explorative, playful and pattern) were elicited in the encounter-behaviour process. The entire process, and the performed behaviour, is heavily influenced by the context, and all its variables.

A proof-of-concept shows that applying these principles and mechanisms is effective for eliciting repetitive curiosity. Six interactive speakers have been developed, responding to passers-by in curiosity-eliciting ways, using sound output.