How Instructional Data Physicalisation Fosters Reflection in Personal Informatics

Marit Bentvelzen, Julia Dominiak, Jasmin Niess, Frederique Henraat, Paweł W. Woźniak

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The ever-increasing number of devices quantifying our lives offers a perspective of high awareness of one's wellbeing, yet it remains a challenge for personal informatics (PI) to effectively support data-based reflection. Effective reflection is recognised as a key factor for PI technologies to foster wellbeing. Here, we investigate whether building tangible representations of health data can offer engaging and reflective experiences. We conducted a between-subjects study where n = 60 participants explored their immediate blood pressure data in relation to medical norms. They either used a standard mobile app, built a data representation from LEGO® bricks based on instructions, or completed a free-form brick build. We found that building with instructions fostered more comparison and using bricks fostered focused attention. The free-form condition required extra time to complete, and lacked usability. Our work shows that designing instructional physicalisation experiences for PI is a means of improving engagement and understanding of personal data.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)9781450394215
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Apr 2023

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Keywords

  • personal informatics
  • reflection

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