tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093933793500342402.post2899188359144664837..comments2023-02-27T11:23:45.583+00:00Comments on All shirt: First IA book club meet upUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1093933793500342402.post-65938111608145377822007-02-15T19:03:00.000+00:002007-02-15T19:03:00.000+00:00This was the review of one of the 2 loan copies. I...This was the review of one of the 2 loan copies. It's by <B>Annie Drynan</B>. Cheers Annie.<BR/><BR/><B>Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do</B><BR/>Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc,US (31 Dec 2002)<BR/>B J Fogg<BR/><BR/>This is a book about “captology”: an acronym for the phrase “computers as persuasive technologies” – focusing on design, research, and analysis of interactive computing products created for the purpose of changing people’s attitudes or behaviour”.<BR/><BR/>It takes an interesting look at the issues: in particular computers as persuasive tools. A big part of the book looks at the areas of medicine and the environment: tools and programs that persuade people to live healthier lifestyles (for example giving up smoking, taking more exercise) and driving in a more environmentally friendly way. Although these are worthy pursuits, I’m surprised the book doesn’t look in more detail at commercial persuasion: not just in crude advertising messages, or in making a newly downloaded piece of software the default for a particular task, but in more hidden ways. In fact, isn’t a smooth, easy, and intuitive user journey meant to be a persuasive one?<BR/><BR/>One area that isn’t covered much is social networking, and I suspect that if the book was written today this area would feature. As Fogg says, “People we think are similar to us (in personality, preferences, and other attributes) can motivate and persuade us more easily that people who are not similar to us.” I think this partly explains why user-generated content is considered so compelling. So instead of just looking at computers as anonymous personas persuading changed behaviour, we should look at the scope of using computers as a way of broadcasting reported opinions and behaviours of real people to influence others. Surely this is better than trying to give computers, software, or websites a mock personality? I think that LinkedIn is a persuasive tool: we can form an opinion of other people based on what they say about themselves, who they know, and what other say about them. <BR/><BR/>The chapters I found most interesting are the ones looking at credibility and ethics, and credibility of websites in particular. The research into what brings credibility: how trustworthiness and expertise are shown and believed, is interesting: nothing very startling (people dislike popup ads, but like to see a company’s physical address and a contact number for customer service) but it is good to see it in the form of research results. The last research was done in 2002 – it would be interesting to see if the factors that people say make a site more or less credible are the same today. Where might the differences be? One area that might be interesting is research into people’s response to user generated content. What makes someone believe a hotel review written by a stranger? How do we improve the quality of such recommendations to make them believable?<BR/><BR/>The book ends with some predictions. One idea that intrigues me is the emphasis on influence strategies. Again, there is a commercial side to this. How do we ensure that we produce powerful, satisfying, and compelling journeys that don’t irritate our users by being perceived as unduly coercive?<BR/><BR/>Annie Drynan 07.02.07David Carruthershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07194897718272338009noreply@blogger.com