Last week the “BeSt Bildungsmesse” took place in Graz and it was a great opportunity for myself to gather some insights for my research topic. The fair itself is an educational fair with three main target groups which are people who are looking for highschools, apprenticeships and universities. I went there and spoke to representatives of the WKO, AMS and also the IBOBB-Graz. Very interesting was the talk with the representatives from WKO as they offer a very gamified approach to deliver information of “not so well know” apprenticeships to teenagers. At the fair they had a video game you could play and also a card game. The lady I spoke to told me, that their main approach is to transfer information about apprenticeships for jobs which might not be familiar to everyone but also not uninteresting.

AMS had a station where people could do interest checks and I already analysed them (last year in my blog post). My opinion back then was that they weren’t very well targeted to the young target group as they still include quite confusing questions (especially for kids/teenagers). My analyse and the response of the teenagers to the asked questions agree.

Coming to my research project I have to think about what questions and task could be appropriate for the target group.

Some companies and representatives offered VR experiences and what I observed is, that a lot of young people are interested to test it out, also I spoke to one lady from AMS and she told me that most teenagers are very familiar with the tool. There was also a VR experience where people were able to weld. They build a physical “welding machine” – a handle and a platform to weld.

This leaves me with the impression that VR is popular and from great interest and is great tool to deliver information in a gamified way.

Links:

https://www.sic-headstarters.at

https://www.berufe-vr.at

As I work my way towards my thesis topic, I am struggling with the feeling that “UX design and AI” is both too broad and too specific. I also wonder if it’s really the topic for me, and I have been asking myself why I chose it in the first place, what exactly interests me, and most importantly, what am I passionate about?

I initially chose to research AI because I felt I had very little knowledge of it, and I wanted to empower myself, and others by extension, to understand and use AI. Last semester, I floated the idea of designing an app using as much AI as possible, and writing a thesis on the process and outcome. But after a summer of reflection, that concept isn’t sitting quite right with me.

My initial interest in AI was driven by my love of people and of helping others, not by my love of technological innovation. Although studying interaction design means that I possess the prerequisite of a fascination with technology, my strongest motivators come from a love of humanity and human connection rather than innovation for innovation’s sake.

If I were to design an app using as much AI as possible, who am I helping? What am I accomplishing? With AI developing so rapidly, surely my work will be outdated before I am even finished. This led me to consider other ways to use my now accumulated AI knowledge. Perhaps a guide for designers, maybe in the form of an app, on how to coexist peacefully with AI? I can’t say I have come even close to a conclusion, but I am keeping my core motivators front of mind as I move forward, with the hope that they will guide me to a topic that both poses a challenge and aligns with my values and interests.

This week, I finally cracked open and read Hooked by Nir Eyal from cover to cover. When looking for inspiration, I tend to gravitate to the “basics”, with the intention of building from there and hopefully discovering something on the way. At this point in time, I would like to build my library of UX Design must-reads, continuing with The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman and 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan Weinschenk.

While I took extensive notes as Nir Eyal laid out the four stages of the Hooked mode, what interested me most was in the last 50 pages, in a chapter entitled “What Are You Going to Do with This?”, which was, coincidentally, also my question at the time. In this chapter, Eyal discusses manipulation in technology and innovation, and dives into how to use the Hooked model ethically. The author discusses the relative newness of technology and our unavoidable ignorance of possible future consequences, but also argues that less than 1% of users develop a detrimental addiction to anything, and that, excluding vulnerable groups, users are responsible for themselves and are able to self-regulate their behaviours.

Using his manipulation matrix, Eyal sorts creators into four groups: Dealers, Peddlers, Entertainers and Facilitators. Eyal argues that “manipulation doesn’t always have a negative connotation”. The book later cites The Bible App and Fitbod as examples of companies that used the Hooked model to build healthy habits.

Nir Eyal’s discussion on ethics in design relates strongly to conversations on ethics in AI. In both sectors, there are advocates for an ethical code of conduct. In both sectors, manipulation is a front page topic of discussion. In both sectors, there is opportunity for humans to work with machines either for or against other humans. In both sectors, we must work with clear intentions to use the tools we have FOR and WITH people.

Hooked was a very different read from what I expected. Like the author expects, I was uncomfortable with the idea of “a cookbook for mind control”, but instead found thoughtful reflections on meaningful design that I will bring forward throughout the process of writing my thesis, and beyond.

Nowadays it is becoming more difficult to maintain a healthy balance with social media and technology and for a lot of people it is a challenge as well. For my fourth impulse I chose a video posted by Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen in which they discussed the topic of Digital Wellbeing with other experts from the field. They shed a light on this issue and gave some insights.

One interesting concept that I liked was discussion of whether FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) can be transformed to JOYO (Joy of Missing Out) as this is one of the most critical fears a person has when trying to change their media/device usage. For a lot of people balance with social media, use of technologies is a difficult topic and it is important to be able to decide which technologies are good or bad for ourselves, which to waive, which type of media usage is the right one.

Crucially, all of this is difficult for adults but even more difficult for younger generation because medias and devices are part of their socialisation with peers, self-confidence, growing up, etc. So, the solution of completely avoiding media and technologies is not a solution nowadays because doing so will only isolate person from other people and the world.

This video also discussed an important topic: the differences of media perception. It was stated that research showed that men and women perceive social medias and experience them differently, which I have never actually thought before but also think it is an interesting topic to explore for my future posts.

In conclusion, it was insightful to see that this topic gets more attention and researchers are trying to find solutions. This impulse also gave me ideas for my future research.

Source:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO-aaU5Ro-I