Strategies to Connect People through Real-time Visulisations of Electricity Consumption in Social Networks

PhD Confirmation Seminar by Mr Richard Medland
QUT Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation and National ICT Australia (NICTA)

My research aims to inform the development of future generations of interface design solutions that help to conserve resources. The study is exploring more understandable and useful ways to use technology for people to make more environmentally conscious consumer decisions, and is guided by a human-computer interaction research and design approach. It seeks to develop a set of interface guidelines that will improve the persuasiveness of design interventions and lead to more sustained behavioural changes towards sustainability in Australian cities.

The study’s timeliness and significance is supported by current trends, such as participatory culture, ubiquitous technology (small, embedded, and accessible), real-time information (sensor networks, locative media, and mobile devices), and the resultant challenges and opportunities that are emerging for the application of human-computer interaction on these platforms.

Currently my research encompasses two case studies. The first case study seeks to engender an attitudinal shift towards more informed domestic energy conservation, achieved through the installation of, and development work centred on, real-time in-situ electricity meters in homes across Queensland. As Fitzpatrick & Smith (2009) report, domestic energy consumption remains largely invisible and intangible to consumers. To challenge this perception my research explores techniques to educate and interact with users, providing channels for personal expressions of creativity and methods to participate in and contribute to digital culture. Further, the study aims to encourage users to conduct their own research, and share, collaborate and compete naturally with others by applying their accrued energy data.

The second case study seeks to engender a greater understanding among university staff of the tangible and negative effects that excessive printing has on their workplace and local environment. Using software to analyse the generated log files of selected printers and printer groups, baseline measurements are determined and print usage of staff from suitable offices is graded. Different grades result in the circulation of software generated emails – purportedly from the local printer or printer group – playfully complaining or commending staff based on their pages printed. Staff are reminded of what their current usage equates to in different metrics, and encouraged to conserve paper for a tangible reward using disjunctive and injunctive information. Current planning envisages locally native saplings as rewards, temporarily situating them in the office reaching a set reduction target over time, before planting the saplings in a campus green space for staff to visit.

Date: Monday, 22 March 2010
Time: 16:00 – 18:00
Location: Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries Precinct, Z2-304
Street: 10 Musk Ave
City: Kelvin Grove, Australia

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