The landscape of persuasive technologies

Reviewer: William J. Eccles

Persuasive technology is the use of such things as computers and the Internet to induce the user to believe or do something. Examples given include: encouraging food service employees to wash their hands (although the site given does not seem to relate to that); convincing children to eat more fruits and vegetables (the Domain Name Server could not find the site when I searched for this); helping users participate in an auction by treating the auction process as a game (the site appears to be well organized); and providing environmental and pollution data to support local action (the site contains much data of all kinds). Some technologies use physical artifacts. An example is Baby Think It Over, a computerized doll that seeks to encourage healthy behavior by approaching pregnancy in a thoughtful manner. The authors feel that this use of technology will grow and that “persuasive computing may eventually become a seamless extension of a persons everyday activities.”