Ubiquitous Computing: Using everyday object as ambient visualization tools for persuasive design

In order for companies to survive and advance in today’s competitive society, a massive amount of personal information from citizens is gathered. This thesis investigates how these digital footprints can be obtained and visualized to create awareness about personal actions and encourage change in behavior . In order to decide which data would be interesting and accessible, a map of possible application fields was generated and one single field was chosen for further study. The result is a business concept called the Open Supermarket, consisting of a number of ideas that utilize transparent information to tackle the problem of information asymmetry between the customer and the market. By providing tools that visualize information, the concept helps customers to make environmentally sustainable and healthy choices. A multitude of visualization methods were researched and the combination of ambient visualization and ubiquitous computing was considered most e !cient for persuasive purposes. Three prototypes were developed under the Open Supermarket concept; a toy and a bag that react to food articles by RFID technology and a mobile phone software which is used for scanning barcodes and provides information related to the article. The prototypes have di"erent purposes: the toy and bag aid the consumers by filtering out vast amounts of information and focusing on ecology and health, the bag also adds new values to ecological products. The mobile phone software is an instrument for in-store third-party information. The thesis was commissioned by the Interactive Institute Studio NVISION in Norrköping, a non-profit research facility which combines art, design and technology to create novel inventions. The work can be seen as a guide to future e "orts in the field of environmental science, ubiquitous computing and persuasive visualization