Study Guide

[Ara]

• How are platforms designed and how they trigger addiction
• How are companies shaping or changing our behavior
• How are design choices controlled (can they even be controlled!?)
• The troubling power of persuasive technologies

[YH]

• What’s the framework that makes people hooked?

Reading Candidates

Tutorial Syllbus

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-mNWztbLexG42SQDueKWUPt59O6GExrvETDC3JpDN70/edit?usp=sharing

Datta, S., & Mullainathan, S. (2012). Behavioral Design: A New Approach to Development Policy. CGD Policy Paper 016. Washington DC: Center for Global Development. Retrieved from  https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/Datta_Mullainathan_Behavioral_Design.pdf

This is an introductory paper about behavioral design and how it was developed. Skim through Chapters 1 to 3 by gaining sufficient background information, and focus on Chapter 4, where the authors mention key principles of the behavioral design (notice how they mention the importance of #rightproblem and #breakitdown before applying principles).

Nodder, C. (2013). Evil by Design? How Interaction Design Can Lead Us into Temptation. User Experience Magazine, 13(3). Retrieved from https://uxpamagazine.org/evil-by-design/

This is a short article describing the “evil by design” concept. Read this and try understanding how different this is from Dark Patterns and what are some examples of this. This is a very short description of the concept but if you are interested there is a book going more into detail about this concept.

Elgan M. (December 2014). Social media addiction is a bigger problem than you think. ComputerWorld from IDG. Retrieved from https://www.computerworld.com/article/3014439/social-media-addiction-is-a-bigger-problem-than-you-think.amp.html