Fit4life: the design of a persuasive technology promoting healthy behavior and ideal weight

  • Authors:

  • Stephen Purpura;Victoria Schwanda;Kaiton Williams;William Stubler;Phoebe Sengers

  • Affiliations:

  • Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA;Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA;Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA;Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA;Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

This is a critical design paper offering a possible scenario of use intended to provoke reflection about values and politics of design in persuasive computing. We describe the design of a system - Fit4Life - that encourages individuals to address the larger goal of reducing obesity in society by promoting individual healthy behaviors. Using the Persuasive Systems Design Model [26], this paper outlines the Fit4Life persuasion context, the technology, its use of persuasive messages, and an experimental design to test the system's efficacy. We also contribute a novel discussion of the ethical and sociocultural considerations involved in our design, an issue that has remained largely unaddressed in the existing persuasive technologies literature [29].