Thanks for submitting your poster! I enjoyed listening to Koyo narrate the project’s research questions, methodology, and findings, which leads to 1 of 2 questions. Based on your findings, how might you amend your recommendations for users with low or no vision? Also, did your research team consider emotions are mediated, ameliorated, and/or exacerbated by technology? I look forward to your responses!
Thank you for your response! With regards to your first question, I think a potential alternative to visual note-taking is audio interaction (e.g., whispering thoughts to a listening device like Alexa). I think supporting non-visual forms of interaction would be beneficial for users with low or no vision as well as people who would rather not turn on their lights to take notes on paper! To answer the second question, we found that some participants desired technology to “guide” their reflection, because they felt that engaging in stream-of-consciousness style reflection can quickly become overwhelming and time-consuming. We didn’t focus our research on whether participants’ current use of reflection-assistance technology impacts their emotional experience during reflection, but we found that technology can serve as a “time limit” to how long people reflect, which was a big factor in people’s feelings of negativity toward reflection.
gettog
1 year ago
Interesting study: I’m curious what you think designers might do, in a practical sense, to intervene in this issue. For example, can you think of any new settings, apps, or other kinds of functionality from different kinds of devices that might help with this issue? You mention the ability to record thoughts, for example. Any other ideas you might have?
Thank you for responding! Another obstacle that people faced when engaging in reflection was feeling “trapped” by the effort required to make lifestyle changes (e.g., to stop procrastinating on schoolwork). To address this, designs could offer guiding prompts to reflect on that help users make changes one small step at a time, such as by asking questions like “Set one 15 minute goal for tomorrow.” I think an important thing to consider when designing is that people want to be able to choose whether to engage in reflection or go straight to bed (i.e., avoid ruminating). Taking inspiration from people who fatigue themselves to sleep by watching YouTube until they cannot open their eyes any longer, perhaps a possible design could be a music player that plays soothing, instrumental music when wishing to reflect and lyrical music when wishing not to reflect. I think the biggest design challenge out of the three design recommendations is allowing users to choose between engaging in reflection or falling asleep quickly. How can a design help users get rid of intrusive thoughts and clear their mind so that they can fall asleep more quickly? To be honest, I do not know the answer to that question.
This was a fun project to read and hear about. I particularly appreciated your methodology, and the finding about sleep hinderance was unexpected but helpful. Could you speak to what led you to this project and the overall rationale for considering this as a design project? Who are your design recommendations geared towards (game or app designers? traditional paper journal designers? wellness companies looking across the spectrum of reflection support devices, including new technologies)?
Thank you for commenting! I was inspired to research this project after reading William Odom’s paper on “Photobox,” which was a device that printed three photos from the user’s Flickr database at random times each month, and in so doing fostered a reflective mindset in people. As I noticed in my personal life as well as my peers’ lives, the fast-paced nature of society today makes it difficult to have time to be mindful and take time to think. Part of the reason why I wanted to research for the night-time context is because I noticed that a lot of devices that support/induce mindfulness and reflection were mobile apps, and I felt that using an app to reflect before bed sounds eye-straining and unfit for the context. In terms of the audience, I agree with the list that you provided, though I would hesitate to promote mobile apps as a suitable design medium (unless screen interaction is not the focus, e.g., interacting through audio). I do think that my finding about the potential negative emotional impacts of reflecting brings up ethical concerns such as how to consider users that have had severe negative experiences, such as losing a family member or PTSD.
ameliachesley
1 year ago
this is fascinating! thank you for sharing this work. I have two questions for you:
what is your working definition of “reflection”? it sounds like you use the term pretty inclusively. could you share examples of what does and doesn’t qualify as reflection for your purposes?
I am also curious what types of designers (or other audiences) you see as the most important audience for these findings. who are the individuals or groups who can use your findings most as they support people in these reflective activities at night?
Thank you for commenting! I define reflection off of Rowanne Fleck and Geraldine Fitzpatrick’s work titled “Reflecting on Reflection: Framing a Design Landscape.” In their work, they frame reflection in terms of levels from R0 (revisiting) to R4 (revisiting while considering the wider ethical/moral implications). As you have mentioned, I define “reflection” very inclusively, so simply revisiting (R0) a past event would count as engaging in reflection. It is hard to give an example of what doesn’t count as reflection, since as long as you are thinking about something in your life, you would be reflecting. If I had to give an example, fantasizing about things would not be considered reflection because it doesn’t have to do with “real life.”
It is difficult to choose a single type of audience who the research would be most important for. If I had to choose, I think that companies focused on mindfulness would benefit most from understanding the difficulty people face when engaging in night-time reflection and applying the principles from my research to hopefully allow users to navigate negative emotions without ruminating for too long.
Last edited 1 year ago by koyo
slee15
1 year ago
Hi Koyo, Hannah, Han, and Sebastian. I think this is a very interesting and much-needed project that can help a broader audience in this challenging time with better design solutions. If you did some competitor analysis work before you conducted fieldwork, could you share it? What kind of solutions or applications are currently accessible and affordable for night-time reflection? What gaps did you find or encouraged you to do this study? Thank you again for this study.
Thank you for commenting! Regarding your first question, no, we did not do competitor analysis, mainly because the product of the research wasn’t a design but rather design principles. With that being said, some participants mentioned using phones to take notes and some wrote in their diaries before bed. I am not aware of any existing solutions that specifically support people reflecting at night, but some participants take notes with their phone (e.g., iPhone “Notes” app) or in their diaries. This study was encouraged partly from reading about research on reflection (mainly “Reflecting on Reflection: Framing a Design Landscape” by Fleck and Fitzpatrick) and being curious about how the broader design principles apply to specific contexts. I was also inspired by my personal experience with struggling to remember to-dos and other thoughts for the next morning without resorting to turning on my phone.
Thanks for submitting your poster! I enjoyed listening to Koyo narrate the project’s research questions, methodology, and findings, which leads to 1 of 2 questions. Based on your findings, how might you amend your recommendations for users with low or no vision? Also, did your research team consider emotions are mediated, ameliorated, and/or exacerbated by technology? I look forward to your responses!
Thank you for your response! With regards to your first question, I think a potential alternative to visual note-taking is audio interaction (e.g., whispering thoughts to a listening device like Alexa). I think supporting non-visual forms of interaction would be beneficial for users with low or no vision as well as people who would rather not turn on their lights to take notes on paper! To answer the second question, we found that some participants desired technology to “guide” their reflection, because they felt that engaging in stream-of-consciousness style reflection can quickly become overwhelming and time-consuming. We didn’t focus our research on whether participants’ current use of reflection-assistance technology impacts their emotional experience during reflection, but we found that technology can serve as a “time limit” to how long people reflect, which was a big factor in people’s feelings of negativity toward reflection.
Interesting study: I’m curious what you think designers might do, in a practical sense, to intervene in this issue. For example, can you think of any new settings, apps, or other kinds of functionality from different kinds of devices that might help with this issue? You mention the ability to record thoughts, for example. Any other ideas you might have?
Thank you for responding! Another obstacle that people faced when engaging in reflection was feeling “trapped” by the effort required to make lifestyle changes (e.g., to stop procrastinating on schoolwork). To address this, designs could offer guiding prompts to reflect on that help users make changes one small step at a time, such as by asking questions like “Set one 15 minute goal for tomorrow.” I think an important thing to consider when designing is that people want to be able to choose whether to engage in reflection or go straight to bed (i.e., avoid ruminating). Taking inspiration from people who fatigue themselves to sleep by watching YouTube until they cannot open their eyes any longer, perhaps a possible design could be a music player that plays soothing, instrumental music when wishing to reflect and lyrical music when wishing not to reflect. I think the biggest design challenge out of the three design recommendations is allowing users to choose between engaging in reflection or falling asleep quickly. How can a design help users get rid of intrusive thoughts and clear their mind so that they can fall asleep more quickly? To be honest, I do not know the answer to that question.
Great suggestions. Thanks!
Interesting study. I like the two methods you used to triangulate findings.
Thank you!
This was a fun project to read and hear about. I particularly appreciated your methodology, and the finding about sleep hinderance was unexpected but helpful. Could you speak to what led you to this project and the overall rationale for considering this as a design project? Who are your design recommendations geared towards (game or app designers? traditional paper journal designers? wellness companies looking across the spectrum of reflection support devices, including new technologies)?
Thank you for commenting! I was inspired to research this project after reading William Odom’s paper on “Photobox,” which was a device that printed three photos from the user’s Flickr database at random times each month, and in so doing fostered a reflective mindset in people. As I noticed in my personal life as well as my peers’ lives, the fast-paced nature of society today makes it difficult to have time to be mindful and take time to think. Part of the reason why I wanted to research for the night-time context is because I noticed that a lot of devices that support/induce mindfulness and reflection were mobile apps, and I felt that using an app to reflect before bed sounds eye-straining and unfit for the context. In terms of the audience, I agree with the list that you provided, though I would hesitate to promote mobile apps as a suitable design medium (unless screen interaction is not the focus, e.g., interacting through audio). I do think that my finding about the potential negative emotional impacts of reflecting brings up ethical concerns such as how to consider users that have had severe negative experiences, such as losing a family member or PTSD.
this is fascinating! thank you for sharing this work. I have two questions for you:
what is your working definition of “reflection”? it sounds like you use the term pretty inclusively. could you share examples of what does and doesn’t qualify as reflection for your purposes?
I am also curious what types of designers (or other audiences) you see as the most important audience for these findings. who are the individuals or groups who can use your findings most as they support people in these reflective activities at night?
Thank you for commenting! I define reflection off of Rowanne Fleck and Geraldine Fitzpatrick’s work titled “Reflecting on Reflection: Framing a Design Landscape.” In their work, they frame reflection in terms of levels from R0 (revisiting) to R4 (revisiting while considering the wider ethical/moral implications). As you have mentioned, I define “reflection” very inclusively, so simply revisiting (R0) a past event would count as engaging in reflection. It is hard to give an example of what doesn’t count as reflection, since as long as you are thinking about something in your life, you would be reflecting. If I had to give an example, fantasizing about things would not be considered reflection because it doesn’t have to do with “real life.”
It is difficult to choose a single type of audience who the research would be most important for. If I had to choose, I think that companies focused on mindfulness would benefit most from understanding the difficulty people face when engaging in night-time reflection and applying the principles from my research to hopefully allow users to navigate negative emotions without ruminating for too long.
Hi Koyo, Hannah, Han, and Sebastian. I think this is a very interesting and much-needed project that can help a broader audience in this challenging time with better design solutions. If you did some competitor analysis work before you conducted fieldwork, could you share it? What kind of solutions or applications are currently accessible and affordable for night-time reflection? What gaps did you find or encouraged you to do this study? Thank you again for this study.
Thank you for commenting! Regarding your first question, no, we did not do competitor analysis, mainly because the product of the research wasn’t a design but rather design principles. With that being said, some participants mentioned using phones to take notes and some wrote in their diaries before bed. I am not aware of any existing solutions that specifically support people reflecting at night, but some participants take notes with their phone (e.g., iPhone “Notes” app) or in their diaries. This study was encouraged partly from reading about research on reflection (mainly “Reflecting on Reflection: Framing a Design Landscape” by Fleck and Fitzpatrick) and being curious about how the broader design principles apply to specific contexts. I was also inspired by my personal experience with struggling to remember to-dos and other thoughts for the next morning without resorting to turning on my phone.