Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Designing interactive systems to encourage empa...
View graph of relations

Designing interactive systems to encourage empathy between users

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSNConference contribution/Paperpeer-review

Published
  • Paul Coulton
  • Jonny Huck
  • Andrew Hudson-Smith
  • Barthel Ralph
  • Panagiotis Mavros
  • Jennifer Roberts
  • Phillip Powell
Close
Publication date21/06/2014
Host publicationDIS Companion '14 Proceedings of the 2014 companion publication on Designing interactive systems
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherACM
Pages13-16
Number of pages4
ISBN (print)9781450329033
<mark>Original language</mark>English
EventACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems in 2014 - British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Duration: 21/06/201425/06/2014

Conference

ConferenceACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems in 2014
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityVancouver
Period21/06/1425/06/14

Conference

ConferenceACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems in 2014
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityVancouver
Period21/06/1425/06/14

Abstract

An oft-cited criticism of our increasingly online world is that text based communications still dominate, offering limited opportunity for the development of empathy between users and possibly encouraging more critical and confrontational interactions. Whilst there are a wide range of design methods that enable designers to develop empathy for the potential users of their products or services, there are none aimed at helping designers to create systems that actively encourage the development of empathy between those users. In this research we discuss why we believe there is a need to design systems that facilitate empathy and how designers may approach such a challenge, using the example of a digital prayer candle system developed with a church community.