Review - UbiGreen: Investigating a Mobile Tool for Tracking and Supporting Green Transportation Habits

Since personal transportation in the US represents one of the major contributors of CO2, the aim of this paper is to explore ways in which a mobile device's screen can give users feedback on their transportation behavior. Specifically, by tracking people's transportation activity, the app aims to encourage people to chose Eco-friendlier means of transportation.

The paper first presents findings on two studies performed in order to better understand transportation habits: an online survey and an experience sampling (ESM) study.

• Online survey results: indicated that people were receptive to change and showed willingness to use a system like the one proposed in the paper.
• ESM study results: "helped reveal the hidden complexities behind the perception and selection of a transportation mode". Also, the participants were showed an initial version of the app, in order to see if they would be able to understand the interface.

Further the initial studies, the paper describes the research done using the app they developed, called UbiGreen Transportation Display. The purpose of the app is to provide the user with personal awareness about green transportation behaviors through iconic feedback. Once the app detects "green activities" such as riding the bus or train, walking, biking, or carpooling, it updates the phone's wallpaper accordingly, as it can be seen bellow.

Research in conservation

 psychology showed that caring for animals helps 

humans connect with nature.

The issue with the study, at that time, was the fact that it was semi-automatic, since subjects were also required to wear a tracking device (issue was corrected with the use of accelerometer-capable devices in a future study). Participants reported problems with the device, such as loosing Bluetooth connection between it and the phone.

Another issue was the sampling of test subjects. The number of people involved was 14 and 5 of them were students, and all of them lived in urban areas, namely Pittsburgh and Seattle.

The study ranged from 1 week to 4 weeks - an average of 21 days of data was collected - and findings are as follows:

• "Walking" was the most popular form of transportation, followed by "driving alone", "carpooling" and "bus rides".
• Participants liked the visual feedback as their wallpaper, since it was "omnipresent" and they also perceived it as a "progress bar".
• Some participants wanted more variety in visual rewards, maybe having weekly different stories.
• Actual carbon emission would have been helpful, in addition to iconic feedback.
• Secondary items were noticed by few of the subjects.
• Negative imagery was suggested as a form of feedback.
• Participants considered the app to be game-like, and felt like there were ways people could cheat the system. Also, they felt they were being cheated if the app didn't award them points.
• New themes could be offered in the future, as it stimulates anticipation for the users.
• The graphics on the screens stirred the interest of co-workers and family.
• As an improvement, real-time suggestions for alternative means of transportation could be added.

Paper link: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1518861

Citation:

CHI '09 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1043-1052 ACM New York, NY, USA ©2009