Neha Shah

Major: MFA, Design and Technology

“Ken” [ken]–noun

a. Knowledge, understanding, or cognizance; mental perception: an idea beyond one's ken. b. Range of sight or vision.

c. To know, have knowledge of or about, or be acquainted with (a person or thing). d. To understand or perceive (an idea or situation).

5/06/2011

Nano+Biotech - Prof. Victoria Vesna

A mobile application that attempts to bring down stress levels of a busy person by bringing an understanding that healthy living begins with incorporating small changes. But what are these small changes? “Ken” – a smartphone application provides a list of such small changes as built in reminders that encourage the user to engage in simple and healthy activities like closing eyes and stretching while working, drinking water, keeping healthy snacks etc. The application also provides relevant podcasts for the user based on their stress profile. This stress profile is created as per user’s interaction with the application including setting the mood and updating any life changes they might be going through. While mood and life changes define how stressed the user is, choosing to be reminded about small healthy activities brings down the stress level in a weekly graph that user can view over the application website.

ABSTRACT

Technology today has become a tool to flow large amounts of content that contributes in increasing pre-existing stress levels. If used correctly technology can be used as a tool to educate, heal, inform and talk to the user instead of loading the user with huge amounts of irrelevant information and advertising. Applications like these are a form of persuasive technology that can inspire the user to engage in simple but effective activities to live a more holistic lifestyle.

CONCEPT / TOPIC

Captology is the study of computers as persuasive technologies. This includes the design, research, and analysis of interactive computing products (computers, mobile phones, websites, wireless technologies, mobile applications, video games, etc.) created for the purpose of changing people’s attitudes or behaviors. BJ Fogg derived the term captology in 1996 from an acronym: Computers As Persuasive Technologies = CAPT.

CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

The study, published in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging Scholars came together to experiment with 17 meditation-naïve participants. They proved that meditating for just 30 minutes a day for eight weeks can increase the density of gray matter in brain regions associated with memory, stress, and empathy.

CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

The Meditation Chamber is a novel combination of immersive virtual reality (VR) and biofeedback technologies. Its primary goal is to help users lower their stress levels through meditation and muscle relaxation. Its secondary goal is to enable users who have never meditated to gain real-time feedback that allows them to sense when they are indeed lowering the physiological states that are indicative of meditating.

CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Application Screens

How comfortable are you with the idea of bio feedback?

Customizable reminders?

What would keep you engaged with the application?

Questions

REFERENCES

[1] Barnes,V., Schneider, R., et al. 1997. “Stress, Stress Reduction, and Hypertension in African Americans: An Updated Review,” J. Natl Med. Assn, 89(7):464-476.

[2] Gatchel, R.J., Peng, Y.B., et al., 2007. “The Biopsychosocial Approach to Chronic Pain: Scientific Advances and Future Directions”, Psychological Bulletin 133(4):581-634.

[3] Gethin, R., 1998. The Foundations of Buddhism (OPUS), Oxford: Oxford University Press, New York, pg 1.

[4] Miller, N.E., 1977. “Biofeedback and Visceral Learning.” In Biofeedback and Self-Control. Stoyva, J, et al., eds. New York: Aldine.

[5] Picard, R., 1997. Affective Computing, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 122

[6] Segal Z., Williams, et al. 2001. Mindfulness-Base Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse, Guilford Press, New York.

[7] Varela, F.J., Thompson, E., et al. 1993. The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience, Cambridge MA: MITPress.

[8] Walton K.G., Pugh, N.D., et al. 1995. “Stress Reduction and preventing hypertension: preliminary support for a psychoneuroendocrine mechanism.” In J. Alternative Complementary Medicine, 1(3), 263-283.

[9] Wenneberg, S.R., Schneider, R.H., et al. 1997. ”Anger expression correlates with platelet aggregation,” Behavioral Medicine, vol. 22, no. 4, pp.174-177.

[10] Britta K. Hölzela, Mark Vangela, Christina Congletona, Sita M. Yerramsettia, Tim Gard, Sara W. Lazara, Bender, Justus Liebig Universität Giessen, Germany, Britta K. Hölzela, Tim Gard, Worcester, MA, USA, James Carmody. “Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density” Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, Institute of Neuroimaging, , University of Massachusetts Medical School

[11] B J Fogg et al. 2002. “Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do”

Thank you