Summary:
In this paper, JaYoung Sung, Rebecca E. Grinter and Henrik I. Christensen of Georgia Institute of Technology dispense the results of their research on the effects of personalization on user interaction with Roombas. They postulated that people will naturally personalize their Roombas (or any other object, really) if encouraged by the design of the object or given a set of tools to do so; they also wanted to see if people's experiences with the device were positively impacted by their personalization. The researchers did a study of 30 households in the Atlanta area, each of which were given a Roomba. 15 of the households were given "personalization toolkits" to use on their Roombas which included stickers, lettering sets, coupons for Roomba skins, and a booklet showing how other users had customized their Roombas in the past. The other 15 households were given no toolkit or any other indication that customization was possible or desirable.
It turns out that 10 of the 15 households with toolkits used them or went online to order additional skins with the included coupons, but of those, only 6 actually customized the Roomba. There were three primary motivations behind this customization: expressing the Roomba's identity, show its value in the household, and to make it either stand out or blend in with its home environment. For example, some families gave their Roomba a name and decorated it differently according to its gender to give it some personality. Other families decorated the Roomba as a "reward" or out of "gratitude" for the services it provided to show its worth to the family. Finally, some of the households decorated Roomba to make it stand out from the carpet or decorations, and others tried to make Roomba fit into the aesthetic of their home. The end result of the customization was a feeling of connectedness to Roomba, with householders seeing it as "their" robot instead of "a" robot. Conversely, none of the 15 households who did not receive toolkits decorated Roomba.
Discussion:
Personalization is ingrained in our society. Think about it -- what's the first thing most users do with a new computer? More likely than not they will change the desktop display image to something they want, to make the computer more theirs. Customizable skins are available for every device imaginable, from laptops to cell phones and game consoles. The paper shows that users will customize a device to make it more personal, as long as easy methods to do so exist. Some of the families talked about ordering more skins but found the process too complicated. The families without kits, obviously, didn't know that customization was an option, and therefore didn't personalize Roomba. In fact, after reading this paper, I decided I want a Roomba. This Roomba. If you don't think he's cute you don't have a heart.
Discussion:
Personalization is ingrained in our society. Think about it -- what's the first thing most users do with a new computer? More likely than not they will change the desktop display image to something they want, to make the computer more theirs. Customizable skins are available for every device imaginable, from laptops to cell phones and game consoles. The paper shows that users will customize a device to make it more personal, as long as easy methods to do so exist. Some of the families talked about ordering more skins but found the process too complicated. The families without kits, obviously, didn't know that customization was an option, and therefore didn't personalize Roomba. In fact, after reading this paper, I decided I want a Roomba. This Roomba. If you don't think he's cute you don't have a heart.
1 comments:
I thought it was very interesting just how attached some of the people became to their roombas. I know I'm pretty attached to my iPod and computer. I tend to personify them and act as though they have personalities. For example, when my computer is acting up and not behaving as it should, I say that it is angry or upset with me.
btw That Wall-E roomba looks amazing.
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