Conference Agenda

Due to their widespread use, consumer technologies like messaging or video streaming services present a promising opportunity to disseminate wellbeing interventions, such as positive activities, to a large audience. Currently, this potential is primarily leveraged by dedicated wellbeing applications. To broaden the scope of applications, we conducted a student-led case study that explored how positive activities could also be integrated into consumer technologies that are not originally designed for wellbeing. Based on the analysis of concrete design examples, we identified three strategies for integration: 1. addition, 2. enrichment, 3. transformation. We showcase each integration strategy through a specific design example. A variety of design mechanisms were employed whereby particularly prompts to create an opportunity and self-reflection to foster motivation and capability have been observed. Together, our findings demonstrate how positive activities and mechanisms to support behavior change can be woven seamlessly into contemporary technology through minimal redesigns.

As internet became the primary source for relationship formation, reports have emerged of negative experiences, poorer mental health and lower wellbeing. The design of online dating services influences user behaviours and can either support or inhibit relationship formation. To foster successful online relationship formation, understanding desired interaction qualities is crucial. This exploratory study presents a survey involving 100 participants from 23 nationalities across 5 continents. It identifies five key desired interaction qualities: excitement, comfort, safety, trust, and reciprocity. While trust emerged as the most vital for intimacy building yet often lacking in the online environment, excitement and playfulness were identified as even more important qualities to foster intimacy building. The paper contributes to the under-researched field of design for relation making and guides designers and dating app companies through presenting how desired interaction qualities can support creation of positive online interactions and streamline relationship formation.

Faculty wellbeing is declining among US higher education faculty, and burnout is becoming increasingly common. This study examines the role of design artifacts, namely the curriculum vitae (CV), within this dynamic. The CV has succumbed to interconnected social forces, including neoliberalism and inclusive democratization, fundamentally altering its design and the connected faculty experience. To better understand if design action might improve faculty wellbeing, this study employs a transformative research design to examine how the CV might be reimagined to promote positive transformation and improved wellbeing. This mixed-method qualitative study utilizes a novel bend of interviews, participatory co-design activities, and a constructive design process to explore divergent ways the CV might evolve to benefit faculty. In the end, evaluating the designs through transformative criteria yields new insights about the nature of modern academic work and spheres of action that can lead to faculty wellbeing.

The "Quantified Self" movement has grown, with more people using self-tracking tools to monitor everything from physical activities to emotional well-being. This study investigates the interplay between self-tracking practices and positive psychology, highlighting their collective potential to boost personal well-being. Integrating self-tracked data with principles like strengths, resilience, and personal growth allows for the transformation of mere metrics into compelling stories. The paper presents a de-sign framework that is influenced by classroom projects and the examination of data presentation in health and fitness apps. This framework manages the complete data lifecycle—from collection and organization to interpretation, presentation, and finally, harnessing data—with an aim to nurture positive emotions, acknowledge personal significance, and encourage growth. It seeks to merge the self-tracking data process with key tenets of positive psychology, turning raw data into actionable insights that foster positive behaviors and enhance the effective-ness of self-tracking tools in promoting user well-being.

Mental wellbeing is a growing concern for many young adults today. The design of digital products and services that could support young adults is hampered by a lack of knowledge about what constitutes mental wellbeing, and what design requirements exist for interventions. This study applied a provotyping method to add to this knowledge. Results show that mental wellbeing is broader than hedonic and eudaimonic aspects, encompassing also social, psychosocial, health- and activity-related and relaxation-related aspects. Design requirements for interventions that automatically register and provide feedback on mental wellbeing include tailoring of defining aspects to personal situations, algorithms that learn from user input, continuous and unobtrusive measurement, and minimalisation of burden. This research shows that using sensors and algorithms for mental wellbeing support for young adults is still in its early stages, and offers insights to inform next steps in design research in this area.

An experience sampling study was conducted to further understand daily activities of young adults with implications for Environmentally Sustainable Behavior (SB) and Subjective Well-being (SWB) simultaneously. Studies on SB and SWB are present in established bodies of design research, though connection across these strands appears limited. Analysis of 209 survey responses from 27 participants showed that while many activities were reported with mutually positive outcomes for SB and SWB, when there was conflict, individuals were more likely to prioritize their own subjective well-being over environmental sustainability. Activities that included designed products and environments that more readily supported SB and SWB without imposing an external conflict, and those that included social bonding and sharing of resources led to more mutually positive outcomes. The findings present avenues for design researchers and practitioners in developing designs that can address individuals’ well-being and environmentally sustainable behavior in a more positive and complimentary manner.