[Colloq] Thesis Defense - Spaceship Launch: Designing a Collaborative Exergame for Families - April 10, 2pm, 366 WVH

[Jessica Biron]

Herman Saksono 

Thursday, April 10, 2014 
2pm, 366WVH 



Spaceship Launch: Designing a Collaborative Exergame for Families 



Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research has studied how exercise games ( exergames ) can be designed to combat childhood obesity. Yet, researchers have increasingly questioned how exergames can be designed to avoid the negative consequences of competition. Another challenge is that as the novelty of exergames wears off, these systems may be unable to sustain their serious purpose (i.e., promoting increased physical activity). In the context of childhood obesity, these challenges raise the question of how HCI researchers should design exergames to promote physical activity. When considering physical activity promotion, one critical social group to examine is the family, as parents are the source of physical activity modelling, influence, and support. While much prior work in HCI has explored exergame design for children or adults separately, an important open area of work is identifying design guidelines for family exergames. 

To address these open questions, I designed Spaceship Launch, an exergame for parents and kids in lower income neighborhoods, where obesity is the most prevalent and the resources are scarce. An 8 month field study with 36 parents and 13 children was conducted to explore (1) design opportunities for technologies that promote healthy behaviors amongst low-income families, (2) how designing a collaborative game could avoid the negative effects of competition; and (3) how physical activity literacy could be facilitated through brief interactions with the system (and before the game’s novelty has a chance to wear off). My findings suggest that in-game competition can act as a multifaceted catalyst of social interactions that varies based on the actors involved. 



Thesis committee: 
Andrea G. Parker - Advisor 
Magy Seif El-Nasr