Abstract
Collective awareness platforms offer innovative ways to engage citizens in becoming aware of and contributing solutions to sustainability challenges, such as climate change, water scarcity, or extreme weather events. Although such platforms have been successful in engaging citizens to contribute and self-organize during or directly after emergency situations, it has proven rather hard to motivate citizens to participate in preparing their local communities to address sustainability challenges whose effects are likely to be felt in the future and which they have not experienced yet. In this paper, we discuss the development, implementation, and assessment of a gamification model for a collective awareness platform for water-related sustainability challenges. The model is designed to address the motivational drivers of different user types and uses visualization elements to support gamified interaction in a way that relates otherwise intangible, abstract issues to more immediate (short-term), tangible objectives. The model was empirically validated with 507 users through a series of online experiments. The results confirmed a positive motivational effect in a large majority of participants and the suitability of the model to address different user types and various water-related sustainability issues. The findings will inform the design of gamification models for collective awareness platforms in sustainability-related domains.
Highlights
The adverse consequences of human activity on the planet, such as climate change, have been in the spotlight of the public debate recently
Considering the context of the collective awareness platforms and their use by very distinct types of users, the aim of this paper is to develop a gamification model that can motivate a diverse group of users to engage in preparing for water issues that lie in the future and whose occurrence the users have never experienced
The developed gamified incentive model and the gamified visualization dashboard in which it was applied were evaluated with a broad sample of 507 users
Summary
The adverse consequences of human activity on the planet, such as climate change, have been in the spotlight of the public debate recently This area is characterized by a strong attitude–behavior gap [1]: people tend to say that they are concerned about the environment, they often fail to consistently integrate this concern into their daily behavior, especially when they are not able to immediately experience the effects of their behavior (or lack thereof). This occurs due to the fact that the consequences of many environmental issues, such as water shortages, are not immediately visible. This makes it difficult to appeal to citizens’ awareness of the problem and the need to prepare individually and as a community, when there is no imminent danger or when memories of the last event have long faded away
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
