Walk as You Work: User Study and Design Implications for Mobile Walking Meetings

Abstract

People's sedentary lifestyle is connected with serious health threats. The goal of our research is to gain novel insights on ways in which movement during knowledge work can be increased. We propose and study mobile technology mediated walking meetings. In this paper we present the results of a design research project with a two-phase qualitative user study, in which we first explored users' expectations towards walking meetings (N=15) and designed the Walking metro mobile application concept. We then evaluated user experience of the concept in field tests (N=14). Based on the findings, we propose 10 design implications for mobile walking meetings in three categories: designing for acceptability, non-interrupting guidance, and discreet persuasion and stimulation.