Let’s Walk at Work – Persuasion through the Brainwolk Walking Meeting App

Abstract

Contemporary knowledge work is typically characterized by sedentary work habits, which in turn have an impact on workers' well-being and creativity. Persuasive technologies can be designed as a means for reducing the amount of sitting at work. Here, we discuss the results from our research to gain design knowledge and insights on persuasive technologies that encourage physically active ways of work. We introduce "Brainwolk", a walking meeting concept that is mediated with a mobile app. As a part of a broader design research process, we present the user experience (UX) findings based on a one-month field study (N=11) of Brainwolk. We utilize our findings in the design of an improved application concept (Brainwolk 2.0) to support and persuade walking meetings. We also confer insights for persuasive design to encourage physically active ways of work at knowledge work context, e.g., focusing on the discreet persuasion. Finally, we discuss the potential of combining digital and non-digital elements to form powerful persuasion techniques.