A Gamified Digital Web Service to Support Youth Societal Participation
Khan, Ehsan (2023)
2023
Master's Programme in Human-Technology Interaction
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-06-14
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202305236048
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202305236048
Tiivistelmä
Young citizens of any country are considered as key asset. Given that they have lots of potential and energy which can be key factor to bring success and development in any society. ALL-YOUTH Research project is all about youth and their empowerment, with the goal of investigating all the potential factors that may impede their participation in various domains such as societal and political participation etc. Consequently, the project seeks to provide creative solutions to amplify the youth participation.
Over the past few decades, there has been a concerning lack of youth participation in societal and political processes, despite the availability of numerous digital platforms. This thesis aims to analyse the existing digital services that are designed to support youth participation, examining the problems, youth perceptions and effectiveness of these services. Initial user studies conducted in this thesis have revealed that many young people are unaware of youth societal participation services, with only a few participants having used them once or twice per year on average.
Novel idea of gamification is applied i.e., an innovative approach to digital service development which incorporates gamification elements and game mechanics to foster autotelic behaviours and intrinsic motivation among users. By addressing the pain points identified in initial user study, prior studies, the gamified service called ‘ExploreMore’ aims to establish habitual use and sustained engagement.
The ‘ExploreMore’ service was evaluated with users to assess the impact of gamification, and the results were found to be positive and promising. As evidenced by the UEQ results, participants admired the system in terms of hedonic and pragmatic attributes. Post-gamification interviews further validated the continued use of the gamified prototype. Overall, the study demonstrated that gamification can enhance youth societal participation, with the added gamification elements effectively improving intrinsic motivation and engagement.
Over the past few decades, there has been a concerning lack of youth participation in societal and political processes, despite the availability of numerous digital platforms. This thesis aims to analyse the existing digital services that are designed to support youth participation, examining the problems, youth perceptions and effectiveness of these services. Initial user studies conducted in this thesis have revealed that many young people are unaware of youth societal participation services, with only a few participants having used them once or twice per year on average.
Novel idea of gamification is applied i.e., an innovative approach to digital service development which incorporates gamification elements and game mechanics to foster autotelic behaviours and intrinsic motivation among users. By addressing the pain points identified in initial user study, prior studies, the gamified service called ‘ExploreMore’ aims to establish habitual use and sustained engagement.
The ‘ExploreMore’ service was evaluated with users to assess the impact of gamification, and the results were found to be positive and promising. As evidenced by the UEQ results, participants admired the system in terms of hedonic and pragmatic attributes. Post-gamification interviews further validated the continued use of the gamified prototype. Overall, the study demonstrated that gamification can enhance youth societal participation, with the added gamification elements effectively improving intrinsic motivation and engagement.