Positive Computing: Research & Practice in Wellbeing Technology

Any move towards a future in which technologies genuinely improve our lives requires that those technologies respect, and even foster our psychological wellbeing. Currently there is no systematic integration of wellbeing science into the technology development process but this is changing. Just as the field of ergonomics investigates design that supports physical wellness, we can now design for digital experiences that support psychological wellness. By turning to well-established methods in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics, we can design and develop new technologies in a way that fosters psychological wellbeing and human potential - "positive computing" [1]. In this course we will introduce practical methods for evaluating and designing for wellbeing determinants like autonomy [3,5], competence [5], connectedness [5], meaning [4], and compassion [2], as a first step towards a future in which all digital experience supports flourishing.

[1]  Brenda K. Wiederhold,et al.  Positive Technology Supports Shift to Preventive, Integrative Health , 2012, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[2]  E. Deci,et al.  On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. , 2001, Annual review of psychology.

[3]  Rafael A. Calvo,et al.  Compassion vs. empathy , 2014, Interactions.

[4]  Marc Hassenzahl,et al.  Towards Happiness: Possibility-Driven Design , 2012, Human-Computer Interaction: The Agency Perspective.

[5]  R. Calvo,et al.  Positive Computing: Technology for Wellbeing and Human Potential , 2014, Psychology Teaching Review.

[6]  Daniel M. Johnson,et al.  Autonomy in technology design , 2014, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[7]  R. Calvo,et al.  Promoting Psychological Wellbeing: Loftier Goals for New Technologies [Opinion] , 2013, IEEE Technol. Soc. Mag..