Talk and Tools

Talk and Tools: The best of both worlds in mobile user interfaces for E-coaching

Beun, Robbert Jan (Universiteit Utrecht)
Fitrianie, S. (Universiteit Utrecht)
Griffioen-Both, Fiemke (Universiteit Utrecht)
Spruit, Sandor (Universiteit Utrecht)
Horsch, C.H.G. (TU Delft Interactive Intelligence)
Lancee, Jaap (Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Brinkman, W.P. (TU Delft Interactive Intelligence)

2017

In this paper, a user interface paradigm, called Talk-and-Tools, is presented for automated e-coaching. The paradigm is based on the idea that people interact in two ways with their environment: symbolically and physically. The main goal is to show how the paradigm can be applied in the design of interactive systems that offer an acceptable coaching process. As a proof of concept, an e-coaching system is implemented that supports an insomnia therapy on a smartphone. A human coach was replaced by a cooperative virtual coach that is able to interact with a human coachee. In the interface of the system, we distinguish between a set of personalized conversations (“Talk”) and specialized modules that form a coherent structure of input and output facilities (“Tools”). Conversations contained a minimum of variation to exclude unpredictable behavior but included the necessary mechanisms for variation to offer personalized consults and support. A variety of system and user tests was conducted to validate the use of the system. After a 6-week therapy, some users spontaneously reported the experience of building a relationship with the e-coach. It is concluded that the addition of a conversational component fills an important gap in the design of current mobile systems.

User interface paradigms
Talk-and-tools
Automated e-coaching
Conversation
Tools
Persuasive strategies
Cognitive behavior therapy
Insomnia
Virtual coach

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:32f63270-d072-4725-ba17-09f441c1eff6

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-017-1021-5

1617-4909

Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 21 (4), 661-674

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2017 Robbert Jan Beun, S. Fitrianie, Fiemke Griffioen-Both, Sandor Spruit, C.H.G. Horsch, Jaap Lancee, W.P. Brinkman