Dr. Rossel-Cid, Pedro

Technology can improve university students’ communication, helping them maintain relationships. Although there are many available technological tools, students face challenges—e.g., living far from home, failing grades, depression—that may isolate them from their networks. Most research into these topics has been conducted in countries in which students leave their parents’ home while at university, which is not the case for most students in southern Chile. In this context that has been seldom studied, this paper presents two studies, focusing on two research questions: (1) How do university students in southern Chile communicate? (2) Can a mobile application persuade university students to increase their communication patterns? To answer these questions, we conducted a survey with 90 students in southern Chile, and then developed a persuasive application called Social+Me, aimed at monitoring communication with students’ support networks and persuading them to keep in touch. We conducted a preliminary evaluation of Social+Me, and the application was well received by participants, who felt that it improved their communication with their social network. The main impact of our study lies in applying persuasive technologies to the communicative practice of university students to prevent students from feeling isolated or unsupported.

Diary studies are used to gather user information in their natural context. Despite the advantages of digital diaries, older users are not able to fully beneft from them, e.g. due to decreased motor and cognitive abilities, and low digital skills. This work presents InMyDay, a digital diary application specifcally designed and implemented for older users. The goal of this work is twofold: frst, we research whether older users are able to record activities and refect on their emotions using a digital diary. Then, using the results of this frst phase, we implemented three input styles for the second version of the digital diary: voice, stylus, and keyboard. Overall, 23 older users participated in evaluations aimed at improving the design of the diary and understanding their input style preferences. We found that the older adults used the diary to refect on their emotions, registering positive as well as negative emotions. We also found that the variety of choices in input styles helped the participants select the option most suited to their particular needs and preferences. Future work will focus on evaluating the digital diary over a longer period of time, to analyze variables such as long-term adoption and motivation, as well as trends in the selection of input styles.