This paper presents HomeTree a prototype of an art-inspired mobile eco-feedback system. The syste... more This paper presents HomeTree a prototype of an art-inspired mobile eco-feedback system. The system is implemented on a tablet PC and relies on a non-intrusive energy-monitoring infrastructure to access consumption and power event information. Our prototype addresses an important problem in eco-feedback, which is the fact that users loose interest about their energy consumption after a period of several weeks. To accomplish this HomeTree implements a dual visualization strategy. Initially HomeTree presents users with a screensa-ver that shows energy consumption mapped in a dynamic illustration of the local forest. Through this strategy we leverage the emotional connection between the short-term energy consumption and the long-term effects on nature through the local depicted landscape. In a second mode of operation users can interact with HomeTree directly by checking the historical records of their consumption data, and check which days or weeks they have reduced or increased consumption. Furthermore a comparison with a more objective baseline, such as the city of Funchal energy consumption is provided, in order to give users a sense of the level of their consumption in a wider context.
SINAIS from Fanal: design and evaluation of an art-inspired eco-feedback system
ABSTRACT In this paper we present the challenges exposed during the designing, implementing and a... more ABSTRACT In this paper we present the challenges exposed during the designing, implementing and assessment of a novel eco-feedback system resulting from the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI), and Digital Art. We explore how a digital art mode of inquiry can contribute to expose existing challenges in eco-feedback technology. Our new art inspired eco-feedback visualization, maps electricity consumption to effects on natural elements of the local natural landscape. The feedback was piloted with eight local families for four weeks. Reactions of the users were assessed through interviews and quantitative measures. Our findings showed that users found the mapping of the eco-feedback to artistic representations of elements of the natural environment somehow compelling, despite lacking of clear quantitative information. In conclusion, the conducted study provide useful findings and insights into future deployment of eco-feedback using artistic visualizations, information visualization and motivating behavior change.
Motivated by anecdotal evidence, we hypothesize that an egocentric approach is more appropriate a... more Motivated by anecdotal evidence, we hypothesize that an egocentric approach is more appropriate and relevant to providing fuel efficiency feedback than a systemic approach. In this paper we describe a proposed study to test this hypothesis, and present the design of a fuel efficiency feedback system for public transit bus drivers.
Researchers often face engineering problems, such as optimizing prototype costs and ensuring easy... more Researchers often face engineering problems, such as optimizing prototype costs and ensuring easy access to the collected data, which are not directly related to the research problems being studied. This is especially true when dealing with long-term studies in real world scenarios. This paper describes the engineering perspective of the design, development and deployment of a long-term real word study on energy eco-feedback, where a non-intrusive home energy monitor was deployed in 30 houses for 18 months.
This paper describes a low cost eco-feedback energy monitoring research platform. The prototype s... more This paper describes a low cost eco-feedback energy monitoring research platform. The prototype system developed in Java uses a netbook audio input and a single point current and voltage sensor to calculate real-time energy usage while also offering multiple visualization options and tracking human-activities. The prototype is deployed in a multidisciplinary research project to understand the long-term effects of eco-feedback and enduring behavioral changes towards practices that promote sustainability. This paper reports the efforts required to deploy the prototype system in 21 houses during a period of 9 weeks. The results enable quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of energy eco-feedback and provide a platform for further research in this domain.
This paper introduces jamTable, a system that enables the collaboration between users playing a s... more This paper introduces jamTable, a system that enables the collaboration between users playing a standard musical instrument and users interacting with a tangible musical sequencer. In an introductory study both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from eight participants in two setup conditions: Musician-Musician and Novice-Musician pairs. By comparing the performance of participants in these two groups, this paper gathers relevant insights regarding the ability of a tangible musical application such as the jamTable to support musical collaborations between novice and experienced musicians -in both learning or performance activities.
Understanding the Limitations of Eco-feedback: A One-Year Long-Term Study
ABSTRACT For the last couple of decades the world has been witnessing a change in habits of energ... more ABSTRACT For the last couple of decades the world has been witnessing a change in habits of energy consumption in domestic environments, with electricity emerging as the main source of energy consumed. The effects of these changes in our eco-system are hard to assess, therefore encouraging researchers from different fields to conduct studies with the goal of understanding and improving perceptions and behaviors regarding household energy consumption. While several of these studies report success in increasing awareness, most of them are limited to short periods of time, thus resulting in a reduced knowledge of how householders will behave in the long-term. In this paper we attempt to reduce this gap presenting a long-term study on household electricity consumption. We deployed a real-time non-intrusive energy monitoring and eco-feedback system in 12 families during 52 weeks. Results show an increased awareness regarding electricity consumption despite a significant decrease in interactions with the eco-feedback system over time. We conclude that after one year of deployment of eco-feedback it was not possible to see any significant increase or decrease in the household consumption. Our results also confirm that consumption is tightly coupled with independent variables like the household size and the income-level of the families.
WattsBurning on My Mailbox: A Tangible Art Inspired Eco-feedback Visualization for Sharing Energy Consumption
ABSTRACT This paper describes a novel art-inspired tangible eco-feedback system. The concept emer... more ABSTRACT This paper describes a novel art-inspired tangible eco-feedback system. The concept emerged from a workshop with researchers, designers and artists looking at innovative ways to provide more effective eco-feedback that engages users emotionally. The tangible aspect of the system is composed of a set of magnets that users can stick on their physical mailbox outside of their apartment building according to their average energy consumption. The magnets are a total of seven pieces, one for each day of the week. Each piece has a variation of three colors, from green (low consumption) to burning red (high consumption). The magnets are to be displayed in a sequence that represents a typical panorama of local nature. In this paper we report the design and the study we conducted to gauge preliminary results on the system usage and potential. Interviews with participants revealed that none of them felt uncomfortable having their consumption displayed outside. When children were involved in the process they “took control” of the task and pressured their families to perform better.
Home energy use represents a significant proportion of total consumption. A growing research area... more Home energy use represents a significant proportion of total consumption. A growing research area is considering how to help everyday users consume less. However, simply determining how to best reduce consumption remains a challenging task for many users. Based on goal setting theory, this paper presents two lab studies (based on the presentation of detailed scenarios and the solicitation of goal selections for the individuals depicted) in order to better understand how users make such decisions. It reveals a preference for goals that are perceived to be easy and specific, rather than those known to be effective (e.g. those that reduce energy consumption) or generic. Goal setting theory suggests that easy goals lead to low levels of commitment and motivation, suggesting such choices may be doubly ineffective. Ultimately, this paper contributes to a better understanding of users' goal selections and argues this is a prerequisite to effectively supporting users in reducing resource consumption.
This paper presents HomeTree a prototype of an art-inspired mobile ecofeedback system. The system... more This paper presents HomeTree a prototype of an art-inspired mobile ecofeedback system. The system is implemented on a tablet PC and relies on a nonintrusive energy-monitoring infrastructure to access consumption and power event information. Our prototype addresses an important problem in ecofeedback, which is the fact that users loose interest about their energy consumption after a period of several weeks. To accomplish this HomeTree implements a dual visualization strategy. Initially HomeTree presents users with a screensaver that shows energy consumption mapped in a dynamic illustration of the local forest. Through this strategy we leverage the emotional connection between the short-term energy consumption and the long-term effects on nature through the local depicted landscape. In a second mode of operation users can interact with HomeTree directly by checking the historical records of their consumption data, and check which days or weeks they have reduced or increased consumption. Furthermore a comparison with a more objective baseline, such as the city of Funchal energy consumption is provided, in order to give users a sense of the level of their consumption in a wider context.
WATTSBurning: Design and Evaluation of an Innovative Eco-Feedback System
ABSTRACT This paper reports a 15 weeks study of artistic eco-feedback deployed in six houses with... more ABSTRACT This paper reports a 15 weeks study of artistic eco-feedback deployed in six houses with an innovative sensing infrastructure and visualization strategy. The paper builds on previous work that showed a significant decrease in user awareness after a short period with a relapse in consumption. In this study we aimed to investigate if new forms of feedback could overcome this issue, maintaining the users awareness for longer periods of time. The study presented here aims at understanding if people are more aware of their energy consumption after the installation of a new, art inspired eco-feedback. The research question was then: does artistic eco-feedback provide an increased awareness over normal informative feedback? And does that awareness last longer? To answer this questions participants were interviewed and their consumption patterns analyzed. The main contribution of the paper is to advance our knowledge about the effectiveness of eco-feedback and provide guidelines for implementation of novel eco-feedback visualizations that overcome the relapse behavior pattern.
SINAIS: home consumption package: a low-cost eco-feedback energy-monitoring research platform
... Nuno J. Nunes M-ITI, U. Madeira Campus da Penteada, 9020-105, Funchal, Portugal njn@uma.pt Ad... more ... Nuno J. Nunes M-ITI, U. Madeira Campus da Penteada, 9020-105, Funchal, Portugal njn@uma.pt Adrian Ocneanu M-ITI, U. Madeira Campus da Penteada, 9020-105, Funchal, Portugal adrian@m-iti.org Mario Berges Civil and Env. Eng. ...
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Papers by Filipe Quintal