The document proposes methods for enabling spontaneous social activity through technology. It discusses how existing solutions often fail because they are not designed for this purpose and do not move users from information to action easily. It also presents insights from user studies, including that periodic triggers are more effective than sporadic ones, and users want flexibility in how apps interact with their lifestyles. Overall, the document argues that there is opportunity to design technology specifically for calming users by facilitating spontaneous social interactions.

1. CALMING TECH
Calming by designing for spontaneous social behavior
Tim Pusnik Jausovec | stanford university | April 2011 | timpj@stanford.edu | @timpj

2. Persona: Lemiece Zarka
Bio Musts & Needs
Must know and plan out
Freshmen at Stanford, who lives in an
her life for the next 10
all-freshmen dorm is a SymSys major
weeks to survive.
and traditional overachiever taking 20
Therefore, needs to be
units, holding a leadership position and
efficient in structuring her
part-time coding job.
life - swears by iCal.
Wants & Stresses
Often times wishes to have the ability to
immediately engage in spontaneous social
activity. Having free time but being unable
to utilize it efficiently because her friends
are unavailable, stresses her.

3. Spontaneous social activity enablers
Equipment
Place Time
People
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

4. Spontaneous social activity enablers
Equipment sports gear box
in dorm lounge,
rent-a-“input gear”
Parks,
gyms,
public courts/
fields Pick-up sports,
open door policy,
SkypeMe status
Place Time
People
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

5. Spontaneous social activity tech
Social bicycle/bus/pub-crawler/city-tour
+ social and spontaneous
- usually a one-time trigger
Calmer: social interaction, physical activity
Finding nearby strangers with a specific
interest
+ focuses on enabling spontaneity
+/- very specific activity
Calmer: Engaging in a social physical activity
Collaborative hands-on user interface
+ new frontier in HCI
- limited uses
Calmer: Novelty/cool effect, social creativity
Public bicycle rental program
+ return the bike at any station, cheap
- not necessarily social
Calmer: Outdoor physical activity
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

6. Community-focused social apps
Self-explanatory heavy-weights
+ well-established, proven for large-scale social
spontaneity (eg, Libya)
+/- big, not focused communities
& & et al. Calmer: Feeling of connectedness & agency, calls2action
Connect to friends via your favorite shows
+ focused, perceptive market
- might discourage real-life social behavior “IntoNow”
Calmer: social acceptance and interaction
Crowd-sourcing review site
+ Very accurate/personalized information
- answers where not how or with whom
Calmer: decreasing choice (See Barry Schwartz)
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

7. Location-focused social apps
Which friends and treasures are nearby?
+ stimulating reward incentive system
- hard to move from info to action
Calmer: Connecting with friends
Finding nearby strangers with a specific
interest
+ focuses on enabling spontaneity
+/- very specific activity
Calmer: Engaging in a social physical activity
What should I be doing?
+ great UI, versatile
- focused on planning not spontaneity
Calmer: Reducing choice
Take pictures together. Party. Play date. Lunch?
+ Wow factor, instant social emergence
- requires nearby users, “Color”
who are currently not present
Calmer: Aesthetics, exploration, social interaction
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

8. Txt2Calm
even a forced smile induces
fountain-smile a visceral response similar
to a natural one (Ekman,
1993)
14 users
21x3 breathes in 3 days
breathing regulation has been shown to
increase cognitive performance and reduce homework-breath
body’s response to stress (Jella & Shannahoff-
Khals, 1993)
3 participants (1 drop-out)
32 smiles in 3 days
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

9. SOCIAL-CALM. WUKI
“Cultivating grate-for-ness into the everyday”
7 days
23 users
78 gratefulness notes
Purpose:
To encourage gratefulness among
colleagues in small-scale organizations

10. Version 2
Version 1

11. Insights
it’s all about 95% of all the responses were
timing received within 5min of the trigger
FS received more responses overall, and
participation frequency was highest at the triggers
end of trial (vs. HB lowest at the end) periodic > sporadic
Each user is different, must design a product
increasing which fits within their life-style, allows them to
adoptability/flexibility adopt, e.g. what times is it best to trigger
behavior.
Users felt frustrated and incomplete if they
couldn’t change the way the app interacted allowing
with them. Don’t try to create apps that users to impact app
change users, allow users to change apps.
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

12. Questions and Insights
Existing solutions are mostly calming because of misuses rather than design,
they suffer b/c of social stigma and user expectation,
I.) it’s weird posting a twitter or FB update asking who has time to play golf
II.) b/c it is not expected I’m much less likely to engage/look for such activities on existing tech
they have a hard time moving users from info to action,
this creates a large vacuum/opportunity when it comes to calming tech.
Nonetheless challenges lie ahead:
often an activity’s spontaneity is inversely proportional to it’s sociableness
the triangle question: how to provide people, space, equipment while keeping it spontaneous/flexible?
Solving will require being mindful of following insights
encouraging spontaneous social activities requires specific communities (social and geographical)
it’s about providing ability not motivation (motivation is already present!)
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university