The landscape of calming technologies (#CalmingTech) that calm users by raising their ability to engage in spontaneous social activities.

1. LANDSCAPE
Calming by designing for spontaneous social behavior
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

2. Social-based technology
has proven to be
immensely powerful in
tr igger ing lar ge-scale
spontaneous social unrest
Imagine that far-reaching
impulse for spontaneous
social activities be utilized
in stress reducing ways.
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

3. Importance of spontaneity
"an organization which depends solely upon its blueprints of
Gives Robustness prescribed behavior is a very fragile social system" Katz (1964)
“Think about the people in your life who you
would consider spontaneous. They seem so Fills with Vitalism
alive, don’t they? They are so positive and
confident.”
“positive mood at work is a direct succedent of organizational
Creates Mood spontaneity and a pivotal construct in stress reduction.” George
(1992)
Spontaneity means acting in accordance with a
natural feeling, impulse or tendency without It is a Natural tendency
any constant, effort or premeditation.
Thriving professionally means being efficient, e.g. having events
planned out 3 weeks in advance. People are stressed because
Need Balance they feel unable to vent out effectively, immediately and
spontaneously.
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

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

5. 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

6. Spontaneous social activity tech
Social bicycle/bus/pub-crawler/city-tour
+ social and spontaneous
- usually a one-time trigger
Calmer: social interaction, physical activity
Texting
+ powerful trigger
- limited and small community
Calmer: not inherent, as a means for
calls2action (e.g. “anyone wanna join me in the
gym”)
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

7. 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

8. 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 “Color”
- requires nearby users, currently not present
Calmer: Aesthetics, exploration, social interaction
Tim Pusnik Jausovec, stanford university

9. 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