Holzer, Adrian

2024-05-11, Berney, Manon, Holzer, Adrian, Jan Ondrus

From 2017 to 2022, the Internet Crime Complaint Center docu- mented an increase of 266% complains for online scams. The complexity and constant evolution of these scams pose a challenge for the existing legal system, which appears ill-equipped to effectively combat them. A new movement emerged known as “scambaiting”, individuals who autonomously take on the responsibility of advocating for others and fighting against scammers. Leveraging online platforms, these individuals champion causes and educate the public, preventing further victimization. Scambaiting techniques range from entertaining activities, like wasting scammers’ time, to illegal ones, such as hacking. This form of cyber-vigilantism represents a novel and under-explored research, especially in term of human-infrastructure. Through the analysis of ten transcripts of discussions involving a sample of scambaiters, we aim to explore the social dynamics and activities of scambaiting; giving insights on collabo- ration, actors, and challenges within the scambaiting community. Additionally, we present suggestions for future research.

2023-11, Ouaazki, Abdessalam, Bergram, Kristoffer, Holzer, Adrian

Given the pervasive reliance on technology in modern society, teaching Computational Thinking (CT) abilities is becoming increasingly relevant. These abilities, such as modeling and coding, have become crucial for a larger audience of students, not only those who wish to become software engineers or computer scientists. Recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, provide powerful assistance to complete computational tasks, by simplifying code generation and debugging, and potentially enhancing interactive learning. However, it is not clear if these advances make CT tasks more accessible and inclusive for all students, or if they further contribute to a digital skills divide, favoring the top students. To address this gap, we have created and evaluated a novel learning scenario for transversal CT skills that leveraged LLMs as assistants. We conducted an exploratory field study during the spring semester of 2022, to assess the effectiveness and user experience of LLM-augmented learning. Our results indicate that the usage of ChatGPT as a learning assistant improves learning outcomes. Furthermore, contrary to our predictions, the usage of ChatGPT by students does not depend on prior CT capabilities and as such does not seem to exacerbate prior inequalities.

2023-1-4, Purohit, Aditya Kumar, Barev, Torben Jan, Schöbel, Sofia, Janson, Andreas, Holzer, Adrian

The endless stream of social media newsfeeds and stories captivates users for hours on end, sometimes exceeding what users themselves consider unhealthy. However, reducing one’s social media consumption has proven to be challenging. To address this issue, this study investigates how the co-creation of digital feedback nudge can improve digital well-being without increasing privacy threats. To achieve this goal, a mixed method study is used through a two-week single case experimental design. Results demonstrate that co-creation significantly increased users’ sense of agency, sense of accomplishment and perceived sense of privacy while reducing users’ privacy concern. Furthermore, the feedback nudge allowed participants to significantly decrease their social media use.

2023, Purohit, Aditya Kumar, Raggi, Martina, Holzer, Adrian

2024-04-11, Berney, Manon, Ouaazki, Abdessalam, Macko, Vladimir, Kocher, Bruno, Holzer, Adrian

Lights out! With the escalating climate crisis, eco-feedback has gained prominence over the last decade. However, traditional ap- proaches could be underperforming as they often use data-driven strategies and assume that people only need additional information about their consumption to change behavior. A proposed path to overcome this issue is to design eco-feedback to foster emotional connections with users. However, not much is known about the effectiveness of such designs. In this paper, we propose a novel care- based eco-feedback system. Central to the system is a Tamagotchi- inspired digital character named Infi who gets its life force from the user’s energy savings. Additionally, we harness the latest ad- vancements in generative artificial intelligence to enhance emo- tional attachment through conversational interactions that users can have with Infi. The results of a randomized controlled experi- ment (N=420) convey the fact that this design increases emotional attachment, which in turn increases energy-saving behavior.

2023-3-13, Franco, Andrea, Holzer, Adrian

2023, Bezençon, Valéry, Lanz, Bruno, De Santo, Alessio, Holzer, Adrian

2024-01-03, Ouaazki, Abdessalam, Macko, Vladimir, Bergram, Kristoffer, Marika Fenley, Michael Fuchs, Melfi, Giuseppe, Holzer, Adrian

Self-regulated learning (SRL) has been adopted as a successful strategy for promoting deeper learning and improving academic performance. In this context, digital boosts have been used to empower learners by expanding their competencies and helping them reach their objectives. However, existing literature has primarily focused on the academic performance-related outcomes of digital boosts, while their potential effects on emotional and psychological aspects like stress and well-being remain comparatively under-explored. In this study, we address this gap by studying the impact of digital boosts on perceived stress, in addition to study time. We have designed a digital SRL support system, through which we have delivered digital feedback boosts. To evaluate this system, we conducted a pilot study with 60 university students. Our digital boosts have helped students keep a steady study time. However, they have caused an increase in perceived stress, especially among students who did not attain their study time plans.

2023-02-03, Purohit, Aditya Kumar, Holzer, Adrian

Le fait que les entreprises technologiques continuent de concevoir des expériences qui maximisent la capture de l'attention malgré l'intérêt croissant pour le bien-être numérique suggère que cette tendance n'est pas près de disparaître. Il est important de reconnaître que l'attention, c'est-à-dire l'état dans lequel les ressources cognitives d'un individu sont dirigées de manière sélective vers certains stimuli perçus dans l'environnement, est l'une des ressources les plus précieuses de notre ère numérique. En transformant l'attention en monnaie, les entreprises transforment le temps des utilisatrices et des utilisateurs en une forme de monnaie. Ceci a des conséquences néfastes sur les individus, telles que l'anxiété, la dépression, l'irritabilité et l'éloignement de la famille et des amis, pour n'en citer que quelques-unes. La recherche suggère que les interventions de "nudging" numérique peuvent aider à combattre l'addiction aux médias sociaux et à améliorer le bien-être numérique. Cependant, on ne sait toujours pas comment ces interventions peuvent être conçues pour promouvoir le bien-être numérique, ni quelle est leur efficacité.
Cette recherche explore l'utilisation des nudges numériques pour le bien-être numérique à travers six études divisées en trois parties. La première partie vise à faire comprendre le cadre de conception des nudges numériques. L'étude décrit le processus de développement des nudges. Plus précisément, le cadre précise quand et comment les nudges numériques doivent être mis en œuvre. La deuxième partie étudie le paysage des nudges numériques et explore la manière dont les nudges numériques sont utilisés dans d'autres pronostics liés à la santé. En particulier, leur application dans l'ensemble du continuum de soins.
Dans la troisième partie, les nudges numériques pour le bien-être numérique sont développés, et leur efficacité et leur facilité d'utilisation sont mesurées par le biais de quatre études expérimentales. Dans l'étude 1, nous examinons et évaluons différents types de nudges numériques et la relation entre la friction et la facilité d'utilisation dans ce contexte. L'étude 2 évalue dans quelle mesure l'automatisation peut être utilisée avec succès pour développer des interventions d'auto-incitation. En outre, l'étude 3 examine le processus de co-création de nudges numériques pour le bien-être numérique sur les smartphones et l'étude 4 analyse l'impact de la réduction du fil d'actualité et la relation entre l'utilisation compulsive et l'efficacité de l'intervention.
Les conclusions générales de cette thèse suggèrent que les nudges numériques peuvent contribuer au maintien ou à l'augmentation du bien-être numérique lorsqu'ils sont développés de manière éthique selon les lignes directrices. Notre travail confirme que les plateformes de médias sociaux sont conçues pour créer une dépendance et que les nudges numériques peuvent être utilisés pour atténuer les effets de ces conceptions addictives. Les nudges numériques sont plus efficaces lorsqu'ils sont délivrés au bon moment, et les outils d'automatisation numérique peuvent être utilisés pour créer des nudges par le biais de processus d'auto-nudging et de co-création afin de réduire les préoccupations en matière de protection de la vie privée.
Ces outils d'automatisation peuvent être utilisés pour fournir des nudges numériques à l'extérieur en temps opportun (notification du temps passé lors de la fermeture et de l'ouverture d'une application de médias sociaux) et ils peuvent également être utilisés pour modifier l'architecture de choix interne des plateformes de médias sociaux (désabonnement automatique et réduction du contenu du fil d'actualité des médias sociaux). Cette dernière approche, qui consiste à modifier l'architecture des choix internes, est difficile à mettre en œuvre. À l'avenir, les chercheuses et les chercheurs pourraient étudier les conceptions internes au-delà du fil d'actualité qui peuvent être ajustées et modifiées pour accroître le bien-être numérique, car les entreprises de médias sociaux modifient continuellement leurs interfaces pour garder les utilisatrices et les utilisateurs accros.
ABSTRACT:
The fact that tech companies continue to design experiences that maximize attention capture despite this growing interest in digital wellness suggests that this trend is not going away anytime soon. It is important to recognize that attention, i.e., a state in which an individual's cognitive resources are selectively directed to certain perceived stimuli from the environment, is one of the most valuable resources of our digital age. By transforming attention into a currency, businesses transform users' time into a form of currency. This behavior has adverse consequences on individuals such as anxiety, depression, irritability and distancing oneself from family and friends to name a few. Research suggests that digital nudging interventions can help combat social media addiction and improve digital wellbeing. However, it is still unclear how digital nudging interventions can be designed to promote digital wellbeing? and how effective are they?
This research explores the employment of digital nudges for digital wellbeing through six studies split into three parts. Part 1 aims to provide an understanding of the framework to design digital nudges. The study outlines the nudging development process. More specifically, the framework elaborates on when and how digital nudges should be delivered. The Part 2 investigates the landscape of digital nudging and explores how digital nudges are employed in other health related prognosis. In particular, its application across the entire care continuum.
In Part 3, digital nudges for digital wellbeing are developed, and their efficacy and usability are measured via four experimental studies. In study 1, we look at and evaluate various types of digital nudges and the relationship between friction and usability in the context of digital nudging. Study 2 evaluates how successfully automation may be used for developing self-nudging interventions. Further, Study 3 investigates the process of co-creation of digital nudges for digital wellbeing on smartphones and Study 4 analyzes the impact of reducing newsfeed and the relation between compulsive use and intervention effectiveness.
The overall findings of this thesis suggest that digital nudges can contribute to maintaining or increasing digital well-being when developed ethically under the guidelines of the digital nudge development framework. Our work confirms that social media platforms are designed to be addictive and digital nudges can be used to mitigate the effects of these addictive designs. Digital nudges are more effective when delivered at the right time, and digital automation tools can be employed to build nudges through self-nudging and co-creation processes to reduce privacy concerns. These automation tools can be used to deliver digital nudges externally in a timely fashion (time spent notification delivered when a social media application closes and opens) and they can also be used to change the internal choice architecture of social media platforms (automatic unfollowing and reducing social media newsfeed content). This latter approach of changing internal choice architecture is challenging. In the future, researchers could study internal designs beyond the newsfeed that can be adjusted and tweaked to increase digital wellbeing as social media companies continuously alter their interfaces to keep users hooked.

2023, Juan Carlos Farah, Basile Spaenlehauer, Sandy Ingram, Fanny Kim-Lan Lasne, Maria Jesus Rodrıguez-Triana, Holzer, Adrian, Denis Gillet