Publications

(2002) MSc In Human Communication and Computing (Final year dissertation), University of Bath.

Abstract: This project lies in the field of experience design, a research area of interest to Hewlett Packard Laboratories, Bristol who want to know how to design compelling products. Kidd (2001) has a theory of the compelling experience which has three dimensions: challenge/ self expression, drama/ sensation and social. This model is similar to a theory of intrinsic motivation developed by Lepper & Malone (1987). This theory has several dimensions: challenge, curiosity, control and fantasy and on the social side: cooperation, competition and recognition. Lepper & Malone’s (1987) theory states that goal is a motivating feature; this is not stated in Kidd’s (2001) theory. The hypothesis of our experiment was that presence of a goal increases motivation. We used Malone & Lepper’s (1987) model to design a motivating Soundscape which was used as the task in our experiment. The task was varied along one aspect of Malone & Lepper’s (1987) model, that of goal. Then, we attempted to measure the effect this had on the participants’ motivation through questionnaires on their perceptions of the task. Our findings support the hypothesis that presence of a goal increases motivation. In particular, in the goal condition participants were more likely to agree that they wanted another go and that they found the soundscape interesting. There was also support of our hypothesis in the comparison questionnaire, a large majority of the participants preferred the goal condition to the non-goal condition. The implications of these findings are that Lepper and Malone’s (1987) theory of intrinsic motivation provides a good theory for the design of compelling soundscapes. Although, future research is necessary.