Maps as Persuasive Platforms
Author
Nøgaard Glud, Louise
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2009
Pages
84
Abstract
This thesis examines maps as persuasive platforms through a field study at Aalborg Zoo. It has two aims: to understand how visitors engage with and make sense of the zoo when contributing SMS messages linked to their locations, and to derive design suggestions for map-based persuasive interventions. The study combined GPS tracking devices (Lommies), mobile texting, an online questionnaire, and GIS/Google Earth to build four map types addressing where, when, who, and why visitors spend time in the zoo; the SMS map connected reported activities, observations, and feelings to place. The analysis draws on actor-network theory to trace agencies in the zoo, links ANT to persuasive design, uses theories of technological mediation (Ihde, Verbeek) to explain how technologies shape interpretation and behavior, and engages place-making perspectives (Mazullo, Ingold) to analyze what gets mapped. Findings indicate that tagging places with text messages both involves visitors in their surroundings and serves as a read/write process through which they understand their visit. While creating SMS content, visitors mobilize the zoo for their personal projects—self-profiling, expressing emotions, learning—and for meeting children’s basic and sensorimotor needs, often construing animals in ways that counter the zoo’s effort to present them as wild. Building on these insights, the thesis proposes four virtual maps, MyZoos (Comment, Sensation, Learning, Activity), that connect less-visited animals to themed routes aligned with visitors’ modes of engagement and include opportunities for ongoing tagging and content creation to support persuasive goals.
Denne afhandling undersøger kort som persuasive platforme gennem et feltstudie i Aalborg Zoo. Den har to formål: at forstå, hvordan gæster engagerer sig i og forstår zoo, når de bidrager med SMS-beskeder knyttet til deres position, og at omsætte dette til designforslag for kortbaserede persuasive interventioner. Studiet kombinerede GPS-enheder (lommies), mobil-SMS, et online spørgeskema samt GIS/Google Earth for at skabe fire korttyper, der besvarer hvor, hvornår, hvem og hvorfor gæster opholder sig i bestemte områder; SMS-kortet koblede rapporter om aktiviteter, iagttagelser og følelser til sted. Analysen trækker på aktør-netværksteori til at spore agenturer i zoo, forbinder ANT med persuasive design, bruger teorier om teknologisk mediation (Ihde, Verbeek) til at belyse, hvordan teknologier former fortolkning og adfærd, og inddrager stedforståelser (Mazullo, Ingold) til at analysere, hvad der bliver kortlagt. Resultaterne peger på, at stedtagning via SMS både involverer gæster i omgivelserne og fungerer som en læse/skrive-proces, hvorigennem de forstår besøget. Når gæster skaber SMS-indhold, bruger de zoo i deres personlige projekter—selvprofilering, følelsesudtryk, læring—og til at imødekomme børns basale og sansemotoriske behov, ofte på måder der modarbejder zooens forsøg på at formidle dyrene som vilde. Med afsæt i dette foreslås fire virtuelle kort, MyZoos (Comment, Sensation, Learning, Activity), der kobler mindre besøgte dyr til temaruter afstemt med gæsternes engageringsmåder og inkluderer løbende tagging og indholdsskabelse for at understøtte de persuasive mål.
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