We explore the idea of objects that, under some contextual conditions, become less “agreeable” to the user. Such an object may lower its performance level, become less usable, or start producing discouraging stimuli. Yet, it always remains fully functional and usable. We call such objects resistive. We describe three ways, in which making an object resistive may add value to the user. The resistive object may offer feedback on the user’s past improper actions. It may encourage the user to improve her behavior at the moment. Or, it may offer the user an instant, discouraging evaluation of a bad operation on the object, which she is about to perform. In each case, resistivity is meant to help the user avoid undesirable behavior and choose a better course of action. In the paper we introduce the concepts of personal and community-wide resistive objects and provide a model of object resistivity. We exemplify the concepts with a number of ideas for resistive objects. Notably, the examples may serve as an inspiration for quite a few experiments with end users. Finally, we hint at selected research issues.

1. Resistive Objects
Resistive Objects
Jaroslaw Domaszewicz
Institute of Telecommunications
Warsaw University of Technology
Warsaw, Poland
Alexander Gluhak
Intel Labs Europe
London, UK
Domaszewicz, J.; Gluhak, A., "Resistive Objects"
8th International Conference on Human System Interaction HSI’2015, 25-27 June 2015, Warsaw, Poland
doi: 10.1109/HSI.2015.7170654, URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7170654&isnumber=7170630
smart objects that become less agreeable
than they can be, for a purpose
Illustrations by Simona Ciocoiu

2. Resistive Objects
Consider …
Consider a smart object that occasionally passes a negative judgment
on the user’s behavior (past, present, or imminent).
It then conveys the judgment to the user.
It does so via the way it works, without words.
For example, it may do so by …
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 2

3. Resistive Objects
Example 1: home lighting
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 3
…requiringmoreeffort.

4. Resistive Objects
Example 2: TV remote
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 4
…delayingreactions.

5. Resistive Objects
Example 3: smartphone
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 5
…blinkingdisapprovingly.

6. Resistive Objects
Example 4 (community-wide): escalator
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 6
…slowingdown.

7. Resistive Objects
Resistive object: definition
 A resistive object is one that in response to some contextual conditions
becomes noticeably less “agreeable” to the user.
 We use “agreeability” as a non-technical umbrella term to refer to any
of three modalities of resistance, which are quite different in nature.
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 7

8. Resistive Objects
How: modalities of resistance
 The object’s usability may drop.
 The object’s performance may drop.
 The object may start delivering “disapproving” stimuli
to the user. (We call them explicit resistance.)
We assume that for any object only one modality is at work.
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 8

9. Resistive Objects
Why: modes of resistance
 Payback
An object may become more resistant in return for
the user’s improper past behavior.
 Immediate feedback
The resistance is meant to encourage the user
to change her undesirable behavior at the moment.
 Advance feedback
As the user handles the object, she receives
an instant, discouraging evaluation of a bad action
that she is likely to take in the immediate future
(but has not yet taken).
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 9

10. Resistive Objects
Personal and community-wide objects
 A personal resistive object is used by an individual or family.
 A community-wide resistive object is used by a possibly large group
of loosely related people. It may span a meeting room, building,
neighborhood, city, nation, or even the entire globe.
The object reacts to collective behavior derived from individual
contributions.
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 10

11. Resistive Objects
Resistance level
 The loss of agreeability occurs to a varying degree, as the context changes.
 We refer to the degree, to which the object has become less agreeable
as its resistance level.
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 11
0.0 1.0
minimum resistance:
• best performance
• best usability
• no explicit resistance
resistancelevel
currentresistance level
maximum resistance:
• performance at its lowest or …
• usability at its lowest or …
• explicit resistance most intense
(only one of the above three holds,
depending on the modality)

12. Resistive Objects
Key design principle
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 12
At any resistance level the resistive object remains
fully functional and usable.
In particular, the user should be able to ignore
the object’s resistance.

13. Resistive Objects
Key design principle (cont.)
At the highest resistance level (only one of the following holds) …
 The object’s usability is at its lowest, but it remains acceptable.
The point is to make the user aware of changes in usability, not to render
the object hard to use.
 The object’s performance at its lowest, but it remains acceptable.
In fact, it may still be better than the regular performance of a lower-end,
non-resistive product. What matters is that the user can easily detect
performance variations.
 The stimuli of explicit resistance are most intense and may be hard to
overlook, but they are still easy to disregard.
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 13

14. Resistive Objects
Model of resistivity
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 14
context synthesizer resistance characteristic
raw context data
user-understood
resistance driver resistance level
resistance converter
user-perceived
resistive parameter
resistance driver
resistancelevel
key property: monotonicity
0.0
1.0

15. Resistive Objects
Model of resistivity: resistive TV remote
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 15
weather
detector
resistancecharacteristic
temperature,
humidity,
brightness,
…
user-understood
resistancedriver:
hownice is the weather
resistance level user-perceived
resistiveparameter:
the extra delay
resistancelevel
delay [s]
0.0
3.0
0.0 1.0
weather
resistancelevel
0.0
1.0
nasty gorgeous
converter
values of the resistive parameter for
the highest and lowestobject agreeability
rworst
rbest

16. Resistive Objects
Model of resistivity: resistive lighting
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 16
sensor data light switching occurrences,data from human presence sensors, …
resistance driver energy waste factor (say, for a two week moving window) in {1,2,3,4,5}
resistive parameter the number of times one needs to toggle a switch to switch lights on
rbest 1
rworst 5
Note: specific values are only examples.

17. Resistive Objects
Model of resistivity: resistive smartphone
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 17
sensor data accelerometer data, sound, …
resistance driver current activity in {default, on the train, driving a car}
resistive parameter the frequency of the notification LED’s blinking
rbest 0 Hz
rworst 2 Hz
Note: specific values are only examples.

18. Resistive Objects
Model of resistivity: resistive escalator
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 18
sensor data per-person escalator vs. stairs usage data
resistance driver per-community escalator usage ratio (say, for a one week moving window)
resistive parameter the speed of the escalator (when there is a rider)
rbest 0.6 m/s
rworst 0.3 m/s
Note: specific values are only examples.

19. Resistive Objects
Model of resistivity: resistive escalator
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 19
sensor data per-person escalator vs. stairs usage data
resistance driver per-community escalator usage ratio (say, for a one week moving window)
resistive parameter the speed of the escalator (when there is a rider)
rbest 0.6 m/s
rworst 0.3 m/s
both speeds are acceptable for ”normal” escalators

20. Resistive Objects
User’s conceptual model (technical terms)
 For a given object the user should know its …
 resistance driver (e.g., the weather outside),
 resistive parameter (e.g., the delay in reaction to a key press).
 Further, the user should understand that …
IF the resistive parameter has changed for the worse,
THEN the value of the resistance driver has increased (and vice versa).
 We believe that in most cases more detailed knowledge
(say, of the resistance characteristic) is not needed,
or can be acquired by using the object for some time.
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 20

21. Resistive Objects
User’s conceptual model (human terms)
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 21
With your resistive lighting,
the number of times you need to toggle to switch on the lights
depends on how well you’ve been conserving energy lately.
That can be any number from one to five. The fewer, the better.
If toggling once does the job, congratulations – you’ve been very
conscientious about saving energy.
If you need to toggle five times, you’ve been quite negligent; please
consider being more careful to improve your score.
from the user’s manual:

22. Resistive Objects
User’s conceptual model (human terms)
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 22
With your resistive lighting,
the number of times you need to toggle to switch on the lights
depends on how well you’ve been conserving energy lately.
That can be any number from one to five. The fewer, the better.
If toggling once does the job, congratulations – you’ve been very
conscientious about saving energy.
If you need to toggle five times, you’ve been quite negligent; please
consider being more careful to improve your score.
resistive parameter
resistance driver
interpreting the resistive parameter in terms of the resistance driver

23. Resistive Objects
Resistivity matrix
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 23
objects that are permanently less agreeable than they could be
Modality (how)
Mode (why)
Performance Usability Explicit resistance
Payback
Resistive remote
(watching time)
Resistive browser
(browsing time)
Resistive coffee machine
Resistive escalator (payback)
Resistive lighting
Resistive road
(speeding driven)
Resistive self-closing faucet
Resistive lighting
(with earcons)
Immediate feedback
Resistive remote (weather)
Resistive browser
(aimless browsing)
Resistive escalator
(immediate feedback)
Resistive road
(pedestrian driven)
HAPIfork
SubRosa
Advance feedback
Resistive automatic door Resistive phone
Nest thermostat
Window signaling systems
Tea Light
Fixed resistance
Ford MyKey Regular road
(with speed bumps)
Regular road
(with warning signs)

24. Resistive Objects
Resistivity matrix
 Most existing products and prototypes rely on explicit resistance.
 Hardly any of them (none in our matrix) applies the payback mode.
 There seems to be a lot of uncharted territory !
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 24
Modality (how)
Mode (why)
Performance Usability Explicit resistance
Payback
Resistive remote
(watching time)
Resistive browser
(browsing time)
Resistive coffee machine
Resistive escalator (payback)
Resistive lighting
Resistive road
(speeding driven)
Resistive self-closing faucet
Resistive lighting
(with earcons)
Immediate feedback
Resistive remote (weather)
Resistive browser
(aimless browsing)
Resistive escalator
(immediate feedback)
Resistive road
(pedestrian driven)
HAPIfork
SubRosa
Advance feedback
Resistive automatic door Resistive phone
Nest thermostat
Window signaling systems
Tea Light
Fixed resistance
Ford MyKey Regular road
(with speed bumps)
Regular road
(with warning signs)

25. Resistive Objects
Related research areas
 Persuasive technologies
 resistivity is meant to be one of them
 Embedded, implicit interaction
 resistivity is added to a regular object, whose function, look, and feel
are preserved
 interaction is not a goal in itself; it occurs as a byproduct of using the object
the usual way
 Ambient information systems
 the object conveys information on the resistance driver, without attention
grabbing screens (and without a distinct ambient display)
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 25

26. Resistive Objects
Research questions
 User acceptance: can the user’s frustration and a sense of punishment
be avoided?
 our design principle may be a necessary but not sufficient condition
for good user acceptance
 Does resistance-based feedback have advantages over explicit feedback
delivered via displays of smartphones or laptops?
 possible advantages: more persuasive power, less distraction
 How to answer: experiments in-the-wild, insights from psychology.
 An interesting set of issues has to do with community-wide objects.
 note the emerging community orientation in persuasive technologies
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 26

27. Resistive Objects
Glimpse of validation activities
 A prototype of a TV remote control middleware platform for context-
aware applications (based on the CC2533 RF4CE Development Kit from TI).
 In our validation experiment we intend to learn about user acceptance
and persuasive power of different versions of the resistive remote.
2015.06.25 8th Intl. Conf. on Human System Interaction HSI'2015 27
Target Module
applications run here
ARC
look and feel
of an ordinary remote
IR (to TV)
to Internet
RF4CE
Goluch Maciej, “Programmable TV remote as platform for context-aware applications,” BS thesis, Warsaw University of Technology

28. Resistive Objects
Thank you!
Thanks to Simona Ciocoiu for the illustrations.