Designing for positive disclosure: What do you like today? Marije Kanis a, * , Willem-Paul Brinkman b,1 , Mark Perry a a Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK b Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 4, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands article info Article history: Received 31 December 2007 Received in revised form 12 July 2008 Accepted 15 October 2008 Available online xxx Keywords: Mobile technology Positive psychology Positive emotions Social sharing Expressive technology abstract This paper’s premise is that technology has the potential to support the elicitation, expression and communication of positive thoughts. However, its success depends on understanding and incorporating appropriate strategies for interactive system design and development. Following in the positive psychology tradition, this paper presents two co-design studies investigating how positive thoughts can be mediated and shared. These studies involved approximately 50 participants, using paper-based questioning techniques and social–online tools that captured 151 contributions on what thoughts people like to share. The collected data demonstrated the potential for designing systems based on a prefix- based elicitation of positive emotions. Analysis of participants’ contributions suggests that various messages of a predominantly positive nature can be harnessed, emphasising the importance of imme- diacy and situatedness in expression. Moreover, the analysis resulted in a set of design considerations for the design and development of positive expressive technologies. These considerations were used to develop a mobile application called PosiPost Me (Mobile Internet Edition) that allows users to create and share positive thoughts at any time and place. In this way, this research sets an exemplar of a design process for positive communicative systems while building on research in positive psychology, human– computer interaction and cognitive ergonomics. Relevance to industry: The studies conducted showed the feasibility of proposed approach and opens new avenues for technologies aimed at positive communication and wellbeing in the mobile environ- ment. It also offers a set of design considerations to support designers in creating such positive expressive technologies. Ó 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Traditionally, the field of human–computer interaction and cognitive ergonomics often focus on the negative aspects of the user experience; for example, diagnosing and avoiding usability problems, identifying design flaws and inadequacies or removing user frustration (e.g. Ceaparu et al., 2004). However, the lack of problems or user’s negative feelings towards a system is not the same as generating the presence of happy, or emotionally positive feelings in the user. The nearest commonly used measure to this in the field of human–computer interaction is the notion of user satisfaction (Pearson and Bailey, 1980; Rushinek and Rushinek, 1986). Yet, this is generally considered to be related to the enjoy- ment or usability of a system, matching this to a user’s goals. Certainly, a satisfied user may indirectly become happier, but this affect is only elicited and measured by reference to the way that their tasks are carried out. However, technology offers the potential for more than this task-oriented perspective on a user’s positivity. Psychological research offers an insight into what could be possible to achieve through harnessing technology to improve the experi- ential quality of life. Positive psychology, the study of human flourishing (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), arose from the need to add a positive side to the predominantly negative discipline of psychology – negative, in terms of its focus on mental illness, rather than well- ness. Research in the field of positive psychology has added to an increasing understanding of the value of positive emotions, and why and how they matter. Longitudinal studies (Fredrickson, 2003) for instance, show that the presence of positive emotions can play a role in the development of long-term resources such as psycho- logical resilience and flourishing. Fredrickson’s (2001) broaden- and-build theory proposes that positive emotions broaden an individual’s momentary mindset, and by doing so help to build enduring personal resources. As such, experiencing a positive emotion leads to states of mind and to modes of behaviour that indirectly prepare an individual for later hard times, and the * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ44 1895 274000; fax: þ44 1895 251686. E-mail addresses: marije.kanis@brunel.ac.uk (M. Kanis), w.p.brinkman@ tudelft.nl (W.-P. Brinkman), mark.perry@brunel.ac.uk (M. Perry). 1 Tel.: þ31 15 2783534. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ergon ARTICLE IN PRESS 0169-8141/$ – see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ergon.2008.10.001 International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics xxx (2008) 1–9 Please cite this article in press as: Kanis, M., et al., Designing for positive disclosure: What do you like today?, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics (2008), doi:10.1016/j.ergon.2008.10.001