Wow - I feel I ought to defend myself but am not quite sure what to say in response to Matt and Ted.
The point of the research really isn't 'knowing what's best' - it started out trying to identify these kinds of techniques designed into products / systems / environments so that (with a better understanding of how our behaviour's influenced) we could be much more aware of it (and where it's being used against our best interests as users). But there is a potential for applying many of the ideas to _help_ users instead - which is what the research is primarily about: designing things which help users use them in a more effective way (especially in ways which reduce environmental impact).
Seriously, we didn't 'draw straws to decide what to write a book about'. It's not a book, it's (at least at present) just a set of design ideas and patterns that's intended to help designers working on briefs where user behaviour is important, that I've developed and am testing as part of my PhD.
The point of the research really isn't 'knowing what's best' - it started out trying to identify these kinds of techniques designed into products / systems / environments so that (with a better understanding of how our behaviour's influenced) we could be much more aware of it (and where it's being used against our best interests as users). But there is a potential for applying many of the ideas to _help_ users instead - which is what the research is primarily about: designing things which help users use them in a more effective way (especially in ways which reduce environmental impact).
Seriously, we didn't 'draw straws to decide what to write a book about'. It's not a book, it's (at least at present) just a set of design ideas and patterns that's intended to help designers working on briefs where user behaviour is important, that I've developed and am testing as part of my PhD.
Thanks Alex for linking to it.