Keywords

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

12.1 Concluding Remarks

The ten case studies presented here are the result of 5 years of effort by approximately 30 dedicated Designer/Analysts at Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc., most of them interns gaining professional expertise and experience during 3-month visits. Their primary activity was to work on these unfunded, pro bono projects. Many of them became quite interested in the subject matter and the approach, and some even changed their professional directions accordingly to move towards mobile user-experience design and the particular perspective of mobile persuasion design.

We embarked on these projects because we believed in the value of the approach, the importance of the subject matter for each Machine, and the potential benefits that these Machines, taken to the next step of commercial development, could bring to industry, technology, and society. We have shared this information from the beginning for each one, and are gratified to see interest in taking some of the ideas further, independently of AM + A.

Each of these projects is something like the birth of a new child. We have watched them come into being, begin to crawl, then walk, and eventually run. We are eager to see what the future holds for further developments in this area of technology, communication, and society. Especially interesting will be the adaptation of the Machines to different cultures, age groups, and usage communities (personal vs. enterprise/organization).

There are possible dangers, of course, in the potential misuse of this approach, as mentioned earlier in the book. Nevertheless, we believe that with some warnings, some education in ethics, and more attention to cultures, sustainability, and social-political implications of such development and the “quantified self” of our lives (as news reports record daily), all stakeholders can move forward with awareness and caution.

Many exciting developments, we feel, lie ahead in this area. We look forward to the future of mobile persuasion design.