Activity Diagram and Use case

The activity diagram builds upon the results from the interviews and the workshop, the aim of this diagram is to make it more clear what decisions, actions and activities the users might do. It also can help to identify where there is need to support the users so that they do not fall back into old habits.

Since the interviews are analysed with the use of a textual analysis tool it is easy to identify the requirements and activities from the different texts. This information was also used for developing use case for displaying user behaviour and the goals in the proposed system.

4.5.1 Use cases

Below in figures 8 through 11 (larger pictures can be found in appendix 5), is the use cases developed on the information mentioned above. The use cases contain the general opinion amongst the

participant regarding what they consider as the most important goals on the different areas in this thesis. As one can see in the use cases, the goals are not revolutionary; this is because when it comes to what consumer’s wants of such a solution it is already recognised by the energy industry.

Figure 8 Use case "Motivation"

Figure 9 Use case "Analytics"

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Figure 10 Use case "Consumption"

Figure 11 Use case "Energy management"

However, the use cases “motivation” and “energy management” contains goals that can address the subject of behaviour change and energy management. In addition to creating and changing the energy management plan, the need for evaluating the progress can prove beneficial.

This can help to keep the motivation, and if a change of plan in needed that can be done. If the consumer can change their plan if something comes up this can be done, and that will ensure that the motivation will not be lost because the consumer still can reach their goal. As mentioned by one participant in the workshop, some kind of gamification could be positive. This is also recognised by (Dale, 2014) in his article, one of several articles on the subject as well as two master thesis on the subject from (Du, Feng, & Zhou, 2014; Kaczmarek, 2015). As gamification is not a part of this thesis the concept, such elements are not evaluated. However, as an element for keeping motivation for behaviour change a form of reward are considered as beneficial for the users.

42 4.5.2 Activity Diagrams

The activity diagram in figure 12 (larger picture can be found in appendix 4) shows how the

participants explained their activities and decisions regarding the aspect of receiving the utility bill.

As explained in section 4.2.4 most of the participants in the survey answered that they just pay the bill or gets irritated when receiving a higher bill than expected. Very few of the participants discussed the utility bill with someone else in the household and developed a plan for saving.

The participants from the workshop also identified the processes in the activity diagram; however, they also mentioned that the will to change came with a negative experience. The key is to take the negative experience, turn it into something positive, and continue to build upon that. The activity diagram provides me with an overview of the activities and where the respondents identified that there was need for support. For taking good decisions and planning their usage.

Figure 12 Activity diagram

4.6 I

S

In this chapter the results from the interviews, workshop and survey has been presented as well as the use cases and activity diagrams. The purpose with the interviews was to obtain a deeper insight in what potential users thought about the topics in the interview guide. The general trends were that the approach towards energy usage and saving was quite simple, if it was needed it was used. The respondents also explained that appliances and units was often turned on and left on, no one

remembered to turn them off again. Another trend was that it was the men that had most interest in energy in general, the woman left those matters to the men.

The aim for the workshop was to gain input on what functions and analytics the potential users could want in such a smart home information system. To do this there was conducted different activities with the aim of getting information that one might not get during an interview. The results showed that the participants thought there was a higher chance of change when there was a negative experience.

43 The participants pointed to the fact that a sort of reward would be required; this is also something that the literature in section 2,4 and 2,5 from (Abrahamse et al., 2005; Zipperer et al., 2013) showed.

The results showed that the users’ needs the possibility to personalize the motivation, to make it more personal, in addition to a predefined motivational goal. When it came to the design, the participants believed that it would not be possible to develop a design, which would be suitable for all the user groups. Based on this the participants came up with four main user groups, one design for each main user group would be required according to the participants. By doing this the

participants believed that it would be possible to make the motivation and incentives more personal and the information would be used more active and led to change. It was also proposed that children received more attention because they are the next generation and needs to be educated.

The results from the survey somewhat correlated with the results from the workshop and interviews as mentioned in section 4.5.1. The key elements to note is the motivational factors, adoption of smart house technology and the “driving in the dark” approach when it comes to energy saving and usage, especially amongst the females.