Evaluating the Persuasive Potential from Software Design Specifications

In the early stages of developing persuasive systems, one of the key challenges is to know whether a specified system that is yet to be programmed really can be expected to influence its users. To explore this, experts evaluated software design specifications of a behavior change support system by using the Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model. The findings show how persuasion postulates and persuasive features can be recognized and evaluated from software design specification documents, and thus how the persuasive potential can be evaluated already at the specification phase. This will enable designers to resolve related design challenges early on, and ultimately increases effectiveness to achieve targeted behavior change.