Effortful Design

Researcher
Eileen Wemmer
Publications
Research Theme
Application area: Industry R1 Human agency

When was the last time you really put effort into something? What did this experience mean to you? And how would this change if you had been able to automate this task?

Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) has always strived to minimize human effort (“effortless design”) by placing it on machines. In psychology, this approach is backed by the “Law of Least Effort”, which describes the human tendency to avoid effort until offered sufficient incentives. In HCI, effortless design has been shown to positively affect technology acceptance and user satisfaction, amongst other things.
Recently, these long-standing principles have seen some pushback, as evidence of the positive effects of effort emerges. Effort is increasingly shown to hold and create value, both for the task itself as well as for its outcome.

Research shows both the possible negative impact of automation, as well as the positive effects of retaining human effort on a variety of factors. These include central aspects of our life and well-being, such as learning, competence, autonomy, and relationship maintenance. As technological advances offer us ever-increasing chances of automation and heightened efficiency, this project focuses on how to design Human-AI-Collaborations that retain valuable human effort.
How can such “effortful design” contribute to a future in which AI systems and automation not only increase efficiency but also maintain the benefits that extending effort offers?