Sunday, April 25, 2004
People Love 'Their' Computers - Report
Posted by Jonathon Watkins in "THOUGHT" @ 08:00 AM
The British Broadcasting Corporation has posted another interesting article about computing. This time it's personal: "People tend to develop strong ties to a specific computer, even if it means waiting to use their favourite machine, say researchers. A team at Pennsylvania State University in the US found that people were drawn to a PC because of their tendency to assign human attributes to machines. It also reflected people's love of consistency, they said."
IMAGE SOURCE
"The Penn State team set out to find discover just how far people were prepared to go to maintain a relationship with their favourite PC. For the study, they analysed the behaviour of university students using 800 computer terminals. They found that students tended to show loyalty to one or two computers, even when others were free. People given the option of a range of PCs tended to have favourites, with some even prepared to wait in line to use a particular machine. "It is well documented how we treat computers as if they have feelings, despite the fact that we know deep down that they have been pre-programmed by humans," said Professor Shyam Sundar, co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University."
Interesting. I know that I tend to do this kind of thing as well. However, there are often other reasons at play here, i.e. you will try and re-use a public computer which you know has not had it's settings messed up, coke spilled into the keyboard or has had a variety of random spyware installed by the previous bozo to use it. :grumble: However the report tries to push things further than that.
"Prof Sundar said there computer manufacturers and advertisers could learn from the results of the study. In general, computers are marketed as things that can easily be phased out and replaced. "A better advertising strategy might be to portray computers as something durable and reliable, something that grows with you," Prof Sundar told BBC News Online."
Computers (and PDA's) durable and reliable? Na, it'll never catch on. :wink: What do you reckon? I suppose it goes without saying that you guys are attached to your 'Personal' Digital Assistants? :ppclove:
IMAGE SOURCE
"The Penn State team set out to find discover just how far people were prepared to go to maintain a relationship with their favourite PC. For the study, they analysed the behaviour of university students using 800 computer terminals. They found that students tended to show loyalty to one or two computers, even when others were free. People given the option of a range of PCs tended to have favourites, with some even prepared to wait in line to use a particular machine. "It is well documented how we treat computers as if they have feelings, despite the fact that we know deep down that they have been pre-programmed by humans," said Professor Shyam Sundar, co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University."
Interesting. I know that I tend to do this kind of thing as well. However, there are often other reasons at play here, i.e. you will try and re-use a public computer which you know has not had it's settings messed up, coke spilled into the keyboard or has had a variety of random spyware installed by the previous bozo to use it. :grumble: However the report tries to push things further than that.
"Prof Sundar said there computer manufacturers and advertisers could learn from the results of the study. In general, computers are marketed as things that can easily be phased out and replaced. "A better advertising strategy might be to portray computers as something durable and reliable, something that grows with you," Prof Sundar told BBC News Online."
Computers (and PDA's) durable and reliable? Na, it'll never catch on. :wink: What do you reckon? I suppose it goes without saying that you guys are attached to your 'Personal' Digital Assistants? :ppclove:
