Assessing and Reflecting on One's Day by Carving and Engraving a Plaster Block: Investigating DAPPi Experiences in the Field.

Abstract

This thesis presents DAPPi (abbreviation of Destructive Application of Plasters in Personal informatics, stylized as DAPPi), a physical product that engraves a line in casted plaster block to make a personal journal. DAPPi aims to integrate the possible emotional influence from a physical medium into self- reflection experience, pursuing to find increased user engagement and more emotional connection in self-reflection experience. The line created by DAPPi is representing the user’s daily evaluation on a scale from 1 to 10. The by-product that is generated from engraving a line with carving bits accumulates a plaster powder, which is stored in the device’s chamber, offering additional opportunities for reflection. This study explores how user’s intentional irreversible alteration of physical journaling records, and how its interaction can evoke emotional attachment, to encourage and motivate self-discovery, and provide multi-layered opportunities for reflection to cherish their personal records, in alternative data engage- ment methods. A three-week field study involving nine participants demonstrated that DAPPi’s use of an irreversible medium and method encouraged them to make careful consideration before recording, made them consider more creative way to customize personal records. Findings highlighted that the tangible presence and accumulation of these physical journaling method aided participant’s emotional recollection toward their recordings. This thesis denotes its results as supporting the use of irreversibly altered physical media to generate diverse outcomes for reflection, offering new perspectives on daily experiences when designing journaling aids. The thesis proposes design implications for incorporating physical materiality to strengthen emotional attachment and suggests future research directions that con- sider the balance between creativity, sustainability, and the effectiveness of physical journaling as a tool for self-reflection.