Gossip as a motivator for better maintenance
Maintenance is often neglected. People do not always know what needs to be done, what they need to do it, or even that maintenance is necessary in the first place. Another important reason is that there is little sense of urgency as long as an appliance still works. Why clean your coffee machine if the coffee still tastes fine?
Gossiping Senseos, which started as a graduation project, explores whether social pressure in the form of gossip could provide enough motivation to encourage people to take better care of their appliances. Social pressure can be a strong motivator, but this is difficult to use for maintenance because it is usually a private activity that others do not see.
When Senseos start gossiping
This led to exploring what would happen if appliances started gossiping about their users. For this study, Senseos were used as the use case. Each appliance was given its own persona and placed in a group chat together with its user, where the Senseos could talk to each other. The users could only read the conversations. The messages were critical of their owners’ maintenance behaviour. For example, when someone kept making coffee without descaling their Senseo, they could see their coffee machine complaining about it in the group chat. When maintenance was carried out, this was met with positive comments instead. Alongside the gossip, the Senseos also shared tips and explanations about how and how often maintenance should be carried out.
From concept to installation
The concept was then tested with Senseo users. The messages did not directly lead to maintenance, but the humorous nature of the gossiping appliances attracted attention and made maintenance more discussable.
During Dutch Design Week, the concept is translated into an interactive installation. Visitors can experience for themselves what it might be like if their Senseo commented on their coffee use and maintenance. The installation invites visitors to reflect on how we take care of our appliances, and what might happen if they suddenly had something to say about it.
