Research Group 2: Incentives & User Friendliness

Research question: How can we incentivize citizens to participate, keep them engaged, and ensure user-friendliness?
The purpose is to find out:
• How citizens currently feel about the technology and the network.
• Where the technology can improve in user friendliness (design or practical).
• How can we engage citizens to be a part of the network and improve it?

1. What is this about?

This page is dedicated to user research - finding out what works well for people when it comes to the use of radio mesh equipment as well as what kind of incentives can inspire them to keep such a mesh network active. To propose realistic alternatives to internet-based communication, we need to first and foremost ensure that it inspires active use beyond utilitarian purposes. Just like with any popular communication systems, there needs to exist a so-called "glue" that formulates a community around specific technology.

To better understand people's perception of mesh technology and specifically LoRa devices that were used for the Nodenet pilot project we have carried out a series of interviews with participants. After approximately 3 months of user testing and informal gatherings we have asked our participants the following questions:

1. How do you experience using the technology now that you are actively working with it in the pilot, compared to your initial expectations?

2. In which situations and to what extent have you actually used the technology? How did that go in practice?

3. Are there parts of the technology that you still find difficult to understand or use? Do you have examples of this?

4. To what extent do you currently trust the technology in the event of a real emergency?

5. Do you plan to continue using this technology, and what motivates you to remain actively involved in its use? Do you have ideas about how the technology could be applied even more in your life?

6. How do you experience the contact and collaboration with other participants within the network?

7. What do you think of organizations such as Waag and the municipality facilitating the implementation of such technology?

8. What would need to change or improve to make this technology truly valuable to you in the long term?

2.Key Findings / Current Understanding

What we know so far. · Main insights · Important patterns or conclusions

Set up:

Throughout the project, participants were encouraged to use a shared chat with weekly questions aimed to keep the chat active. They also had the opportunity to come to our open walk-in hours, during which we answered technical questions and helped troubleshoot.

Key takeaways:

How do you experience using the technology now that you’re actively working with it in the pilot, compared to your initial expectations? Generally positive; some practical limitations. Quotes: "It mostly does what we hoped, but there are small things that make it less smooth than I expected." "At first I was skeptical, but overall it works — though a few features feel half-finished." "Better than I thought for a pilot, but I still run into little annoyances when I use it."

In which situations and to what extent have you actually used the technology? How did that go in practice?
Used mainly in drills/demos; limited real-emergency use. Quotes: "We tried it in drills and demos — installation was okay, but deeper setup needed assistance." "I only used it for tests and one local exercise; in real incidents, we haven’t switched to it." "Mostly for demonstrations and weekly check-ins; I haven’t had to rely on it for anything serious yet."

Are there parts of the technology you still find difficult to understand or use? Any examples?
Confusion around advanced settings, terminology, and unclear instructions. Quotes: "The terminology and some settings are confusing — I’m not always sure who gets which alert." "There should be a simple wizard; right now I get lost in the options." "I struggled with notification rules and didn’t know which role does what in the network."

To what extent do you currently trust the technology in the event of a real emergency?
Mixed trust; users want proven reliability and fallbacks. Quotes: "I can see its promise, but I wouldn’t rely on it in a real emergency yet." "If it’s been stress-tested and has backups, I’d trust it more — now it feels experimental." "I’d need to see it work in a real, messy scenario before I’d put my trust in it."

Do you plan to keep using this technology and what motivates you to stay actively involved? Any ideas for additional uses in your life?
Willingness to continue if reliable and relevant; civic usefulness motivates. Quotes: "I’d keep using it if it becomes more reliable — it could also help with local community alerts." "The civic value matters to me; if it’s useful for non-urgent neighborhood news, that helps adoption." "I’m open to sticking with it, especially if it integrates with our existing alarm channels."

How do you experience contact and collaboration with other participants within the network?
Positive social cohesion; need clearer roles and escalation procedures. Quotes: "The network brings people together, but we need clearer roles so responses aren’t chaotic." "Communication is friendly and helpful, yet sometimes we don’t know who’s in charge." "I like the collaboration — neighbors respond quickly in tests — but responsibilities are fuzzy."

What do you think about organizations (like Waag and the municipality) facilitating the implementation of such technology?

Appreciation for facilitation; request for long-term commitment and transparency. Quotes: "Their support matters, but we need a long-term plan and clearer communication about their role." "It’s good they’re involved — just don’t make it a one-off project without follow-up." "Having official backing makes people take it more seriously, but I want them to show ongoing support."

What should change or improve to make this technology truly valuable for you long-term?

Priorities: training, simpler UI, reliability testing, defined procedures.

Quotes: "Focus on training, usability and real-world testing — that’s what will make it useful for the long run." "Start small with clear roles and measurable improvements; show results before scaling." "Make the interface simpler and provide quick guides — then run realistic drills so we can trust it."

Bullet points encouraged.

3.How It Works (High Level)

Enough to understand the idea, not the implementation. · What are the main (technical) elements? · How do they relate to each other? If you feel like adding code or specs, stop and summarize instead 😄

4.Choices, Trade-offs & Risks

There is no “perfect” solution. Show progress rather than focus on the end result. · What options exist? · What is gained or lost with each? · Risks, limits, or failure modes

5.Implications for Users & Communities

Mandatory for all pages · How does this affect: · Non-technical users? · Participation and trust? · Safety, inclusion, or exclusion?

6.Open Questions

What we still don’t know or need to test. · Technical unknowns

 7.References & Examples

· Links to projects, docs, or experiments · Short note on why they’re relevant (optional)

8.Page Info

· Research group: · Contributors: · Last updated:

9.Tags

i.e governance · incentives · limits · security · meshcore · meshtastic