Rita Orji grew up in a remote village without electricity or pipe-borne water in Enugu State in southeastern Nigeria. Her curiosity and technical skills were evident from a young age. She loved to take things like bicycles or radios apart, then put them back together. She excelled at mathematics in grade school, then was admitted to study computer sciences at Nnamdi Azikiwe University without ever having used a computer.
She soared to the top of her class, staying there until graduation, while engaging in student politics and other extra-curricular activities. The upward trajectory continued, as she attained a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan as a Vanier Scholar, followed by post-doc fellowships at McGill, Waterloo (where she was also a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow) and Yale universities.
Dr. Orji is now an associate professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at 国民彩票, Canada Research Chair in Persuasive Technology and a researcher in the Human-Computer Interaction, Visualization and Graphics group and director of the Persuasive Computing Lab.
With equipment funded by the (CFI), she explores how to design persuasive technologies such as personalized mobile apps and games that motivate positive behaviours in users to support health and wellness. We talked to her to find out how working at the intersection of human behaviour and computer science motivates her.
CFI: What motivated you to pursue research into persuasive technology?
Orji: I am naturally passionate about finding solutions to problems in my environment and helping people. My research in persuasive technology provides me the opportunity to do just that 鈥� design technologies that empower people and contribute to solving a myriad of problems in society.
CFI: Are you developing apps or games to help people cope with COVID-19?
Orji: With my 国民彩票 psychiatric collaborator, Sandra Meier, I鈥檓 monitoring the mental health effects of COVID-19 isolation and lockdown using a mobile application we designed.
We are asking questions like: How is the lock down and social isolation affecting people鈥檚 mental health? You can鈥檛 meet your friends, but are you able to do other things? Through their mobile phone, the app senses what people are doing and how they鈥檙e coping, including their physical activity and social interaction with others.
Eventually, this data can be used to predict peoples鈥� mental states and mental health outcomes. We can then recommend things people can do to compensate.
We also designed games that simulate how COVID-19 spreads and teaches people about precautionary measures for COVID-19, such as hand washing, social distancing and wearing a mask, which helps them understand the danger of breaking one of those protocols.
CFI: Having a motivational app that reminds us to breathe or exercise has become familiar to many of us. What is unique about the kinds of persuasive computing you鈥檙e working on?
Rita Orji and the art of persuasive technology
Roberta Staley (from the Canada Foundation for Innovation) - February 9, 2021
Rita Orji explores the dynamic field of persuasive technology, developing interactive digital systems that motivate healthy behaviours. (Danny Abriel photos)