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ScreenLife Capture: An open-source and user-friendly framework for collecting screenomes from Android smartphones
Andrew Z H Yee1, Ryan Yu2, Sun Sun Lim3
1Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore, 487372, Singapore. andrew_yee@sutd.edu.sg.
Behavior Research Methods
|October 26, 2022
Summary
Researchers developed ScreenLife Capture, an open-source tool for collecting screenomes (digital experience data). This study reveals diverse smartphone usage patterns and participants' minor psychological adjustments to being monitored.
Area of Science:
- Digital interaction studies
- Human-computer interaction
- Psychological research methods
Background:
- Digital interactions are increasingly common, necessitating better methods to study user experiences.
- Screenomes, high-frequency screenshots, offer objective records of digital device interaction.
- A user-friendly tool for screenome data collection is needed for broader research application.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce ScreenLife Capture, an open-source software for collecting smartphone screenomes.
- To pilot the software in an exploratory mixed-method study.
- To investigate patterns of smartphone use and the psychological impact of screen recording.
Main Methods:
- Development and release of ScreenLife Capture, a user-friendly, open-source software.
- Pilot study with 20 college students collecting over 740,000 screenshots across 2 weeks.
- Exploratory mixed-methods approach combining screenome data with in-depth interviews.
Main Results:
- Smartphone usage is highly heterogeneous, characterized by distinct threads of experiences.
- Participants experienced mild, temporary psychological discomfort from surveillance.
- Minor behavioral changes and avoidance of recording highly private activities were observed.
Conclusions:
- ScreenLife Capture provides a accessible tool for researchers to conduct screenome studies.
- Smartphone use is complex and individualized, requiring nuanced analytical approaches.
- Ethical considerations regarding privacy and psychological impact are crucial for screenome research.
