Preface

This volume comprises the adjunct proceedings of the 8th International Conference
on Persuasive Technology (Persuasive-2013), which took place in Sydney during
April 3-5, 2013. The Persuasive Technology conference series is the primary meeting
for researchers and practitioners interested in how interactive technologies and
services can influence people's attitudes and support positive behavior change. The
conference has taken place annually since 2005 and provides a forum for the
exchange of ideas and the presentation of research conducted worldwide.
   Persuasive-2013 was chaired by Shlomo Berkovsky the National ICT Australia
(NICTA, www.nicta.com.au) and Jill Freyne from the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Organisation (CSIRO, www.csiro.au). They were assisted by an
international Program Committee of 29 leading figures in the persuasive research
community. The conference solicited long papers of up to 12 pages in length, which
represent original reports of substantive new research. In addition, the conference
solicited short papers of up to 6 pages in length, whose merit was assessed in terms of
originality and importance.
   Persuasive-2013 received 47 submissions from all over the world, with large
numbers from Europe, the United States, and many Australian submissions. Every
submission was reviewed by three or more reviewers and after a rigorous review
process, 16 long papers and 12 short papers were selected for publication. This
resulting in an acceptance rate of 34% for long papers and 25.5% for short papers.
The authors of papers that were not accepted were encouraged to revise their work
and to resubmit it to the conference workshops.
   The program of Persuasive-2013 covered a wide range of topics, with papers
covering not only typical persuasive domains like health and environment, but also
work covering emerging research topics, such as data safety and evaluation of
persuasive technologies. The conference program also included the International
Workshop on Behavior Change Support Systems (workshops chair was Jaap Ham
from the Eindhoven University of Technology) and a doctoral consortium – a forum
for PhD students to get feedback and advice from the leading researchers in the
persuasive community. Two high-profile keynote speakers were invited to share their
influential contributions in the field of persuasive technology. The conference
program included keynote talks by Anthony Jameson from the German Research
Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and Anind Dey from the Carnegie Mellon
University. We are most grateful to both speakers for taking time out of their busy
schedules to come to Sydney and participate in Persuasive-2013.
   It would not be possible to hold the conference without the Program Committee
and the sponsors. We deeply acknowledge the conscientious work of the Program
Committee members and the additional reviewers, who helped us to assure the quality
of the accepted papers. We also gratefully thank our sponsors, NICTA and CSIRO,
who helped us with funding and organisational expertise. We appreciate the efforts of
the publicity chair, Sarvnaz Karimi from CSIRO. Finally, we acknowledge the use of
EasyChair that simplified the review process and the preparation of the proceedings.
   We hope that you find the papers in these volume of adjunct proceedings
interesting and stimulating.


                                                                   Shlomo Berkovsky
                                                                          Jill Freyne