This repository holds the supplementary materials for Lukoff et al. (2020) "From Ancient Contemplative Practice to the App Store: Designing a Digital Container for Mindfulness".
It contains:
1. **Mindfulness-Apps-Coding.csv** - The codes applied to 370 mindfulness-related mobile apps found on the Google Play store. An identical version of this coding with nicer formatting is also available here on Google Sheets: https://bit.ly/2XLIN34
2. **Deep-Dive-Review-Apps-Only.csv** - A spreadsheet with the 16 apps that we reviewed in our deep dive reviews and their coding. An identical version of this coding with nicer formatting is also available here on Google Sheets: https://bit.ly/3byR7as
3. **Mindfulness-Apps-Interview-Protocol.pdf** - The protocol used in our interviews of 15 mindfulness teachers. Includes paper mockups of mobile features for tracking, gamifying, or socializing in mindfulness apps.
4. **User-Activities-in-Apps.pdf** - A description of each user activity, its prevalence in our corpus, key features that support that activity, and example apps.
Paper abstract:
*Hundreds of popular mobile apps today market their ties to mindfulness. What activities do these apps support and what benefits do they claim? How do mindfulness teachers, as domain experts, view these apps? We first conduct an exploratory review of 370 mindfulness-related apps on Google Play, finding that mindfulness is presented primarily as a tool for relaxation and stress reduction. We then interviewed 15 U.S. mindfulness teachers from the therapeutic, Buddhist, and Yogic traditions about their perspectives on these apps. Teachers expressed concern that apps that introduce mindfulness only as a tool for relaxation neglect its full potential. We draw upon the experiences of these teachers to suggest design implications for linking mindfulness with further contemplative practices like the cultivation of compassion. Our results also speak to the importance of coherence in design: that the metaphors and mechanisms of a technology align with its underlying principles.*
