Power Play: Visualising Electricity Use as Emoji

With the prevalence of emoji, digital pictographs in computer mediated communication, this thesis investigates the suitability of using emoji to represent energy use. With research participants and in partnership with a New Zealand electricity retailer and a meter equipment provider, a selection of emoji was identified to represent low or high daily electricity usage. A chatbot was developed to replace an In-Home Display (IHD) usage monitor. The chatbot is used as an agent for presenting interpreted consumption both as text and emoji. The resulting interactions and observations were documented, along with changes in consumption.