What moves people to participate in the North African demonstrations?

Although the news value about the revolts in North Africa is low at the moment, there are still major protests going on against the government in and around countries such as Tunisia and Egypt. Even today, opponents of the local regime still come together to protest against the rulers of the country. If you watch shots on television of such rebellions, you are probably wondering where all these people come from and what motivates them to participate in these revolts. How does group formation during these kinds of rebellions actually occur?

A good example of group formation occurred several months ago in Egypt when Google manager Wael Ghonim gathered many more supporters against Mubarak’s regime via his frequently visited Facebook page. In addition to his Facebook page, numerous Egyptians joined the protest after they had seen how the Google manager burst into tears on television where he was confronted with the victims of the revolution. Ghonim’s tears have seized millions of people. His tears did change the minds of those who first believed that Mubarak had to remain.

How this successful situation has occurred has largely to do with the emotional state in which these people live. A theory of Cacioppo, the elaboration likelihood model, shows that emotions are one of the factors that could influence people’s decisions.

Emiel Krahmer, a professor at Tilburg University who is specialized in cognitive science, explains the situations that are still going on in North Africa from a scientific point of view. In his interview, which can be seen below, he will talk about the mass of emotional factors that are involved in such revolutions which result in major group formations.

Enjoy doing groceries with GroceryBuddy!

Carry lives together with her husband Mike and they have two children: Frank, 8 years old, and Susan, 6 years old. They live in a small town near Tilburg. Carry is the one who usually cooks diner with the result that she is doing groceries most of the time. Doing groceries is not always easy for Carry because her son Frank suffers from a gluten allergy. Just three months ago the doctor found that Frank suffers from this particular allergy and since that time Carry has troubles with preparing suitable and varied dishes for her son.

People who cope with a food allergy of any kind have increased the last few years in the Netherlands. In addition to food allergies, an increased amount of people need to follow a certain diet to stay healthy. Grocery shopping takes a lot of time for people with food allergies or a specific diet. Especially when a diet or allergy is recently determined, people find it difficult to see whether they can or cannot consume a certain product. They need to read the product’s label to find out if there are any ingredients in the product which they are allergic to or cannot eat due to a diet. This takes a lot of time and spoils the ‘fun’ of grocery shopping. Not only people who have allergies or diets themselves, but also relatives and friends of these people have to cope with this issue. For instance when they want to dine together. Moreover, if there are several people with different allergies or diets who want to dine together, it is even more difficult to find a recipe that is appropriate for all those people.

To solve this major problem in our society, I want to introduce you to ‘GroceryBuddy’. ‘GroceryBuddy’ is a personal, clear and interactive Smartphone application for people who recently cope with an allergy or a diet and the relatives and friends of these people, which makes grocery shopping easier, more pleasant and saves time. This application has been designed by me and four other peer students as a part of the course ‘user interface design’.   

The main function which is implemented in the application is the product scanner. Firstly, the user has to insert profiles for the persons who have an allergy or specific diet. All type of allergies or diets, even personalized and complex diets, can be connected to these persons. Moreover, each profile can be personalized with a profile picture of the specific person. When it is time to do the groceries, the user simply fills in the application which persons are joining dinner, and the application immediately shows which kind of diets and allergies have to be taken into account.

In the supermarket it is possible to scan the barcode of a product. Green light means that it is ok to consume that product, where as red light says that the product cannot be eaten with the selected allergies and/or diets. When the scanned product lights green, the application makes it possible to find suitable recipes that can be prepared in combination with the specific product that was scanned. When the scanned product lights red, the user is able to choose alternative products that can be eaten with the selected allergies and/or diets.

In addition to this main function of GroceryBuddy, the user can create a grocery list using the application and he or she is able to save recipes in the submenu ‘my favorites’. Moreover, GroceryBuddy gives the user the possibility to share recipes with friends by sending a private e-mail or by putting a link on Facebook.

That evening, Carry and her family are enjoying the delicious dish that Carry prepared when Frank suddenly says: “This dish is jummie mum! Thank you for making a delicious dinner”. Carry responded: “Thank you boy, but actually you should not thank me but GroceryBuddy!”

In conclusion, GroceryBuddy will make doing groceries much easier, efficiently and more fun! For those who hated doing groceries, with GroceryBuddy your irritations will disappear forever! Just try it and you will see..