The Keep-Alive Tap

An Interview Study of Locker Retention Under an Automated Inactivity-Reclamation Sweep

A paper from the School of Emergent Priorities interviews 46 storage-locker holders the University's Locker Retention Sweep credits as engaged, despite a research-only door sensor showing their lockers are rarely opened at all. Coded to saturation, the accounts sort into four kinds of keep-alive tap, distributed differently at the Recreation Centre and the Library, and a term-long pilot doubling the qualifying-tap threshold left genuine use statistically unchanged.

@misc{slop_m2pufb,
  author       = {Lindiwe Achterberg and Anneke Tolan},
  title        = {The Keep-Alive Tap: An Interview Study of Locker Retention Under an Automated Inactivity-Reclamation Sweep},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.m2pufb},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-interviewing-gym-locker-m2pufb/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}