University of Vaasa

schoolSchoolbar_chart#358 Global Rank

Total Papers

HCI Rank

#358

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Years Active

Recent Publications

"Pathways to the Metaverse": Exploring the User Experience Mechanisms Driving Technology Acceptance in Virtual Lab Visits with an LLM-powered Avatar

Metaverse environments combined with large language models (LLMs) enable guided interaction through LLM-powered avatars that function as embodied conversational agents. In our study, we examined how scholars interact with an LLM-powered avatar modeled after a real professor during a virtual reality (VR) tour of a rese…

CHI '26Exploratory Search & Information Seeking +2

Understanding Spatiotemporal-Aware Multimodal Conversational Search in the Outdoor Urban Space

Emerging multimodal conversational search (MCS) tools (e.g., Gemini Live) allow users to search for spatiotemporal information through natural language dialogues as they move through urban space. Despite the growing popularity of these tools, there is limited understanding of how people engage with this technology. To…

CHI '26Generative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video) +3

Creating and Evaluating Personas Using Generative AI: A Scoping Review of 81 Articles

As generative AI (GenAI) is increasingly applied in persona development to represent real users, understanding the implications and limitations of this technology is essential for establishing robust practices. This scoping review analyzes how 81 articles (2022-2025) use GenAI techniques for the creation, evaluation,…

DIS '25Universal & Inclusive Design +2

Are We Still Under-Serving the Underserved?: An Analysis of 56 Blue-Collar Workers Using 2 Online Information Services

We examined the accessibility of online information services (OISs) for underserved communities through a user study involving 56 blue collar participants interacting with a website and an app for five tasks. The blue collar participants were generally unsuccessful on both platforms, with 12.7% (n=7) unable to success…

DIS '25Conversational Chatbots +1

When Personas Talk to You: Evaluating the Evolution of User Personas from Static Profiles to Conversational User Interfaces

The development of persona systems provides a possibility for end users to interact with different persona modalities. In a 54-participant randomized controlled experiment, we compare two persona interaction modalities, document and dialogue personas, both generated using AI approaches from survey data. Overall, dialo…

IUI '25Human-LLM Collaboration +2

"You Always Get an Answer": Analyzing Users' Interaction with AI-Generated Personas Given Unanswerable Questions and Risk of Hallucination

We investigated the presence and acceptance of hallucinations (i.e., accidental misinformation) of an AI-generated persona system that leverages large language models for persona creation from survey data in a 54-user within-subjects experiment. After interacting with the personas, users were given a task to ask the p…

CHI '25Content Moderation & Platform Governance +2

Who should set the Standards? Analysing Censored Arabic Content on Facebook during the Palestine-Israel Conflict

Nascent research on human-computer interaction concerns itself with fairness of content moderation systems. Designing globally applicable content moderation systems requires considering historical, cultural, and socio-technical factors. Inspired by this line of work, we investigate Arab users' perception of Facebook's…

CHI '25User Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)

What is User Engagement?: A Systematic Review of 241 Research Articles in Human-Computer Interaction and Beyond

User engagement (UE) is widely discussed in HCI articles, but its definition, reliability, and application remain elusive. This research conducts a systematic literature review of 241 articles from 1993 to 2023 to analyze how UE is defined and measured within the domain of HCI. Our findings reveal significant definiti…

CHI '25AI Ethics, Fairness & Accountability +1

"Why do we do this?": Moral Stress and the Affective Experience of Ethics in Practice

A plethora of toolkits, checklists, and workshops have been developed to bridge the well-documented gap between AI ethics principles and practice. Yet little is known about effects of such interventions on practitioners. We conducted an ethnographic investigation in a major European city organization that developed an…

DIS '24Participatory Design +1

“There’s Something About Noura”: Exploring Think-Aloud Reasonings for Users' Persona Choice in a Design Task

Stakeholders like designers use personas to learn about users. After persona development, stakeholders are usually presented with a persona set. However, there is little research on how stakeholders select a persona from a persona set. A think-aloud analysis with 37 stakeholders who were asked to select a persona for…

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https://hci.top/en/institutions/University%20of%20Vaasa?source=all

At a Glance

Institution Snapshot

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University of Vaasa

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Location

Finland · Europe

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Overall Rank

#358

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Total Papers

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Active Years

2020-2026

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8 researchers · 0 collaborators

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AI & Machine Learning Interaction

Human-LLM Collaboration

Research Methods & Design Practice

User Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)

Virtual, Augmented & Mixed Reality (XR)

Social & Collaborative VR

Voice Interaction & Conversational Systems

Agent Personality & Anthropomorphism

Ethics, Fairness, Social Justice & Inclusion

Technology Ethics & Critical HCI