"An Ad Posing as Medical Advice": User Accounts of Dark UX in FemTech mHealth AppsFemTech is an emerging industry offering products, software, and services to support women’s health and well-being. Within FemTech, mobile health applications (mHealth apps) are popular for managing menstruation, fertility, pregnancy, and menopause. Yet, these apps expose users to deceptive and misleading practices, which can be characterized as Dark Patterns in user experience (or dark UX). Dark UX in commercial FemTech mHealth apps is underexplored, leaving a critical gap in understanding how deceptive patterns manifest in intimate health contexts, the harms they cause, and how to address them. We crowd-source and thematically analyze user accounts of dark UX through user reviews from sixteen systematically selected FemTech mHealth apps. User-reported accounts of dark UX in FemTech mHealth apps reveal several problematic design patterns, which emphasize risks for minors and the need for more transparent design of FemTech mHealth apps. Based on our results, we outline recommendations for enhancing ethical UX design and furthering regulatory action in FemTech.2025GAGhada Alsebayel et al.Reproductive & Women's HealthPrivacy by Design & User ControlDark Patterns RecognitionMobileHCI
Understanding User Prioritization and Comprehension of Smartphone PermissionsSmartphones allow users to control the sharing of their data with apps according to their privacy preferences. Yet, users struggle to enact their privacy preferences via the available permission settings. To understand whether these difficulties result from inaccurate understanding and/or suboptimal interface design of the permissions manager, we designed and administered an online questionnaire to smartphone users from the United States (n = 151). We asked the participants to rate and rank the importance of the permissions commonly available on smartphones and to describe their understanding of what each setting controls. We found that a majority of users deem some permissions as important or unimportant, with the importance of other permissions varying across users based on use and privacy concerns. Our findings indicate that users misunderstand several permissions and express unfamiliarity with how some of them operate. We apply the insight from our study to derive suggestions to enhance smartphone permission managers by promoting personalized and efficient user interaction and more accurate user comprehension of functional operation.2025MDGhada Alsebayel et al.Privacy by Design & User ControlPrivacy Perception & Decision-MakingMobileHCI
Kaleidoscope Gallery: Exploring Ethics and Generative AI Through ArtEthical theories and Generative AI (GenAI) models are dynamic concepts subject to continuous evolution. This paper investigates the visualization of ethics through a subset of GenAI models. We expand on the emerging field of Visual Ethics, using art as a form of critical inquiry and the metaphor of a kaleidoscope to invoke moral imagination. Through formative interviews with 10 ethics experts, we first establish a foundation of ethical theories. Our analysis reveals five families of ethical theories, which we then transform into images using the text-to-image (T2I) GenAI model. The resulting imagery, curated as Kaleidoscope Gallery and evaluated by the same experts, revealed eight themes that highlight how morality, society, and learned associations are central to ethical theories. We discuss implications for critically examining T2I models and present cautions and considerations. This work contributes to examining ethical theories as foundational knowledge that interrogates GenAI models as socio-technical systems.2025AIAlayt Issak et al.Generative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Explainable AI (XAI)Digital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceC&C
CT4ALL: Towards Putting Teachers in the Loop to Advance Automated Computational Thinking Metric Assessments in Game-Based LearningComputational thinking (CT) is essential for the 21st century learner. Yet, assessing CT remains challenging. This is particularly challenging in constructionist learning, where individual idiosyncrasies may clash with one-size-fits-all assessments. Tools like Dr. Scratch offer CT metrics that show promise for effective and scalable CT assessments, particularly in constructionist game-based learning (GBL). Prior work has advanced the design of automated CT metrics but hardly included teachers in the process. We extend Dr. Scratch to improve automated CT assessments for GBL and put teachers in the loop to assess its novel features. Specifically, we interviewed seven middle school teachers employing GBL in STEM curricula and asked them to provide feedback on the newly designed CT metrics. Teachers view the new CT metrics positively, underscoring their potential for adaptive CT assessments despite hindrances. We advance automated CT assessments via teacher evaluation toward design-sensitive CT metrics and CT for all.2025GTGiovanni Maria Troiano et al.Northeastern University, Arts, Media, and DesignGamification DesignProgramming Education & Computational ThinkingIntelligent Tutoring Systems & Learning AnalyticsCHI
Crafting Champions: An Observation Study of Esports Coaching ProcessesAs esports grows into a multi-million dollar industry of professional players and competitions, so too grows the interest in and need for professional coaching. Accordingly, there are increased demands and attempts to support and improve coaching for esports. A more comprehensive, granular understanding of the esports coaching process would provide a valuable foundation to inform opportunities to advance the domain via HCI theories and practices. However, in-depth studies of coaching practice, from the lens of HCI, are far less common in existing literature. In this paper, we take the first steps to provide such a foundation through an observation study conducted at an elite, award-winning League of Legends training academy. By analyzing 112 hours of dialogue and footage from coaching sessions, we identify pertinent activities and events that occur within the coaching process, which enable us to consider how esports coaching can be improved via theory, practice, and technology from HCI.2025HLHanbyeol Lee et al.Yonsei UniversityBrain-Computer Interface (BCI) & NeurofeedbackSerious & Functional GamesCHI
From Locked Rooms to Open Minds: Escape Room Best Practices to Enhance Reflection in Extended Reality Learning EnvironmentsExtended reality (XR) learning environments result in greater knowledge gains when coupled with opportunities to reflect on one's actions and learning. However, when and how one should prompt reflection in XR learning environments (XRLEs) to effectively enhance learning, without breaking immersion, remains an open question. In this work, we argue that we can extract insights on how to design effective, immersive reflection for XRLEs from the expertise of escape room game masters (GMs) who regularly provide reflective hints and prompts in complex, immersive problem solving environments. To explore what we can learn from GMs, we conducted exploratory semi-structured interviews with 13 escape room GMs and, via iterative open coding, captured their best practices in how they provide hints and give nudges to escape room players.2025EKErica Kleinman et al.Northeastern University, Ghost LabMixed Reality WorkspacesCollaborative Learning & Peer TeachingInteractive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingCHI
“I Believe the Baby in the Picture is My Baby”: User Experiences with Commercial Pregnancy AppsCommercial pregnancy apps are becoming popular in mobile health and integral to health management ecosystems. For that, they can complement medical advice and be conveniently used for ubiquitous tracking of pregnancy. Besides their functional and medical purpose, they may elicit subjective, personal, and intimate experiences that are equally relevant to users. Yet, these qualitative aspects of experiencing pregnancy apps remain under-researched. An inquiry into those qualitative aspects may help advance the design of pregnancy apps for improved user embodiment, engagement, and experience. Here, we qualitatively inquire about experiences with six popular pregnancy apps through 4,000+ online reviews. Our findings reveal that pregnancy apps are more than mere trackers and can impact pregnancy experiences, either positively or negatively, based on their design features. Further, reviews pointed to a neglect of family, friends, and relatives in the apps' design, which users found often problematic. To counter these shortcomings, we outline avenues for improving the design of pregnancy apps beyond usability and medical outcomes and call for enhancing their design through more sensitive, user-centered, and inclusive design.2024GAGhada Alsebayel et al.Aging-Friendly Technology DesignUniversal & Inclusive DesignReproductive & Women's HealthMobileHCI
RePresent: Enabling Access to Justice for Pro Se Litigants via Co-Authored Serious GamesIncreasing numbers of people represent themselves in legal disputes---known as pro se litigants. Many lack the skills, experience, or knowledge to navigate legal proceedings without a lawyer, resulting in limited access to justice. Serious games may provide an effective, interactive, and engaging way of educating pro se litigants about the law and enabling their access to justice. Through participatory design with legal experts and an authoring tool, we co-designed RePresent, a serious game that helps individuals with limited access to legal support prepare for pro se litigation. A total of 965 people played RePresent and 149 provided feedback on their player experience. Results show that RePresent was engaging and valuable for learning about the law and pro se litigation. Our work highlights avenues for co-design methodologies with co-creative authoring tools that facilitate serious game design, contributing a potentially scalable solution to enable access to justice via co-authored serious games.2024CHCasper Harteveld et al.Serious & Functional GamesParticipatory DesignDIS
Stairway to Heaven: A Gamified VR Journey for Breath AwarenessGamification and virtual reality (VR) are increasingly being explored for their potential to enhance mindful practices and well-being. We further explore the potential of gamification and VR for breath awareness and mindfulness, and contribute Stairway to Heaven, a VR artifact that combines gamification with respiratory sensor biofeedback to cultivate mindful awareness of breathing. In our mixed-method study with 21 participants, we evaluated the usability and effectiveness of our artifact in promoting breathing frequencies between 4 and 10 breaths per minute (BPM). We integrate breath-driven teleportation as a virtual locomotion technique (VLT) using respiratory biofeedback to gamify progression through a virtual wilderness. Additionally, we supplement our design with a mindfulness audio guide. The results of our user study showcase the potential of combining actionable gamification and VR, guided mindfulness, and breath-driven VLT to foster slow breathing self-regulation successfully.2024NMNathan Miner et al.Northeastern UniversitySerious & Functional GamesMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesCHI
Thought Bubbles: A Proxy into Players' Mental Model DevelopmentStudying mental models has recently received more attention, aiming to understand the cognitive aspects of human-computer interaction. However, there is not enough research on the elicitation of mental models in complex dynamic systems. We present Thought Bubbles as an approach for eliciting mental models and an avenue for understanding players' mental model development in interactive virtual environments. We demonstrate the use of Thought Bubbles in two experimental studies involving 250 participants playing a supply chain game. In our analyses, we rely on Situation Awareness (SA) levels, including perception, comprehension, and projection, and show how experimental manipulations such as disruptions and information sharing shape players' mental models and drive their decisions depending on their behavioral profile. Our results provide evidence for the use of thought bubbles in uncovering cognitive aspects of behavior by indicating how disruption location and availability of information affect people's mental model development and influence their decisions.2023OMOmid Mohaddesi et al.Northeastern UniversityHuman Pose & Activity RecognitionGame UX & Player BehaviorCHI
Sustainable HCI Under Water: Opportunities for Research with Oceans, Coastal Communities, and Marine SystemsAlthough the world’s oceans play a critical role in human well-being, they have not been a primary focus of the sustainable HCI (SHCI) community to date. In this paper, we present a scoping review to show how concerns with the oceans are threaded throughout the broader SHCI literature and to find new research opportunities. We identify several themes that could benefit from focused SHCI research, including marine food sources, culture and coastal communities, ocean conservation, and marine climate change impacts and adaptation strategies. Finally, we discuss opportunities for further work on marine human-natural systems research in SHCI and interdisciplinary collaboration with marine science and coastal communities.2023LPLaura J Perovich et al.Northeastern UniversitySustainable HCIHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)CHI
MuscleRehab: Improving Unsupervised Physical Rehabilitation by Monitoring and Visualizing Muscle Engagement Unsupervised physical rehabilitation traditionally has used motion tracking to determine correct exercise execution. However, motion tracking is not representative of the assessment of physical therapists, which focus on muscle engagement. In this paper, we investigate if monitoring and visualizing muscle engagement during unsupervised physical rehabilitation improves the execution accuracy of therapeutic exercises by showing users whether they target the right muscle groups. To accomplish this, we use wearable electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to monitor the muscle engagement and visualize the current state on a virtual muscle-skeleton avatar. We use additional optical motion tracking to also monitor the user's movement. We run a user study with 10 participants that compares exercise execution while seeing muscle + motion data vs. motion data only, and also present the recorded data to a group of physical therapists for post-rehabilitation analysis. The results indicate that monitoring and visualizing muscle engagement can improve both the therapeutic exercise accuracy for users during rehabilitation, and post-rehabilitation evaluation for physical therapists.2022JZYunyi Zhu et al.Surgical Assistance & Medical TrainingBiosensors & Physiological MonitoringComputational Methods in HCIUIST
``Rather Solve the Problem from Scratch'': Gamesploring Human-Machine Collaboration for Optimizing the Debris Collection ProblemOptimizing operations on critical infrastructure networks is key to reducing the impact of disruptive events. In this paper, we explore the potential of having humans and algorithms work together to address this difficult task. For this purpose, we used gamified experiments to build and assess this potential in the context of the debris collection problem (i.e., ``gamesploring''). We developed a digital game where players can request the help of the computer while facing a multi-objective problem of assigning contractors to road segments for clearing debris in a disaster area. Through a within-subjects experimental study, we assessed how players optimized under various circumstances (e.g., initial solution vs. from scratch) compared to the computer on its own. The results are both surprising as well as insightful: they suggest that human-machine collaboration is indeed beneficial but also that more work is needed on how to appropriately guide this form of collaboration.2022AUAybike Ulusan et al.AI-Assisted Decision-Making & AutomationGamification DesignIUI
“Guilty of Talking Too Much”: How Psychotherapists Gamify TherapyTraditionally, game designers have driven the development process of psychotherapeutic games with psychotherapists playing a consultant role. In contrast, our study explores psychotherapists independently designing digitally gamified psychotherapy. Our workshop participants consisted of six psychotherapists who created gamified digital therapies with the design prompt of anxiety disorder. We analyze the resulting six prototypes from a game design and psychotherapy perspective. We present insights into strategies for digitally gamifying therapy and identify challenges and opportunities for the future of gamified psychotherapy, grounded in the experiences of psychotherapists designing such therapies. This study also reflects on the use of user-friendly development tools for independently curating gamified digital therapies, especially by non-technical users such as psychotherapists.2022ETElina Tochilnikova et al.Northeastern UniversitySerious & Functional GamesSpecial Education TechnologyCHI
To Trust or to Stockpile: Modeling Human-Simulation Interaction in Supply Chain ShortagesUnderstanding decision-making in dynamic and complex settings is a challenge yet essential for preventing, mitigating, and responding to adverse events (e.g., disasters, financial crises). Simulation games have shown promise to advance our understanding of decision-making in such settings. However, an open question remains on how we extract useful information from these games. We contribute an approach to model human-simulation interaction by leveraging existing methods to characterize: (1) system states of dynamic simulation environments (with Principal Component Analysis), (2) behavioral responses from human interaction with simulation (with Hidden Markov Models), and (3) behavioral responses across system states (with Sequence Analysis). We demonstrate this approach with our game simulating drug shortages in a supply chain context. Results from our experimental study with 135 participants show different player types (hoarders, reactors, followers), how behavior changes in different system states, and how sharing information impacts behavior. We discuss how our findings challenge existing literature.2022OMOmid Mohaddesi et al.Northeastern UniversityVisualization Perception & CognitionSerious & Functional GamesPrototyping & User TestingCHI
“Are We Now Post-COVID?”: Exploring Post-COVID Futures Through a Gamified Story Completion MethodCOVID-19 has heavily impacted our lives. To date, the ongoing pandemic continues to cause dramatic societal changes and raises shared sentiments of uncertainty for our future. As such, however, COVID-19 provides opportunities to explore futures through speculative research. Here, we gamify the story completion method (SCM) to explore futures post-COVID and ask 37 participants to play a day in the life of Sal in a post-COVID future. The game asks participants to describe what Sal sees, hears, or does throughout a day based on multiple story stems. Our analysis reveals narratives of post-COVID futures as business as usual, back to basics, or everyday chaos. Notably, these narratives raise concerns about privacy loss and increased militarization, but also envision futures post-COVID that reclaim stronger bond with nature and family. We discuss the lessons learned from gamifying the SCM and the temporal implications of performing speculative research during evolving dramatic events.2021GTGiovanni Maria Troiano et al.Technology Ethics & Critical HCIDesign FictionDIS
'Why Are You Playing Games? You Are a Girl!': Exploring The Gender Biases of Male and Female in EsportsEsports are rapidly growing within academia. In HCI, earlier work explored how problematic behaviors emerging from gender biases(e.g., toxicity) negatively impact female participation in esports. Here, we further explore gender biases in esports by interviewing19 self-identified female and male professional gamers and event organizers. We inquire our interviewees about personal experiences with gender biases in esports, and their perspective on how these biases impact participation, inclusivity, and career prospects. Our interviewees see gender biases in esports as a consequence of stereotypical gender roles in gaming tout-court (e.g., girls do not like violence, boys are competitive by nature). The rationale for separating male and female in esports, however, seems rooted in the need for female gamers to create role-models and grow in self-confidence. We scrutinize the considerations emerging from our interviews under a Feminist HCI lens and discuss how HCI research can help design equitable environments in esports.2021DMDaniel Madden et al.Northeastern UniversityMultiplayer & Social GamesGender & Race Issues in HCIEmpowerment of Marginalized GroupsCHI
``Constant Pressure of Having to Perform'': Exploring Player Health Concerns in EsportsEsports is a rapidly growing industry, generating interest from research disciplines including marketing, social sciences, and human-computer interaction. Despite its continued growth, there is a lack of studies surrounding the health of esports players. Previous workon the subject is limited, as research has only recently begun to explore the potential factors affecting physical and psychologicalwellness. Using an exploratory mixed-methods approach, a series of semi-structured interviews (n= 10) and an online survey (n= 68)were used to identify the biggest health concerns among esports players. The results demonstrate a better understanding of issuesregarding physical and psychological wellness according to the players. Moving forward, we suggest the HCI community adaptsmindfulness, ergonomics, and social-emotional learning as methods for supporting player’s health concerns.2021DMDaniel Madden et al.Northeastern UniversityMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesFitness Tracking & Physical Activity MonitoringCHI
Player-AI Interaction: What Neural Network Games Reveal About AI as PlayThe advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) bring human-AI interaction to the forefront of HCI research. This paper argues that games are an ideal domain for studying and experimenting with how humans interact with AI. Through a systematic survey of neural network games (n = 38), we identified the dominant interaction metaphors and AI interaction patterns in these games. In addition, we applied existing human-AI interaction guidelines to further shed light on player-AI interaction in the context of AI-infused systems. Our core finding is that AI as play can expand current notions of human-AI interaction, which are predominantly productivity-based. In particular, our work suggests that game and UX designers should consider flow to structure the learning curve of human-AI interaction, incorporate discovery-based learning to play around with the AI and observe the consequences, and offer users an invitation to play to explore new forms of human-AI interaction.2021JZJichen Zhu et al.Drexel UniversityGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)AI-Assisted Decision-Making & AutomationGame UX & Player BehaviorCHI
VINS: Visual Search for Mobile User Interface DesignSearching for relative mobile user interface (UI) design examples can aid interface designers in gaining inspiration and comparing design alternatives. However, finding such design examples is challenging, especially as current search systems rely on only text-based queries and do not consider the UI structure and content into account. This paper introduces VINS, a visual search framework, that takes as input a UI image (wireframe, high-fidelity) and retrieves visually similar design examples. We first survey interface designers to better understand their example finding process. We then develop a large-scale UI dataset that provides an accurate specification of the interface's view hierarchy (i.e., all the UI components and their specific location). By utilizing this dataset, we propose an object-detection based image retrieval framework that models the UI context and hierarchical structure. The framework achieves a mean Average Precision of 76.39\% for the UI detection and high performance in querying similar UI designs.2021SBSara Bunian et al.Northeastern UniversityInteractive Data VisualizationComputational Methods in HCICHI