Exclusion Rates among Disabled and Older Users of Virtual and Augmented RealityThis paper examines the levels of exclusion encountered by disabled and older users of consumer-level VR and AR technology and identifies methods formed by people with diverse access needs to circumvent encountered barriers to use. First, we estimate exclusion rates for a selection of nine immersive experiences of VR and AR, computed using population statistics data for the United Kingdom (UK). We then present an empirical lab-based study evaluating the usability of the same VR and AR experiences. The study involved 60 UK-based participants with varying access needs and the study results were used to calculate the empirical exclusion rates. Both the estimated and empirical exclusion rates display high levels of exclusion, which for the more complex experiences in the study reached 100%. However, multiple participants overcame usability barriers and completed experiences through provided assistance and self-initiated adaptations, suggesting that future VR and AR can become more inclusive if designed to counter these barriers.2025RERosella P. Galindo Esparza et al.Brunel University London, Brunel Design SchoolIdentity & Avatars in XRUniversal & Inclusive DesignCHI
Communication Skills Training Intervention Based on Automated Recognition of Nonverbal SignalsThere have been promising studies that show a potential of providing social signal feedback to improve communication skills. However, these studies have primarily focused on unimodal methods of feedback. In addition to this, studies do not assess whether skills are maintained after a given time. With a sample size of 22 this paper investigates whether multimodal social signal feedback is an effective method of improving communication in the context of media interviews. A pre-post experimental evaluation of media skills training intervention is presented which compares standard feedback with augmented feedback based on automated recognition of multimodal social signals. Results revealed significantly different training effects between the two conditions. However, the initial experiment study failed to show significant differences in human judgement of performance. A 6-month follow-up study revealed human judgement ratings were higher for the experiment group. This study suggests that augmented selective multimodal social signal feedback is an effective method for communication skills training.2021MPMonica Pereira et al.London Metropolitan University, London Metropolitan UniversityIn-Vehicle Haptic, Audio & Multimodal FeedbackHuman Pose & Activity RecognitionCHI
Should Robots Blush?Social interaction is the most complex challenge in daily life. Inevitably, social robots will encounter interactions that are outside their competence. This raises a basic design question: how can robots fail gracefully in social interaction? The characteristic human response to social failure is embarrassment. Usefully, embarrassment signals both recognition of a problem and typically enlists sympathy and assistance to resolve it. This could enhance robot acceptability and provides an opportunity for interactive learning. Using a speculative design approach we explore how, when and why robots might communicate embarrassment. A series of specially developed cultural probes, scenario development and low-fidelity prototyping exercises suggest that: embarrassment is relevant for managing a diverse range of social scenarios, impacts on both humanoid and non-humanoid robot design, and highlights the critical importance of understanding interactional context. We conclude that embarrassment is fundamental to competent social functioning and provides a potentially fertile area for interaction design.2021SPSoomi Park et al.Queen Mary University of LondonAgent Personality & AnthropomorphismSocial Robot InteractionCHI
Follow the Money: Managing Personal Finance DigitallyThe move towards digital payments and mobile money, and away from physical cash and banking services offers users opportunities to change the ways that they can spend, save and manage their money through a variety of personal financial management services. However, set against ordinary, everyday patterns of spending, saving and other forms of financial transaction, it is not clear how users might interact with, understand, or value financial management services that utilise rich data and connected digital content for their personal use. In order to explore how people might engage with such systems, we conducted a study of financial activity, following people's transactional activity over time, and interviewing them about their practices, understandings, needs, concerns and expectations of current and future financial technologies. Drawing from the everyday activities and practices observed, we identify implications for the design of digitally enabled, personal financial systems.2019MLMakayla Lewis et al.Brunel UniversityAlgorithmic Transparency & AuditabilityRecommender System UXCHI
Multilayer Haptic Feedback for Pen-Based Tablet InteractionWe present a novel, multilayer interaction approach that enables state transitions between spatially above-screen and 2D on-screen feedback layers. This approach supports the exploration of haptic features that are hard to simulate using rigid 2D screens. We accomplish this by adding a haptic layer above the screen that can be actuated and interacted with (pressed on) while the user interacts with on-screen content using pen input. The haptic layer provides variable firmness and contour feedback, while its membrane functionality affords additional tactile cues like texture feedback. Through two user studies, we look at how users can use the layer in haptic exploration tasks, showing that users can discriminate well between different firmness levels, and can perceive object contour characteristics. Demonstrated also through an art application, the results show the potential of multilayer feedback to extend on-screen feedback with additional widget, tool and surface properties, and for user guidance.2019EKErnst Kruijff et al.Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied SciencesIn-Vehicle Haptic, Audio & Multimodal FeedbackVibrotactile Feedback & Skin StimulationForce Feedback & Pseudo-Haptic WeightCHI
Collaborating Around Digital Tabletops: Children's Physical Strategies From India, The UK And FinlandWe present a study of children collaborating around interactive tabletops in three different countries: India, the United Kingdom and Finland. Our data highlights the key distinctive physical strategies used by children when performing collaborative tasks during this study. Children in India employ dynamic positioning with frequent physical contact and simultaneous object movement. Children in the UK tend to prefer static positioning with minimal physical contact and simultaneous object movement. Children in Finland use a mixture of dynamic and static positioning with minimal physical contact and object movement. Our findings indicate the importance of understanding collaboration strategies and behaviours when designing and deploying interactive tabletops in heterogeneous educational environments. We conclude with a discussion on how designers of tabletops for schools can provide opportunities for children in different countries to define and shape their own collaboration strategies for small group learning that take into account their different classroom practices.2018IJIzdihar Jamil et al.University of BristolK-12 Digital Education ToolsCollaborative Learning & Peer TeachingCHI
SketCHI: Hands-On Special Interest Group on Sketching in HCISketching is of great value as a process, input, output and tool in HCI, but can be confined to individual ideation or note-taking, as few researchers have the confidence to document events, studies and workshops under the public gaze. The recent surge in interest in this sometimes-overlooked skill has manifested itself in courses, workshops and live-scribing of high-profile events – and a renewed enthusiasm for freehand sketching as a formal part of the research process at all levels. SketCHI aims to address both research interests and sketching practice in a combined approach to define, discuss and deliver theory and methods to a broad audience. As well as structuring high level discussions and collating information and resources, this SIG will allow attendees to practice and explore observational sketching on location around the conference, with feedback and encouragement from industry professionals. Finally, attendees will be encouraged to collaborate and form a research community around sketching in HCI.2018MLMakayla Lewis et al.Brunel UniversityAging-Friendly Technology DesignKnowledge Worker Tools & WorkflowsPrototyping & User TestingCHI
Moneywork: Practices of Use and Social Interaction around Digital and Analog MoneyThe emergence of various forms of digital money and innovative digital financial services allows stores of value to be created, held, moved, measured and exchanged in novel ways. Yet the success of these new forms of transactional media is largely dependent on the ways that they are understood as useful and credible as viable forms of exchange, and on how they support the ways that their users interact around them. This paper therefore examines interactional work around the use of money in making financial transactions: we call this moneywork. We report on an empirical study of the patterns of behaviour of users of a mixed media (digital and analog) currency that supports mobile device payments–the Bristol Pound–exploring the impacts of its users’ understanding of the systems that underlie these transactions, the technical constraints on their potential for action, their practices of use, and the social interactions that these activities lie within. We draw design implications to support these payment practices.2018MPMark Perry et al.Brunel University LondonAlgorithmic Transparency & AuditabilityAutoML InterfacesCHI