Coalesce: An Accessible Mixed-Initiative System for Designing Community-Centric QuestionnairesEffectively incorporating community input into civic decision-making processes is crucial for fostering inclusive governance. However, public officials often face challenges in formulating effective questions to gather meaningful insights due to constraints such as time, resources, and limited experience in questionnaire design. This paper explores the potential of leveraging large language models (LLMs) to address this challenge. We present \textit{Coalesce}, a novel mixed-initiative system that utilizes LLMs to assist civic leaders in crafting tailored and impactful questions for surveys, interviews, and conversation guides. Guided by best practices in questionnaire design, Coalesce improves question readability, enhances specificity, and reduces bias. To inform our design, we conducted a formative interview study with 30 civic leaders and implemented an iterative human-centered design process involving 14 feedback sessions. We built a fully-functional system before evaluating it through a real-world user study with 16 participants who applied the platform to their own community engagement projects. Our findings show that Coalesce improved participants' confidence in questionnaire design, supported diverse workflows, and fostered learning while raising important questions about human agency and over-reliance on AI. These insights highlight the potential for intelligent user interfaces to reshape how civic leaders engage with their communities, fostering more informed and inclusive decision-making processes.2025COCassandra Overney et al.Human-LLM CollaborationParticipatory DesignUser Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)IUI
Beyond Text and Speech in Conversational Agents: Mapping the Design Space of AvatarsConversational agents have gained widespread popularity due to their ability to simulate and sustain contextual conversations. Prior works predominantly focused on computational challenges. However, avatars — the representation of the agent — impact user interactions and perception of conversational agents' trustworthiness and usefulness. Despite their importance, we lack a holistic understanding of conversational agent avatar design space. In this work, we address this gap by defining a categorization of 10 dimensions that is based on the analysis and iterative coding of 266 conversational agent papers from 160 venues spanning 2003 to the present. In addition, we built an interactive browser to facilitate exploration and interaction with these dimensions and their interrelationships. Our categorization lays the groundwork for researchers, designers, and practitioners to discern task-specific and contextual aspects of conversational agent avatar design. Our work fosters innovative ideas to facilitate new interactions with avatars by surfacing current patterns and highlighting open challenges.2024MRMashrur Rashik et al.Conversational ChatbotsAgent Personality & AnthropomorphismDIS
Examining the Use of VR as a Study Aid for University Students with ADHDAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by patterns of inattention and impulsivity, which lead to difficulties maintaining concentration and motivation while completing academic tasks. University settings, characterized by a high student-to-staff ratio, make treatments relying on human monitoring challenging. One potential replacement is Virtual Reality (VR) technology, which has shown potential to enhance learning outcomes and promote flow experience. In this study, we investigate the usage of VR with 27 university students with ADHD, in an effort to improve their performance in completing homework, including an exploration of automated feedback via a technology probe. Quantitative results show significant increases in concentration, motivation, and effort levels during these VR sessions and qualitative data offers insight into considerations like comfort and deployment. Together, the results suggest that VR can be a valuable tool in leveling the playing field for university students with ADHD.2024ICIsabelle Cuber et al.University of ZurichVR Medical Training & RehabilitationCognitive Impairment & Neurodiversity (Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia)CHI
Code to Cope: Supporting Self-Care by Integrating Creative Coding and Coping MechanismsCode to Cope is a STEAM curriculum for young adults designed to teach, develop, and encourage coping mechanisms while learning programming with JavaScript. COVID-19 restrictions, such as social distancing and remote learning, disrupted social development and identity formation in young adults, exacerbating mental health issues that remain unaddressed in the existing STEAM curriculum. Young adults are vulnerable to psychological distress that adversely affects educational experiences and career path choices. The Code to Cope curriculum was adopted by the creative coding course at [institution] from 2021 to 2022. We conducted selected interviews with 4 students in 2021 and empirical studies with 34 students in 2022 to evaluate the effects of the curriculum in terms of code, coping, and creativity. The results of the study show that the Code to Cope curriculum effectively teaches computational thinking, develops self-care practices, and engages and motivates students.2023HNHye Yeon Nam et al.Generative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Programming Education & Computational ThinkingSTEM Education & Science CommunicationC&C
Readymades & Repertoires: Artifact-Mediated Improvisation in Tabletop Role-Playing GamesGame masters (GMs) are creative practitioners who plan and orchestrate tabletop role-playing games. Through an interview study, we investigate how eight expert game masters adapt everyday technologies and materials as creativity support tools \added{(CSTs)} for improvisational and collaborative play. We integrate theories of improvisational and distributed creativity with the human-artifact model, which provides an activity-theoretical vocabulary for analyzing the mediating relationships between specialist practitioners and their tools. We show how GMs prepare and deploy readymade artifacts: analog and digital CSTs that flexibly mediate recurring creative tasks in their practice, such as improvising narrative elements, facilitating smooth play, and creating aesthetic effects. We find that GMs demonstrate designerly thinking as they create, share, and refine repertoires of readymade artifacts. We argue that our theoretical approach can inform future studies of IT-mediated creativity, and that readymade artifacts can be an analytical and generative concept for the design of novel creativity support tools.2022PTPhilip Tchernavskij et al.Role-Playing & Narrative GamesInteractive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingC&C
Tangible Landscape: A Hands-on Method for Teaching Terrain AnalysisThis paper presents novel and effective methods for teaching about topography--or shape of terrain--and assessing 3-dimensional spatial learning using tangibles. We used Tangible Landscape--a tangible interface for geospatial modeling--to teach multiple hands-on tangible lessons on the concepts of grading (i.e., earthwork), geomorphology, and hydrology. We examined students' ratings of the system's usability and user experience and tested students' acquisition and transfer of knowledge. Our results suggest the physicality of the objects enabled the participants to effectively interact with the system and each other, positively impacting ratings of usability and task-specific knowledge building. These findings can potentially advance the design and implementation of tangible teaching methods for the topics of geography, design, architecture, and engineering.2018GMGarrett C. Millar et al.North Carolina State UniversityGeospatial & Map VisualizationData PhysicalizationSTEM Education & Science CommunicationCHI
Investigating Separation of Territories and Activity Roles in Children’s Collaboration around TabletopsPrior work has shown that children exhibit negative collaborative behaviors, such as blocking others’ access to objects, when collaborating on interactive tabletop computers. We implemented previous design recommendations, namely separate physical territories and activity roles, which had been recommended to decrease these negative collaborative behaviors. We developed a multi-touch "I-Spy" picture searching application with separate territory partitions and activity roles. We conducted a deep qualitative analysis of how six pairs of children, ages 6 to 10, interacted with the application. Our analysis revealed that the collaboration styles differed for each pair, both in regards to the interaction with the task and with each other. Several pairs exhibited negative physical and verbal collaborative behaviors, such as nudging each other out of the way. Based on our analysis, we suggest that it is important for a collaborative task to offer equal opportunities for interaction, but it may not be necessary to strive for complete equity of collaboration. We examine the applicability of prior design guidelines and suggest open questions for future research to inform the design of tabletop applications to support collaboration for children.2018JWJulia Woodward et al.Children, Teens, and Young AdultsCSCW