Enhancing Smart Home User Experience: A Study of Everyday Objects for Smart Home ControlCurrent smart home technologies rely on touchscreens and voice assistants for interaction. These interfaces lack tactile engagement and fail to support users' daily routines and preferences, leading to poor user experiences (UX). Designing tangible user interfaces (TUIs) that align with user preferences can improve the status quo. This paper explores the potential of TUIs using everyday objects for smart home control. Four prototypes — a vase, pillow, coaster, and flower — were evaluated for UX and metaphor alignment through a within-subjects study with 25 participants. Using meCUE questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, we examined how physical and contextual attributes influence UX. Our findings indicate that everyday objects are effective TUI and produce positive UX, provided careful consideration is given to their physical and contextual attributes. This research expands our understanding of TUIs' role in bridging the digital-physical divide and offers practical guidelines for embedding intuitive smart home controls into everyday objects.2025MCMichael Chamunorwa et al.Smart Home Interaction DesignCustomizable & Personalized ObjectsMobileHCI
Get Real With Me: Effects of Avatar Realism on Social Presence and Comfort in Augmented Reality Remote Collaboration and Self-DisclosureAugmented reality (AR) is poised to transform remote communication with realistic user representations authentically simulating in-person interactions in one's own environment. While increased avatar realism is beneficial in various social contexts, as it generally fosters social presence, its impact in intimate interactions is less clear, possibly creating discomfort. We explored how varying avatar realism affects social presence and comfort in AR across different social interactions. Realism preferences were established in an online survey (N=157), informing our subsequent experiment (N=42). Participants engaged in remote AR collaboration and self-disclosure tasks with avatars ranging from abstract to realistic point-cloud. Quantitative and qualitative feedback revealed that higher avatar realism generally enhances social presence and comfort, though preferences can vary. The self-disclosure task increased social presence but reduced comfort compared to the collaboration task. This research provides an empirical analysis of avatar realism, highlighting the benefits of realistic avatars in various scenarios.2025JKJonah-Noël Kaiser et al.OFFIS - Institute for Information TechnologyAR Navigation & Context AwarenessImmersion & Presence ResearchIdentity & Avatars in XRCHI
Hidden in Plain Sight: a Structured Analysis of Privacy Policies in the Context of Body-worn 'FemTech' TechnologiesAs HCI research turns to women's reproductive health as a topic of interest, an increasing number of female-oriented technologies (FemTech) are being marketed to consumers. This opens up a space for better management and understanding of intimate health but is not without risk. Reproductive health data collected by FemTech devices is highly sensitive and politicized. Breaches of privacy can cause or exacerbate discrimination and gender inequality, and negatively impact users' safety and well-being. It is therefore important that users are well informed about how their data is collected, handled, used and stored. This work contributes insights into whether and to what extent this is achieved by current FemTech. We conduct a structured content analysis of 18 in-effect privacy policies. Applying an empirically-grounded taxonomy, we identify challenges in policy wording, content and presentation. We conclude with recommendations for improving transparency and supporting users in providing informed consent and claiming data authority.2025SGSophie Grimme et al.OFFIS - Institute for Information TechnologyPrivacy by Design & User ControlPrivacy Perception & Decision-MakingCHI
Kinetic Connections: Exploring the Impact of Realistic Body Movements on Social Presence in Collaborative Virtual RealityProfessional and personal lives are undergoing a shift from physical to virtual meetings. While this offers numerous advantages, such as increased spatial autonomy, it also poses risks to the social bonds among employees, families, and friends. Even current collaborative virtual reality (VR) applications cannot bridge the separation in virtual meetings, as they do not provide a sense of social connectedness comparable to in-person interaction. Reasons include limited behavioral realism of VR avatars, e.g., in displayed body movements. We systematically investigated how realistic body movements influence Social Presence in a collaborative VR task. We explored three types of motion-tracking mechanisms: no motion-tracking beyond controllers, hand-tracking, and full-body motion-tracking with hand-tracking. To examine their influence on Social Presence, we designed a spatial collaboration task based on insights gained from semi-structured interviews (N = 6). Subsequently, we conducted a controlled VR experiment (N = 18), in which participants' counterparts employed the various motion-tracking technologies while performing said task. Our results demonstrate that realistic body movements do not influence self-reported Social Presence in VR. Nevertheless, they entail an increased interpersonal distance among users, attributable to a subconscious influence on Social Presence.2024SKSimon Kimmel et al.Session 3f: Embodiment and Experience: Social Behavior and Decision-Making in VRCSCW
Hand Spinning E-textile Yarns: Understanding the Craft Practices of Hand Spinners and Workshop Explorations with E-textile Fibers and MaterialsThe `material turn' in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is increasingly drawing attention to the computational affordances of materials and how we can craft with them. In this paper, we explore opportunities for combining the maker cultures of hand spinning with e-textile crafting. In our first study, we interviewed 32 hand spinners on their practices to better understand their motivations for spinning their own yarns and the techniques they use to do so. In our second study, we conducted workshops with 6 spinners at a local spinning guild, where participants worked with the conductive fibers and spun e-textile yarns. After the workshops, we conducted follow-up interviews with each participant to understand the opportunities and tensions of hand spinning e-textile yarns. Our findings show how spinners can blend local materials with conductive ones to develop their own custom interactive textiles, and the mismatch between how these fibers are sold and what information spinners require to inform their design decisions. Through these results, we hope to empower makers and inspire the design community to develop tools to support these DIY practices.2024LJLee Jones et al.Electronic Textiles (E-textiles)Desktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationDIS
My Data, My Choice, My Insights: Women's Requirements when Collecting, Interpreting and Sharing their Personal Health DataHCI research has been instrumental in enabling self-directed health tracking. Despite a plethora of devices and data, however, users' views of their own health are often fragmented. This is a problem for women's health, where physical and mental observations and symptoms are strongly intertwined. An integrated view throughout different life stages could help to better understand these connections, facilitate symptom alleviation through life-style changes, and support timely diagnosis: currently, women's health issues often go under-researched and under-diagnosed. To capture the needs and worries of self-directed tracking, interpreting and sharing women's health data, we held workshops with 28 women. Drawing upon feminist methods, we conducted a Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify six central themes that ground opportunities and challenges for life-long, self-directed tracking of intimate data. These themes inform the design of tools for data collection, analysis and sharing that empower women to better understand their bodies and demand adequate health services.2024SGSophie Grimme et al.OFFIS - Institute for Information TechnologyCognitive Impairment & Neurodiversity (Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia)Universal & Inclusive DesignReproductive & Women's HealthCHI
Understanding User Acceptance of Electrical Muscle Stimulation in Human-Computer InteractionElectrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) has unique capabilities that can manipulate users' actions or perceptions, such as actuating user movement while walking, changing the perceived texture of food, and guiding movements for a user learning an instrument. These applications highlight the potential utility of EMS, but such benefits may be lost if users reject EMS. To investigate user acceptance of EMS, we conducted an online survey (N=101). We compared eight scenarios, six from HCI research applications and two from the sports and health domain. To gain further insights, we conducted in-depth interviews with a subset of the survey respondents (N=10). The results point to the challenges and potential of EMS regarding social and technological acceptance, showing that there is greater acceptance of applications that manipulate action than those that manipulate perception. The interviews revealed safety concerns and user expectations for the design and functionality of future EMS applications.2024SFSarah Faltaous et al.University Duisburg-EssenElectrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)CHI
Why the Fine, AI? The Effect of Explanation Level on Citizens' Fairness Perception of AI-based Discretion in Public AdministrationsThe integration of Artificial Intelligence into decision-making processes within public administration extends to AI-systems that exercise administrative discretion. This raises fairness concerns among citizens, possibly leading to AI-systems abandonment. Uncertainty persists regarding explanation elements impacting citizens' perception of fairness and technology adoption level. In a video-vignette online-survey (N=847), we investigated the impact of explanation levels on citizens' perceptions of informational fairness, distributive fairness, and system adoption level. We enhanced explanations in three stages: none, factor explanations, culminating in factor importance explanations. We found that more detailed explanations improved informational and distributive fairness perceptions, but did not affect citizens' willingness to reuse the system. Interestingly, citizens with higher AI-literacy expressed greater willingness to adopt the system, regardless of the explanation levels. Qualitative findings revealed that greater human involvement and appeal mechanisms could positively influence citizens' perceptions. Our findings highlight the importance of citizen-centered design of AI-based decision-making in public administration.2024SASaja Aljuneidi et al.OFFIS - Institute for Information TechnologyAI Ethics, Fairness & AccountabilityAlgorithmic Transparency & AuditabilityPrivacy by Design & User ControlCHI
Controlling the Rooms: How People Prefer Using Gestures to Control Their Smart HomesGesture interactions have become ubiquitous, and with increasingly reliable sensing technology we can anticipate their use in everyday environments such as smart homes. Gestures must meet users' needs and constraints in diverse scenarios to gain widespread acceptance. Although mid-air gestures have been proposed in various user contexts, it is still unclear to what extent users want to integrate them into different scenarios in their smart homes, along with the motivations driving this desire. Furthermore, it is uncertain whether users will remain consistent in their suggestions when transitioning to alternative scenarios within a smart home. This study contributes methodologically by adapting a bottom-up frame-based design process. We offer insights into preferred devices and commands in different smart home scenarios. Using our results, we can assist in designing gestures in the smart home that are consistent with individual needs across devices and scenarios, while maximizing the reuse and transferability of gestural knowledge.2024MHMasoumehsadat Hosseini et al.University of OldenburgHand Gesture RecognitionSmart Home Interaction DesignCHI
Biohybrid Devices: Prototyping Interactive Devices with Growable MaterialsLiving bio-materials are increasingly used in HCI for fabricating objects by growing. However, how to integrate electronics to make these objects interactive still needs to be clarified. This paper presents an exploration of the fabrication design space of Biohybrid Interactive Devices, a class of interactive devices fabricated by merging electronic components and living organisms. From the exploration of this space using bacterial cellulose, we outline a fabrication framework centered on the biomaterials‘ life cycle phases. We introduce a set of novel fabrication techniques for embedding conductive elements, sensors, and output components through biological (e.g. bio-fabrication and bio-assembling) and digital processes. We demonstrate the combinatory aspect of the framework by realizing three tangible, wearable, and shape-changing interfaces. Finally, we discuss the sustainability of our approach, its limitations, and the implications for bio-hybrid systems in HCI.2023MNMadalina Nicolae et al.Automated Driving Interface & Takeover DesignShape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsUIST
Please, Go Ahead! Fostering Prosocial Driving with Sympathy-Eliciting Automated Vehicle External DisplaysRoad traffic is strongly regulated, however informal communication is essential whenever formal rules are flexibly treated. Consequently, conflict-avoidant automated vehicles (AVs) can be disadvantaged when humans do not behave prosocially towards them. This can lead to disruptions of mixed traffic, where human and automated driving co-exists. Equipping AVs with sympathy-eliciting external Human-Machine Interfaces (eHMI) mimicking informal communication cues could mitigate this challenge by fostering the prosocial behavior of drivers. This work contributes video vignettes that are experimentally validated in an online survey (N=90). While we found participants to not behave differently towards human-controlled and baseline automated vehicles, eHMIs were potent in eliciting sympathy and encouraged yielding behavior. This effect was more pronounced when the interface signaled an urgent situation or indicated prolonged waiting times. Non-yielding behavior was rationalized based on priority rules. These results emphasize how fostering prosocial behavior in traffic can be achieved via sympathy-eliciting external displays.2023HİHatice Şahin İppoliti et al.External HMI (eHMI) — Communication with Pedestrians & CyclistsMobileHCI
Co-Speculating on Dark Scenarios and Unintended Consequences of a Ubiquitous(ly) Augmented RealityThe vision of a `metaverse' may soon bring a ubiquitous(ly) Augmented Reality (UAR) delivering context-aware, geo-located, and continuous blends of real and virtual elements into reach. This paper draws on speculative design to explore, question, and problematize consequences of AR becoming pervasive. Elaborating on Desjardin et al.'s bespoke booklets, we co-speculate together with 12 globally dispersed participants. Each participant received a custom-made design workbook containing pictures of their immediate surroundings, which they elaborated on in situated brainstorming activities. We present an integration of their speculative ideas and lived experiences in 3 overarching themes from which 7 `dark' scenarios caused by UAR were formed. The Scenarios are indicative of deceptive design patterns that can (and likely will be) devised to misuse UAR, and anti-patterns that could cause unintended consequences. These contributions enable the timely discussion of potential antidotes and to which extent they can mitigate imminent harms of UAR.2023CEChloe Eghtebas et al.AR Navigation & Context AwarenessTechnology Ethics & Critical HCIDesign FictionDIS
Inhabiting Interconnected Spaces: How Users Shape and Appropriate their Smart Home EcosystemsOver the last decade, smart home technology (SHT) has become an integral part of modern households. As a result, smart home ecosystems blend with daily social life, appropriated and integrated into personalised domestic environments. The lived experience of inhabiting smart home ecosystems, however, is not yet understood, resulting in a mismatch between ecosystem design and inhabitants' needs. Drawing on contextual inquiry methods, we conducted an explorative interview study (N=20) with SHT users in their homes. Our thematic analysis reveals how users shape their smart home ecosystems (SHEs), considering social relationships at home, perceived ownership of SHTs, and expected key benefits. Notably, our analysis shows that household members consciously choose `their' level of SHT interconnectedness, reflecting social, spatial and functional affinities between systems. Following our findings, we formulate five implications for designing future SHTs. Our work contributes insights on the dynamics and appropriation of smart home ecosystems by their inhabitants.2023MWMikołaj P. Woźniak et al.University of OldenburgContext-Aware ComputingSmart Home Interaction DesignCHI
Don't Panic! - Influence of Virtual Stressor Representations from the ICU Context on Perceived Stress LevelsIntensive care nurses are prone to suffering from chronic stress due to constant exposure to two main profession-related stressors: interruption and time pressure. These stressors have detrimental effects on the well-being of the nursing staff and, by proxy, the patients. To alleviate stress, increase safety, and support the training of stressful scenarios, we investigate the impact these stressors have on subjective and objective stress levels in a virtual environment. We designed an intensive care unit in which participants (n=26, 18 healthcare professionals) perform common tasks, e.g. refilling an infusion pump, whilst being exposed to interruptions and time pressure. Results from our between-subjects study provide data indicating stress increase in both stressor conditions, suggesting that artificially evoking work-related stressors for stress inoculation training (SIT) is a possible extension to simulation training during nursing education. This knowledge is helpful for designing training scenarios of safety critical situations early in the professional apprenticeship.2023SWSebastian Weiß et al.OFFIS - Institute for Information TechnologyV2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) Communication DesignMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesTelemedicine & Remote Patient MonitoringCHI
Let's Face It: Influence of Facial Expressions on Social Presence in Collaborative Virtual RealityAs the world becomes more interconnected, physical separation between people increases. Existing collaborative Virtual Reality (VR) applications, designed to bridge this distance, are not yet sufficient in providing a sense of social connection comparable to face-to-face interactions. Possible reasons are the limited multimodality of VR systems and the lack of non-verbal cues in VR avatars. We systematically investigated how facial expressions influence Social Presence in two collaborative VR tasks. We explored four types of facial expressions: eyes and mouth movements, their combination, and no expressions, for two types of explanations: verbal and graphical. To examine how these expressions influence Social Presence, we conducted a controlled VR experiment (N = 48), in which participants had to explain a specific term to their counterpart. Our results demonstrate that eye and mouth movements positively influence Social Presence in VR. Particularly, combining verbal explanations and eye movements induces the highest feeling of co-presence.2023SKSimon Kimmel et al.OFFIS - Institute for Information TechnologySocial & Collaborative VRImmersion & Presence ResearchIdentity & Avatars in XRCHI
Towards a Consensus Gesture Set: A Survey of Mid-Air Gestures in HCI for Maximized Agreement Across DomainsMid-air gesture-based systems are becoming ubiquitous. Many mid-air gestures control different kinds of interactive devices, applications, and systems. They are, however, still targeted at specific devices in specific domains and are not necessarily consistent across domain boundaries. A comprehensive evaluation of the transferability of gesture vocabulary between domains is also lacking. Consequently, interaction designers cannot decide which gestures to use for which domain. In this systematic literature review, we contribute to the future research agenda in this area, based on an analysis of 172 papers. As part of our analysis, we clustered gestures according to the dimensions of an existing taxonomy to identify their common characteristics in different domains, and we investigated the extent to which existing mid-air gesture sets are consistent across different domains. We derived a consensus gesture set containing 22 gestures based on agreement rates calculation and considered their transferability across different domains.2023MHMasoumehsadat Hosseini et al.University of OldenburgHand Gesture RecognitionFull-Body Interaction & Embodied InputCHI
Literature Reviews in HCI: A Review of ReviewsThis paper analyses Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) literature reviews to provide a clear conceptual basis for authors, reviewers, and readers. HCI is multidisciplinary and various types of literature reviews exist, from systematic to critical reviews in the style of essays. Yet, there is insufficient consensus of what to expect of literature reviews in HCI. Thus, a shared understanding of literature reviews and clear terminology is needed to plan, evaluate, and use literature reviews, and to further improve review methodology. We analysed 189 literature reviews published at all SIGCHI conferences and ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) up until August 2022. We report on the main dimensions of variation: (i) contribution types and topics; and (ii) structure and methodologies applied. We identify gaps and trends to inform future meta work in HCI and provide a starting point on how to move towards a more comprehensive terminology system of literature reviews in HCI.2023ESEvropi Stefanidi et al.University of BremenUser Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)Research Ethics & Open ScienceCHI
I Need a Third Arm! Eliciting Body-based Interactions with a Wearable Robotic ArmWearable robotic arms (WRA) open up a unique interaction space that closely integrates the user's body with an embodied robotic collaborator. This space affords diverse interaction styles, including body movement, hand gestures, or gaze. Yet, it is so-far unexplored which commands are desirable from a user perspective. Contributing findings from an elicitation study (N=14), we provide a comprehensive set of interactions for basic robot control, navigation, object manipulation, and emergency situations, performed when hands are free or occupied. Our study provides insights into preferred body parts, input modalities, and the users' underlying sources of inspiration. Comparing interaction styles between WRAs and off-body robots, we highlight how WRAs enable a range of interactions specific for on-body robots and how users use WRAs both as tools and as collaborators. We conclude by providing guidance on the design of ad-hoc interaction with WRAs informed by user behavior.2023MMMarie Muehlhaus et al.Saarland Informatics CampusShape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsHuman-Robot Collaboration (HRC)CHI
HiveFive: Immersion Preserving Attention Guidance in Virtual RealityRecent advances in Virtual Reality (VR) technology, such as larger fields of view, have made VR increasingly immersive. However, a larger field of view often results in a user focusing on certain directions and missing relevant content presented elsewhere on the screen. With HiveFive, we propose a technique that uses swarm motion to guide user attention in VR. The goal is to seamlessly integrate directional cues into the scene without losing immersiveness. We evaluate HiveFive in two studies. First, we compare biological motion (from a prerecorded swarm) with non-biological motion (from an algorithm), finding further evidence that humans can distinguish between these motion types and that, contrary to our hypothesis, non-biological swarm motion results in significantly faster response times. Second, we compare HiveFive to four other techniques and show that it not only results in fast response times but also has the smallest negative effect on immersion.2020DLDaniel Lange et al.University of OldenburgImmersion & Presence ResearchContext-Aware ComputingCHI
Next Steps for Human-Computer IntegrationHuman-Computer Integration (HInt) is an emerging paradigm in which computational and human systems are closely interwoven. Integrating computers with the human body is not new. however, we believe that with rapid technological advancements, increasing real-world deployments, and growing ethical and societal implications, it is critical to identify an agenda for future research. We present a set of challenges for HInt research, formulated over the course of a five-day workshop consisting of 29 experts who have designed, deployed and studied HInt systems. This agenda aims to guide researchers in a structured way towards a more coordinated and conscientious future of human-computer integration.2020FMFlorian Floyd Mueller et al.Monash UniversityBrain-Computer Interface (BCI) & NeurofeedbackTechnology Ethics & Critical HCIUser Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)CHI