E-Sewing: Exploring the Design Space of Machine-Sewing E-Textile CircuitsThis pictorial presents a design research exploration of domestic sewing machines as hybrid craft tools for creating e-textile circuits. Through iterative making and experimentation, we examine how conductive materials and electronic components can be integrated into fabric using sewing machines. We contribute 11 techniques for securely terminating connections (T1-T4), insulating wires (I1-I4), and design possibilities for sewing LEDs and electronic components (A1-A3). We also introduce four types of machine-sewn sensors (S1-S4) for interactivity and present four high-fidelity prototypes of machine-sewn circuits. To further explore the creative potential of these techniques, we engaged in a case study with a craft practitioner that uncovers design insights and limitations. Reflecting on these explorations, we highlight the role of sewing machines in democratizing e-textile design and advancing their use as accessible tools for hybrid fabrication.2025SISalma Ibrahim et al.Electronic Textiles (E-textiles)Circuit Making & Hardware PrototypingDIS
WovenCircuits: A 3-Step Fabrication Process for Weaving Electric Circuit Layouts in Everyday ArtefactsPrevious work explored techniques for creating woven e-textiles, emphasizing interactive input and output elements. However, the integration of electrical connections and circuitry remains underexplored. Using Research through Design (RtD), we present WovenCircuits, a design-led inquiry into combining traditional weaving methods with computational design on digital Jacquard looms to create woven circuit schematics. Through iterative design experiments, we developed a 3-step process and characterized three fabrication techniques to: 1) weave insulated electrodes, 2) integrate rigid components into fabric, and 3) create woven electrical connections. We further examined their electrical behaviour through key design factors and evaluated the effect of washability on resistance and dimensions. To demonstrate its potential, we designed and built six high-fidelity research products showcasing diverse applications in interactive everyday objects. Finally, we reflect on the design opportunities and limitations of WovenCircuits, contributing to the growing body of knowledge on woven e-textiles.2025AAAhmed Awad et al.Shape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsElectronic Textiles (E-textiles)DIS
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
A Year of Interaction Around Town: Gathering Traces with an Interactive Knitting Machine and Community Stitch MarkersDevices for digital fabrication are becoming increasingly smaller and more portable, enabling digital fabrication research to move into new environments. In this exploratory research-through-design project, we aimed to physicalize data on-the-go using a portable digital fabrication device, and gathered community annotations and traces of the journey the machine went on with “stitch markers”. We describe the development of The Life of a Small Town, a portable knitting machine that was adapted to knit rows of stitches in response to sensor data. The machine travelled throughout a small town and “popped up” at local art events to sense and physicalize social gatherings held by an arts organization over the period of one year. Individuals participating in events could also decorate their own “stitch markers” to annotate and pin to the data. In this paper we discuss the insights from an analysis of the stitch markers and traces of the year-long journey.2024LJLee Jones et al.Desktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationMakerspace CultureDIS
Process, Roles, Tools, and Team: Understanding the Emerging Medium of Virtual Reality TheatreVirtual reality (VR) theatre artists are combining theatre production and game development practices to create live performances in VR. To date, little is known about VR theatre creators' experiences of this process or how staging a play in VR might affect the audience's experience. To capture the experience of developing a VR theatre production we interviewed the production team behind the VR play You Should Have Stayed Home. Members of this team felt the process was a learning experience and shared the lessons they plan to incorporate into their future work. We report on the team's efforts to understand the VR theatre medium, how this team was constructed, and challenges that they encountered. In this paper we present the opportunities that the production team members identified for creating novel experiences for VR audiences, and their own needs as creators.2024MWMichaelah Wales et al.Queen's UniversitySocial & Collaborative VRInteractive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingCHI
A Virtual Reality Framework for Human-Driver Interaction Research: Safe and Cost-Effective Data CollectionThe advancement of automated driving technology has led to new challenges in the interaction between automated vehicles and human road users. However, there is currently no complete theory that explains how human road users interact with vehicles, and studying them in real-world settings is often unsafe and time-consuming. This study proposes a 3D Virtual Reality (VR) framework for studying how pedestrians interact with human-driven vehicles and autonomous vehicles. The framework uses VR technology to collect data in a safe and cost-effective way, and deep learning methods are used to predict pedestrian trajectories. Specifically, graph neural networks have been used to model pedestrian future trajectories and the probability of crossing the road. The results of this study show that the proposed framework can be for collecting high-quality data on pedestrian-vehicle interactions in a safe and efficient manner. The data can then be used to develop new theories of human-vehicle interaction and to train autonomous vehicles to better interact with pedestrians.2024LCLuca Crosato et al.External HMI (eHMI) — Communication with Pedestrians & CyclistsV2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) Communication DesignHRI
Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve: Using Digital Knitting Machines to Craft Wearable Biodata PortraitsBiofeedback sensors that measure body signals, such as heart rate, are often used for bodily awareness and behavioural change. In contrast, for this project, we wanted to use body sensor data as an artistic resource to craft wearable textile portraits as mementos of a moment in time. During the pandemic, we conducted a user study to design knitted biodata portraits. We met up individually with 20 participants to measure their heart rate, and translated that data into digitally-designed aesthetic patterns for machine knitting. Using a hacked knitting machine, we fabricated these patterns to create 20 personalized wearable shrugs to enable individuals to “wear their heart on their sleeve”. Two years later, when it was safe to do so, we conducted 2 studio workshops with participants, followed by 10 individual interviews. Our qualitative study insights reveal how individuals felt about seeing their own biodata, and the biodata of others, as aesthetic machine-knitted wearables with perceived precious value and attachment.2023LJLee Jones et al.Haptic WearablesElectronic Textiles (E-textiles)DIS
FabriCar: Enriching the User Experience of In-Car Media Interactions with Ubiquitous Vehicle Interiors using E-textile SensorsThis work explores e-textiles in the design space of Human-Vehicle Interaction (HVI) and compares distraction levels between e-textile and screen-based interactions during driving tasks. We developed three prototypes (in the steering wheel, headrest cover, and seat-belt pad) to support tactile interactions (tap, press, and swipe) with car interior elements for non-driving applications (such as media control). Our designs used digital embroidery to achieve aesthetic design qualities and wireless connection. In a deployment study with 16 participants, we collected quantitative and qualitative data through video recording, field observations, and user interviews. The study repeated all scenarios using screen-based interaction for comparison. Our findings present insights into fabric-based sensors including fewer collisions and a 302.7% decrease in eye distraction. These findings suggest new design opportunities, such as retrofitting existing vehicles, designing ideation toolkits for diverse users, devising an e-textile Fitts’ Law for reachability, and expanding vehicle interaction research within the HCI community.2023PKPouya M Khorsandi et al.In-Vehicle Haptic, Audio & Multimodal FeedbackEV Charging & Eco-Driving InterfacesElectronic Textiles (E-textiles)DIS
Tangible, Public, and Miniature Creative Exchanges: What HCI and Design Researchers Can Learn From the Free Little Art Gallery MovementHCI researchers are continually exploring new ways of engaging the public in participatory design and bringing creative making research activities to new audiences. In this paper, we interviewed individuals who independently began public and DIY installations for sharing miniature art among their neighbours. During the COVID-19 pandemic, participatory miniature art exchanges, commonly known as Free Little Art Galleries (FLAGs), organically spread in response to lockdowns and institutional constraints. These art exchanges were boxes, often posted at the edge of an individual's lawn, where communities could drop off and take miniature art pieces. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 20 FLAG `curators' to understand the implications involved in setting up and maintaining these long-term deployments. From the analysis of these interviews, we provide 6 practical recommendations on supporting these types of deployments, and discuss how HCI researchers can expand upon these DIY participatory practices to bring creative ideation activities on the future of technology to broader audiences.2023LJLee Jones et al.Participatory DesignInteractive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingC&C
Automation Confusion: A Grounded Theory of Non-Gamers' Confusion in Partially Automated Action GamesPartial automation makes digital games simpler by performing game actions for players. It may simplify gameplay for non-gamers who have difficulty controlling and understanding games. However, the automation may make players confused about what they control and what the automation controls. To describe and explain non-gamers' experiences of automation confusion, we analyzed gameplay, think-aloud, and interview data from ten non-gamer participants who played two partially automated games. Our results demonstrate how incorrect mental models, behaviours resulting from those models, and players' attitudes towards the games led to different levels and types of confusion.2023GCGabriele Cimolino et al.Queen's UniversityGame UX & Player BehaviorSerious & Functional GamesCHI
An Examination of Motivation in Physical Therapy Through the Lens of Self-Determination Theory: Implications for Game DesignWhile it is widely assumed that games can engage patients in therapy through their inherent 'motivational pull', relatively little attention has been paid to what HCI games research can learn from strategies employed by therapists. We address this gap by leveraging Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and its mini-theories Basic Psychological Needs Theory and Organismic Integration Theory as a theoretical lens on physical therapy for children and adolescents. Results from in-depth interviews with twelve therapists show that they carefully adjust sessions to allow patients to experience competence, making more comprehensive adjustments than currently offered by games. Additionally, we highlight how therapists leverage their relationship with patients to support motivation, but struggle to reconcile meaningful experiences of autonomy with therapeutic goals. On this basis, we reflect on implications for researchers and designers who create games for physical therapy, and the potential of SDT to provide a foundation for game design and therapeutic practice.2023MAMaria Aufheimer et al.KU LeuvenVibrotactile Feedback & Skin StimulationSerious & Functional GamesFitness Tracking & Physical Activity MonitoringCHI
Libraries of Things: Understanding the Challenges of Sharing Tangible Collections and the Opportunities for HCI“Libraries of Things” are tangible collections of borrowable objects. There are many benefits to Libraries of Things such as making objects and skill-building accessible, reducing waste through the sharing of items, and saving costs associated with purchasing rarely-used items. We introduce the first HCI study of Library of Things by interviewing 23 librarians who run a variety of collections such as handheld tools, gear, and musical instruments – within public institutions and more grass-roots efforts in the private sector. In our findings, we discuss the challenges these collections experience in changing behavioural patterns from buying to borrowing, helping individuals `try new things', iterating to find sharable items, training staff, and manual intervention throughout the borrowing cycle. We present 5 opportunities for HCI research to support interactive skill-sharing, self-borrowing, maintenance recognition and cataloguing `things', organizing non-uniform inventories, and creating public-awareness. Further in-the-wild studies should also consider the tensions between the values of these organizations and low-cost convenient usage.2023LJLee Jones et al.Queen's UniversityCitizen Science & Crowdsourced DataMakerspace CultureCHI
Supporting Aim Assistance Algorithms through a Rapidly Trainable, Personalized Model of Players' Spatial and Temporal Aiming AbilityMultiplayer digital games can use aim assistance to help people with different levels of aiming ability to play together. To dynamically provide each player with the right amount of assistance, an aim assistance algorithm needs a model of the player's ability that can be measured and updated during gameplay. The model must be based on difficulty parameters such as target speed, size, and duration, that can be adjusted in-game to change aiming difficulty, and must account for player's spatial and temporal aiming abilities. To satisfy these requirements, we present the novel dynamic spatiotemporal model of a player's aiming ability, based on difficulty parameters that can be manipulated in a game. In a crowdsourced experiment with 72 participants, the model was found to accurately predict how close to a target a player can aim and to converge rapidly with a small set of observations of aiming tasks.2023ASAdrian L. Jessup Schneider et al.Queen's UniversityGame UX & Player BehaviorSerious & Functional GamesGamification DesignCHI
Goldwork Embroidery: Interviews with Practitioners on Working with Metal Threads and Opportunities for E-textile Hybrid Crafts Within the emerging field of e-textiles, goldwork embroidery (also known as metalwork) which uses metal threads and materials is an underexplored area, despite being a centuries-old practice in traditional crafts of different cultures. In this paper, we explore the material culture of textile goldwork to better understand how e-textile researchers can leverage their material properties, palette, and practices. First, we provide a historical background of English and European goldwork to give HCI researchers context on this craft field including technological and cultural influences. Then, we interview 13 contemporary goldwork practitioners on their creative practice to better understand the tools, techniques, and skills they employ. Our study findings show how goldwork practitioners deal with the unique constraints of metal threads and materials, and how these materials need to be handled differently than regular non-metal threads and fibers. Finally, we contribute guidelines and opportunities in the form of four concrete design recommendations for the field. Overall, this paper addresses a research gap on the potentials of goldwork and how we can leverage these practices for the future of e-textile hybrid crafts.2022LJLee Jones et al.Electronic Textiles (E-textiles)Textile Art & Craft DigitizationC&C
Two Heads Are Better Than One: A Dimension Space for Unifying Human and Artificial Intelligence in Shared ControlShared control is an emerging interaction paradigm in which a human and an AI partner collaboratively control a system. Shared control unifies human and artificial intelligence, making the human’s interactions with computers more accessible, safe, precise, effective, creative, and playful. This form of interaction has independently emerged in contexts as varied as mobility assistance, driving, surgery, and digital games. These domains each have their own problems, terminology, and design philosophies. Without a common language for describing interactions in shared control, it is difficult for designers working in one domain to share their knowledge with designers working in another. To address this problem, we present a dimension space for shared control, based on a survey of 55 shared control systems from six different problem domains. This design space analysis tool enables designers to classify existing systems, make comparisons between them, identify higher-level design patterns, and imagine solutions to novel problems.2022GCGabriele Cimolino et al.Queen's UniversityAI-Assisted Decision-Making & AutomationHuman-Robot Collaboration (HRC)CHI
The "Shut the f**k up'' Phenomenon: Characterizing Incivility in Open Source Code Review DiscussionsCode review is an important quality assurance activity for software development. Code review discussions among developers and maintainers can be heated and sometimes involve personal attacks and unnecessary disrespectful comments, demonstrating, therefore, incivility. Although incivility in public discussions has received increasing attention from researchers in different domains, the knowledge about the characteristics, causes, and consequences of uncivil communication is still very limited in the context of software development, and more specifically, code review. To address this gap in the literature, we leverage the mature social construct of incivility as a lens to understand confrontational conflicts in open source code review discussions. For that, we conducted a qualitative analysis on 1,545 emails from the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) that were associated with rejected changes. We found that more than half (66.66%) of the non-technical emails included uncivil features. Particularly, frustration, name calling, and impatience are the most frequent features in uncivil emails. We also found that there are civil alternatives to address arguments, while uncivil comments can potentially be made by any people when discussing any topic. Finally, we identified various causes and consequences of such uncivil communication. Our work serves as the first study about the phenomenon of in(civility) in open source software development, paving the road for a new field of research about collaboration and communication in the context of software engineering activities.2021IFIsabella Ferreira et al.Open CollaborationCSCW
Toward the Design of Enjoyable Games for Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum DisorderFetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a heterogeneous and complex set of disorders caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, estimated to affect 2-5% of the North American population. Deficits associated with FASD affect social skill development and executive function, including emotional regulation and impulse control. These deficits can increase the difficulty of playing digital games. While considerable research has been performed in understanding how to design games for people with neurodevelopmental disorders in general, there is little data on how to design engaging games for children with FASD. We conducted a ten-week in-school gaming trial with eleven elementary-aged children with diagnosed or suspected FASD. Participants enjoyed playing together and responded well to the in-game reward system, while some game elements caused unexpected frustration. Based on our observations, we advise that games for FASD be designed to have low cost of failure, avoid retracting options, account for taking breaks when needed, show progression in rewards, and enable cooperative play.2020ASAdrian L. Jessup Schneider et al.Queen's UniversityFoot & Wrist InteractionSerious & Functional GamesSpecial Education TechnologyCHI
Social Play in an Exergame: How the Need to Belong Predicts AdherenceThe general trend in exercise interventions, including those based on exergames, is to see high initial enthusiasm but significantly declining adherence. Social play is considered a core tenet of the design of exercise interventions help foster motivation to play. To determine whether social play aids in adherence to exergames, we analyzed data from a study involving five waves of six-week exergame trials between a single-player and multiplayer group. In this paper, we examine the multiplayer group to determine who might benefit from social play and why. We found that people who primarily engage in group play have superior adherence to people who primarily play alone. People who play alone in a multiplayer exergame have worse adherence than playing a single-player version, which can undo any potential benefit of social play. The primary construct distinguishing group versus alone players is their sense of program belonging. Program belonging is, thus, crucial to multiplayer exergame design.2019MKMaximus D. Kaos et al.Queen's University & Aalto UniversityHuman Pose & Activity RecognitionSerious & Functional GamesGamification DesignCHI
LightBee: A Self-Levitating Light Field Display for Hologrammatic TelepresenceLightBee is a novel "hologrammatic" telepresence system featuring a self-levitating light field display. It consists of a drone that flies a projection of a remote user's head through 3D space. The movements of the drone are controlled by the remote user's head movements, offering unique support for non-verbal cues, especially physical proxemics. The light field display is created by a retro-reflective sheet that is mounted on the cylindrical quadcopter. 45 smart projectors, one per 1.3 degrees, are mounted in a ring, each projecting a video stream rendered from a unique perspective onto the retroreflector. This creates a light field that naturally provides motion parallax and stereoscopy without requiring any headset nor stereo glasses. LightBee allows multiple local users to experience their own unique and correct perspective of the remote user's head. The system is currently one-directional: 2 small cameras mounted on the drone allow the remote user to observe the local scene.2019XZXujing Zhang et al.Queen's UniversityImmersion & Presence ResearchTeleoperation & TelepresenceCHI
TeleHuman2: A Cylindrical Light Field Teleconferencing System for Life-size 3D Human TelepresenceFor telepresence to support the richness of multiparty conversations, it is important to convey motion parallax and stereoscopy without head-worn apparatus. TeleHuman2 is a “hologrammatic” telepresence system that conveys full-body 3D video of interlocutors using a human-sized cylindrical light field display. For rendering, the system uses an array of projectors mounted above the heads of participants in a ring around a retroreflective cylinder. Unique angular renditions are calculated from streaming depth video captured at the remote location. Projected images are retro-reflected into the eyes of local participants, at 1.3º intervals providing angular renditions simultaneously for left and right eyes of all onlookers, which conveys motion parallax and stereoscopy without head-worn apparatus or head tracking. Our technical evaluation of the angular accuracy of the system demonstrates that the error in judging the angle of a remote arrow object represented in TeleHuman2 is within 1 degree, and not significantly different from similar judgments of a collocated arrow object.2018DGDaniel Gotsch et al.Queen's UniversitySocial & Collaborative VRImmersion & Presence ResearchTeleoperation & TelepresenceCHI