Estrangement through SilenceHow can we cultivate deeper attunement to one another, ourselves, and the environment that can, in turn, inform and enrich design? Over the course of four workshops conducted across 1.5 years – primarily outdoors – the authors engaged in prolonged periods of shared silence. This collective silence functioned as an estrangement method, revealing the porous and interdependent boundaries between people and things, mutually constituting one another. We unpack some of the experiential qualities emerging from these experiments and mobilize them for future design processes, including: cultivating multifaceted sensibilities, dynamic modes of noticing and interacting, such as coming together and dispersing, being alone together, and acting or playing in unison; the malleability of silence to specific, orchestrated design activities, such as cooking or designing; and reframing silence, not as an absence, but as a presence – rich with sounds, interactions, and possibilities for engagement. We discuss how to set up temporal and spatial boundaries, alongside boundaries within and between ourselves.2025JFJonas Fritsch et al.Technology Ethics & Critical HCIHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)DIS
Introducing ROADS: A Systematic Comparison of Remote Control Interaction Concepts for Automated Vehicles at Road WorksAs vehicle automation technology continues to mature, there is a necessity for robust remote monitoring and intervention features. These are essential for intervening during vehicle malfunctions, challenging road conditions, or in areas that are difficult to navigate. This evolution in the role of the human operator—from a constant driver to an intermittent teleoperator—necessitates the development of suitable interaction interfaces. While some interfaces were suggested, a comparative study is missing. We designed, implemented, and evaluated three interaction concepts (path planning, trajectory guidance, and waypoint guidance) with up to four concurrent requests of automated vehicles in a within-subjects study with N=23 participants. The results showed a clear preference for the path planning concept. It also led to the highest usability but lower satisfaction. With trajectory guidance, the fewest requests were resolved. The study’s findings contribute to the ongoing development of HMIs focused on the remote assistance of automated vehicles.2025MCMark Colley et al.Ulm University; UCL Interaction CentreAutomated Driving Interface & Takeover DesignTeleoperated DrivingCHI
Towards Caring Touch From Technologies: Knowledge From Healthcare PractitionersWe present a qualitative study with five healthcare experts specialised in different types of touch practice to gain insight in how caring touch can be enacted. Through our analysis we focus on how to transfer this learning into design considerations towards enacting caring touch from technologies. Despite the rapidly growing expectation for and design interest in touch from technologies intending to enhance care and well-being, the knowledge on how to design caring touch is still fragmented. How caring touch is enacted in inter-personal touch is under-explored and such expertise from healthcare practitioners has not been engaged from the perspective of HCI design research. We propose designers to consider caring as an experiential quality instead of a division between instrumental types of touch and caring types. We recommend when designing for a caring quality in technology-initiated touch that designers create a progression of touch with dynamic sensitivity and adapt the materiality of actuating devices to the plural dimensions of the body's textures.2025CZCaroline Yan Zheng et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyEV Charging & Eco-Driving InterfacesVibrotactile Feedback & Skin StimulationCHI
Becoming One with Kuddi: Touching Data through an Intimate Data PhysicalisationKuddi is a haptic data physicalisation in the form of a soft pillow which combines 12 inflatable pockets to dynamically touch and be touched in relation to the changing menstruating body. This paper presents the soma design process that led to Kuddi's design, as well as Kuddi's evaluation through an auto-ethnographic approach, where the first author lived with Kuddi for two menstrual cycles. The resulting dataset was analysed by the research team using a narrative-led approach. Based on this analysis, we present five thick descriptions that capture how the experience of living with Kuddi led to a changing relation with menstrual pain. We contribute a design case of a haptic data physicalisation intended to touch the body and discuss how the material and interaction design choices embodied in Kuddi led to data visceralisation - a way of feeling data in ways which promote new somatic knowledge and experience.2025GÍGuðrún Margrét Ívansdóttir et al.KTH Royal Institute of Technology , Media Technology and Interaction DesignHaptic WearablesData PhysicalizationFood Culture & Food InteractionCHI
A Route to Somatic Literacy of the Pelvic Floor through Technology-Initiated TouchThe Pelvic Chair is a shape-changing chair that touches the pelvic area. Through rhythmic and gentle movements on different parts of the pelvic area, the touch interactions from the Pelvic Chair invite attention to the anatomy, muscles, and connectedness. We present a user study with 14 participants focusing on their experience of being touched by the Pelvic Chair. Through our qualitative analysis of participants' experiences, we show that meaningful touch can offer an active approach to sensing the pelvic floor that contributes to increasing somatic literacy - becoming familiar with the pelvic floor, being able to feel and distinguish between tension and relaxation, and establishing new connections between the pelvic floor and the body. Using the Pelvic Chair as a design case we show the potential for technology-initiated touch in providing an intimate and safe way of touching and connecting with the body.2025DYDeepika Yadav et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyVibrotactile Feedback & Skin StimulationHaptic WearablesCHI
Exploring the Somatic Possibilities of Shape Changing Car SeatsThrough a soma design process, we explored how to design a shape-changing car seat as a point of interaction between the car and the driver. We developed a low-fidelity prototyping tool to support this design work and describe our experiences of using this tool in a workshop with a car manufacturer. We share the co-designed patterns that we developed: re-engaging in driving; dis-engaging from driving; saying farewell; and being held while turning. Our analysis contributes design knowledge on how we should design for a car seat to `touch' larger, potentially heavier parts of the body including the back, shoulders, hips, and bottom. The non-habitual experience of shape-changing elements in the driver seat helped pinpoint the link between somatic experience and intelligent rational behaviour in driving tasks. Relevant meaning-making processes arose when the two were aligned, improving on the holistic coming together of driver, car, and the road travelled.2024MBMadeline Balaam et al.In-Vehicle Haptic, Audio & Multimodal FeedbackShape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsDIS
Shaping and Being Shaped by Drones: Programming in Perception-Action LoopsIn a long-term commitment to designing for the aesthetics of human–drone interactions, we have been troubled by the lack of tools for shaping and interactively feeling drone behaviours. By observing participants in a three-day drone challenge, we isolated components of drones that, if made transparent, could have helped participants better explore their aesthetic potential. Through a bricolage approach to analysing interviews, field notes, video recordings, and inspection of each team’s code, we describe how teams 1) shifted their efforts from aiming for seamless human–drone interaction, to seeing drones as fragile, wilful, and prone to crashes; 2) engaged with intimate, bodily interactions to more precisely probe, understand and define their drone’s capabilities; 3) adopted different workaround strategies, emphasising either training the drone or the pilot. We contribute an empirical account of constraints in shaping the potential aesthetics of drone behaviour, and discuss how programming environments could better support somaesthetic perception–action loops for design and programming purposes.2024MSMousa Sondoqah et al.Shape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsDrone Interaction & ControlDance & Body Movement ComputingDIS
Exploring Renewable Energy Futures through Household Energy ResilienceA transition to renewable energy increases the risks of disruptions when electricity supply does not meet demand. HCI has explored how digital technologies can mitigate such problems in households through support for reducing or shifting electricity use. However, faster transitions may be possible if some disturbances can be acceptable and households are supported in adapting to them. In this paper, we present a study of 21 Swedish households and their experiences of and ideas on how to manage disruptions in electricity supply. We call this perspective household energy resilience and identify three strategies for resilience: (1) response diversity, i.e., diversity in ways of carrying out normally electricity-dependent practices, (2) creating opportunities to develop resilience, and (3) building community energy resilience. Furthermore, we suggest how HCI can support these strategies, both by providing tools to increase resilience and by carefully designing technology and services to be more resilient in themselves.2022HHHanna Hasselqvist et al.Chalmers University of TechnologyHome Energy ManagementSustainable HCIEnergy Conservation Behavior & InterfacesCHI
Design in Action: Unpacking the Artists' Role in Performance-Led ResearchThis paper illustrates design work carried out to develop an interactive theater performance. HCI has started to address the challenges of designing interactive performances, as both audience and performers' experiences are considered and a variety of professional expertise involved. Nevertheless, research has overlooked how such design unfolds in practice, and what role artists play in exploring both the creative opportunities and the challenges associated with interweaving digital technologies. A two-day workshop was conducted to tailor the use of the ChameleonMask, a telepresence technology, within a performance. The analysis highlights the artists’ work to make the mask work while framing, exploring and conceptualizing its use. The discussion outlines the artists' skills and design expertise, and how they redefine the role of HCI in performance-led research.2021JTJakob Tholander et al.Stockholm UniversityDigital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceInteractive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingCHI
Pictorial Unleashed: Into the Folds of Interactive QualitiesIn this pictorial, we present two different tangible interaction designs that enable managing of wireless connections between devices in a smart home environment. One design (Interaction Tile) utilizes a centralized approach based on a high level of semantic abstraction. The other design (Nodes) employs a distributed and localized approached building on laws of grouping from Gestalt psychology. These works were previously used for a comparative study to develop insights into the different mental models users developed, while using these designs. In this pictorial, we focus on the interactive qualities of the two designs and we propose a way to invite the reader to actively and physically engage with the pages of this publication. The reader is asked to print the pages of this pictorial and to engage in folding sequences on particular pages in order to actively engage with the different ways of interacting between the two different designs.2020JPJeroen Peeters et al.Context-Aware ComputingSmart Home Interaction DesignPrototyping & User TestingDIS
Color and Animation Preferences for a Light Band eHMI in Interactions Between Automated Vehicles and PedestriansIn this paper, we report user preferences regarding color and animation patterns to support the interaction between Automated Vehicles (AVs) and pedestrians through an external Human-Machine-Interface (eHMI). Existing concepts of eHMI differ -- among other things -- in their use of colors or animations to express an AV's yielding intention. In the absence of empirical research, there is a knowledge gap regarding which color and animation leads to highest usability and preferences in traffic negotiation situations. We conducted an online survey (N=400) to investigate the comprehensibility of a light band eHMI with a combination of 5 color and 3 animation patterns for a yielding AV. Results show that cyan is considered a neutral color for communicating a yielding intention. Additionally, a uniformly flashing or pulsing animation is preferred compared to any pattern that animates sideways. These insights can contribute in the future design and standardization of eHMIs.2020DDDebargha Dey et al.Eindhoven University of TechnologyExternal HMI (eHMI) — Communication with Pedestrians & CyclistsCHI
Emotion Work in Experience-Centered DesignExperience Centered Design (ECD) implores us to develop empathic relationships and understanding of participants, to actively work with our senses and emotions within the design process. However, theories of experience-centered design do little to account for emotion work undertaken by design researchers when doing this. As a consequence, how a design researcher's emotions are experienced, navigated and used as part of an ECD process are rarely published. So, while emotion is clearly a tool that we use, we don't share with one another how, why and when it gets used. This has a limiting effect on how we understand design processes, and opportunities for training. Here, we share some of our experiences of working with ECD. We analyse these using Hochschild's framework of emotion work to show how and where this work occurs. We use our analysis to question current ECD practices and provoke debate.2019MBMadeline Balaam et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyParticipatory DesignUser Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)CHI
Applying Computational Analysis to Textual Data from the Wild: a Feminist PerspectiveWith technologies that afford much larger-scale data collection than previously imagined, new ways of processing and interpreting qualitative textual data are required. HCI researchers use a range of methods for interpreting the `full range of human experience' from qualitative data, however, such approaches are not always scalable. Feminist geography seeks to explore how diverse and varied accounts of place can be understood and represented, whilst avoiding reductive classification systems. In this paper, we assess the extent to which unsupervised topic models can support such a research agenda. Drawing on literature from Feminist and Critical GIS, we present a case study analysis of a Volunteered Geographic Information dataset of reviews about breastfeeding in public spaces. We demonstrate that topic modelling can offer novel insights and nuanced interpretations of complex concepts such as privacy and be integrated into a critically reflexive feminist data analysis approach that captures and represents diverse experiences of place.2018SCShauna Julia Concannon et al.Newcastle UniversityInteractive Data VisualizationContext-Aware ComputingDeveloping Countries & HCI for Development (HCI4D)CHI
ThermoKiosk: Investigating Roles for Digital Surveys of Thermal Experience in Workplace Comfort ManagementThermal comfort in shared workplaces is often contested and impacts productivity, wellbeing, and energy use. Yet, subjective and situated comfort experiences are rarely captured and engaged with. In this paper, we explore roles for digital surveys in capturing and visualising subjective experiences of comfort in situ for comfort management. We present findings from a 3-week field trial of our prototype system called ThermoKiosk, which we deployed in an open plan, shared office with a history of thermal comfort complaints. In interviews with occupants and members of facilities management, we find that the data and interactions can play an important role in initiating dialogue to understand and handle tensions, and point to design considerations for more systematically integrating them into workplace comfort practices.2018ACAdrian K Clear et al.Northumbria UniversityContext-Aware ComputingWorkplace Wellbeing & Work StressEcological Design & Green ComputingCHI
This Changes Sustainable HCIMore than a decade into Sustainable HCI (SHCI) research, the community is still struggling to converge on a shared understanding of sustainability and HCI's role in addressing it. We think this is largely a positive sign, reflective of maturity; yet, lacking a clear set of aims and metrics for sustainability continues to be the community's impediment to progressing, hence we seek to articulate a vision around which the community can productively coalesce. Drawing from recent SHCI publications, we identify commonalities that might form the basis of a shared understanding, and we show that this understanding closely aligns with the authoritative conception of a path to a sustainable future proffered by Naomi Klein in her book emph{This Changes Everything.} We elaborate a set of contributions that SHCI is already making that can be unified under Klein's narrative, and compare these categories of work to those found in past surveys of the field as evidence of substantive progress in SHCI.2018BKBran Knowles et al.Lancaster UniversitySustainable HCIEcological Design & Green ComputingCHI
“That Really Pushes My Buttons”: Designing Bullying and Harassment Training for the WorkplaceWorkplace bullying and harassment have been identified as two of the most concerning silent and unseen occupational hazards of the 21st century. The design of bespoke training addressing domain-specific job roles and relations presents a particular challenge. Using the concept of data-in-place where data is understood as being bound and produced by a particular place, this paper describes how locally-situated accounts can be used to engage employees in workplace-specific training seminars. Using higher education as a case study, we describe a four-stage design process for future training efforts: (1) in-depth interviews for further understanding of bullying and harassment; (2) design of digital probes for capturing contextual data; (3) probe deployment and subsequent data analysis; (4) data-driven discussion-based seminars. We outline the potential for digital probes in promoting the denormalization of toxic workplace cultures, considerations for novel sensitive data governance models, and the discussion of data-in-place’s temporal dimension.2018RBRosanna Bellini et al.Newcastle UniversityOnline Harassment & Counter-ToolsWorkplace Wellbeing & Work StressCHI
Between Grassroots and the Hierarchy: Lessons Learned from the Design of a Public Services DirectoryThere is a growing interest in HCI research studying technology for citizen engagement in civic issues. We are now seeing issues around technologies for empowerment and participation, long discussed in HCI literature, appropriated and formalised in government legislation. In the UK, recent reforms stipulate that community-based service information should be published in continuously updated, collaboratively designed and maintained, online platforms. We report on a qualitative study where we worked with stakeholders involved in the collaborative design, development and implementation of such a platform. Our findings highlight tensions between the grassroots desire to innovate and local governments’ rigid compliance with statutory obligation. We pose a series of challenges and opportunities for HCI researchers engaged in the design of civic technologies to consider going forward, addressing issues of engagement in policy, measures of participation and tools for enabling participatory processes in public institutions.2018ADAndy Dow et al.Newcastle UniversityCommunity Engagement & Civic TechnologyParticipatory DesignCHI
Building Momentum: Scaling up Change in Community OrganizationsAddressing calls in Sustainable HCI to scale up our work in HCI targeting sustainability, and the current knowledge gap of how to do this practically, we here present a qualitative study of 10 sustainability-oriented community organizations that are working to scale up their change making. They are all loosely connected to a local Transition network, meaning that they are aiming at transforming current practices in society, through local and practical action, to meet challenges related to climate change. We wanted to know how they try to scale up their change making, and what role ICT plays in enabling scaling up. The study contributes new insights about three stages of scaling up, in which ICT plays different roles. We conclude with implications for HCI for how to support community organizations in scaling up, while keeping values important for working toward a more resilient society.2018ABAksel Biørn-Hansen et al.Chalmers University of TechnologyCommunity Engagement & Civic TechnologySustainable HCICHI