Social Media for Activists: Reimagining Safety, Content Presentation, and WorkflowsSocial media is central to activists, who use it internally for coordination and externally to reach supporters and the public. To date, the HCI community has not explored activists' perspectives on future social media platforms. In interviews with 14 activists from an environmental and a queer-feminist movement in Germany, we identify activists' needs and feature requests for future social media platforms. The key finding is that on- and offline safety is their main need. Based on this, we make concrete proposals to improve safety measures. Increased control over content presentation and tools to streamline activist workflows are also central to activists. We make concrete design and research recommendations on how social media platforms and the HCI community can contribute to improved safety and content presentation, and how activists themselves can reduce their workload.2025ALAnna Ricarda Luther et al.Institute for Information Management Bremen GmbH; University of BremenSocial Platform Design & User BehaviorActivism & Political ParticipationCHI
A Qualitative Investigation of User Transitions and Frictions in Cross-Reality ApplicationsResearch in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) has mostly viewed them in isolation. Yet, when used together in practical settings, AR and VR each offer unique strengths, necessitating multiple transitions to harness their advantages. This paper investigates potential challenges in Cross-Reality (CR) transitions to inform future application design. We implemented a CR system featuring a 3D modeling task that requires users to switch between PC, AR, and VR. Using a talk-aloud study (n=12) and thematic analysis, we revealed that frictions primarily arose when transitions conflicted with users' Spatial Mental Model (SMM). Furthermore, we found five transition archetypes employed to enhance productivity once an SMM was established. Our findings uncover that transitions have to focus on establishing and upholding the SMM of users across realities, by communicating differences between them.2025JWJulius von Willich et al.TU Darmstadt, Telecooperation LabMixed Reality WorkspacesImmersion & Presence ResearchCHI
Navigating the Virtuality-Reality Clash: Reflection and Design Patterns for Industrial Mixed Reality ApplicationsCreating Mixed Reality applications poses distinct challenges for development and design. One of the challenges is designing Mixed Reality application-specific experiences in the wild. In this paper, we present a structured reflection approach to revisit projects from the past. In applying this structured reflection to the data collected during a nine-month industrial project, we unveiled the Virtuality-Reality Clash. To generate a sufficient data corpus, we structurally analysed git commits, tickets, emails, handwritten notes, and weekly snapshots of the 3D designs. The clash could be narrowed down in our data corpus to the situations in which we were fusing the real environment with the virtual content. Finally, we could find five design patterns for MR experience. With these patterns, we aim to help developers and designers of MR applications identify situations where Virtuality and Reality clash and propose approaches to address them.2024SRSebastian Felix Rauh et al.Automated Driving Interface & Takeover DesignMixed Reality WorkspacesDIS
Rowing Beyond: Investigating Steering Methods for Rowing-based Locomotion in Virtual EnvironmentsRowing has great potential in Virtual Reality (VR) exergames as it requires physical effort and uses physical motion to map the locomotion in a virtual space. However, rowing in VR is currently restricted to locomotion along one axis, leaving 2D and 3D locomotion out of the scope. To facilitate rowing-based locomotion, we implemented three steering techniques based on head, hands, and feet movements for 2D and 3D VR environments. To investigate these methods, we conducted a controlled experiment (N = 24) to assess the user performance, experience and VR sickness. We found that head steering leads to fast and precise steering in 2D and 3D, and hand steering is the most realistic. Feet steering had the largest performance difference between 2D and 3D but comparable precision to hands in 2D. Lastly, head steering is the least mentally demanding, and all methods had comparable VR sickness.2024MHMartin Hedlund et al.KTHFull-Body Interaction & Embodied InputCHI
Choosing the Right Reality: A Comparative Analysis of Tangibility in Immersive Trauma SimulationsIn the field of medical first responder training, the choice of training modality is crucial for skill retention and real-world application. This study introduces the Green Manikin, an advanced Mixed Reality (MR) tool, conceptually combining the immersiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) with the tangibility of real-world training, and compares it against traditional real-world simulations and VR training. Our findings indicate that MR and real-world settings excel in Self and Social Presence, and in intention to use, offering heightened psychological presence suitable for complex training scenarios. Effort expectancy was highest in real-world environments, suggesting their ease of use for basic skill acquisition. This nuanced understanding allows for better tailoring of training modalities to specific educational objectives. Our research validates the utility of MR and offers a framework for selecting the most effective training environment for different learning outcomes in medical first responder training.2024JUJakob Carl Uhl et al.Austrian Institute of Technology, Paris Lodron University of SalzburgImmersion & Presence ResearchVR Medical Training & RehabilitationCHI
A Longitudinal In-the-Wild Investigation of Design Frictions to Prevent Smartphone OveruseSmartphone overuse is hyper-prevalent in society, and developing tools to prevent this overuse has become a focus of HCI. However, there is a lack of work investigating smartphone overuse interventions over the long term. We collected usage data from N=1,039 users of one sec over an average of 13.4 weeks and qualitative insights from 249 of the users through an online survey. We found that users overwhelmingly choose to target Social Media apps. We found that the short design frictions introduced by one sec effectively reduce how often users attempt to open target apps and lead to more intentional app-openings over time. Additionally, we found that users take periodic breaks from one sec interventions, and quickly rebound from a pattern of overuse when returning from breaks. Overall, we contribute findings from a longitudinal investigation of design frictions in the wild and identify usage patterns from real users in practice.2024LHLuke Haliburton et al.LMU Munich, Munich Center for Machine Learning (MCML)Privacy by Design & User ControlNotification & Interruption ManagementCHI
Are You Human? Investigating the Perceptions and Evaluations of Virtual Versus Human Instagram InfluencersVirtual influencers (VI) are on the rise on Instagram, and companies increasingly cooperate with them for marketing campaigns. This has motivated an increasing number of studies, which investigate our perceptions of these influencers. Most studies propose that VI are often rated lower in perceived trust and higher in uncanniness. Yet, we still lack a deeper understanding as to why this is the case. We conduct 2 studies: 1) a questionnaire with 150 participants to get the general perception for the included influencers, and 2) an electroencephalography (EEG) study to get insights into the underlying neural mechanisms of influencer perception. Our results support findings from related works regarding lower trust and higher uncanniness associated with VI. Interestingly, the EEG components N400 and LPP did not modulate perceived trust, but rather perceived humanness, uncanniness, and intentions to follow recommendations. This provides a fruitful beginning for future research on virtual humans.2023ANAnika Nissen et al.Institute for Computer Science and Business Information SystemsAgent Personality & AnthropomorphismAI Ethics, Fairness & AccountabilityOnline Identity & Self-PresentationCHI
Accessibility for Color Vision Deficiencies: Challenges and Findings of a Large Scale Study on Paper FiguresWe present an exploratory study on the accessibility of images in publications when viewed with color vision deficiencies (CVDs). The study is based on 1710 images sampled from a visualization dataset (VIS30K) over five years. We simulated four CVDs on each image. First, four researchers (one with a CVD) identified existing issues and helpful aspects in a subset of the images. Based on the resulting labels, 200 crowdworkers provided ~30,000 ratings on present CVD issues in the simulated images. We analyzed this data for correlations, clusters, trends, and free text comments to gain a first overview of paper figure accessibility. Overall, about 60 % of the images were rated accessible. Furthermore, our study indicates that accessibility issues are subjective and hard to detect. On a meta-level, we reflect on our study experience to point out challenges and opportunities of large-scale accessibility studies for future research directions.2022KAKatrin Angerbauer et al.University of StuttgartVisual Impairment Technologies (Screen Readers, Tactile Graphics, Braille)Universal & Inclusive DesignCHI
Let’s Frets! Assisting Guitar Students during Practice via Capacitive SensingLearning a musical instrument requires regular exercise. However, students are often on their own during their practice sessions due to the limited time with their teachers, which increases the likelihood of mislearning playing techniques. To address this issue, we present Let's Frets - a modular guitar learning system that provides visual indicators and capturing of finger positions on a 3D-printed capacitive guitar fretboard. We based the design of Let's Frets on requirements collected through in-depth interviews with professional guitarists and teachers. In a user study (N=24), we evaluated the feedback modules of Let's Frets against fretboard charts. Our results show that visual indicators require the least time to realize new finger positions while a combination of visual indicators and position capturing yielded the highest playing accuracy. We conclude how Let's Frets enables independent practice sessions that can be translated to other musical instruments.2021KMKarola Marky et al.Technische Universität DarmstadtElectrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)Haptic WearablesProgramming Education & Computational ThinkingCHI
Truth or Dare: Understanding and Predicting How Users Lie and Provide Untruthful Data OnlineIndividuals are known to lie and/or provide untruthful data when providing information online as a way to protect their privacy. Prior studies have attempted to explain when and why individuals lie online. However, no work has examined into how people lie online, i.e. the specific strategies they follow to provide untruthful data, or attempted to predict whether people would be truthful or not depending on the specific question/data. To close this gap, we present a large-scale study with over 800 participants. Based on it, we show that it is possible to predict whether users are truthful or not using machine learning with very high accuracy (89.7%). We also identify four main strategies people employ to provide untruthful data and show the factors that influence the choices of their strategies. We discuss the implications of findings and argue that understanding privacy lies at this level can help both users and data collectors.2021KRKopo M. Ramokapane et al.University of BristolAI Ethics, Fairness & AccountabilityPrivacy Perception & Decision-MakingCHI
Middle-Aged Video Consumers' Beliefs About Algorithmic Recommendations on YouTubeUser beliefs about algorithmic systems are constantly co-produced through user interaction and the complex socio-technical systems that generate recommendations. Identifying these beliefs is crucial because they influence how users interact with recommendation algorithms. With no prior work on user beliefs of algorithmic video recommendations, practitioners lack relevant knowledge to improve the user experience of such systems. To address this problem, we conducted semi-structured interviews with middle-aged YouTube video consumers to analyze their user beliefs about the video recommendation system. Our analysis revealed different factors that users believe influence their recommendations. Based on these factors, we identified four groups of user beliefs: Previous Actions, Social Media, Recommender System, and Company Policy. Additionally, we propose a framework to distinguish the four main actors that users believe influence their video recommendations: the current user, other users, the algorithm, and the organization. This framework provides a new lens to explore design suggestions based on the agency of these four actors. It also exposes a novel aspect previously unexplored: the effect of corporate decisions on the interaction with algorithmic recommendations. While we found that users are aware of the existence of the recommendation system on YouTube, we show that their understanding of this system is limited.2020OAOscar Alvarado et al.UX of AICSCW
Foundations for Designing Public Interactive Displays that Provide Value to UsersPublic interactive displays (PID) are a promising technology for providing information and collecting feedback in public spaces. Research on PIDs has shown that, like all public displays, their efficacy is reduced by display blindness. Rather than increase the visual attention-grabbing nature of PIDs, we propose that additional understanding is required around how and when these displays are able to offer value to users. We tackle this through a systematic analysis of PID studies published in the literature, which led to 9 aspects of value across 4 factors: people, location, community, and time. We discuss the identified aspects and their utility for the design of PIDs through a review of our own deployments carried out by 4 different labs across 5 countries. We conclude with a set of recommendations for identifying and optimising the intended value of future PIDs.2020CPCallum Parker et al.The University of SydneyContext-Aware ComputingSmart Cities & Urban SensingCHI
Fairness and Decision-making in Collaborative Shift Scheduling SystemsThe strains associated with shift work decrease healthcare workers' well-being. However, shift schedules adapted to their individual needs can partially mitigate these problems. From a computing perspective, shift scheduling was so far mainly treated as an optimization problem with little attention given to the preferences, thoughts, and feelings of the healthcare workers involved. In the present study, we explore fairness as a central, human-oriented attribute of shift schedules as well as the scheduling process. Three in-depth qualitative interviews and a validating vignette study revealed that while on an abstract level healthcare workers agree on equality as the guiding norm for a fair schedule, specific scheduling conflicts should foremost be resolved by negotiating the importance of individual needs. We discuss elements of organizational fairness, including transparency and team spirit. Finally, we present a sketch for fair scheduling systems, summarizing key findings for designers in a readily usable way.2020AUAlarith Uhde et al.University of SiegenAI-Assisted Decision-Making & AutomationAI Ethics, Fairness & AccountabilityImpact of Automation on WorkCHI
SurfaceConstellations: A Modular Hardware Platform for Ad-Hoc Reconfigurable Cross-Device WorkspacesWe contribute SurfaceConstellations, a modular hardware platform for linking multiple mobile devices to easily create novel cross-device workspace environments. Our platform combines the advantages of multi-monitor workspaces and multi-surface environments with the flexibility and extensibility of more recent cross-device setups. The SurfaceConstellations platform includes a comprehensive library of 3D-printed link modules to connect and arrange tablets into new workspaces, several strategies for designing setups, and a visual configuration tool for automatically generating link modules. We contribute a detailed design space of cross-device workspaces, a technique for capacitive links between tablets for automatic recognition of connected devices, designs of flexible joint connections, detailed explanations of the physical design of 3D printed brackets and support structures, and the design of a web-based tool for creating new SurfaceConstellation setups.2018NMNicolai Marquardt et al.University College LondonMixed Reality WorkspacesMakerspace CultureCHI
SmartObjects: Sixth Workshop on Interacting with Smart ObjectsThe emergence of smart objects has the potential to radically change the way we interact with technology. Through embedded means for input and output, such objects allow for more natural and immediate interaction. The SmartObjects workshop will focus on how such embedded intelligence in objects situated in the user's physical environment can be used to provide more efficient and enjoyable interactions. We discuss the design from the technology and the user experience perspective.2018FMFlorian Müller et al.TU DarmstadtContext-Aware ComputingUbiquitous ComputingCHI
Visual Design 4 Non-Designers: Learn Basics the Hands-on Way“Attractive things work better” [3]. Users perceive aesthetic designs as easier to use than less-aesthetic designs, whether they are or not. Aesthetic designs are “[…] more readily accepted and used over time, and promote creative thinking and problem solving” [2] [1]. Therefore, an appealing visual design can be an important success criteria for websites, apps or other software products and should be of interest to anyone involved in creating them. Visual design is not something magic. It can be broken down into basic elements and principles. To understand them no particular design talent is required. In this course participants will be introduced to those elements, principles and a set of accompanying guidelines. They will put them to practice in a number of hands-on exercises with a tool of their choice (Powerpoint, Keynote, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop).2018SFStephanie Foehrenbach et al.Compentence Center Cross FunctionsGraphic Design & Typography ToolsCHI
Developing a Mobile System for Children and Teenagers with Scoliosis to Improve Therapy AdherenceThis project aimed at developing a mobile support system for children and teenagers in scoliosis bracing therapy. The system comprises multiple sensors measuring the individual wearing behavior and a smartphone-based application which serves as the system’s user interface. The app has been developed following a user-centered design approach and by integrating participatory design and ethnographic methods. At the beginning, a special emphasis was placed on identifying the needs of the user group. Main operating functions as well as the interaction concept were iteratively refined and optimized by involving users in all stages of product development. For evaluation, we conducted a series of follow-up usability tests and a multi-day field survey. We report and analyze the challenges we were confronted with before and during of the product development process.2018MMMichael Minge et al.Technische Universität BerlinMotor Impairment Assistive Input TechnologiesCognitive Impairment & Neurodiversity (Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia)Special Education TechnologyCHI
Visual Design 4 Non-Designers: Learn Basics the Hands-on Way“Attractive things work better” [3]. Users perceive aesthetic designs as easier to use than less-aesthetic designs, whether they are or not. Aesthetic designs are “[…] more readily accepted and used over time, and promote creative thinking and problem solving” [2] [1]. Therefore, an appealing visual design can be an important success criteria for websites, apps or other software products and should be of interest to anyone involved in creating them. Visual design is not something magic. It can be broken down into basic elements and principles. To understand them no particular design talent is required. In this course participants will be introduced to those elements, principles and a set of accompanying guidelines. They will put them to practice in a number of hands-on exercises with a tool of their choice (Powerpoint, Keynote, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop).2018SFStephanie Foehrenbach et al.Compentence Center Cross Functions360° Video & Panoramic ContentGraphic Design & Typography ToolsCHI
Maker Movements, Do-It-Yourself Cultures and Participatory Design: Implications for HCI Research.Falling costs and the wider availability of computational components, platforms and ecosystems have enabled the expansion of maker movements and DIY cultures. This can be considered as a form of democratization of technology systems design, in alignment with the aims of Participatory Design approaches. However, this landscape is constantly evolving, and long-term implications for the HCI community are far from clear. The organizers of this one-day workshop invite participants to present their case studies, experiences and perspectives on the topic with the goal of increasing understanding within this area of research. The outcomes of the workshop will include the articulation of future research directions with the purpose of informing a research agenda, as well as the establishment of new collaborations and networks.2018MSMichael Smyth et al.Edinburgh Napier UniversityMakerspace CultureParticipatory DesignComputational Methods in HCICHI
Influences of Human Cognition and Visual Behavior on Password Strength during Picture Password CompositionVisual attention, search, processing and comprehension are important cognitive tasks during a graphical password composition activity. Aiming to shed light on whether individual differences on visual behavior affect the strength of the created passwords, we conducted an eye-tracking study (N=36), and adopted an accredited cognitive style theory to interpret the results. The analysis revealed that users with different cognitive styles followed different patterns of visual behavior which affected the strength of the created passwords. Motivated, by the results of the first study, we introduced adaptive characteristics to the user authentication mechanism, aiming to assist specific cognitive style user groups to create more secure passwords, and conducted a second study with a new sample (N=40) to test the adaptive characteristics. Results strengthen our assumptions that adaptive mechanisms based on users’ differences in cognitive and visual behavior uncover a new perspective for improving the password’s strength within graphical user authentication realms.2018CKChristina Katsini et al.University of PatrasEye Tracking & Gaze InteractionPrivacy Perception & Decision-MakingCHI