Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Obfuscation Remedies Harms Arising from Content Flagging of Photos

People share photos on Social Networks Sites, but at the same time want to keep some photo content private. This tension between sharing and privacy has led researchers to try to solve this problem, but without considering users’ needs. To fill this gap, we present a novel interface that expands privacy options beyond recipient-control (R). Our system can also flag sensitive content (C) and obfuscate (O) it (RCO). We then describe the results of a two-step experiment that compares RCO with two alternative interfaces - (R) which mimics existing SNS privacy options by providing recipient control, and a system that in addition to recipient control also flags sensitive content (RC). Results suggest RC performs worse than R regarding perceived privacy risks, willingness to share, and user experience. However, RCO, which provides obfuscation options, restores these metrics to the same levels as R. We conclude by providing insights on system implementation.
REVES: Redirection Enhancement Using Four-Pole Vestibular Electrode Stimulation

Redirected walking (RDW) visually manipulates the movement of the virtual environment (VE) such that the movement of the real environment (RE) and VE are no longer matched 1:1. With RDW, users can overcome the spatial constraints of RE, such as furniture, walls, and columns, and freely move the wider VE using natural gait motion. However, when the intensity of visual manipulations increases, people notice the RDW manipulation owing to visual-vestibular inconsistency, and experience discomfort like motion sickness. To address visual-vestibular inconsistency, we modulated vestibular information in various directions to match the modulation of visual information using galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS). We proposed a new RDW system—REVES: redirection enhancement using four-pole vestibular electrode stimulation. REVES stimulates the user’s vestibular system according to various visual modulation directions using four-pole GVS based on the proposed algorithm. REVES changed the detection threshold of RDW in three manipulation cases: rotation, translation, and walking direction.
Accessibility for Color Vision Deficiencies: Challenges and Findings of a Large Scale Study on Paper Figures

We present an exploratory study on the accessibility of images in publications when viewed with color vision deficiencies (CVDs). The study is based on 1,710 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.
Vibration-Augmented Buttons: Information Transmission Capacity and Application to Interaction Design

One can embed a vibration actuator to a physical button and augment the physical button’s original kinesthetic response with a programmable vibration generated by the actuator. Such vibration-augmented buttons inherit the advantages of both physical and virtual buttons. This paper reports the information transmission capacity of vibration-augmented buttons. It was obtained by conducting a series of absolute identification experiments while increasing the number of augmented buttons. The information transmission capacity found was 2.6 bits, and vibration-augmented and physical buttons showed similar abilities in rendering easily recognizable haptic responses. In addition, we showcase a VR text entry application that utilizes vibration-augmented buttons. Our method provides several error messages to the user during text entry using a VR controller that includes an augmented button. We validate that the variable haptic feedback improves task performance, cognitive workload, and user experience for a transcription task.
RoleSeer: Understanding Informal Social Role Changes in MMORPGs via Visual Analytics

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games create virtual communities that support heterogeneous “social roles” determined by gameplay interaction behaviors under a specific social context. For all social roles, formal roles are pre-defined, obvious, and explicitly ascribed to the people holding the roles, whereas informal roles are not well-defined and unspoken. Identifying the informal roles and understanding their subtle changes are critical to designing sociability mechanisms. However, it is nontrivial to understand the existence and evolution of such roles due to their loosely defined, interconvertible, and dynamic characteristics. We propose a visual analytics system, RoleSeer, to investigate informal roles from the perspectives of behavioral interactions and depict their dynamic interconversions and transitions. Two cases, experts’ feedback, and a user study suggest that RoleSeer helps interpret the identified informal roles and explore the patterns behind role changes. We see our approach’s potential in investigating informal roles in a broader range of social games.
Playing games through interactive data comics to explore water quality in a lake: A case study exploring the use of a data-driven storytelling method in Co-design

This case study explores the use of an existing data-driven storytelling method, called data comic, within a co-design process, to improve the sense-making of data. Data can often support a co-design process by providing additional insight towards a problem that is being solved. A large number of methods are available to facilitate different aspects of a co-design process, but when it comes to embedding curated data, alternatives are limited. Not everyone has the expertise to understand raw data and co-design scenarios are typically time-limited meaning that learning new data skills is not the focus. Therefore, appropriate data curation can help to bring data into a design process while reducing time spent on data manipulation or upskilling. At the same time, it is important that participants are encouraged to think critically about the data and not simply accept a pre-determined viewpoint. We have adapted an existing technique called Data Comic for curating data for use in a co-design situation by turning the comic panels into a card game so that they can be used interactively and collaboratively. In this paper, we describe and reflect on its use within a workshop with participants who were mostly teenagers. We led them through a process of engaging with curated data to make sense of water pollution in a Finnish lake since the 1970s and raise awareness towards environmental pollution. We present our results from the participant's feedback and workshop to reflect on how data comics played a role in sense-making.
Toward User-Driven Algorithm Auditing: Investigating users’ strategies for uncovering harmful algorithmic behavior

Recent work in HCI suggests that users can be powerful in surfacing harmful algorithmic behaviors that formal auditing approaches fail to detect. However, it is not well understood how users are often able to be so effective, nor how we might support more effective user-driven auditing. To investigate, we conducted a series of think-aloud interviews, diary studies, and workshops, exploring how users find and make sense of harmful behaviors in algorithmic systems, both individually and collectively. Based on our findings, we present a process model capturing the dynamics of and influences on users’ search and sensemaking behaviors. We find that 1) users’ search strategies and interpretations are heavily guided by their personal experiences with and exposures to societal bias; and 2) collective sensemaking amongst multiple users is invaluable in user-driven algorithm audits. We offer directions for the design of future methods and tools that can better support user-driven auditing.
Co-Imagining the Future of Playable Cities: A Bottom-Up, Multi-Stakeholder Speculative Inquiry into the Playful Potential of Urban Technology

Here we present a co-design exploration into the potential of technology to playfully re-signify urban spaces. We created a speculative catalog of urban tech and used it to facilitate multi-stakeholder discussions about the playful potential of smart cities. The learnings from our co-design engagements embody different people's ideas of how tech might and might not support rich forms of urban play, and contribute to ongoing efforts at exploring how to playfully reconfigure our cities. We present: (1) a list of inspirational play potentials of urban spaces—i.e. playful things already people do, and enjoy, in the public space; (2) a portfolio of speculative ideas that show how tech might help to realize that potential; and (3) a discussion of stakeholders’ responses to these ideas. Our work can provide designers with inspiration and actionable advice for cultivating forms of urban play that cater to people's socio-emotional needs.
Styx++: Reliable Data Access and Availability Using a Hybrid Paxos and Chain Replication Protocol

HCI research often involves accessing and storing information in databases. However, in case of a database node failure, researchers could experience significant work delays, monetary costs, and data loss. How can researchers who have little or no knowledge of systems and infrastructures ensure that their data collection source is reliable and maximally available for accessing and storing data? To answer this question, we surveyed 11 HCI researchers. Using the findings from the survey, we developed Styx++—an easy-to-integrate open-source solution that bundles together existing tools and concepts, providing HCI researchers with a reliable distributed system for their database needs. Styx++ is a hybrid solution involving both the Paxos and Chain Replication Protocol, providing strong consistency and high availability to minimize the risks of single-point failures in a traditional database system setup. Our evaluation of Styx++ against benchmark solutions shows promising results of an increase in reliability without substantial performance degradation.
Designing Fair AI in Human Resource Management: Understanding Tensions Surrounding Algorithmic Evaluation and Envisioning Stakeholder-Centered Solutions

Enterprises have recently adopted AI to human resource management (HRM) to evaluate employees’ work performance evaluation. However, in such an HRM context where multiple stakeholders are complexly intertwined with different incentives, it is problematic to design AI reflecting one stakeholder group's needs (e.g., enterprises, HR managers). Our research aims to investigate what tensions surrounding AI in HRM exist among stakeholders and explore design solutions to balance the tensions. By conducting stakeholder-centered participatory workshops with diverse stakeholders (including employees, employers/HR teams, and AI/business experts), we identified five major tensions: 1) divergent perspectives on fairness, 2) the accuracy of AI, 3) the transparency of the algorithm and its decision process, 4) the interpretability of algorithmic decisions, and 5) the trade-off between productivity and inhumanity. We present stakeholder-centered design ideas for solutions to mitigate these tensions and further discuss how to promote harmony among various stakeholders at the workplace.
“A Second Voice”: Investigating Opportunities and Challenges for Interactive Voice Assistants to Support Home Health Aides

Home health aides are a vulnerable group of frontline caregivers who provide personal and medically-oriented care in patients’ homes. Their work is difficult and unpredictable, involving a mix of physical and emotional labor as they adapt to patients’ changing needs. Our paper presents an exploratory, qualitative study with 32 participants, that investigates design opportunities for Interactive Voice Assistants (IVAs) to support aides’ essential care work. We explore challenges and opportunities for IVAs to (1) fill gaps in aides’ access to information and care coordination, (2) assist with decision making and task completion, (3) advocate on behalf of aides, and (4) provide emotional support. We then discuss key implications of our work, including how materiality may impact perceived ownership and usage of IVAs, the need to carefully consider tensions around surveillance, accountability, data collection, and reporting, and the challenges of centering aides as essential workers in complex home health care contexts.
A Comparative Evaluation of Interventions Against Misinformation: Augmenting the WHO Checklist

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization provided a checklist to help people distinguish between accurate and misinformation. In controlled experiments in the United States and Germany, we investigated the utility of this ordered checklist and designed an interactive version to lower the cost of acting on checklist items. Across interventions, we observe non-trivial differences in participants’ performance in distinguishing accurate and misinformation between the two countries and discuss some possible reasons that may predict the future helpfulness of the checklist in different environments. The checklist item that provides source labels was most frequently followed and was considered most helpful. Based on our empirical findings, we recommend practitioners focus on providing source labels rather than interventions that support readers performing their own fact-checks, even though this recommendation may be influenced by the WHO’s chosen order. We discuss the complexity of providing such source labels and provide design recommendations.
“It Would Be Cool to Get Stampeded by Dinosaurs”: Analyzing Children's Conceptual Model of AR Headsets Through Co-Design

Children are being presented with augmented reality (AR) in different contexts, such as education and gaming. However, little is known about how children conceptualize AR, especially AR headsets. Prior work has shown that children's interaction behaviors and expectations of technological devices can be quite different from adults’. It is important to understand children's mental models of AR headsets to design more effective experiences for them. To elicit children's perceptions, we conducted four participatory design sessions with ten children on designing content for imaginary AR headsets. We found that children expect AR systems to be highly intelligent and to recognize and virtually transform surroundings to create immersive environments. Also, children are in favor of using these devices for difficult tasks but prefer to work on their own for easy tasks. Our work contributes new understanding on how children comprehend AR headsets and provides recommendations for designing future headsets for children.
Exploring Experiences of Self-Directed Care Budgets: Design Implications for Socio-Technical Interventions

The role of HCI in informal caregivers’ lives has been a focus of research for some time. Yet to gain significance in HCI, are the implications of healthcare systems’ transformation into a personalised care paradigm, where citizens gain choice and control over the delivery of their care. We provide a first HCI paper to examine self-directed care budgets for disabled citizens, where care funding is controlled by the individual. We explore how digital technology can assist citizens, promoting peer support to create meaningful, personalised healthcare infrastructures. This qualitative study contributes insights from interviews and focus groups with 24 disabled citizens, informal caregivers and healthcare officers, to provide understanding of their experiences and practices. These insights highlight relational care, invisible labour, power struggles with authorities and how citizens seek socio-technical capability. We contribute design implications for self-directed care budgets and HCI research concerned with developing technologies that support this population.
Promptiverse: Scalable Generation of Scaffolding Prompts Through Human-AI Hybrid Knowledge Graph Annotation

Online learners are hugely diverse with varying prior knowledge, but most instructional videos online are created to be one-size-fits-all. Thus, learners may struggle to understand the content by only watching the videos. Providing scaffolding prompts can help learners overcome these struggles through questions and hints that relate different concepts in the videos and elicit meaningful learning. However, serving diverse learners would require a spectrum of scaffolding prompts, which incurs high authoring effort. In this work, we introduce Promptiverse, an approach for generating diverse, multi-turn scaffolding prompts at scale, powered by numerous traversal paths over knowledge graphs. To facilitate the construction of the knowledge graphs, we propose a hybrid human-AI annotation tool, Grannotate. In our study (N=24), participants produced 40 times more on-par quality prompts with higher diversity, through Promptiverse and Grannotate, compared to hand-designed prompts. Promptiverse presents a model for creating diverse and adaptive learning experiences online.
O&O: A DIY toolkit for designing and rapid prototyping olfactory interfaces

Constructing olfactory interfaces on demand requires significant design proficiency and engineering effort. The absence of powerful and convenient tools that reduced innovation complexity posed obstacles for future research in the area. To address this problem, we proposed O&O, a modular olfactory interface DIY toolkit. The toolkit consists of: (1) a scent generation kit, a set of electronics and accessories that supported three common scent vaporization techniques; (2) a module construction kit, a set of primitive cardboard modules for assembling permutable functional structures; (3) a design manual, a step-by-step design thinking framework that directs the decision-making and prototyping process. We organized a formal workshop with 19 participants and four solo DIY trials to evaluate the capability of the toolkit, the overall user engagement, the creations in both sessions, and the iterative suggestions. Finally, design implications and future opportunities were discussed for further research.
Evaluating Human Impressions of an Initiative-taking Robot

Social robots can be applied in different settings to enhance experiences for humans. Understanding physical and behavioural aspects of robot design is important to promote acceptance in human-robot interaction. In this study, we focus on robot initiative-taking as a behavioural aspect and investigate how it influences human perception and emotion during human-robot interaction. We built on previous work using questionnaires to evaluate user impressions in the presence or absence of robot activeness (initiative-taking). We also used Galvanic skin response (GSR) as a physiological measure to gauge participants’ emotion during interaction. Questionnaire analysis confirmed that generally active robot behaviour improved human impression. Moreover, the order of interaction seems to matter for participants to take more notice of robot initiative-taking. GSR analysis supported the questionnaire results, showing that on average participants were more emotionally aroused during an active interaction and that order of interaction somewhat mattered.
Would Users Accept Electric Muscle Stimulation Controlling their Body? Insights from a Scenario-based Investigation

Electric muscle stimulation (EMS) offers rich opportunities for haptic interaction. However, there is no comprehensive study assessing the user acceptance of this technology. Consequently, we synthesized four scenarios (motor learning, virtual reality, media player control, and pedestrian safety) based on various dimensions identified by the literature review. We assessed their user acceptance in an online survey (N=113) using the technology acceptance model (TAM). Our findings suggest that users may reject EMS systems if they perceive a high level of risk and lack of control over the environment. This was evident even in scenarios that could provide high benefits to users, such as accelerating the learning curve in motoric tasks. In contrast, EMS seems to be widely accepted for games and entertainment, represented by the virtual reality scenario in our study. HCI researchers should employ EMS to create more engaging VR experiences, keep users in control, and provide them the option of learning skills with or without EMS. Our results will help build better EMS systems accepted by users.
FingerX: Rendering Haptic Shapes of Virtual Objects Augmented by Real Objects using Extendable and Withdrawable Supports on Fingers

Interacting with not only virtual but also real objects, or even virtual objects augmented by real objects becomes a trend of virtual reality (VR) interactions and is common in augmented reality (AR). However, current haptic shape rendering devices generally focus on feedback of virtual objects, and require the users to put down or take off those devices to perceive real objects. Therefore, we propose FingerX to render haptic shapes and enable users to touch, grasp and interact with virtual and real objects simultaneously. An extender on the fingertip extends to a corresponding height to support between the fingertip and the real objects or the hand, to render virtual shapes. A ring rotates and withdraws the extender behind the fingertip when touching real objects. By independently controlling four extenders and rings on each finger with the exception of the pinky finger, FingerX renders feedback in three common scenarios, including touching virtual objects augmented by real environments (e.g., a desk), grasping virtual objects augmented by real objects (e.g., a bottle) and grasping virtual objects in the hand. We conducted a shape recognition study to evaluate the recognition rates for these three scenarios and obtained an average recognition rate of 76.59% with shape visual feedback. We then performed a VR study to observe how users interact with virtual and real objects simultaneously and verify that FingerX significantly enhances VR realism, compared to current vibrotactile methods.
Transitioning Toward Independence: Enhancing Collaborative Self-Management of Children with Type 1 Diabetes

Although child participation is required for successful Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) management, it is challenging because the child’s young age and immaturity make it difficult to perform self-care. Thus, parental caregivers are expected to be heavily involved in their child’s everyday illness management. Our study aims to investigate how children and parents collaborate to manage T1D and examine how the children become more independent in their self-management through the support of their parents. Through semi-structured interviews with children with T1D and their parents (N=41), our study showed that children’s knowledge of illness management and motivation for self-care were crucial for their transition towards independence. Based on these two factors, we identified four types of children’s collaboration (i.e., dependent, resistant, eager, and independent) and parents’ strategies for supporting their children’s independence. We suggest design implications for technologies to support collaborative care by improving children’s transition to independent illness management.