Detailed Program

Special Guests: Stephann Makri and Cathy Marshall
Participants:

• Hashini Senaratne, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University
• Kuangfan Chen, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology
• Eleanor Derix, School of Software, University of Technology Sydney
• Michael Gerber, Queensland University of Technology
• Anna Kalma, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology
• Guobin Liu, School of IT & Elec Eng, University of Queensland
• Tara Capel, Queensland University of Technology
• Harry Fulgencio, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology
• Randy Zhu, Computer Science & IT, James Cook University
• Carla Amaral, School of Design, Queensland University of Technology
• Nataliya Tarbeeva, Faculty of Eng & IT, University of Technology Sydney
• Sarah Matthews, School of ITEE, University of Queensland
• Jen Taylor, Queensland University of Technology
• Kossinna Wasala, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology
• Emanuel Felipe Duarte, Institute of Computing, University of Campinas, Brazil
• Caroline Tjung, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University of Technology
• Jessie Oliver, School of Elec Eng & Computer Science, Queensland University of Technology

Last year’s discussion included:
• How can industry make better use of research results?
• Key challenges for collaboration.
• How could the future OzCHI community consisting of academics and industry partners look like?
• Best practice examples of collaboration formats or projects
• Successful models of collaborations

Last year we created a future vision which we aim to extend and reassess inspired through short presentations, workshop activities and discussion. Part of the discussion will focus on industry ready education and hence particularly invites PhD students to the symposium.
Attendance is free, but please register for planning purposes. For registering to the Symposium please email spedell@swin.edu.au (Subject “Industry Symposium”). Please let us know if you have any dietary requirements and if you are happy to give a brief talk and/or lead some discussion. Further topic suggestions still welcome. The Agenda will be sent out a week before the event.

Venue: The symposium will be held at RMIT, near the State Library. Exact location will be confirmed closer to date.

Time: 10 am to 5 pm… and thereafter...

The symposium will start at 10 am. It will be followed by an opportunity for more networking between HCI and UX, as our friends from the UX Design Group of Melbourne will be making a guest appearance at OzCHI. They will host this month’s meetup at RMIT and help us finish off the symposium with some social drinks and pizza.
We look forward to seeing you all there!

Fiction authors and readers have traditionally interacted through the mediation of a 3rd party (e.g. a publisher or agent), at events such as book signings or author readings. Held in physical spaces (e.g. bookshops or libraries), these events enable authors to discuss their book, and readers to ask them questions. In recent years, online social networking sites have introduced a new environment for direct, two-way interactions without this traditional mediation. Our understanding of how this change impacts authors and readers, and the role technology now plays as mediator, is currently limited. This paper describes a qualitative interview study held with six authors and six readers of Genre Fiction. The study revealed that neither party sees great benefit to interacting directly online - a finding partially explainable by the differences in how physical places and online spaces are structured to support their interactions. We drew on space and place research to develop an HCI perspective of the impact of this change. This paper contributes an enriched understanding of fiction author and reader interactions; in particular why they do not often interact directly - or wish to. We also demonstrate the usefulness of space and place theory in understanding the boundaries which divide author and reader.

Social media question asking (SMQA) is an interesting application of social networking sites (SNS), where users ask factual or subjective questions through their social networks, also make invitations or seek favours, among other types of queries. Topics like what we ask, what motivates us to answer, how to integrate the traditional search engines with SMQA, etc. have been well investigated. However, the effect on tagging particular people for targeted query is yet to be explored. In this work, we focus on targeted queries in SNS, where people mentions some of their friends, but also remains open to others who might want to respond. We conducted a two-phase study to investigate users tagging behaviour based on question topic and type, their rationale behind tagging those particular people, and corresponding outcomes of tagging. Our result contradicts with the existing works that tried to use targeted tagging in social network and identified design opportunities that need to be considered while developing new solutions to assist in this regard.

Reuse of pre-existing industry datasets for research purposes requires a multi-stakeholder solution that balances the researcher's analysis objectives with the need to engage the industry data custodian, whilst respecting the privacy rights of human data subjects. Current methods place the burden on the data custodian, whom may not be sufficiently trained to fully appreciate the nuances of data de-identification. Through modelling of functional, quality, and emotional goals, we propose a de-identification in the cloud approach whereby the researcher proposes analyses along with the extraction and de-identification operations, while engaging the industry data custodian with secure control over authorising the proposed analyses. We demonstrate our approach through implementation of a de-identification portal for sports club data.

Information seeking is cognitively intense work, and browsing is particularly so. In cognitively weighty environments, users will often support their work by using their bodies, other people or artefacts around them to support the task at hand. When we move processes that have traditionally been performed in physical environments online, we need to consider any elements of cognition distribution, and how they in the new environment. In this paper we discuss one form of external cognition during browsing: that of placemarking or context retention. We use data from an observational study to form detailed descriptions of five behaviours that constitute placemarking in some way and point to avenues for understanding how we might support these behaviours in a digital environment.

This paper assesses the applicability of commercially available tablet applications targeting the development of social interactions of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Sri Lanka. We identified seven tablet applications suitable for children with mild to moderate ASD in the age group of 3 to 10 years and evaluated them with 18 practitioners. Our results show that the commercially available applications do not satisfy the needs of Sri Lankan practitioners to support their children with ASD. Furthermore, we identified six key functionalities, which need to be considered while developing tablet applications to improve social skills of children with ASD. They are namely, 1) embedding social elements while teaching other skills such as academic skills, 2) customisability to facilitate relevant cultural contexts, 3) progress monitoring, 4) reinforcements only upon correct answers with suitable feedbacks and cues, 5) timers and controllers, and 6) bridging day-to-day physical objects with digital platforms. Finally, we compare the six functionalities against existing work to understand the differences.

Designing engaging interfaces for young children poses a significant research challenge. In two studies we evaluated two different tablet computer prototypes of a tool designed to assist non-experts in administering a speech assessment and to support them in their referral decisions. The development of this application builds on our research and consultation with experts who identified problems in the process of early triaging of young children with potential speech problems. This paper presents our work towards the development of such a solution, focusing on the design and testing of interface concepts for adult test administrators and to engage children to actively participate in automated assessments. We discuss our findings and provide insights on how to design such novel assessment tools.

Traditional observation approaches fall down when the subjects of observation are young Deaf children involved in exploratory design activities, who want to interact with observers, and move rapidly and unpredictably between activities. This paper presents a reflective discussion of the unique factors experienced in observing design research with young (3-5 years) Deaf children, and presents recommendations for researchers working with similar groups.

Many autism intervention approaches are based in playful interactions and games such as toys and puzzles, grounded in findings on the positive influence of play on learning. Previous studies have investigated the potential of interactive technology for autism education, showing that it enhances the learning experience and reduces the need for continuous assistance. However, teaching strategies are rarely considered as direct input for designing games that educators would use in their teaching practice. We conducted ethnographic research at a school for autistic children and found that educators want digital technologies that embed their current teaching and behaviour management strategies. Our results highlight links between autism teaching strategies and game design. We then used the results to devise a game design model for supporting autism education.

We are part of a feminist travel insurance brand that gives discounts to cover the gender pay gap. To confirm our hypothesis that our customers are not the average traveller and inform strategy accordingly, we surveyed general travellers and compared them to our customer-base. Survey respondents were invited to participate in an in-depth interview to mind-map planning and travelling behaviours and emotional responses. We explored five concepts for new travel insurance services, utilising the Van Westendorp Pricing Sensitivity Meter to assess business viability. We learned that our customers are mostly young, single women who travel more but spend less money, are disorganised but love a bargain, and lack loyalty. The findings formed a traveller lifecycle map showing the process as people dream, plan and book a trip; and the emotional arc of a happy holiday versus an interrupted one. These insights have initiated (and de-scoped) projects, forming part of the strategy to become the safety net for travellers. We are currently evaluating mobile app prototype and new services. The feedback from potential customers has been positive and findings and ongoing research will be instrumental in helping us become a leading global travel insurance platform.

John and Peter discuss ‘disruption’ as a concept broadly applied to interaction design. What are different conceptions of disruption? Where has it been applied successfully? Where has it come unstuck? What values are implicitly applied when existing task-artefact cycles are disrupted? Is it overapplied? As user centred design matures into all areas of life where human machine interfaces are present, we cite recent examples of UCD projects from medical, justice and heavy industry domains to propose our industry mature past the shallow notion of ‘disruption’ towards new concepts for innovation.

The integration of Agile practices with User-Centered Design (AUCDI) studies the interactions between designers and software developers, and the alignment of the design and development processes. However, designers are often required to operate within a wider business context, driven by high-level metrics, like Monthly Active Users or Net Promoter Score. Within this context, they are challenged to show how design initiatives and improvements affect the business metrics. This paper describes a case study of a large scale effort to improve the usability of Jira, a project tracking software. It outlines the process that was followed to break down business goals into actionable work streams for the product teams, and to align the metrics that product teams iterate through to the metrics that high level management cares about.

This paper presents findings from a set of co-design workshops aimed at identifying core values of underbanked women from rural Sri Lanka, associated with their everyday financial practices and experiences. Our motivations were to gain insights into the aspirations, rationals, and concerns of this demography, where traditionally household finances are handled by men. In collaboration with a Microfinance Institute (MFI), we carried out two co-design workshops involving 17 participants. We used group discussions and various design activities such as persona creation to enable participants to share their experiences related to household finances. From our findings, three central values associated with household finances came out strongly: Supporting Family, Independence, and Spiritual Beliefs. We conclude by reflecting on the values identified while providing suggestions to support those through technology.

By mediating activity, technology can empower or limit people’s lives. This raises a number of ethical challenges for technology designers since their work directly touches on what people consider their ‘rights’ and their needs for a good life. In this article, we summarise a number of philosophical perspectives that stand to inform our understanding of design for digital rights. These foreground discussion of the Digital Rights in Australia Report, a study of Australians’ views (N=1603) on a number of critical rights including privacy, free speech, workplace technologies and government surveillance. The data is analysed from a rights perspective, considering and moving beyond classic negative and positive rights accounts. We conclude with a discussion of how such studies could inform HCI research and practice

In game localization, culturalization plays an important role. To date, little is known about the influence of cultural contents in cultural digital games on players’ gameplay experiences (e.g. engagement in the gameplay). Thus, to understand the impact of cultural contents on players’ gameplay experiences, we conducted a user study of the Burmese cultural game called “The Return: Forbidden Throne” with 15 student participants in Yangon, Myanmar. The findings show that the players’ engagement in the gameplay is positively associated with the cultural contents in the game. The participants also paid a relatively high attention to the cultural contents of the game while playing it. The findings suggest that integrating relevant cultural contents in digital games, especially for game localization and culturalization, can make players more engaged in the game. The findings from this study can be insightful for game designers and developers in game localization and culturalization.

Mobile guide studies have mainly been applied in space related settings like museums, or archaeological sites and less in space related human everyday life. We propose a mobile guide components called Everyday Life Application (ELA), ELAs are tools that allow users to undergo an experience or convey to others the everyday life ‘experiences’ of another person. The paper answers the question: what are the components of an ELA? In order to answer this question, we conducted a scoping review and used assemblage theory during data analysis. This covered 12 relevant articles, out of 1,525 from Scopus and Web of Science database. The ELA have five components: experience entities, technology, media, interactivity, and encapsulated experience. The experience entities are subject, object, space, event, and hybrid experience. As there are few ELAs embodying human experience, more research needs to done and addressing this gap may bring the mobile guide and experience research closer to being societally relevant.

Newcomer refugees face enormous challenges on their arrival in host countries to start their new lives. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and volunteers play a vital role in helping newly arrived refugees meet their needs during their process of resettlement. ICT can facilitate the social interaction between refugees and NGOs, thus supporting refugees’ connections with the host community. This study focuses on evaluating an initial prototype that has been designed to support social interaction between refugees and NGOs in the host community. We present the findings from a design workshop with seven newcomer refugees from Iraq. Following the workshop, we interviewed the head of an NGO and two volunteers. We found that participants face problems in finding information, getting job, and connecting with host community. Based on these results, we offer three main design concepts that will guide us to improve our initial prototype in future work to support the social interaction between refugees and NGOs.

Participatory design seeks to involve users as partners in the design process. However, for traditionally disenfranchised groups participation may not be enough. Over the past year, we’ve worked with Indigenous leaders and end-users to develop a process by which HCI practitioners can pass the reins to Indigenous people to lead their own technology projects with the support of designers as needed. We present a brief summary of our experience and reflections on this budding user leadership process so far. We describe key steps (ie. user-led recruitment, user-leader training, and user-led workshops) as well as some challenges and takeaways, in order to contribute to the advancement of processes for Indigenous-led co-design, and user-leadership for the empowerment of disenfranchised communities around the world.

People with intellectual disability are keen users of information technology, but the need for spelling and typing skills often presents a barrier to information and media search and access. The paper presents a study to understand how people with intellectual disabilities can use Voice Activated Interfaces (VAIs) to access information and assist in daily activities. The study involves observations and video analysis of 18 adults with intellectual disability using VAIs and performing 4 tasks: calibrating the VAIs, using voice assistant (Siri or Google) to search images, using voice to query Youtube, and using the voice assistant to perform a daily task (managing calendar, finding directions, etc.). 72% of participants stated that this was their preferred form of input. 50% could perform all four tasks they attempted with successful outcomes, and 55% three of the tasks. Our observations support the identification of the main barriers and opportunities for existing VAIs and suggest future improvements mainly around audio feedback given to participants. Notably, we found that participants’ mental model of the VAIs was that of a person, implications for which include the user having to speak in long polite sentences and expecting voice responses and feedback about the state of the device. We suggest ways that VAIs can be adjusted so that they are more inclusive.

Social media provide opportunities for social participation and inclusion for persons with Intellectual Disability (ID). However, to date, there is a limited understanding of how persons with ID engage with social media and the socio-technical challenges they may face. To address this gap, we conducted qualitative research through interviews with 10 persons with ID, participant observation of their social media engagement, training workshops, and a survey. We found that participation varied between platforms: all participants used YouTube for entertainment; some participants participated on Facebook to stay connected with family members, whereas Snapchat and Instagram were used for playful interaction with strangers. Socio-technical issues that affected participation included literacy, authentication, online social norms, and disruptions from advertising content. We discuss how to address these issues to support and sustain participation as well as opportunities arising from social media for skills development and learning.

This paper presents lessons learnt from the first stage of a participatory and iterative design of an application to support people with intellectual disability when using public transport in a large city. We first present an initial prototype inspired by existing literature, available data and accessibility guidelines. We explored this initial prototype within three sessions, each with a young adult with intellectual disability who could benefit from such an application and one of their carers. We learnt from our participants that as young adults they were comfortable with the accessibility, though visuals should be revisited. Our participants also helped us understand how social connectedness and the journey itself are more valuable to them than efficiency. Finally, they helped us nuance the narrative of independence into one of empowerment.

Despite mounting evidence that standardised test and diagnosis are often not appropriate to recruit and describe participants with intellectual disability while acknowledging their diversity, designers have little tools that they can use in order to describe their participants when reporting in the academic literature. More importantly, most of the clinical language in relation to intellectual disability is typically not owned nor mastered by people themselves. This paper proposes an approach that integrates the executive function framework as used and understood by practitioners with the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) as experienced and understood by people with intellectual disability into a set of questions in relation to support. We discuss the applicability and possible extension of our proposed approach, broadly and through the lens of reflections on a small case study.

Acoustic sensors offer a promising new tool to find furtive animals. Sifting through terabytes of audio data, however, is fraught with challenges. Even developing automatic detection software often requires a large dataset of calls that have been accurately annotated manually by people with expert knowledge. Few studies, however, have explored how people identify species by vocalisations in the wild, and how this skill can be applied to designing technologies for finding calls in acoustic recordings. Birders often find and identify animals by calls and share observations as citizen scientists. Thus, we conducted qualitative interviews and a visualization-review activity with nine birders to elicit an understanding of existing practices and knowledge, as well as to explore visualisation interpretation. We found that visualisations evoked memories demonstrating birder expertise in natural history, behaviours, and habitats of birds. Birders were curious and learned from exploring the abstract patterns in visualisations reflecting a scale not possible in the wild, relying on past experiences with nature to interpret acoustic visualisations. Birders often wanted to then corroborate findings. This study demonstrates how qualitative review of visualisations can elicit a nuanced understanding of community practices, knowledge, sensemaking, and design implications for future technology.

Entrepreneurs and start-up founders using innovation spaces and hubs often find themselves inside a filter bubble or echo chamber, where like-minded people tend to come up with similar ideas and recommend similar approaches to innovation. This trend towards homophily and a polarisation of like-mindedness is aggravated by algorithmic filtering and recommender systems embedded in mobile technology and social media platforms. Yet, genuine innovation thrives on social inclusion fostering a diversity of ideas. To escape these echo chambers, we designed and tested the Skunkworks Finder – an exploratory tool that employs social network analysis to help users discover spaces of difference and otherness in their local urban innovation ecosystem.

We present empirical examples of approaches to communication taken by the consortium of a large scale participatory design project in Europe, framed in terms of organisational communication in an infrastructuring process. The examples are understood generally in terms of the goal of fostering internal communication practices away from hierarchical relationships, which align with the political goals of participatory design and of the project. More specifically they are also understood in the framework of strategies and tactics in terms of actions taken within an infrastructuring process. The examples relate to the role of the words consortium partners use to describe and talk about the project across different disciplines; the metaphors we construct to assist the design, development and communication; and the use of tags to assist filtering and management of mailing lists.

There are a variety of smart city agendas but in recent times a citizen-centric focus has emerged. Citizen-centricity requires a different focus in terms of purpose and outcomes such as providing benefits that cross the digital divide and supporting people’s general wellbeing and happiness. It is submitted that the design of the technology that enables smartness and citizen-centricity is another consideration to achieving these aims. Through a process to design technology for a community garden with the express aims of meeting the needs of people, two design implications for design have been identified: the need for technology to support a conceptual understanding of that technology and its place in a large system; and, the technology must be designed to support people’s experience of the space in which is located. To some extent these implications contradict existing design intentions for technology of this nature, such as invisibility.

With the increasing trend of students going abroad to pursue their higher education, cross-cultural collaboration has become increasingly important. This study explores what considerations need to be taken into account when designing a pedagogical tool that helps enhance cross-cultural communication in a co-located context. We use a multi-stage approach that starts with a survey and observations to understand what are the key contextual aspects of cross-cultural groups. In the second stage, we design a technology probe Contributor, an interactive tabletop interface, which is deployed in a workshop involving university students with practical experience in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Results show that key considerations when designing for co-located cross-cultural collaboration tools in the context of higher education are: social accountability and visibility of prompts and accessibility of devices; focus on maintaining participants’ attention to enhance conversation dynamics; focus on data privacy when monitoring actions of participants; and providing a platform for participants that allows externalization of ideas through annotations and visualizations, as well as highlighting keywords relevant to the discussion.

Libraries are facing many challenges driven by the amount and range of digital resources now available. These challenges extend beyond how this information can be made available to people, but into the fundamental nature of libraries as social institutions. In this paper we propose Outpost, an interactive solution to make the State Library of Victoria’s digital resources available to a wider range of people, thereby presenting an inspiration of how a library may enhance their position within society.

DigiView addresses the issue of the current inaccessibility of libraries digital collections and the fragmented user experience when exploring content across digital and physical spheres. Using an iterative design process including user journey maps, personas, roleplaying, prototyping and more to iterate a solution which best addresses the user’s needs. The result was an interactive screen embedded into the bookshelves themselves, a natural extension to the physical space that allowed users to easily access the libraries digital collection. Beyond the screens users can also curate and share content to support instead of replace libraries as community hubs. DigiView effortlessly combines the physical with the digital sphere to enhance serendipitous discovery.

Robot pets are being developed and deployed to provide companionship for older adults. While robot pets apparently offer some therapeutic and other benefits, their intended use for ‘companionship’ often provokes ethical debate, which includes concerns that interactions with robot pets are demeaning or lack value compared to other social interactions. Another concern is that robot pets provide no real advantages over domesticated companion animals. This conceptual paper draws on philosophy, human-animal bond research, and technology development in robotics, to consider whether robot pets provide new opportunities for companionship as opposed to just ‘reinventing the wheel’. We argue that robot pets may sometimes be as beneficial as companion animals or offer something different and distinctive. The paper provides a foundation for further multidisciplinary research to advance understanding of the ethical issues and the opportunities and challenges that arise in our ongoing and changing relationships with new technologies such as robot pets.

We report on an early design concept that focuses on how we engage with our contemporary urban environments along with animal companions. The project recognises that dogs and dog walking both contribute to mental and physical health and well-being, and builds on a growing awareness that companion animals and walking in urban localities also fosters community cohesion and social capital. We put these themes together in the context of designing for Queensland’s growing senior population with the intent of gaining insights into connections made through place-making activities of human and animal companions. The project is currently in its exploratory design phase as ‘grounded’ practice-based work with on-going emerging insights to underpin the development of a design scenario and cultural probe. We begin with insights generated from personal experiences and a desire to foster age-friendly, intergenerational ‘slow’ urban environments. This paper offers the background and context, and then considers some of the design dilemmas. We share an early design concept that draws on lessons learned from game design and theories of place-making that has the potential to reveal experience in place (for both humans and our animal companions).

Animal Computer Interaction (ACI) is a growing field of research for which the adaptation of tried and tested Human Computer Interaction (HCI) methods is of high interest to ACI developers and researchers. In this paper, we consider ACI practices in the context of developing and evaluating technologies to support repetitive assistance canine training, in which the animal in placed at the centre of the design process. We discuss issues and propose ways to adapt traditional HCI methods to meet the needs of canine training, and in particular the extended role of domain experts to achieve this.

Making is a generative and creative process that can be engaging and empowering. Craft groups and making communities have grown in popularity for the ageing population, both to pursue traditional making activities like knitting as well as to explore making through emerging interactive technologies. However, there is yet to be an overview of how older people engage in making. This paper seeks to map the landscape of making for older adults, in order to understand the characteristics and benefits of making for this demographic. We explore the literature on making and then use the lens of “positive ageing” to examine the benefits and challenges of making for health, security and participation of older people. We conclude by discussing opportunities for design and highlight avenues for future HCI research into supporting making for older adults.

Residential aged care facilities (RACFs) provide full-time, permanent care for older adults who are no longer able to live at home independently. In these facilities, new technology such as iPads, virtual reality, and social robots are increasingly being deployed with the aim of providing engaging and fun activities for residents. Although HCI research has examined the design and use of technology in aged care, there is limited understanding of the role staff members play in its deployment in RACFs. To address this gap, we interviewed five workers from one Australian RACF about new technology use within their facility. We found that its implementation was part of a complex, decision-making hierarchy in which issues such as marketing potential and staff members' roles and capacity, created tensions about the use of new technology. Drawing on our findings, we identify issues HCI researchers should consider when introducing new technology in this complex environment.

In this paper we present a three-phase process for crafting Learner-Data Journey maps and using them as communication tools to involve other stakeholders in the co-design of a data-intensive educational tool. The three phases in this process are i) scaffolding groups of learners to collaboratively co-create a Learner-Data Journey based on their own experience, ii) distilling key insights from these journey maps, and iii) providing the means for multiple stakeholders to integrate and synthesise key insights from these journey maps to suggest design requirements. We illustrate the process and the kind of tools that can support the co-creation of Learner-Data Journeys in two educational scenarios where learners have become partners in their own ‘surveillance’.

This paper investigates observers’ pupillary responses to understand the structure of two graphical visualizations (radial and hierarchical). The graphical visualizations are snapshots of the kind of data used in checking of the degree of compliance with corporate governance best practice. The radial visualization shows the connections between the board members of BHP Titanium and ICI Australia Petrochemicals companies. The hierarchical visualization exhibits the connections between the board members of the National Australia Bank and Sydney 2001 Olympics companies. Six very similar questions were asked from 24 observers for each visualisation. In particular, we developed a neural network based classification model to understand these two visualizations from temporal features of observers’ pupillary responses. We predicted that whether each observer is more accurate in understanding the two visualisations from their unconscious pupillary responses or conscious verbal responses, by answering relevant questions. We found that observers physiologically 96.5% and 95.1%, and verbally 80.6% and 81.3% accurate for the radial and hierarchical visualizations, respectively.

Recent development of affordable head-mounted displays (HMDs) has led to accessible Virtual Reality (VR) solutions for watching 360-degree panoramic movies. While conventionally users cannot see their body while watching 360 movies, our prior work seamlessly blended a user’s physical body into a 360 virtual movie scene. This paper extends this work by overlaying context-matching virtual costumes onto the user’s real body. A prototype was developed using a pair of depth cameras and an HMD to capture the user’s real body and embed it into a virtual 360 movie scene. Virtual costumes related to the movie scene are then overlaid on user’s real body to enhance the user experience. Results from a user study showed that augmenting the user’s real body with context-matching virtual costume was most preferred by users while having no significant effect on sense of presence compared to showing only user’s body in a 360 movie scene. The results offer a future direction to generate enhanced 360 VR movie watching experiences.

Gait analysis is an important issue in various fields. In this paper, we developed a shoe-type device to measure the foot pressure when walking. Our device measures the deformation of the sole when pressure is applied and is detected by sensors embedded in the sole. As pressure is not applied directly onto the sensors, the system has better durability and a wider dynamic range. We then proposed a method to estimate the center of pressure (CoP), obtaining an average coefficient of determination of 0.69. Our device also identifies gait patterns by obtaining the discrimination rate of 9 types of walking methods, averaging to an accuracy of 88%.

It is difficult for people to understand how much exercise they get when their activity is sensed from multiple devices. This may include incidental steps accumulated throughout the day as well as other activities, such as playing games in virtual reality (VR). To address this we designed VRFit, an interactive dashboard which shows exercise levels at-a-glance based on three data sources: Heart-rate, body movement, and step data from incidental walking. VRFit has been designed as a pleasing ambient display that enables people to see their long-term physical activity data from the multiple sensors. We built visualisations from data collected from 11 people over 8 weeks. We show how VRFit provides an overview of the relative contributions of their exercise from both walking in daily life and playing VR games. Our core contribution is the exploration of how to harness multiple sources sensor data to build visual feedback to user which toward the see their long-term physical activity user models with aesthetic user interfaces that support review of physical activity data from activity trackers and VR games.

Design fictions present speculative and provocative stories to create space for discussion and reflection. Through building a story world, they provide a space for prototyping and presenting new ideas and perspectives. In a workshop context, they can play a role in creating an engaging experience and insights for further use. This paper presents a case study of a co-design workshop ‘2030 – An Ecosystem Odyssey’ that utilised design fictions as a tool. As part of the DIMECC ‘Design for Value’ research program, the workshop involving companies from maritime and manufacturing industries and research partners used design fictions as a tool in the business-to-business context. While the research program focused on new forms of business collaboration brought on by autonomous systems and digital disruption, the workshop aimed at exploring the societal and human values of the future that was being built. In the workshop, new autonomous systems and extreme efficiency were explored from the perspectives of data sharing, employee wellbeing and humans in it all. As a result, design fictions created discussion and speculated on scenarios and future possibilities, while also provided different perspectives into them. The findings from the study are the roles that design fictions can serve in a workshop and the whole process of planning, running and participating in it. The ten roles of design fictions are divided into three groups, providing insights on how design fiction as a tool participate in setting the scene, structuring the tasks and embedding values into the discussions in the workshop context.

This paper presents an analysis of the presence and potential of a postphenomenology as a research method in human-computer interaction (HCI). Specifically, we introduce Rosenberger’s method of variational cross-examination; an empirical approach that explores technological mediation through a critical comparison of multiple stabilities of a given technological artifact. With this outset, we revisit and analyze two existing HCI projects, a shape-changing bench and digitized sticky notes, and illustrate how a postphenomenological perspective may supplement these projects. Based on this analysis, we highlight the strengths and benefits of a postphenomenological approach to HCI research. Finally, we propose strategies for applying such an approach in future research.

Experimental ‘Wizard of Oz’ (WOz) User Experience (UX) research in the context of Autonomous Driving (AD) car development is becoming more interdisciplinary, human-centric and open to innovative methodological collaborations. In this paper, we demonstrate a mixed-methodological approach to research how people engage with and make sense of automated features that do not yet exist in everyday life contexts. We present how the combination of WOz testing and ethnographic ridealongs have been developed and how the two different approaches can benefit from each other. We selected two everyday driving examples - emerging from T-junction and changing lane on the motorway - to demonstrate the value of mixing these methodologies. We propose that by building new collaborative test practices, we can create a more everyday-life oriented approach that better attends to people’s experiences, imaginaries and projections into possible futures of driving, which is particularly important to incorporate in AD vehicle design for mixed traffic environments.

As computer-based training systems become increasingly integrated into real-world training, tools which rapidly author courses for such systems are emerging. However, inconsistent user interface design and limited support for a variety of domains makes them time consuming and difficult to use. We present a Generalized, Rapid Authoring Tool (GRAT), which simplifies creation of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) using a unified web-based wizard-style graphical user interface and programming-by-demonstration approaches to reduce technical knowledge needed to author ITS logic. We implemented a prototype, which authors courses for two kinds of tasks: A network cabling task and a console device configuration task to demonstrate the tool’s potential. We describe the limitations of our prototype and present opportunities for evaluating the tool’s usability and perceived effectiveness.

In this paper, a new framework of perceiving affordance, based on an ecological approach and neuroscientific findings, is proposed. Although affordance has been one of the most famous concepts in the human-computer interaction (HCI) field, it has been somewhat inconsistent. In addition, the perceiving process on affordance has not been explained, while affordance itself has often been studied. Therefore, first, we review the original concept of affordance in ecological approach. Second, neuroscientific findings on affordance are reviewed and associated with ecological psychology. As a result, affordance is related to three visual systems in the brain: dorso-dorsal, ventro-dorsal, and ventral systems. Based on the results, we propose three levels of perceiving affordance: possibility, specificity, and signification levels. We expect that the explanatory framework, called ‘three levels of perceiving affordance,’ contributes to clarifying both affordance and perceiving process. Additionally, it offers possibilities to be applied in the analysis and design of technologies in the context of HCI.

Mobile pedestrian navigation apps depend largely on position information, usually provided by a Global Position System (GPS). However, GPS information quality can vary due to several factors. In this paper, we thus investigate how this affects users via a field study (N=21) that exposed pedestrians to no GPS coverage, low accuracy and delayed GPS information during navigation. We found that their navigation performance, their trust in the apps and their experience were all negatively affected. We also identified user strategies to deal with GPS-deteriorated situations and user needs. Based on our findings, we derive several design implications for pedestrian navigation app to better deal with GPS-deteriorated situations. In particular, we propose four adaptation strategies that an app can use to support users in GPS-deteriorated situations. Our findings can benefit designers and developers of pedestrian navigation apps.

The graphics-intensive nature of virtual environments (VEs) prevents many people with visual impairment from exploring them. A percentage of the population of people with visual impairment are known to use echolocation —sound waves and their reflections— to explore their surroundings. In this paper, we describe the development of an echolocation-enabled VE (Echo-House) and evaluate the feasibility of using echolocation as a novel technique to explore this environment. Results showed that echolocation gave participants an improved sense of space in the VE. However, the evaluation also identified a range of orientation and mobility issues and found that participants needed additional support to gain confidence in their use of echolocation in the VE. Our findings suggest that with proper support, echolocation has the potential to improve access to VEs for people who are blind or visually impaired by revealing features that would be otherwise inaccessible.

Maps have been used in different ways to facilitate travellers in wayfinding. Depending on the traveller’s ability to translate the direction on the map to the real world, maps are normally read at different orientations. Some have the ability to rotate the map mentally without having to change its original orientation and some require the map to be aligned with the direction of the intended path. Blind people are not excluded from using maps. A multimodal map that combines touch and hearing has been introduced to enable blind people to learn maps. However, such maps usually enable blind people to explore maps only in a fixed orientation. This raises a question of whether they might also benefit from the ability to change the orientation. Therefore, this paper investigates 12 blind people’s preferences from a study conducted in Malaysia. The participants were required to explore five maps at different orientations in static and rotatable conditions based on the directional task given before performing a pointing task. Their preferences for the conditions were acquired through a series of interviews. Results showed that the blind participants did have their own preference when exploring the maps based on various reasons.

This paper reports on preliminary design and testing of an acoustic spatial localisation system capable of creating detailed two dimensional noise visualisations (heat-maps). The work has developed alongside a range of 360 Ambisonic audio projects including dynamic binaural synthesis, high-resolution head-tracking systems, loudspeaker arrays for simulation and 360 soundfield processing techniques. The sound localisation system uses a total of twelve audio channels and potentially fills a niche between high-end acoustic cameras and MEMs microphone arrays. It is anticipated this work will develop multisensory display and machine listening solutions for a broad range of research domains. The paper reviews a range of current work and presents; a background to Ambisonic processing, a description of the system, an experiment and spatial localisation results.

With the rise of mindfulness in contemporary western society as a positive way to cope with stress and improve health and well-being, researchers are investigating the application of interactive soundscapes to enrich and support the experience of mindfulness meditation. Instead of using commonly applied corrective feedback models, containing sounds with negative connotations, our interaction concept adopted a strategy of gently guiding and supporting the user's in-the-moment experience of practising meditation through a nature soundscape responsive to their brainwave activity recorded with a Muse EEG headset. In this paper we describe the detailed design of our prototype. We explain how we refined the interaction concept, and discuss some of the key design decisions and modifications that took place during an iterative design process, informed by user evaluations with novice meditators.

This study explores how to move towards designing technologies to enrich the parent-adult child relationship after adult children leave home. This time is a turning point for adult children as they establish an independent life, while it marks a change in responsibilities and freedoms enjoyed by parents. We conducted interviews with 7 parents and 6 adult children to understand how they currently use technologies like Skype and WhatsApp to maintain their relationship. The findings show how parents and adult children’s positions raise tensions when balancing independence and closeness, how these tensions affect technology-mediated communication, and that there is limited dialogue about the differences between their positions. Inspired by Position Exchange Theory, we discuss how design methods and technology design can enable parents and adult children to see the world through each other’s eyes. This process can contribute to developing a better understanding of how they can renegotiate their new social positions and thus enrich their relationship.

Research has identified that people in close relationships value effort that is invested into the creation of digital messages. This paper explores the potential for communication systems to encourage reflection by revealing evidence of effort to message recipients, allowing for it to be appreciated. Focusing on text-based communication, we report findings from an exploratory study of three interface prototypes that probe users’ reactions to the notion of revealing sender effort. We find that information about effort can foster empathy and appreciation by encouraging reflection over meaningful actions. However, designers of communication tools must address the issues of authenticity, controlled disclosure and cost in access if reflection on effort is to be valued. We consider how designers might negotiate these issues in future effort-sensitive communication technologies.

This paper explores how parents use interactive technologies to encourage young children (under the age of 5) to be physically active, as well as how technologies might undermine physical activity. Based on an analysis of 1528 posts made online on Reddit and Quora, we found that many parents see that technology distracts their children from being physically active. However, we also identified how parents appropriated technology to promote physical activity, i.e., through rewarding, modelling, facilitating, participating, tracking and documenting. We hope these practices will inspire collaborative design work with families to create new exertion interfaces, games, and persuasive technologies. In framing our findings as practices, we hope to expand the focus of future design activities from narrow concerns with health, tracking, and competition, towards broader concerns with what families do in everyday life, how they socialize, and what resources and technologies they have available to flourish.

This paper describes findings from a workshop that explored family experiences of digital technology use. We found that technology experiences within everyday family life are complicated and interlinked. We highlight four experiences that featured most prominently with our participants: apprehension, ambivalence, compromise, and conflict. In addition, we discuss how family values govern these experiences and how families use digital technology. This work contributes to current understandings of how family values guide technology practices. These early findings suggest that deeper understandings of family values; how they are shared, negotiated and put into action, will help inform the design of future technologies that not only support families’ practices and activities but also their experiences and aspirations.

As interaction moves away from the screen into physical space, research on design techniques and practices is of central importance to cope with novel interaction possibilities. Participatory approaches are a viable strategy for the design of ubiquitous systems, however, going beyond early design phases is usually a challenge. In this work, we propose a design process that integrates technical and creative abilities of participants, promoting a more holistic involvement in the co-design of interactive artefacts. The design process is illustrated in the InstInt case study. We detail the co-design process, from ideation to construction, of a small-scale interactive installation for public spaces. This process was conducted with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) students. Results of the study indicate that participation reached the physical prototyping stages of design and the final artefact emerged from the materialisation of participants’ different ideas and purposes, illustrating what we call a socioenactive design process. Our design process can be useful for HCI educators and practitioners seeking for new activities and approaches for open-ended scenarios.

Comparison between videos is a basic task used in a wide variety of activities and domains. With ever-increasing social media contents that allow the mass consumption of video medium, our needs and uses for video comparison will only increase in the coming years. However, the interaction to support the task of comparing between videos is not well understood today and there is very little theoretical foundation to guide future design for supporting video comparison. In this paper, we take the comparison as the primary angle to look at video-related interaction such as watching, browsing, and editing. By reinterpreting those interaction and synthesising available knowledge from HCI, visualisation and multimedia fields, we construct a theoretical structure that embeds essential conceptual components for supporting video comparison. These concepts not only help explain the existing user-interfaces of video applications as a comparison interaction, but also generate discussion and implications for novel interactive features to enhance our everyday consumption of video contents.

This paper discusses the practical design methods that were used in the development of a media architecture sculpture presented at VIVID Light 2018. It includes a descriptive model of attention and motivation used to frame the designers intention for the public's experience of the work. As well as an exploration of the challenges the designers faced in the implementation of a clear and tangible model of interaction. The design approach focuses on research through design and the iterative process of discovery it enabled.

Previous work has highlighted the need for human factors research to not only focus on the passengers inside driverless cars but also consider others who will interact with the car in an urban environment such as pedestrians. In this paper, we position this area of research as a new opportunity for HCI and propose a framework to guide the design of the interactions between driverless cars and pedestrians. The framework draws on HCI literature and our findings from a design study, which focused on designing for the intent and awareness of driverless cars when picking up passengers in a ride-sharing scenario. We designed various interaction design proposals as mockups and tested their acceptance through three rounds of user evaluations. The framework was developed after the second evaluation round and was then applied to revise our design solutions and used in the final evaluation round. The framework offers guidance for breaking down use cases into stages of interactions, specifying the information channels and the interactions between driverless cars and pedestrians, as well as reflecting on how well each solution addresses the user needs.

John McCarthy and Peter Wright argue that people “don’t just use technology;” they “live with it,” which drives their decision “to suggest an approach to viewing technology as experience,” rather than theorizing people’s “experience with technology” [8]. This paper takes a step back, to reconsider the potential of analyzing what people do with technology, because some technologies, in particular robots, are increasingly experienced as machine others, with which people are encouraged to collaborate, as opposed just to use. Recognizing the work of McCarthy and Wright, the paper takes the threads of experience they identify—sensual, emotional, compositional and spatio-temporal—and examines these alongside a broad communication-theoretical approach that identifies three interlocking elements in human-robot interactions: encounter, story and dance [11]. This framework is identified as one approach being developed within a new area of communication studies, Human-Machine Communication (HMC). The paper argues that attending to the detail of how humans and robots communicate in relation to encounters, stories and dances, supports recognition of the complexities of experience within human-robot interactions that support flexible modes of human-robot collaboration. In particular, this framework is open to the potential of machine-like robots in human-robot interactions for which a process of “tempered anthropomorphism” supports meaningful communication with a robot that is nonetheless clearly recognized by people as a machine other [11].

As computer-based training systems become increasingly integrated into real-world training, tools which rapidly author courses for such systems are emerging. However, inconsistent user interface design and limited support for a variety of domains makes them time consuming and difficult to use. We present a Generalized, Rapid Authoring Tool (GRAT), which simplifies creation of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) using a unified web-based wizard-style graphical user interface and programming-by-demonstration approaches to reduce technical knowledge needed to author ITS logic. We implemented a prototype, which authors courses for two kinds of tasks: A network cabling task and a console device configuration task to demonstrate the tool’s potential. We describe the limitations of our prototype and present opportunities for evaluating the tool’s usability and perceived effectiveness.

In GUIs, there are clickable objects that have a difference between the motor and visual widths. For example, when looking at an item on a navigation bar, users think that the text length (the visual width) means the motor width. However, when a cursor hovers over the item, the cursor shape changes or the item is highlighted, and then users understand that the actual motor width differs from the visual width. In this study, we focus on the difference between the motor and visual widths and investigate how the difference affects user performance. Experimental results showed that 1) users aim at the motor width, 2) the reaction time is a U-shaped function whose optimal point is located where the motor and visual widths are the same, and 3) the movement time depends on the motor width. We also analyze existing GUIs and discuss the implications.

Due to their mobility, drones are in principle well-suited to support runners, but it is not yet clear, which services runners desire and how they would want to control them. We, therefore, conducted an online survey (N=22) to identify desired services and then asked runners to produce control gestures for those services in a realistic outdoor elicitation study (N=16). Our main contributions: (1) are a set of services that runners would want from a drone, such as taking a picture or calling the police; (2) a set of intuitive gestures for controlling flight actions and drone functions such as forming a square with both hands; and (3) insights into how runners propose gestures. We also evaluate and discuss the idea of modulating gestures on running movement as well as the tension between intuitiveness of a gesture and how much it interferes with the running movement.

Many systems have been developed to support remote collaboration, where hand gestures or sketches can be shared. However, the effect of combining gesture and sketching together has not been fully explored and understood. In this paper we describe HandsInTouch, a system in which both hand gestures and sketches made by a remote helper are shown to a local user in real time. We conducted a user study to test the usability of the system and the usefulness of combing gesture and sketching for remote collaboration. We discuss results and make recommendations for system design and future work.

We show a text selection and text command execution method for a smartphone by tilting called Press & Tilt. The user can perform caret navigation or text selection by tilting the smartphone while pressing a key of the software keyboard. Then, by releasing the pressed key, text commands such as copy, search, and translate based on the selected text is executed; the executed text command depends on the pressed key. Neither occlusion nor the fat finger problem is of concern, because our method can perform these operations without the need to have a finger touch the upper region of the touchscreen. Also, the user can execute text commands with only one-hand.

In this paper, we investigate hand gestures and visual annotation cues overlaid in a live 360 panorama-based Mixed Reality remote collaboration. The prototype system captures 360 live panorama video of the surroundings of a local user and shares it with another person in a remote location. The two users wearing Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality head-mounted displays can collaborate using augmented visual communication cues such as virtual hand gestures, ray pointing, and drawing annotations. Our preliminary user evaluation comparing these cues found that using visual annotation cues (ray pointing and drawing annotation) helps participants as a local user perform collaborative tasks faster, easier, and with making less error and better understanding compared to using only virtual hand gestures.

We herein demonstrate Tesla Blocks, a magnetism-based tangible 3D modeling system using block-shaped objects. The system recognizes the structure assembled by the user and draws the 3D model in real time. Each block of the system has a simple structure; we embed only a permanent magnet in a block. Because the electronic circuit used for recognizing the structure exists outside the blocks, the system is simple. Furthermore, occlusion by the user’s hand does not occur in recognizing the structure.

Customer brand recognition is a critical factor in the retail environment. Here, we tested two prototypes with ambient technology and gamification elements in a store shelf display for enhancing customer brand recognition. The first prototype focused on showcasing the environmental labor of the company when the customer played a ball tossing game. The second prototype was a shelf display with a virtual reality experience based on the brand identity. Subjects tested both prototypes using a user engagement scale and results show that they were positively perceived in usability and that they enhance user engagement, brand recall and brand perception.

Research-through-design (RtD) has become a well-established research approach within HCI research. In this paper we discuss how research-through-design can be applied as an explicit strategy for teaching interaction design. RtD is productive when teaching interaction design, because it keeps students in a constant loop of doing and reflecting, as well as highlights the value of theoretical concepts for understanding practice. This means that theoretical concepts become a resource that the students can draw on to understand and transform design practice, while at the same time fostering an integrated understanding of theory and practice in design. We base our work on a master’s course series teaching advanced theoretical and practical subjects in interaction design. The main contribution of the paper is a set of principles for RtD-based design teaching, as well as the identification of potential gains of using this approach for teaching interaction design.

There are many barriers to employment for people with visual impairments. Assistive technologies (ATs), such as computer screen readers, are commonly used to help overcome employment barriers and enable people with visual impairments to contribute to, and participate in, the workforce. However, recent research suggests it can be difficult for people with visual impairments to effectively adopt and implement ATs in the workplace. This paper reports insights from interviews with five office workers with visual impairments. The interviews revealed that each participant had adopted different configurations of ATs, which they used in various ways to support their work. In addition, all participants followed a complex process to successfully select, learn, and integrate these tools into their work activities. During this process, they faced challenges, such as the need to educate colleagues to make shared documents more accessible. We conclude that despite progress in the development and use of ATs, there remains a need for future work in addressing the accessibility issues to support collaborative work between people with visual impairments and their sighted colleagues.

Interviews are a widely used method in which the performance and knowledge of potential employees are evaluated. Fresh graduates who come out to the job industry are rarely armed with prior experience in facing a job and securing employment, which leads to them underperforming at actual interviews. The lack of exposure to an interviewing environment together with inadequate preparation is often found to be the main reason for this. In this paper we examine the design requirements for an interactive simulated interview training system, and we present an intelligent interactive system which follows these requirements InterviewMe. An exploratory study of the system with five participants suggests that a simulated environment supports confidence, and that immediate interactive feedback contributes to learning.

It is challenging for dance teachers to provide feedback to all students learning to dance. This is a common problem in large social dance classes. One possible way to address this is to allow dance instructors, peers, or students themselves to assess students' performance using video recordings. In this paper, we explore the use of a video annotation tool by dance teachers. We focused on a particular style of partner dance: Forró. We followed a three-step process to design and validate the video annotation tool, which includes: 1) interviewing dance teachers to understand the context and their needs; 2) asking teachers to assess video recordings of students dancing to capture their 'vocabulary'; and 3) developing the video annotation tool. We conducted semi-structured interviews with four dance teachers to understand how the tool can support dance teaching. This paper contributes to the field of video annotation bringing the teachers' insight by using such tool. We also discuss the teachers' perspectives on how they would use the tool in an authentic dance context.

We ran a pilot study to investigate the impact of video placement in augmented reality conferencing on communication, social presence and user preference. In addition, we explored the influence of different tasks. We discovered a correlation between video placement and the type of the tasks, with some significant results in social presence indicators.

Current surgical procedures need to be properly understood before designing robotic platforms for surgery, so that the strengths of robotic systems can cover and enhance the capabilities of the surgeon, which will create better patient outcomes. The aim of our research is to explore the potential of robotic assistance in arthroscopic knee surgery, which is one of the most common elective surgeries undertaken. We observed and video-recorded 15 arthroscopic knee surgeries performed by four orthopaedic surgeons and conducted interviews with two of these surgeons to gain further insight and clarification. Our findings highlight the challenges experienced by surgeons: (1) frustration with instruments, (2) visibility challenges, and (3) ergonomic, cognitive, social, and cooperative work demands. Furthermore, we identified the following needs: flexible distal end of instruments and better visualisation of instruments. With this knowledge we plan to develop a video card game, which, with the collaboration of orthopaedic surgeons, will be used to design an interface for a robotic surgical assistant to help alleviate these challenges.

Understanding patient needs is an important factor in the design of healthcare services, however ethnographic research methods can be intrusive in sensitive care settings and create privacy concerns such as when researching Type 2 diabetes. We offer the Fiction Probe as a contribution in the form of a field study tool that uses storytelling to allow patients to tell their story from their perspective. We used speculative design and the multi-choice narrative, represented as a pick-a-path storybook, to re-imagine the form and content of field study research tools. With our work, we hope to expand the range of methods used to understand patients in healthcare settings and to also inspire new ways of thinking about field study research tools in sensitive care settings, and more broadly, in ambiguous design contexts.

Hackathons have attracted increasing interest in recent years, and whereas much of the research focus on the role of hackathons as potential means for education, innovation, or municipal engagement, this paper focuses on the creative process of a hackathon. We present an explorative, autobiographical case study of a team at a hackathon and in the analysis we identify four factors, which in particular impacted the team’s design judgement during the hackathon: 1) The hackathon format, 2) the available tools and materials, 3) the participants’ domain knowledge, and 4) the participants’ technical knowledge. Though the factors are evident in most design processes, we discuss how the four factors in a hackathon setting influenced the design judgement in a particular way and how the factors influenced the creative engagement in developing technology in the hackathon. We discuss potential implications for future research on how to understand design judgements made under the particular circumstances of a hackathon.

Gamification applied to service marketing is a growing area of research with increasing focus on physical location and service. However, there are often accuracy issues with GPS implementations of location-based gamification. In this problem domain, micro-location has emerged. This paper proposes an analysis method to theme and categorises micro-located gamification applications in an effort to understand the capabilities, advantages and shortcomings of the technology. Data were gathered from 30 micro-located gamification applications between the years of 2013 and 2018. The data were analysed through relational content analysis allowing categorisation and theme identification. Various scenarios are presented where micro-location plays a significant HCI role. Examples of existing services that implement gamification are also presented. Finally, factors that impact the micro-location method are explored. These findings contribute to HCI by providing guidance for present and perspective micro-location gamification implementations.

Previous research has investigated player immersion and how it may affect gameplay. However, there is little research discussing diegesis in games and how diegetic and non-diegetic elements might influence the level of immersion. Furthermore, it is still controversial to apply the concept of diegesis originating from film theory to games. Unlike the traditional world of film, games deal with players as interactive participants in narration. This research explores the effect of diegetic and non-diegetic elements on the immersion of 2D games with respect to Galloway’s theory of diegesis in games using prototypes as research base. Applying the Immersive Experience Questionnaire (IEQ) we conclude that the participants did not perceive significant differences between the two prototypes and no different level of immersion could be found.

The overall aim of this research was to explore how players interact with narrative in videogames. This paper reports on results from a diary study over a two-week period. An analysis of participants’ diary entries suggests that those who engaged in directing narrative activities in the Witcher 3 described interacting with the game’s narrative in three key ways: passive interaction, active interaction, and dialogue choices. These results demonstrate the combined narrative structures (linear and branching) in the Witcher 3. These interactions also represent the narrative as a gameplay element given how players describe interacting with story element even when completing other activities.

Online collectible card games (OCCGs) are digital, networked contemporaries of collectible card games (CCGs) which combine the collection of trading cards with strategic deck building and competitive gameplay. Despite their popularity and unique mechanics, we know very little about OCCG players, their motivations and play habits. A survey study using the Trojan player typology with 856 players from two popular OCCGs (Hearthstone and Eternal) revealed four main player motivations: immersion seeker, socializer, competition and smarty-pants. Competition and immersion seeking were main motivations to play OCCGs whereas socializing and strategizing (smarty-pants) were the least. These are different than findings with CCGs where the main motivations were socialization and strategy development. Furthermore, we found differences between how these two games satisfy players’ autonomy and competence needs: Eternal players reported higher satisfaction of their needs for autonomy and competence. No differences were found for the feelings of community. These findings contribute to our understanding of why individuals play different types of video games. It also helps game designers to target the needs and motivations of their audience.