Introspection is central to identity construction and future planning, yet most digital tools approach the self as a unified entity. In contrast, Dialogical Self Theory (DST) views the self as composed of multiple internal perspectives, such as values, concerns, and aspirations, that can come into tension or dialogue with one another. Building on this view, we designed InnerPond, a research probe in the form of a multi-agent system that represents these internal perspectives as distinct LLM-based agents for introspection. Its design was shaped through iterative explorations of spatial metaphors, interaction scaffolding, and conversational orchestration, culminating in a shared spatial environment for organizing and relating multiple inner perspectives. In a user study with 17 young adults navigating career choices, participants engaged with the probe by co-creating inner voices with AI, composing relational inner landscapes, and orchestrating dialogue as observers and mediators, offering insight into how such systems could support introspection. Overall, this work offers design implications for AI-supported introspection tools that enable exploration of the self’s multiplicity.

Character journaling is a well-established exercise in actor training, but many actors struggle to sustain it due to cognitive burden, the blank page problem, and unclear short-term rewards. We reframe large language models not as co-authors but as maieutic partners—tools that guide reflection through context-aware questioning rather than producing text on behalf of the user. Based on this perspective, we designed Actor’s Note, a journaling tool that tailors questions to the script, role, and rehearsal phase while preserving actor agency. We evaluated the system in a 14-day crossover study with 29 actors using surveys, logs, and interviews. Results indicate that the tool reduced entry barriers, supported sustained reflection, and enriched character exploration, with participants describing different benefits when AI was introduced at earlier versus later rehearsal stages. This work contributes empirical insights and design principles for creativity-support tools that sustain reflective practices while preserving artistic immersion in performance training.

E-commerce platforms increasingly deploy explainability features to address concerns about algorithmic opacity. However, most XAI research has focused on younger, tech-savvy users, leaving open questions about how older adults engage with these features in everyday shopping. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study with 20 older adults aged 60+ who regularly use NAVER Shopping, one of South Korea’s largest e-commerce platforms, examining their engagement with global (system-level) explanations, local (item-level) explanations, and a user-model dashboard. Our findings reveal that explainability does not operate uniformly. Many participants did not notice the explanation features during routine use or mistook them for advertisements. After guided interaction, global explanations elicited polarized responses: some participants deferred uncritically to algorithmic authority, whereas others dismissed the explanations as sophisticated marketing rhetoric. In contrast, local explanations grounded in users’ behavior helped recalibrate skepticism, while a user-model dashboard exposed tensions between empowerment and surveillance. Based on these findings, we propose actionable design strategies for building inclusive and adaptive XAI systems for older adults.

Within body-centered HCI, growing attention has been given to the body not only as an instrument of the mind but as a source of experience and presence. Dance meditation exemplifies this orientation by fostering mindful connection to the body through spontaneous, unstructured movement. In this context, VR has been widely adopted for structured instruction in static meditation and choreographed dance, yet its potential to foster freer, meditative bodily engagement has received little attention. To address this gap, we collaborated with dance meditators and co-designed Bodyfulness VR, a four-module system supporting (1) somatic awareness, (2) movement exploration, (3) emotional release, and (4) physical relaxation. Using the system as a design probe, we examined how VR could mediate somatic meditative practices. Findings from our user study indicate that VR could lower barriers to dance meditation by reducing self-consciousness and supporting bodily engagement, while movement-guiding affordances may also redirect attention toward task-oriented action, constraining bodily expression. By articulating this tension, our work contributes design implications for balancing structure and openness in VR systems that aim to support somatic mindfulness.

Journaling has long been recognized for fostering emotional awareness and self-reflection, and recent advancements in generative AI offer new opportunities to create personalized music that can enhance these practices.In this study, we explore how AI-generated music can augment the journaling experience.Through a formative study, we examined journal writers' writing patterns, purposes, emotional regulation strategies, and the design requirements for the system that augments journaling experience by journal-based AI-generated music.Based on these insights, we developed NoRe, a system that transforms journal entries into personalized music using generative AI.In a seven-day in-the-wild study (N=15), we investigated user engagement and perceived emotional effectiveness through system logs, surveys, and interviews.Our findings suggest that journal-based music generation could support emotional reflection and provide vivid reminiscence of daily experiences.Drawing from these findings, we discuss design implications for tailoring music to journal writers' emotional states and preferences.

While AI's potential in education and professional sports is widely recognized, its application in K-12 physical education (PE) remains underexplored with significant opportunities for innovation. This study aims to address this gap by engaging 17 in-service secondary school PE teachers in group ideation workshops to explore potential AI applications and challenges in PE classes. Participants envisioned AI playing multidimensional roles, such as an operational assistant, personal trainer, group coach, and evaluator, as solutions to address unique instructional and operational challenges in K-12 PE classes. These roles reflected participants' perspectives on how AI could enhance class management, deliver personalized feedback, promote balanced team activities, and streamline performance assessments. Participants also highlighted critical considerations for AI integration, including the need to ensure robust student data security and privacy measures, minimize the risk of over-reliance on AI for instructional decisions, and accommodate the varying levels of technological proficiency among PE teachers. Our findings provide valuable insights and practical guidance for AI developers, educators, and policymakers, offering a foundation for the effective integration of AI into K-12 PE curricula to enhance teaching practices and student outcomes.

Virtual YouTubers (VTubers) have recently gained popularity as streamers using computer-generated avatars and real-time motion capture to create distinct virtual identities. While prior research has explored how VTubers construct virtual personas and engage audiences, little attention has been given to viewers' reactions when virtual and real identities blur-what we refer to as "seams." To address this gap, we conducted a case study on PLAVE, a popular Korean VTuber Kpop idol group, interviewing 24 of their fans. Our findings identified two main sources of seams: technical glitches and identity collapses, where VTubers act inconsistently with their virtual personas, revealing aspects of their real selves. These seams played a pivotal role in shaping diverse fan engagements, with some valuing authenticity linked to real identities, while others prioritized the coherence of virtual personas. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of seams in shaping viewer experiences.

Young adults often encounter challenges in career exploration. Self-guided interventions, such as the letter-exchange exercise, where participants envision and adopt the perspective of their future selves by exchanging letters with their envisioned future selves, can support career development. However, the broader adoption of such interventions may be limited without structured guidance. To address this, we integrated Large Language Model (LLM)-based agents that simulate participants' future selves into the letter-exchange exercise and evaluated their effectiveness. A one-week experiment (N=36) compared three conditions: (1) participants manually writing replies to themselves from the perspective of their future selves (baseline), (2) future-self agents generating letters to participants, and (3) future-self agents engaging in chat conversations with participants. Results indicated that exchanging letters with future-self agents enhanced participants' engagement during the exercise, while overall benefits of the intervention on future orientation, career self-concept, and psychological support remained comparable across conditions. We discuss design implications for AI-augmented interventions for supporting young adults' career exploration.

Keyeun Lee, Seo Hyeong Kim, Seolhee Lee, Jinsu Eun, Yena Ko, Hayeon Jeon, Esther Hehsun Kim, Seonghye Cho, Soeun Yang, Eun-mee Kim, Hajin Lim. Proceedings of the 2025 Conference of the Nations of the Americas Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies (Volume 1: Long Papers). 2025.

Digital gift-giving has become a key means of maintaining social relationships, but most existing research has focused on gifting within global e-commerce or social media platforms. The emergence of messenger-based gifting in East Asia, where Korea, Japan, and China each have distinct and deeply rooted gifting traditions, remains underexplored. This study examines how in-app gifting services on the most widely used messaging platforms in South Korea (KakaoTalk), Japan (LINE), and China (WeChat) reflect and reshape culturally embedded gifting practices. Through semi-structured interviews with 26 university students, we found that KakaoTalk facilitates frequent, informal exchanges aligned with Korea's emphasis on broad social ties; LINE supports selective and carefully presented gifts, reflecting Japanese norms of formality and sincerity; and WeChat's Hongbao feature enables playful, communal monetary exchanges largely detached from traditional, obligation-driven gifting. Drawing on these findings, we propose the Channel-Oriented Gifting Cycle model, which extends classical gift-exchange theory by showing that the choice of gifting platform is not merely logistical but a culturally meaningful part of the gifting process. We conclude with design implications for culturally sensitive digital gifting services.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause a range of cognitive and communication challenges that negatively affect social participation in both face-to-face interactions and computer-mediated communication. In particular, individuals with TBI report barriers that limit access to participation on social media platforms. To improve access to and use of social media for users with TBI, we introduce the Social Media Accessibility and Rehabilitation Toolkit (SMART-TBI). The toolkit includes five aids (Writing Aid, Interpretation Aid, Filter Mode, Focus Mode, and Facebook Customization) designed to address the cognitive and communicative needs of individuals with TBI. We asked eight users with moderate-severe TBI and five TBI rehabilitation experts to evaluate each aid. Our findings revealed potential benefits of aids and areas for improvement, including the need for psychological safety, privacy control, and balancing business and accessibility needs; and overall mixed reactions among the participants to AI-based aids.

Students with disabilities (SWDs) often struggle with note-taking during lectures. Therefore, many higher education institutions have implemented peer note-taking programs (PNTPs), where peer note-takers (PNTs) assist SWDs in taking lecture notes. To better understand the experiences of SWDs and PNTs, we conducted semi-structured interviews with eight SWDs and eight PNTs. We found that the interaction between SWDs and PNTs was predominantly unidirectional, highlighting specific needs and challenges. In response, we developed EmoBridge, a collaborative note-taking platform that facilitates real-time collaboration and communication between PNT-SWD pairs using emojis. We evaluated EmoBridge through an in-the-wild study with seven PNT-SWD pairs. The results showed improved class participation for SWDs and a reduced sense of sole responsibility for PNTs. Based on these insights, we discuss design implications for collaborative note-taking systems aimed at enhancing PNTPs and fostering more effective and inclusive educational experiences for SWDs.

The shift to online education, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has introduced challenges in monitoring student engagement, an essential aspect of effective teaching. In response, real-time student monitoring interfaces have emerged as potential tools to aid instructors, yet their efficacy has not been thoroughly examined. Addressing this gap, we conducted a controlled experiment with 20 instructors examining the impact of engagement cues (presence versus absence) and student engagement levels (high versus low) on instructors’ monitoring effectiveness, teaching behavior adjustments, and cognitive load in online classes. Our findings underscored the fundamental benefits of student engagement monitoring interfaces for improving monitoring quality and effectiveness. Furthermore, our study highlighted the critical need for customizable interfaces that could balance the informational utility of engagement cues with the associated cognitive load and psychological stress on instructors. These insights may offer design implications for the design of future student engagement monitoring interfaces.

Online dating technology mediates various social interactions for LGBTQ+ communities, yet how such technology shapes queerness remains understudied, particularly within queer women’s communities in non-Western settings. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study with 17 queer women, aiming to uncover their experiences and challenges in online dating within the conservative context of South Korea. Contrary to their initial expectations of exploring open-ended forms of interaction, we found that dating applications tended to systematically normalize queerness in sexuality presentation, relationship building, and shared identities in the community. These mechanisms forced them to conform to the “normalized queerness,” thereby impeding non-normative and flexible aspects of queer interactions. Building upon these findings, we discuss how the technological affordances of online dating platforms facilitate the normalization of queerness under the influence of sociocultural contexts of South Korea.

The automatic generation of sports highlight videos is emerging in both the sports entertainment domain and research community. Earlier methods for generating highlights rely on visual-audio cues or contextual cues, so they may not capture the overall flow of the game well. In this paper, we propose a technique based on Win Probability Added (WPA), an empirical sabermetric baseball statistic, to generate baseball highlights that can better reflect in-game dynamics. Additionally, we introduce methods for generating “biased” highlights toward one team by systematically manipulating WPAs. Through a mixed-method user study with 43 baseball enthusiasts, we found that participants evaluated WPA-based highlights more favorably than existing AI highlights. For (un)favorably biased highlights, the game result (win/loss) was the most dominating factor in user perception, but bias directions and strengths also had nuanced effects on them. Our work contributes to the development of automated tools for generating customized sports highlights.

Many families often live geographically apart from each other due to work, education, or marriage. Therefore, long-distance families frequently use computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools to stay connected. While CMC tools have significantly improved family communication, they cannot fully mediate social presence. To examine the potential of telepresence robots for improving long-distance family communication, we conducted a two-week qualitative in situ study involving eight families. We analyzed recorded videos of their family interactions and conducted pre- and post-deployment interviews. Our findings highlight telepresence robots’ potential as family communication tools, enabling immersive, natural, and dynamic interactions through physical embodiment and autonomy. Particularly, we identified five categories of family interaction mediated by telepresence robots: engaging in multi-party family communication, exploring home, restoring family routines, providing support, and having joint physical activities. Based on our findings, we present design guidelines for leveraging telepresence robots as effective family communication tools.

Mobile dating apps are now used for a wide range of networking opportunities beyond romantic relationships. However, previous studies on mobile dating apps have not fully taken into account the multiple motivations that users may have. This study aimed to address this gap by conducting semi-structured interviews with 12 Tinder users in South Korea, who reported having multiple motivations for using mobile dating apps. We discovered that participants' motivations using Tinder became gradually expanded but clarified over time. Furthermore, we found that participants rarely disclosed their motivations on their profiles, but heavily relied on implicit cues from other profiles to guess the motivations of others. Based on these findings, we propose design suggestions for improving the design of dating apps to better support users' multi-faceted and variable motivations using mobile dating apps.

Role-playing can be an effective method for disability awareness education (DAE), and the immersive nature of virtual reality (VR) holds promise for enhancing DAE experiences. However, existing VR applications for DAE often pay less attention to the social aspects of disabilities, resulting in a lack of ability to simulate implicit social discrimination experienced by individuals with disabilities. To bridge this gap, we developed DiVRsity, a customizable VR group role-playing platform for DAE. To identify design requirements for DiVRsity, we conducted a formative study with VR and DAE experts. In an evaluation study, 28 participants engaged in role-playing exercises using DiVRsity, simulating discriminatory interpersonal situations experienced by individuals with vision impairments. Findings revealed that participants’ disability awareness significantly increased after engaging in role-playing activities using DiVRsity compared to before. We discuss the potential of VR as a role-playing platform for DAE and provide design implications for future VR-based DAE tools.

Increasingly, older adults are shopping via mobile devices as technology has been incorporated into their lives. When older adults adopt and use mobile shopping, social interactions with close others greatly influence their experience. Therefore, this paper aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of how social interactions with close others shaped older adults’ mobile shopping practices. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 31 older adults who reported using mobile shopping regularly. We found that older adults engaged in three types of social interaction: learning from, collaborating with, and assisting close others in adopting and using mobile shopping. Through these social interactions, they gradually built trust in mobile shopping systems and supported each other’s decision-making processes. In conclusion, we presented design implications for facilitating social interactions to improve older adults’ mobile shopping experience.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause cognitive, communication, and psychological challenges that profoundly limit independence in everyday life. Conversational Agents (CAs) can provide individuals with TBI with cognitive and communication support, although little is known about how they make use of CAs to address injury-related needs. In this study, we gave nine adults with TBI an at-home CA for four weeks to investigate use patterns, challenges, and design requirements, focusing particularly on injury-related use. The findings revealed significant gaps between the current capabilities of CAs and accessibility challenges faced by TBI users. We also identified 14 TBI-related activities that participants engaged in with CAs. We categorized those activities into four groups: mental health, cognitive activities, healthcare and rehabilitation, and routine activities. Design implications focus on accessibility improvements and functional designs of CAs that can better support the day-to-day needs of people with TBI.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in chronic sensorimotor, cognitive, psychosocial, and communication challenges that can limit social participation. Social media can be a useful outlet for social participation for individuals with TBI, but there are barriers to access. While research has drawn attention to the nature of access barriers, few studies have investigated technological solutions to address these barriers, particularly considering the perspectives of individuals with TBI. To address this gap in knowledge, we used a participatory approach to engage 10 adults with TBI in conceptualizing tools to address their challenges accessing Facebook. Participants described multifaceted challenges in using social media, including interface overload, social comparisons, and anxiety over self-presentation and communication after injury. They discussed their needs and preferences and generated ideas for design solutions. Our work contributes to designing assistive and accessibility technology to facilitate an equal access to the benefits of social media for individuals with TBI.

Communication tools such as email facilitate communication and collaboration between speakers of different languages, who use two primary strategies-English as a common language and machine translation (MT) tools-to help them overcome language barriers. However, each of these communication strategies creates its own challenges for cross-lingual communication. In this paper, we compare how people's interpretations of an email sender's social intention, and their evaluation of the email and the senders, differ when using a common language versus MT in email communication. We conducted an online experiment in which monolingual native English speakers read and rated request emails written by native English speakers, emails written by bilingual Chinese speakers in English, and emails written in Chinese then machine-translated into English. We found that participants interpreted the social intentions of the email sender less accurately for machine-translated emails than for emails written by non-native speakers in English. Participants also rated the senders and emails less positively overall for machine-translated emails compared to emails written by non-native speakers in English. Based on these findings, we suggest design possibilities that could better aid multilingual communication.

The goal of this paper is to investigate how computational tools to annotate communication can support multilingual sense-making on social media. We conducted a field study of SenseTrans, a browser extension that uses sentiment analysis and named entity extraction techniques to annotate Facebook posts with emotional and contextual information. Interviews with 18 participants who used SenseTrans in their Facebook newsfeed for two weeks suggest that the annotations often supported sensemaking by providing additional information they could use to get a quick gist of the posts or to supplement their own interpretations. Participants varied in the extent to which they were motivated to evaluate the credibility of and form mental models of how the annotations were generated, which shaped how they utilized the annotations for sensemaking. Our findings demonstrate the value of designing to support cross-lingual communication and inform design implications for intelligent tools that support communication and sensemaking.

Although many social media sites now provide machine translation (MT) for foreign language posts, translation of a post may not suffice to support understanding of, and engagement with, that post. We present SenseTrans, a tool that provides emotional and contextual annotations generated by natural language analysis in addition to machine translation. We evaluated SenseTrans in a laboratory experiment in which native English speakers browsed five Facebook profiles in foreign languages. One group used the SenseTrans interface while the other group used MT alone. Participants using SenseTrans reported significantly greater understanding of the posts, and greater willingness to engage with the posts. However, no additional cognitive load was associated with using an interface that provided more information. These results provide promising support for the idea of using computational tools to annotate communication to support multilingual sense making and interaction on social media.

Previous research has shown that communication technologies may make it challenging for working professionals to manage the boundaries between their work life and home life. For college students, however, there is a less clear definition of what constitutes work and what constitutes home life. As a result, students may use different boundary management strategies than working professionals. To explore this issue, we interviewed 29 undergraduates about how they managed boundaries between different areas of their life. Interviewees reported maintaining flexible and permeable boundaries that are not bounded physically or temporally. They used both technological and non-technological strategies to manage different life spheres. Interviewees saw technology as a major source of boundary violations but also as a boundary managing strategy that allowed them to achieve better life balance. Based on these findings, we propose design implications for tools to better support the boundary management processes of undergraduate students.

Many people's social media feeds include posts in languages they do not understand. While previous research has examined bilingual social media users' language choices, little research has focused on how people make sense of foreign language posts. In the present study, we interviewed 23 undergraduate social media users about how they consume and make sense of posts in other languages. Interviewees reported that they often did not pay attention to or engage with foreign language posts, due to a lack of relevance and contextual knowledge. When they did actively engage with foreign language posts, interviewees did not rely solely on machine translation output but instead actively collected and combined various cues from within and outside the post in order to understand what it was about. Interviewees further reported different types of goals for trying to make sense of foreign language posts; some focused on simply extracting and understanding the emotional components of a post while others tried to gain a fuller understanding of a post, including its contextual and cultural meanings. Based on these findings, we suggest design possibilities that could better aid multilingual communication in social media.

The widespread use of mobile devices has transformed casual places into meeting places. However, in these places, it is uncommon to have shared information workspace such as a beam projector, making it inconvenient and inefficient to exchange information and to get a direct feedback. To address this challenge, we present Ubi-jector, a mobile system that provides a shared information space that is equally distributed to each participant's mobile device and allows group members to share documents and collaborate real-time. We first characterized the information sharing patterns and identified the limitations of the current practice in meeting places without a shared workspace, by conducting qualitative user studies. Next, we implemented Ubi-jector with the design guidelines drawn in the prior stage. Also, we performed an evaluation study that showed the possibilities of Ubi-jector to facilitate an effective information sharing and foster an active participation even in poorly-equipped environments.