Micro-phenomenology has recently gained traction in HCI as ways of accessing embodied, lived dimensions of interaction that resist conventional qualitative capture. By foregrounding pre-reflective experience, this approach promises greater experiential precision. However, when designers and HCI researchers attempt to apply Micro-phenomenology in practice, frictions often emerge. The method was not originally designed for design contexts, raising questions about accessibility, adaptability, and epistemic fit. We ask what is gained, transformed, or compromised when micro-phenomenology is brought into design research, and how they might evolve through situated practice. The workshop combines hands-on demonstrations of interviewing and analysis with guided reflective listening, followed by rotating small-group dialogues and material exploration. By bringing together researchers and practitioners interested in embodied and experiential approaches to HCI, the workshop aims to broaden access to micro-phenomenology while spurring critical dialogue about their limitations, transformations, and potential contributions to design research.

Encounters with virtual agents currently lack the haptic viscerality of human contact. While digital biosignal communication can medi-ate such virtual social interactions, how artifcial haptic biosignals infuence users personal space during Virtual Reality (VR) experi-ences is unknown. Designing vibrotactile heartbeats and thermally-actuated body temperature, we ran a within-subjects study (N=31) to investigate feedback (Thermal, Vibration, Thermal+Vibration, None) and agent stories (Negative, Neutral, Positive) on objective and subjective interpersonal distance (IPD), perceived arousal and comfort, presence, and post-experience responses. Findings showed that thermal feedback decreased objective but not subjective IPD, whereas vibrotactile heartbeats (signaling agent's closeness) increased both while heightening arousal and discomfort. Agents stories did not afect IPD, arousal, or comfort. Our qualitative fndings shed light on signal ambiguity and presence constructs within VR-based haptic stimulation. We contribute insights into artifcial biosignals and their infuence on VR proxemics, with cautionary considerations should the boundaries blur between physical and virtual touch.

Biosensing technologies are on their way to becoming ubiquitous in multimedia interaction.These technologies capture physiological data, such as heart rate, breathing, skin conductance, and brain activity.Researchers are exploring biosensing from perspectives including engineering, design, medicine, mental health, consumer products, and interactive art.These technologies can enhance our interactions, allowing us to connect with our bodies and others around us across diverse application areas.However, the integration of biosignals in HCI presents new challenges pertaining to choosing what data we capture, interpreting these data, its representation, application areas, and ethics.There is a need to synthesize knowledge across diverse perspectives of researchers and designers spanning multiple domains and to map a landscape of the challenges and opportunities of this research area.The goal of this workshop is to exchange knowledge in the research community, introduce novices to this emerging field, and build a future research agenda.

Access to nature and feeling connection is critical for mental health and well-being. These benefits may be mediated by self-transcendent emotions evoked by nature. We need to explore the capacity of technology to offer such experiences when we lack access to the restorative power of nature. Despite growing research validating this capacity, there is a lack of articulated design knowledge of how such experiences can be created. Here, we explore a technologically-mediated support for mental well-being through an agile design approach informed by self-transcendent emotion theory and transformative experience design. We developed Awedyssey as a sensory deprivation countermeasure experience in virtual reality (VR) and as a part of a public exhibition. We gathered qualitative feedback through interviews, diaries, and surveys. From this data we identified design tensions for designing complex emotional experiences when considering the diversity of individuals and dual effects of designing for realism, autonomy, vastness, and comfort.

We present a novel intercorporeal experience – an intersubjective haptic voice. Through an autobiographical design inquiry, based on singing techniques from the classical opera tradition, we created Corsetto, a kinesthetic garment for transferring somatic reminiscents of vocal experience from an expert singer to a listener. We then composed haptic gestures enacted in the Corsetto, emulating upper-body movements of the live singer performing a piece by Morton Feldman named Three Voices. The gestures in the Corsetto added a haptics-based ‘fourth voice’ to the immersive opera performance. Finally, we invited audiences who were asked to wear Corsetto during live performances. Afterwards they engaged in micro-phenomenological interviews. The analysis revealed how the Corsetto managed to bridge inner and outer bodily sensations, creating a feeling of a shared intercorporeal experience, dissolving boundaries between listener, singer and performance. We propose that ‘intersubjective haptics’ can be a generative medium not only for singing performances, but other possible intersubjective experiences.

Flying dreams have the potential to evoke a feeling of empowerment (or self-efficacy, confidence in our ability to succeed) and self-transcendent experience (STE), which have been shown to contribute to an individual’s overall well-being. However, these exceptional dreaming experiences remain difficult to induce at will. Inspired by the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) to support profound emotional experiences, we explored if a VR flying interface with more embodied self-motion cues could contribute to the benefits associated with flying dreams (i.e., STE and empowerment). Our results indicated that a flying interface with more self-motion cues indeed better supported STE and empowerment. We derived several design considerations: obscurity, extraordinary light and supportive setting. Our results contribute to the discourse around design guidelines for self-transcendence and empowerment in VR, which may further be applied to the improvement of mental well-being.

Human connection is essential for our personal well-being and a building block for a well-functioning society. There is a prominent interest in the potential of technology for mediating social connection, with a wealth of systems designed to foster the feeling of connection between strangers, friends, and family. By surveying this design landscape we present a transitional definition of mediated genuine connection and nine design strategies embodied within 50 design artifacts: affective self-disclosure, reflection on unity, shared embodied experience, transcendent emotions, embodied metaphors, interpersonal distance, touch, provocations, and play. In addition to drawing on design practice-based knowledge we also identify underlying psychological theories that can inform these strategies. We discuss design considerations pertaining to sensory modalities, vulnerability–comfort trade-offs, consent, situatedness in context, supporting diverse relationships, reciprocity, attention directedness, pursuing generalized knowledge, and questions of ethics. We hope to inspire and enrich designers’ understanding of the possibilities of technology to better support a mediated genuine feeling of connection.

Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to support profound emotional experiences, such as experiencing awe when virtually viewing the Earth from space. In doing so, VR can potentially both give people positive emotional experiences contributing to their overall well-being and give researchers a way to study these profound emotional experiences in a more controlled environment. Through a design refinement process, we explored the potential influence of the "set and setting''--one's mindset and the physical and social environment--when transitioning people into and out of VR designed to support profound emotional experiences. We present our findings from a design refinement session and a case study exploring how set and setting may support the profound emotional experience of awe. We discuss common themes in user experience and trends of awe-related behavioural and introspective measures. Our results contribute to the discourse around the role of the design of set and setting in overall user experience.

Bio-responsive immersive Virtual Reality can transform our interactions to bring awareness to our physiological rhythms fostering connection with our bodies, each other and nature. JeL is an immersive installation that aims to foster a feeling of connection through the process of breathing synchronization. Two immersants synchronize their breathing to fuel the growth of a coral-like structure that, together with the interactions of others, populates an initially empty coral reef. JeL is designed to support an intimate connection between users and with nature, sending a message about our collective capacity to care for the environment. JeL is an installation and research platform for exploring breathing synchronization and its effect on the feeling of connection. It was well received at a digital art festival where participants were able to relax and synchronize using the installation. Reflection on our design process and observations provides insights for the development of systems that promote connection.

Attending to breath is a self-awareness practice that exists within many contemplative and reflective traditions and is recognized for its benefits to well-being. Our current technological landscape embraces a large body of systems that utilize breath data in order to foster self-awareness. This paper seeks to deepen our understanding of the design space of systems that perceptually extend breath awareness. Our contribution is twofold: (1) our analysis reveals how the underlying theoretical frameworks shape the system design and its evaluation, and (2) how system design features support perceptual extension of breath awareness. We review and critically analyze 31 breath-based interactive systems. We identify 4 theoretical frameworks and 3 design strategies for interactive systems that perceptually extend breath awareness. We reflect upon this design space from both a theoretical and system design perspective, and propose future design directions for developing systems that "listen to" breath and perceptually extend it.

We describe here a pilot user study comparing five different locomotion interfaces for virtual reality (VR) locomotion. We compared a standard non-motion cueing interface, Joystick, with four leaning-based seated motion-cueing interfaces: NaviChair, MuvMan, Head-Directed and Swivel Chair. The aim of this mixed methods study was to investigate the usability and user experience of each interface, in order to better understand relevant factors and guide the design of future ground-based VR locomotion interfaces. We asked participants to give talk-aloud feedback and simultaneously recorded their responses while they were performing a search task in VR. Afterwards, participants completed an online questionnaire. Although the Joystick was rated as more comfortable and precise than the other interfaces, the leaning-based interfaces showed a trend to provide more enjoyment and a greater sense of self-motion. There were also potential issues of using velocity-control for rotations in leaning-based interfaces when using HMDs instead of stationary displays. Developers need to focus on improving the controllability and perceived safety of these seated motion cueing interfaces.