So-called relatedness technologies aim to create relatedness experiences between people over distance. Typically, such technologies focus on implicit or expressive interaction, as opposed to the explicit, information-focused interaction of conventional communication technologies. Based on psychological theory, previous research has identified different design strategies for relatedness technologies such as awareness, expressivity, or gift giving. However, despite this profound theoretical understanding, designing for a fulfilling relatedness experience remains a challenging task and often conflicts with other psychological needs, such as autonomy or security. This research explores the specific potentials and barriers to the use and acceptance of relatedness technologies. Based on a comparative evaluation of five different relatedness concepts in an online study (N = 221) combining quantitative and qualitative data, we identified overarching patterns of promising design strategies for particular user groups and revealed overall need fulfillment as a central predictor of the intention to use the technology.

Empowering people through technology is of increasing concern in the HCI community. However, there are different interpretations of empowerment, which diverge substantially. The same term thus describes an entire spectrum of research endeavours and goals. This conceptual unclarity hinders the development of a meaningful discourse and exchange. To better understand what empowerment means in our community, we reviewed 54 CHI full papers using the terms empower and empowerment. Based on our analysis and informed by prior writings on power and empowerment, we construct a framework that serves as a lens to analyze notions of empowerment in current HCI research. Finally, we discuss the implications of these notions of empowerment on approaches to technology design and offer recommendations for future work. With this analysis, we hope to add structure and terminological clarity to this growing and important facet of HCI research.

Journal Article An Experience Perspective on Intuitive Interaction: Central Components and the Special Effect of Domain Transfer Distance Get access Sarah Diefenbach, Sarah Diefenbach * 1User Experience and Ergonomics in Design, Folkwang University of the Arts, Universitätsstrasse 12, 45141 Essen, Germany *Corresponding author: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Daniel Ullrich Daniel Ullrich 2Department of Psychology, Technical University of Darmstadt, Alexanderstraße 10, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Interacting with Computers, Volume 27, Issue 3, May 2015, Pages 210–234, https://doi.org/10.1093/iwc/iwv001 Published: 30 January 2015 Article history Received: 17 March 2014 Revision received: 12 December 2014 Accepted: 02 January 2015 Published: 30 January 2015

Recently, Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) started to focus on experiential aspects of product use, such as affect or hedonic qualities. One interesting question concerns the way a particular experience is summarized into a retrospective value judgment about the product. In the present study, we specifically explored the relationship between affect, mental effort and spontaneity experienced while interacting with a storytelling system and retrospective judgments of appeal. In addition, we studied differential effects of the presence or absence of instrumental goals. In general, active instrumental goals did not only impact experience per se by, for example, inducing mental effort, but also the way subsequent retrospective judgments were formed. We discuss the implications of our findings for the practice of product evaluation in HCI specifically, and more general aspects, such as the role of affect in product evaluations and the importance of usage mode compatibility (i.e., a compatibility of the way one ought to and actually does approach a product).