With the rapid advancement and widespread adoption of computer technology, it has become an indispensable component in the development of human society. Therefore, computer science education's focus extends beyond merely teaching students to read and write code; it is crucial to assist them in gaining an accurate and deep understanding of the applications of technology in the real world, its conveniences, and potential risks. Furthermore, it involves exploring how to design, improve, and innovate computer technologies to meet practical demands. Consequently, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has grown increasingly significant in the curriculum of computer science. However, research indicates that computing students face numerous challenges in learning HCI. To enhance students' ability to experience, discover, and understand user needs, the authors of this paper recommend incorporating diary studies in HCI education. In the field of HCI, diary studies are a method for collecting long-term data on user behavior and experiences in a natural environment. Participants are required to record their daily activities, product usage, encountered issues, and personal impressions over specific periods. This paper will detail the process and steps implemented in our diary studies and present student feedback and evaluations. Through this experience report, we hope to encourage more educators to adopt and refine the diary study methodology in their courses, thereby aiding computer science students in better understanding and embracing the concepts and knowledge of HCI.

Maintaining emotional connections and fostering meaningful communication among distant family members has long been challenging. Existing communication technologies, such as instant messaging, video-sharing, and social media enable quick exchanges but often lack mechanisms to initiate appropriate conversation topics and support in-depth emotional interactions. This study explores the use of digital diary-sharing in addressing these limitations. We conduct thematic analyses on diaries from a three-week study (N=22) using DailyBean, a diary app, to examine frequent patterns in users' sharing of outdoor experiences with distant family members. We identify five key mechanisms to support connections between distant family members: topic initiation, memory recall, shared moments, joint activities, and future planning. We also highlight frequent conversation topics that facilitate emotional engagement and reflection for distant family members. We conclude our study with design recommendations for effective diary-based family communication.

We describe a seven-year longitudinal study conducted in collaboration with an indigenous community in Kenya. We detail the process of conducting research with an oral community: the deliberate practice of understanding and collecting stories; working with inter-generational community to envision and design technologies that support their ways of storytelling and story preservation; and to influence the design of other technologies. We chronicle how we contended with translating oral stories with rich metaphors to new mediums, and the dimensions of trust we have established and continue to reinforce. We offer our griot-style methodology, informed by working with the community and retrofitting existing HCI approaches: as an example model of what has worked, and the dimensions of challenges at each stage of the research work. The griot-style methodology has prompted a reflection on how we approach research, and present opportunities for other HCI research and practice of handling community stories.

In this research-to-practice full paper, we describe our approach to using diary studies and social games to help Computer Science students develop their understanding of how application design influences user engagement and behavior over time. Social games are an engaging target for junior and senior-level courses like Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Mobile Software Design. While guidelines for designing social games can be conveyed through lectures and course materials, research shows the value of student-centered, hands-on learning experiences in fostering deep understanding. Inspired by Constructivism, which emphasizes that people construct understanding and knowledge through lived experiences and reflection, we incorporated a diary study assignment into an undergraduate HCI course. Although demoing a technology in class, or even having students use it in a controlled short-term activity, can convey lessons about usability, feature intent, and slips and errors, long-term use provides a better understanding of how technologies remain engaging and enjoyable (or how this can fade over time) and how social connections can evolve through repeated engagements. Diary studies, an established approach to field research, offer researchers a reflective view of how technology use may evolve over time. When employed as a pedagogical tool, diary studies create opportunities for students to capture and critically analyze their experiences through the lenses of a user, researcher, and designer. The social games served as a vehicle for active engagement, prompting students to apply critical thinking and reflection skills within a controlled setting. Analysis of students' diaries and post-study focus group discussions revealed common themes that can be incorporated into learning activities to help students understand how to develop apps that encourage certain behaviors among users. We outline how these lessons would be difficult to convey with more short-term use and identify techniques useful for development of social games. This diary study assignment approach increased students' appreciation of diary studies as a research method for collecting qualitative data about user behaviors and experiences over time and enhanced their understanding of the practical challenges of using diary studies for such a purpose. Further, we observed that the experience also deepened students' understanding of designing for user retention and social connection, and the importance of considering real-life application challenges in game design, such as concerns associated with safe usage and privacy.

Pokémon GO is a popular location-based mobile game that seeks to inspire players to be more active, socialize physically and virtually, and spend more time outside. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, several game mechanics of Pokémon GO were changed to accommodate socially-distanced play. This research aims to understand the impacts of the pandemic and subsequent game adjustments on user perceptions of the game. We used an exploratory mixed-method approach, a machine learning technique (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) for topic modeling, and thematic analysis for qualitative coding of top-level Reddit comments to identify whether and how the social distancing approach changes the players' behaviors. The results demonstrate that players were less physically active, less eager to discover, and more interested in remote social practices. We discuss which players leverage social distancing changes and reflect on key game features that provide a better gaming experience in the age of remote play.

COVID-19 caused universities to switch from traditional face-to-face (F2F) course delivery to completely online in Spring 2020. This transition took place on short notice in the middle of the semester. We present results from surveys of students in two CS courses offered at Virginia Tech. Results indicate differing perceptions in the two courses regarding the usefulness of course components before and after the transition for each course. A logistic regression model indicates that for each course, different course components both before and after the transition significantly affect students' preferences for course modality.

The struggle to thrive as a productive student researcher, an attentive parent, and a caring partner can be difficult, particularly for international student parents who are far from home and also possibly burdened with complex cultural expectations, interpersonal dynamics, and institutional biases. Using uses and gratifications theory as a framing mechanism, we describe interviews with twelve international student mothers in the United States who are primary caregivers of children between six months to five years old, focusing on the context of their use of screen media content and devices, the gratifications they seek from their children's use of screen media devices, and the differences in their perceptions about the use of screen media as an educated, non-US parent. Our findings give an initial account of the role of screen based technology in their domestic life with young children, and the limitations of their technological experience. We present four opportunities for designing for this population including technologies for positive distraction, interactive language aids, playful acquaintance tools, and anonymous peer networks for parent support. We conclude by formulating future promising avenues of research in this design space.

Emerging research in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has considered the use of technology to preserve Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) while wrestling with the dilemma of local participation in the face of post-colonialism. There remains a need to understand how ICH is portrayed by museums and texts, how communities regard these representations, and how technology would affect preservation. We conducted a study in the North Rift region of Kenya to understand how ICH is preserved and disseminated by the museum in comparison with the community. The findings describe a respectful technology space where community needs and museum needs can co-exist. We also articulate social challenges that should be considered by designers when recommending or designing technological solutions. This paper concludes by recommending ways for researchers to smoothly integrate technology with ICH through community participation and an awareness of the respectful space.

Multiple-display environments (MDEs) have promise in helping co-located sensemaking tasks by supporting searching, organizing, and discussion tasks. Co-located sensemaking occurs when two or more sensemakers forage for useful information within a dataset, creating and leveraging knowledge structures individually and together. Group territories in MDEs support communicating and assembling findings, but questions remain regarding how to best represent individual sensemaking efforts in the group territory to support the sensemaking collaboration. This paper empirically examines exploration of a large Twitter dataset using three group territory paradigms: parallel, connected, and merged. Results reveal that merging group work increases task complexity while separating individuals' sections in the group territory supports monitoring, and more interactions are performed when individual work is not connected in the group territory.