Teleportation in Virtual Reality (VR) is a locomotion technique that allows users to navigate between locations within a virtual environment instantly. Traditionally, VR teleportation is performed using physical controllers, where users control a teleportation pointer — represented by a straight line or parabola — and activate the teleportation to the target destination by pressing a button. Recent advances in hand and eye-tracking capabilities in Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) enable designers to leverage hand and eye-based interactions to enhance the immersion and naturalness of controller-free VR usage. However, there has been limited research on comparing different controller-free methods for VR teleportation across various elevations. To address this gap, we conducted a user study exploring three controller-free pointing techniques (gaze, hand, and head), four confirmation modalities (finger pinch, eye-blink, dwell, and voice), and two types of teleportation pointers (linear and parabolic) for VR teleportation across various elevations. Our results show that head-based pointing was faster and more accurate than other techniques, with head and gaze achieving higher throughput than hand-based methods. For confirmation, finger pinch yielded the best performance in terms of task completion time and throughput, followed by dwell, voice, and eye-blink; dwell was the most accurate. The linear pointer outperformed the parabolic pointer in some contexts. Based on these findings, we propose design guidelines to enhance controller-free VR teleportation using various input modalities.

Smartphone overuse around family and friends has been shown to be increasing over the past years and often leads to limited one-to-one interaction between co-located individuals. Smartphone-based virtual agents have been shown to be effective for behavior intervention and mediation, such as promoting physical activity. Little is known about leveraging smartphone-based agents to play a role in communication and facilitate conversation between co-located individuals. In this paper, we explore strengthening conversations between co-located couples by introducing a smartphone-based agent that acts as a conversation facilitator between them. We contrast the results with a text-based alternative. Our findings suggest that virtual agents serve as a valuable social entity mediating support in couples' communication and relationship dynamics. Through this, we suggest design considerations for this context that leverage the unique qualities of virtual agents.

It is often suggested that older adults (those 60 years or older) constitute a viable target market for voice user interfaces (VUIs) and that VUIs can provide many benefits for older adults. The ma...

We conceptualize Digital Design Marginalization (DDM) as the process in which a digital interface design excludes certain users and contributes to marginalization in other areas of their lives. Due to non-inclusive designs, many underrepresented users face barriers in accessing essential services that are moving increasingly, sometimes exclusively, online – services such as personal finance, healthcare, social connectivity, and shopping. This can further perpetuate the “digital divide,” a technology-based form of social inequality that has offline consequences. We introduce the term Marginalizing Design to describe designs that contribute to DDM. In this paper, we focus on the impact of Marginalizing Design on older adults through examples from our research and discussions of services that may have marginalizing designs for older adults. Our aim is to provide a conceptual lens for designers, service providers, and policy makers through which they can use to purposely lessen or avoid digitally marginalizing groups of users.

Autonomous, intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) are increasingly used commercially in essential information spaces such as healthcare. Existing IVA research has focused on microscale interaction patterns, for example those related to the usability of artificial intelligence systems. However, the sociotechnical patterns of users’ information practices and their relationship with the design and adoption of IVAs have been largely understudied, especially when it comes to older adults, who stand to benefit greatly from IVAs. Yet, exposing such patterns may more meaningfully relate sociotechnical considerations to users’ perceptions and attitudes toward the adoption of emerging technologies such as IVAs. We explore here the feasibility of information models in informing our understanding of how older adults may use and perceive an IVA. To do this, we relate the insights and findings from a case study of health information IVAs to the six stages of the information search process model (ISP). By doing this, we uncover sociotechnical issues pertinent to each stage of the ISP which help to better contextualize (older) users’ interaction with intelligent interfaces such as IVAs. Through this, we argue for the potential of information models to inform the design of interactive user interfaces from a sociotechnical approach.

The sociotechnical approach to the design of interactive systems has been seen as a means of acknowledging and understanding the benefits and risks of emerging and innovative technologies. However, implementing such an approach in practice is easier said than done, especially for technology that is as ubiquitous as mobile technologies. Yet, this is a worthwhile challenge as this approach may strengthen our understanding of users' perceptions and subsequent adoption of such mobile technologies. My previous research has indicated that there may be a link between information studies theory and the digital interface design practice surrounding mobile technologies. I plan to build upon this work by further developing and evaluating methods, practices, and approaches to bridge information theory and design practice. I am seeking advice and feedback on my research in terms of the development and evaluation of new practices of mobile design work. The implications of the sociotechnical approach to mobile voice interface design are discussed.

Information behaviour models have been used extensively to explain people's interactions with information, such as in information search and user behaviour in libraries. However, we do not yet know the connection between components of information models and the interface design of digital systems, particularly when these are designed to support marginalized users such as older adults (OAs). Yet, this connection may relate to users' perceptions and subsequent adoption of emerging technologies, such as the autonomous virtual agents (VAs) functioning as advice-dispensing chatbots (increasingly present on mobile devices). We explore here the feasibility of information models in informing our understanding of how OAs may use and perceive a VA. For this, we use the information search process (ISP) model to explain the results of a case study with health information VAs and speculate on the implications of the ISP on the design of mobile-based VAs, chatbots, and voice-based interfaces.