Modding is a creative practice through which players negotiate the structure and values of games to better reflect the priorities of their communities. This paper analyzes the popularity and categories of active mods for Stardew Valley, Skyrim, and Cyberpunk 2077 on the website Nexus Mods. Through an initial thematic analysis, game-specific categories were mapped into broader forms of change, including character identities, environments, and gameplay expansions. We additionally use keyword and text-based analysis of mod summaries, descriptions, and tags to identify more specific patterns, particularly around value-oriented themes such as accessibility and identity. Across all three games, several broad priorities recur, including strong support for user interface changes, gameplay and story expansions, and the modding tools that make further modification possible. At the same time, each game exhibits a distinct pattern of creative priorities: Skyrim is dominated by atmosphere and VFX-based interface, animation, and gameplay expansion mods, Cyberpunk 2077 by character identity and appearance mods, and Stardew Valley by NPCs, environments, and quality-of-life upgrades. Additionally, targeted analysis of accessibility and identity-related mods suggest that these themes are strongly valued and supported by player communities. These early results suggest that players use mods to express their creativity and change who games are for and how they are experienced. Through these findings, this paper aims to position modding as a form of creative negotiation through which player communities transform games to better reflect their own values.

Museums are often perceived as objective sources of information on cultural objects and their histories. However, the colonial, political, and institutional contexts behind these objects are frequently obscured or excluded, prompting calls for repatriation. For visitors, this raises a question: how can contested objects and repatriation be understood beyond institutional narratives? Object \rlapive View of Contested Collection is an installation that reframes this process through embodiment, guiding visitors through stages of an object’s journey through the lens of their own cultural identity. By experiencing the processes an object undergoes, visitors reflect on the complexities of repatriation and connect these narratives to their personal backgrounds. This work offers a novel approach to repatriation education by situating learning within institutional contexts and embodied perspectives, fostering empathy, reflection, and participatory engagement.

Music videos (MVs) offer new storytelling opportunities for songs and give fans in music-related fandoms a new medium to engage.However, the visual-forward and interpretive nature of MVs means they are not accessible to all fans.We introduce MVAuLT, a browser extension for authoring creative alternative text (alt text) for MVs.While alt text is typically an informational description of an individual static image, we apply it to video through sequential MV screenshots for which users can batch-write interpretive alt text that considers narrative context.We designed MVAuLT to minimize friction and maintain narrative coherence in alt text authoring.Through this work, we offer a novel consideration of alt text as both interpretive and informational, a new framework for multi-modal MV accessibility, and a lens of alt text as a participatory storytelling practice.

Representational forms are central to how we explore, communicate, and learn. Yet, they can be challenging to engage with as designers because they vary across disciplines, cultures, and communities. In this paper, we describe our analysis of a dance and computing learning environment through the lens of distributed cognition to examine how representations and processing of information across people and systems impacted the learning process. We analyzed video and audio data from three workshops of dance and STEM instructors learning about, creating with, and co-designing computing activities with danceON—a creative computing platform that supports coding animations over dance videos. We identified the ways that the instructors used their bodies as a shared point of negotiation while co-creating dance artifacts, the participatory role of danceON within the sensemaking process, the ways that the instructors interpreted and translated representations across physical and digital spaces, and the impact of the instructors’ collaborative interactions to their sensemaking.

Tangible programming languages (TPL) involve physical objects, often interlocking blocks, that represent computer programming elements. Users connect TPL blocks in logical chains to construct code that typically controls the behavior of another device. Designed for young children, they offer a playful and embodied approach to computer science education. While these systems can effectively teach basic programming concepts, TPL code lacks transferability and expressivity, which limits the types of problems that learners can engage with. Our work explores how designing for the multimodality of TPLs can support greater complexity in programming concepts, a smoother transition to advanced programming settings, and enhanced learner expression. We present touchBase, a TPL that leverages concepts in physical computing and principles of Gestalt psychology to support a culturally-sustaining approach to CS learning design.

Navigating new traffic patterns can be challenging for everyone, but it poses particular difficulties for individuals who are blind or visually impaired (BVI). With the recent introduction of roundabouts in intersection design in the United States, many BVI individuals tend to be unfamiliar with them. Orientation and Mobility (O&M) specialists have been teaching their clients to cross traditional intersections for decades leveraging rectilinear geometry and the predictable rhythm of vehicular and pedestrian traffic to ensure safe street crossing. Conventional training methods for crossing intersections do not directly translate to roundabout navigation since they present unique challenges due to the continuous flow of traffic, complex layouts, and the absence of predictable auditory cues. We propose the development and integration of 3D-printed tactile maps into roundabout navigation training tools to address these challenges and provide tactile educational materials that are portable, durable, lightweight, and informative. Through iterative modifications based on feedback from an O&M specialist, we refined the tactile maps to improve usability and conceptual understanding of roundabout intersections. Our work highlights the potential of 3D-printed tactile maps to empower BVI individuals to confidently and independently navigate roundabout intersections.