Mobile navigation applications are good at providing efficient navigation instructions. However, they currently lack the capability to facilitate free exploration. Therefore, users are limited to encountering only places close to the shortest paths, neglecting places that could diversify navigation and foster spatial learning. To better understand what characteristics places have that users like to explore we collected a dataset with a mobile application that encourages free exploration using gamification (n = 39, t = 455 days, 106.50 𝑘𝑚2). Using OpenStreetMap data, we found highly frequented freely explored places comprising office, educational, retail, touristic and commercial places. When comparing the characteristics of the freely explored places to those along the shortest path, those categories were different. Based on our findings, we propose that implementing more diverse routing algorithms can enhance navigation diversity, improve spatial learning, and optimise the utilisation of urban spaces for travel.

As foldable mobile devices grow in popularity, they often feature two screens—a smaller cover screen and a larger inside one, accessible by unfolding the device vertically or horizontally. Despite this, most mobile applications, including map apps, have yet to be fully optimised for these interfaces. This paper explores adaptations of mobile map applications for foldable mobile devices to enhance usability and user satisfaction. In a user study with nine participants, we identify key aspects of mobile map app design for exploration and navigation scenarios. Our results show that in navigation scenarios, screens should provide complementary information, with turn-by-turn instructions on one screen and a route overview on the other. Furthermore, our results show that map views should maintain map alignment and orientation across screens during exploration to prevent disorientation. Ultimately, we find that the success of mobile maps on foldable devices rests on the role and importance of context and user preference in mobile map interactions. Foldable devices offer a valuable chance of improving the mobile map experience on mobile devices if designers find useful ways to make use of the two screens and the increase screen real estate.

Online grocery shopping offers time-saving efficiency and convenience, yet many people still prefer physical shopping for trust in food freshness and other sensory experiences. While online stores are evolving to offer new user experiences, such as supporting eco-friendly or ethical shopping, the desktop and mobile platforms limit the engagement of such experiences. Virtual Reality (VR) presents an opportunity to create immersive and rich grocery shopping experiences, closing the gap between the convenience of online shopping and the sensory experience of physical shopping. Yet, designing VR grocery stores remains relatively unexplored. In this paper, we investigate the long-term potential of VR grocery stores, focusing on meeting individual needs. Through a co-design workshop, participants brainstormed the design of product displays, in-shop navigation, shopping carts, social shopping, among others. Based on our findings, we provide design recommendations for future VR grocery shopping to develop meaningful alternatives to existing shopping experiences for groceries.

Advances in natural language processing and understanding have led to a rapid growth in the popularity of conversational user interfaces (CUIs). While CUIs introduce novel benefits, they also yield risks that may exploit people’s trust. Although research looking at unethical design deployed through graphical user interfaces (GUIs) established a thorough understanding of so-called dark patterns, there is a need to continue this discourse within the CUI community to understand potentially problematic interactions. Addressing this gap, we interviewed 27 participants from three cohorts: researchers, practitioners, and frequent users of CUIs. Applying thematic analysis, we construct five themes reflecting each cohort’s insights about ethical design challenges and introduce the CUI Expectation Cycle, bridging system capabilities and user expectations while considering each theme’s ethical caveats. This research aims to inform future development of CUIs to consider ethical constraints while adopting a human-centred approach.

Interest in unethical user interfaces has grown in HCI over recent years, with researchers identifying malicious design strategies referred to as “dark patterns”. While such strategies have been described in numerous domains, we lack a thorough understanding of how they operate in social networking services (SNSs). Pivoting towards regulations against such practices, we address this gap by offering novel insights into the types of dark patterns deployed in SNSs and people’s ability to recognise them across four widely used mobile SNS applications. Following a cognitive walkthrough, experts (N = 6) could identify instances of dark patterns in all four SNSs, including co-occurrences. Based on the results, we designed a novel rating procedure for evaluating the malice of interfaces. Our evaluation shows that regular users (N = 193) could differentiate between interfaces featuring dark patterns and those without. Such rating procedures could support policymakers’ current moves to regulate deceptive and manipulative designs in online interfaces.

Research in HCI has shown a growing interest in unethical design practices across numerous domains, often referred to as “dark patterns”. There is, however, a gap in related literature regarding social networking services (SNSs). In this context, studies emphasise a lack of users’ self-determination regarding control over personal data and time spent on SNSs. We collected over 16 hours of screen recordings from Facebook’s, Instagram’s, TikTok’s, and Twitter’s mobile applications to understand how dark patterns manifest in these SNSs. For this task, we turned towards HCI experts to mitigate possible difficulties of non-expert participants in recognising dark patterns, as prior studies have noticed. Supported by the recordings, two authors of this paper conducted a thematic analysis based on previously described taxonomies, manually classifying the recorded material while delivering two key findings: We observed which instances occur in SNSs and identified two strategies — engaging and governing — with five dark patterns undiscovered before.

Getting from A to B has never been easier. Mobile navigation systems allow universal access to spatial information. However, following detailed route instructions leads to a decrease in spatial exploration behaviour and therefore a reduction of spatial knowledge acquisition. Facilitating spatial exploration has the potential to counteract this negative effect. This paper investigates how we can support people in re-discovering their surroundings. We designed and evaluated a mobile application to promote spatial exploration through gamification. The app requires active exploration behaviour to uncover a map. Gamification elements such as quests, statistics, and social competition are used to encourage exploration. We conducted an exploratory field study (n = 22). Our results show a significant increase in familiarity with the environment and a variety of exploration patterns. Based on our findings, we propose modifications to current mapping applications by limiting the visible cartographic elements and alternating routes to improve spatial knowledge acquisition.

System administrators (sysadmins) are key to keeping computer networks safe. As networks grow in size and complexity, partial workflow automation with the help of AI has been introduced to assist them. However, AI-aided tools often lack transparency, which may lead to the sysadmin’s reluctance to use the new software, slower response time in case of a security breach, and increasing errors. Related work suggests that the concept of social transparency (ST), when applied to the IT-security context, enables peer support and could provide the missing knowledge to the user facilitating explainability of the system and improving human-AI trust. In this paper, we investigate the profile of sysadmins and confirm that ST can indeed yield benefits for them but only when coupled with relevant contextual information and only when it adheres to the sysadmins’ quality standards. Finally, we contribute design recommendations for incorporating ST into the existing workflows of sysadmins.

Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly being used to promote mindfulness practice. However, the impact of virtual and multimodal interactive spaces on mindfulness practice and presence is still underexplored. To address this gap, we conducted a mixed-method user study (N=12). We explored the impact of various multimodal feedback, in particular tactile feedback (passive haptic feedback by artificial grass) and auditory feedback (footstep sound) at feet level on both mindfulness and presence. We conducted semi-structured interviews and collected quantitative data through three validated questionnaires (SMS, IPQ, WSPQ). We found a significant effect of passive haptic feedback on presence and mindfulness. Tactile feedback improves the focus on the self, facilitates spatial presence and increases involvement. Auditory feedback did not significantly affect presence or mindfulness. While ambient sound was perceived as beneficial for presence, footstep sound subjectively disrupted both presence and mindfulness. Based on our results, we derive design recommendations for multimodal VR applications supporting mindfulness practice.

Physical activity is entering the virtual realm. Zwift is an at-home cycling system that is enjoying increasing popularity, yet the specifics of the experience of a virtual cyclist have not been studied to date. Building virtual sports systems can make physical activity accessible to more diverse user groups. To understand how and why users engage in virtual cycling, we conducted n=22 interviews with Zwift users. Through charting the motivations behind using Zwift, we determined that it allowed users to engage in a range of cycling activities traditionally reserved for professional cyclists. Our work reports on key motivations and identifies five key strategies which Zwift uses to create an engaging virtual sports experience. Further, we discuss how Zwift creates a world of virtual professionalism. Our findings offer a structured understanding of the experience of Zwift which can be used to inspire the design of future virtual amateur sports systems.

As-the-crow-flies (ATCF) navigation is an alternative to turn-by-turn navigation for cyclists utilizing the least-angle strategy by providing the beeline to the destination. However, past research found weaknesses (e.g., running into dead ends) affecting the user experience. In this paper, we investigate how the street network attributes to the experience of the navigation method. Using a feature importance analysis and comparison of different city types across 1633 cities, we analyze how ATCF navigation fits different environments. The perfect ACTF-city has long streets, many options to turn at decision points, few dead ends, and a grid-like structure. Cities well suited are primarily found in East Asia and North America. Furthermore, we find that previous ATCF studies were most likely conducted in Western Europe, which features the least suited street networks for the navigation method. We present design implications for future ATCF implementations and argue for diverse study locations in future research.

Cycling is on the rise as a relevant alternative to car-based mobility and even though there are mobile applications specifically designed for cyclists to support this development, many still face unresolved challenges in terms of safe user interaction with complex data while riding. We present the design, development, and evaluation of VeloCity - an application for reporting traffic incidents and structures relevant to cyclists. In a case study, we compared its' three input methods (touch, in-app speech recognition, the voice assistant of the operating system) to evaluate which attributes make for safe interaction while cycling. We found that participants prefer to use the voice assistant over the other modalities as it was least distracting due to its hands- and eyes-free interaction design. Furthermore, they chose short commands over conversational phrases. Based on our results, we present five guidelines for designing voice user interfaces for cyclists and argue for moving away from touch-based interfaces in this domain, which still make up most of the applied interaction techniques today.

Millions of people use mobile map applications like Google Maps on a regular basis. However, despite these applications' ubiquity, the literature contains very little information about how these applications are used in the real world. As such, many researchers and practitioners seeking to improve mobile map applications may not be able to identify important challenges and may miss major opportunities for innovation. To address this paucity of usage information, we collected and analysed data during unsupervised usage of Google Maps by replacing the standard application with a wrapped version called MapRecorder. In two studies we recorded data from locals and tourists using our application and collected over 580 minutes of actual application usage from 34 users, spanning 555 unique sessions. We identify typical usage scenarios, observe a large amount of map exploration and elucidate generalisable interaction patterns.

Visual as-the-crow-flies (ATCF) navigation methods are an increasingly popular alternative to existing turn-by-turn (TBT) navigation for cyclists. To better understand how people use them in everyday navigation and how they cope with the novel navigation method in challenging situations, we studied two main issues posed by ATCF navigation: knowing whether one is on the right route to their destination and knowing whether a turn leads into a dead end or detour. To investigate these two problems, we compared visual ATCF navigation against (1) TBT navigation and (2) an improved ATCF+ navigation system in two successive studies. We found that users encountered problems riding in the opposite direction to the destination and were often turning around as a result using the ATCF method. Using colour cues in the ATCF user interface we were able to reinforce correct route choices. Additionally, we found that unsuccessful route progression negatively correlates with user confidence.

Mobile navigation apps are among the most used mobile applications and are often used as a baseline to evaluate new mobile navigation technologies in field studies. As field studies often introduce external factors that are hard to control for, we investigate how pedestrian navigation methods can be evaluated in virtual reality (VR). We present a study comparing navigation methods in real life (RL) and VR to evaluate if VR environments are a viable alternative to RL environments when it comes to testing these. In a series of studies, participants navigated a real and a virtual environment using a paper map and a navigation app on a smartphone. We measured the differences in navigation performance, task load and spatial knowledge acquisition between RL and VR. From these we formulate guidelines for the improvement of pedestrian navigation systems in VR like improved legibility for small screen devices. We furthermore discuss appropriate low-cost and low-space VR-locomotion techniques and discuss more controllable locomotion techniques.