The science and technology world is stuck in an unresolved debate: can technologies ever be conscious? While this question dominates discussions in neuropsychology and cognitive science, it is ultimately unproductive for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). As users perceive a level of consciousness in commercially available systems, there is a need to understand the factors that lead to a perception of consciousness so that we account for consciousness in designing interactive systems. To that end, we systematically develop the Precursors of Perceived Consciousness in Interactive Systems Scale—a validated instrument for quantifying the design qualities that contribute to perceived consciousness in a technology. Through reporting on a structured scale development process, we show how the PreCoS enables studies of technologies potentially perceived as conscious. PreCoS is the first step towards the systematic study and design of systems which responsibly integrate perceived consciousness: fostering positive, engaging experiences while recognising and mitigating ethical risks such as overtrust, bias, or psychological discomfort.

Despite the wide adoption of wearables, electronics incorporated into jewellery remain a niche. Interactive jewellery offers a compelling design space, encompassing values of traditional jewellery and its socio-cultural roles. However, creating interactive artefacts that bear symbolic and social meaning remains challenging. We investigate how these roles can be leveraged and re-interpreted using modern technology. Utilising traditional jewellery’s socio-cultural roles as a framework, we look at interactive jewellery in participatory workshops with N = 16 design practitioners. Informed by our results, we created a prototype interactive necklace, focusing on Identity role and conducted four case studies to probe the wearer and bystander perceptions on interactive jewellery in different social contexts. Based on our findings, we contribute four directions for interactive jewellery designers.

Smart homes are evolving into complex ecosystems, but their inner workings often remain opaque to users, limiting their ability to troubleshoot and customise the technology. The distributed and hidden components make it challenging for users to understand how these systems work. To design interfaces that enable intuitive troubleshooting for non-experts, we first need a clear understanding of how they form mental models and instinctively diagnose issues. We conducted three iterative vignette studies with realistic smart home scenarios to explore how users perceive interconnectivity in smart home ecosystems and how system complexity impacts their troubleshooting approaches. We identified common smart home topologies envisioned by users and categorised their diagnostic strategies. Our findings show that while users view their smart homes as hierarchical, their mental models are often incomplete, and current interfaces favour functional models, hiding the connections in the system. We provide seven actionable takeaways for designing interfaces that improve user understanding and troubleshooting capabilities.

This paper analyses Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) literature reviews to provide a clear conceptual basis for authors, reviewers, and readers. HCI is multidisciplinary and various types of literature reviews exist, from systematic to critical reviews in the style of essays. Yet, there is insufficient consensus of what to expect of literature reviews in HCI. Thus, a shared understanding of literature reviews and clear terminology is needed to plan, evaluate, and use literature reviews, and to further improve review methodology. We analysed 189 literature reviews published at all SIGCHI conferences and ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) up until August 2022. We report on the main dimensions of variation: (i) contribution types and topics; and (ii) structure and methodologies applied. We identify gaps and trends to inform future meta work in HCI and provide a starting point on how to move towards a more comprehensive terminology system of literature reviews in HCI.

Over the last decade, smart home technology (SHT) has become an integral part of modern households. As a result, smart home ecosystems blend with daily social life, appropriated and integrated into personalised domestic environments. The lived experience of inhabiting smart home ecosystems, however, is not yet understood, resulting in a mismatch between ecosystem design and inhabitants’ needs. Drawing on contextual inquiry methods, we conducted an explorative interview study (N=20) with SHT users in their homes. Our thematic analysis reveals how users shape their smart home ecosystems (SHEs), considering social relationships at home, perceived ownership of SHTs, and expected key benefits. Notably, our analysis shows that household members consciously choose ‘their’ level of SHT interconnectedness, reflecting social, spatial and functional affinities between systems. Following our findings, we formulate five implications for designing future SHTs. Our work contributes insights on the dynamics and appropriation of smart home ecosystems by their inhabitants.

While the neck-worn garments are an integral part of fashion around the world, few interactive systems utilize them as form factors. As neck is located beyond the natural field of view, it offers wide opportunities for subtle haptic interaction. While tactile acuity of the neck is well studied in clinical research, these results are difficult to apply for interactive systems. In this paper, we present HaptiCollar - a research prototype for studying tactile acuity of the neck. We conducted two experimental studies comparing different numbers of actuators on the neck, in two contextual scenarios simulating stationary and mobile use. We found that pattern actuations are recognised more effectively than single-point vibrations, independently of use scenario. Our analysis shows that introducing a primary cognitive task and motion does not impair recognition accuracy, while highly increasing the cognitive load. Our work contributes empirical insights for designing haptic interaction for future neck-worn interfaces.

Conducting gesture elicitation studies (GES) in personal spaces such as smart homes is crucial to achieving high ecological validity of elicited gestures. However, supervising such studies is considered intrusive and negatively affects the results' quality. The alternative is to conduct unsupervised GES under similar conditions, but more side-by-side comparisons documenting the similarities and differences between both approaches are necessary. Consequently, we need more data describing the preferred approach and whether the differences or similarities in the results are so significant to cause concern. This research distributed a DIY observation kit, which 30 participants assembled and used to propose gestures for controlling elements in a smart living room using a pillow's surface, with and without supervision. Our results show that gestures from supervised and unsupervised studies differ in quantity and max-consensus but not in gesture Agreement Scores. Our results also show that participants preferred conducting unsupervised studies but proposed fewer gesture sets in this condition.

Abstract Remote health monitoring (RHM) provides various benefits to older adults, but its use is still limited. Remote monitoring may help in avoiding emergencies and prolong users’ independence. To understand how to design systems which support older adults, we studied a large-scale remote health monitoring system. The system used fitness-grade smartwatches to monitor the vital signs of more than 2000 users constantly. To probe the lived experience of using RHM, we conducted an explorative interview study (N = 41) with operators, carers, and users of the RHM system. Our thematic analysis reveals that personalisation of care ecology is crucial for developing users’ confidence and trust in the system. We found that participation in RHM may catalyse positive changes in older adults’ lifestyles. Based on our findings, we formulate five recommendations for designing future health monitoring systems. Our work contributes to insights into the lived experience and stakeholder ecology of health monitoring systems.

A rapid shift towards online education witnessed in recent years, re-shaped the necessary skill set of a modern teacher. Delivery of classes in remote and hybrid format became an integral part of education. However, providing feedback on lecturing technique at scale still remains a challenge. We present the design and implementation of Speecoach – an online tool for lecturers that analyses the audio recordings of lectures and provides feedback concerning their style of speech delivery. Our system analyses the pitch, speech rate and volume dynamics of a recording and compares it against the reference model based on a data set of professional-grade talks. Our tool facilitates teachers’ self-development by providing contextualised feedback on the parameters of their speech and comparing it to different forms of public addresses. Our work contributes a prototype tool facilitating public speaking and envisions future developments and studies in life-long learning of education professionals.

Human perception lacks the capabilities to accurately assess distance. The recent Covid-19 pandemic outbreak rendered this ability particularly important. Augmenting our sense of distance can help maintain safe separation from others when required. To explore how systems can help users maintain physical distance, we designed, implemented and evaluated Gapeau—a head-mounted system for augmenting the sense of distance. Our system uses proximity sensors and thermal sensing to detect and measure the distance to other people. We conducted a validation protocol, an experiment, in which we compared different feedback modalities, and an in-the-wild study to evaluate Gapeau’s performance and suitability for use in social contexts. We found that our system enabled users to more accurately determine whether they were maintaining a safe distance from others. Vibration and auditory feedback were found most effective and usable. Gapeau was perceived as socially acceptable. Our work contributes insights for augmented sensing systems with social relevance.

For an improved user experience in smart homes, there is a need to enhance the current interaction methods by embedding control interfaces in everyday household objects. Embedded interfaces will allow smart home inhabitants to control their surroundings using more familiar interaction concepts and techniques than those imposed by appliance manufacturers and vendors. However, to achieve this state, technology designers need to understand the behaviours and attitudes of end users when they interact with different elements of a smart home using everyday objects as control media. We present a set of exploratory investigations focused on understanding the behaviours and attitudes of end-users as they control elements of a fictional smart home. Accordingly, we investigate how two highly different locations and form factors -- a table surface and a couch pillow -- impact user expectations about gestures used to control various smart home features. To this end, we conducted explorative elicitation with 14 participants. Our results highlight that an object's physicality significantly impacts the types of gestures users perceive as intuitive and that deforming an interface has the potential to bring playfulness to interaction. Following our observations, we formulated four design implications for conceiving interaction modalities with deformable interfaces for domestic environments.

Reflection is an often addressed design goal in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. An increasing number of artefacts for reflection have been developed in recent years. However, evaluating if and how an interactive technology helps a user reflect is still complex. This makes it difficult to compare artefacts (or prototypes) for reflection, impeding future design efforts. To address this issue, we developed the Technology-Supported Reflection Inventory (TSRI), which is a scale that evaluates how effectively a system supports reflection. We first created a list of possible scale items based on past work in defining reflection. The items were then reviewed by experts. Next, we performed exploratory factor analysis to reduce the scale to its final length of nine items. Subsequently, we confirmed test-retest validity of our instrument, as well as its construct validity. The TSRI enables researchers and practitioners to compare prototypes designed to support reflection.

Due to multimodal approach, the virtual reality experiences become increasingly more immersive and entertaining. New control modalities, such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), enable the players to engage in the game with both their bodies and minds. In our work, we investigate the influence of employing BCI-driven mechanics on player’s in-game immersion. We designed and implemented an escape room-themed game which employed player’s mental states of focus and relaxation as input for selected game mechanisms. Through a between-subject user study, we found that controlling the game with mental states enhances the in-game immersion and attracts the player’s engagement. At the same time, using BCIs did not impose additional cognitive workload. Our work contributes qualitative insights on psychocognitive effects of using BCIs in gaming and describing immersive gaming experiences.

Although robots have become an everyday companion for medical personnel in various domains, few solutions have been crafted to facilitate therapy of psychological disorders. Treatment of phobias is one of the areas which could highly benefit from introducing device-mediated interactions. To address the challenges of arachnophobia therapy, we designed SpiderHand - robot-based system for quasi-direct interaction with unpleasant creatures. We first identified the challenges of cognitive-behavioral therapy through interviews with a professional therapist and elicited functional requirements through experimental inquiry. Then, we designed and implemented an operational research prototype of motion-controlled robotic manipulator including remote touch features. We contribute a complete implementation toolkit for constructing DIY robot manipulator and provide insights on designing interactive robots for psychological therapy.

Blending theoretical knowledge with applicable skills is one of the most important challenges in modern higher education, especially in STEM areas. Therefore, new approaches emerge to develop educational capabilities. We aim to facilitate classes in experimental chemistry to enhance reflection and attitude towards the subject. We present ARchemist - laboratory task management tool, designed to enhance students' self-awareness and control over performed hands-on exercises. ARchemist takes advantage of mobile augmented reality solutions to provide in-situ guidance for laboratory procedures. We contribute a research prototype designed in cooperation with students and lecturers and present reflections from early evaluation in real-case class scenario. Results show that interactive guidance tools may successfully boost students' confidence and contribute to more efficient and organized classroom workflow.

While the sport of golf offers unique opportunities for people of all ages to be active, it also requires mastering complex movements before it can be fully enjoyed. Extensive training is required to begin achieving any success, which may demotivate prospective players away from the sport. To aid beginner golfers and enable them to practice without supervision, we designed Subtletee---a system that enhances the bodily awareness of golfers by providing feedback on the position of their feet and elbows. We first identified key problems golf beginners face through expert interviews. We then evaluated different feedback modalities for Subtletee---visual, tactile and auditory in an experiment with 20 beginner golfers. We found that providing proprioception feedback increased the users' performance on the driving range, with tactile feedback providing the most benefits. Our work provides insights on delivering feedback during physical activity that requires high precision movements.

This paper presents an approach towards aiding the rehabilitation exercises in amblyopia care using mixed reality technology.The Lazy Eye Syndrome is tackled here through an interactive holographic application implemented on Microsoft HoloLens device.It provides an entertaining way for the handicapped eye workout as it is based on a simple game of skill.The game is designed in a way that the majority of awarerequiring objects and events are displayed for the cured eye only, remaining the other eye responsible for background and additional information perception.Such disproportion forces an increased activity of the lazy eye, which is to perform more movements and impose the brain to process the sight more extensively.The proposed prototype is an extension of a novel approach towards treating amblyopia, employing software-based stimulation techniques, which could be easily adapted to various age and ability correlated needs of the user, with minimal requirements regarding the exercise setting and preparation.

This paper investigates the potential of using an electromyographic gesture recognition armband as an everyday companion for operating mobile devices in awareness-requiring contexts and suggests the fields, in which further developments are advisable.The Myo armband from Thalmic Labs is a fully functional motion controller, based on gesture recognition through EMG muscle sensing.The device has been applied for audio control, and the usability and relevance of the gestural interaction have been examined.Participants were asked to operate on a recording while cycling, and a reference group performed similar task in leisure context.The gathered answers suggest decent potential of gestural interaction manner for environments requiring high visual attention, eg.driving or cycling.However, the current state of the solution acts in too sensitive way, as processing numerous misinterpreted gestures highly decreases the system's usability.Moreover, gestures employed are perceived as too apparent and intrusive for social interactions.