The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) in knowledge workflows raises questions about its impact on critical thinking skills and practices.We survey 319 knowledge workers to investigate 1) when and how they perceive the enaction of critical thinking when using GenAI, and 2) when and why GenAI affects their effort to do so.Participants shared 936 first-hand examples of using GenAI in work tasks.Quantitatively, when considering both task-and user-specific factors, a user's task-specific self-confidence and confidence in GenAI are predictive of whether critical thinking is enacted and the effort of doing so in GenAI-assisted tasks.Specifically, higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking, while higher self-confidence is associated with more critical thinking.Qualitatively, GenAI shifts the nature of critical thinking toward information verification, response integration, and task stewardship.Our insights reveal new design challenges and opportunities for developing GenAI tools for knowledge work.

Sophisticated ubiquitous sensing systems are being used to measure motor ability in clinical settings. Intended to augment clinical decision-making, the interpretability of the machine-learning measurements underneath becomes critical to their use. We explore how visualization can support the interpretability of machine-learning measures through the case of Assess MS, a system to support the clinical assessment of Multiple Sclerosis. A substantial design challenge is to make visible the algorithm's decision-making process in a way that allows clinicians to integrate the algorithm's result into their own decision process. To this end, we present a series of design iterations that probe the challenges in supporting interpretability in a real-world system. The key contribution of this article is to illustrate that simply making visible the algorithmic decision-making process is not helpful in supporting clinicians in their own decision-making process. It disregards that people and algorithms make decisions in different ways. Instead, we propose that visualisation can provide context to algorithmic decision-making, rendering observable a range of internal workings of the algorithm from data quality issues to the web of relationships generated in the machine-learning process.

Touchscreens continue to advance including progress towards sensing fingers proximal to the display. We explore this emerging pre-touch modality via a self-capacitance touchscreen that can sense multiple fingers above a mobile device, as well as grip around the screen's edges. This capability opens up many possibilities for mobile interaction. For example, using pre-touch in an anticipatory role affords an "ad-lib interface" that fades in a different UI--appropriate to the context--as the user approaches one-handed with a thumb, two-handed with an index finger, or even with a pinch or two thumbs. Or we can interpret pre-touch in a retroactive manner that leverages the approach trajectory to discern whether the user made contact with a ballistic vs. a finely-targeted motion. Pre-touch also enables hybrid touch + hover gestures, such as selecting an icon with the thumb while bringing a second finger into range to invoke a context menu at a convenient location. Collectively these techniques illustrate how pre-touch sensing offers an intriguing new back-channel for mobile interaction.

Prototypes and prototyping have had a long and important history in the HCI community and have played a highly significant role in creating technology that is easier and more fulfilling to use. Yet, as focus in HCI is expanding to investigate complex matters of human relationships with technology over time in the intimate and contested contexts of everyday life, the notion of a 'prototype' may not be fully sufficient to support these kinds of inquiries. We propose the research product as an extension and evolution of the research prototype to support generative inquiries in this emerging research area. We articulate four interrelated qualities of research products inquiry-driven, finish, fit, and independent and draw on these qualities to describe and analyze five different yet related design research cases we have collectively conducted over the past six years. We conclude with a discussion of challenges and opportunities for crafting research products and the implications they suggest for future design-oriented HCI research.

Fully articulated hand tracking promises to enable fundamentally new interactions with virtual and augmented worlds, but the limited accuracy and efficiency of current systems has prevented widespread adoption. Today's dominant paradigm uses machine learning for initialization and recovery followed by iterative model-fitting optimization to achieve a detailed pose fit. We follow this paradigm, but make several changes to the model-fitting, namely using: (1) a more discriminative objective function; (2) a smooth-surface model that provides gradients for non-linear optimization; and (3) joint optimization over both the model pose and the correspondences between observed data points and the model surface. While each of these changes may actually increase the cost per fitting iteration, we find a compensating decrease in the number of iterations. Further, the wide basin of convergence means that fewer starting points are needed for successful model fitting. Our system runs in real-time on CPU only, which frees up the commonly over-burdened GPU for experience designers. The hand tracker is efficient enough to run on low-power devices such as tablets. We can track up to several meters from the camera to provide a large working volume for interaction, even using the noisy data from current-generation depth cameras. Quantitative assessments on standard datasets show that the new approach exceeds the state of the art in accuracy. Qualitative results take the form of live recordings of a range of interactive experiences enabled by this new approach.

We describe the design, implementation and deployment of Photobox, a domestic technology that prints four or five randomly selected photos from the owner's Flickr collection at random intervals each month. We deployed Photobox in three homes for fourteen months, to explore how the slow pace at which it operates could support experiences of anticipation and re-visitation of the past. Findings reveal changes in attitude toward the device, from frustration to eventual acceptance. Participants drew on the photos to reflect on past life events and reactions indicated a renewed interest for their Flickr collection. Photobox also provoked reflection on technology in and around the home. These findings suggest several opportunities, such as designing for anticipation, better supporting reflection on the past, and, more generally, expanding the slow technology research program within the HCI community.

It has been argued that technologies for 'memory' should be designed to support creativity and meaning building, rather than the passive capture of cues for remembering [25]. We report findings from a study inspired by this insight, in which older people made personal digital timelines using a new tool called Project Greenwich. We explore how the constraints of the timeline metaphor offer a framework for authoring, and examine how timelines can be used to underpin meaning building in relation to personal content. We highlight the importance of making, this being a vehicle for connecting with others in the present, and a potential means of emphasizing those elements of the past felt to be most salient when looking back.

Web-based technologies are often built to capitalize on the flexibility and fluidity that is supported by the internet, with the value of 'access anywhere' underpinning a blurring of boundaries across home and work. Yet the home is well known in HCI to have a unique set of qualities that can use-fully be drawn upon when designing to support domestic life. In this paper we ask what it means to design domestic web-connected technologies, placing the aesthetic and material properties intrinsic to the home and home life at the centre of our design exploration. We present three concepts that were selected and prototyped from a broader process of research-through-design: Tokens of Search provides tangible handles to web resources; Hole in Space connects the home intimately to a remote place; and Manhattan enables the tangible exploration of events in the community, putting the home at the centre. Discussions in the paper consider not only how aesthetics is articulated in the material and digital properties of the artefacts, but also how a consideration of the properties of the home can create a potentially new design space to explore.

For over 40 years the notion of the file, as devised by pioneers in the field of computing, has been the subject of much contention. Some have wanted to abandon the term altogether on the grounds that metaphors about files can confuse users and designers alike. More recently, the emergence of the 'cloud' has led some to suggest that the term is simply obsolescent. In this paper we want to suggest that, despite all these conceptual debates and changes in technology, the term file still remains central to systems architectures and to the concerns of users. Notwithstanding profound changes in what users do and technologies afford, we suggest that files continue to act as a cohering concept, something like a 'boundary object' between computer engineers and users. However, the effectiveness of this boundary object is now waning. There are increasing signs of slippage and muddle. Instead of throwing away the notion altogether, we propose that the definition of and use of files as a boundary object be reconstituted. New abstractions are needed, ones which reflect what users seek to do with their digital data, and which allow engineers to solve the networking, storage and data management problems that ensue when files move from the PC on to the networked world of today.

The movement crafter attempts to reconcile the pace of new technologies with traditional crafting activities that are performed as pastimes. The project explores concepts of quiet communication and technology hybrids and attempts to support crafting without making the craftsperson overly self-conscious of their practice.

In recent years the Web has evolved substantially, transforming from a place where we primarily find information to a place where we also leave, share and keep it. This presents a fresh set of challenges for the management of personal information, which include how to underpin greater awareness and more control over digital belongings and other personally meaningful content that is hosted online. In the study reported here, we follow up on research that suggests a sense of ownership and control can be reinforced by federating online content as a virtual, single store; we do this by conducting interviews with 14 individuals about their Web-based content. Participants were asked to give the researchers a tour of online content that is personally meaningful to them; to perform a search for themselves in order to uncover additional content; and to respond to a series of design envisionments. We examine whether there is any value in an integrated personal archive that would automatically update and serve firstly, as a source of information regarding the content within it (e.g. where it is stored, who has the rights to it), and secondly, as a resource for crafting personal artefacts such as scrapbooks, CVs and gifts for others. Our analysis leads us to reject the concept of a single archive. Instead, we present a framework of five different types of online content, each of which has separate implications for personal information management.

Over a decade ago Hallnäs and Redström's seminal article on Slow Technology [6] argued that the increasing availability of technology in environments outside of the workplace requires interaction design to be expanded from creating tools for making people's lives more efficient to creating technology that could be embedded in everyday environments over long periods of time. Since then, the Slow Technology design agenda has expanded to include issues such as (i) designing for slowness, solitude, and mental rest, (ii) designing interactive systems to be used across multiple generations and lifespans, and (iii) designing for slower, less consumptive lifestyles and practices. This workshop aims to advance the Slow Technology design program by exploring the various practical, methodological and theoretical motivations, challenges, and approaches implicated in doing research and design in this growing space.

We describe the design and implementation of Photobox, a device intended to be used over many years, which occasionally prints a randomly selected photo from the owner's Flickr collection inside of a wooden chest. We describe and reflect on how engaging in the design of this slow technology [5] led to some unexpected challenges and provoked us to re-think approaches to making technologies that are intended to be used over long time scales and which might act infrequently. We also reflect on how living with the device during the implementation phase led to unexpected insights. We conclude with implications for research and practice in the slow technology design space.

Bandwidth caps, a limit on the amount of data users can upload and download in a month, are common globally for both home and mobile Internet access. With caps, each bit of data consumed comes at a cost against a monthly quota or a running tab. Yet, relatively little work has considered the implications of this usage-based pricing model on the user experience. In this paper, we present results from a qualitative study of households living with bandwidth caps. Our findings suggest home users grapple with three uncertainties regarding their bandwidth usage: invisible balances, mysterious processes, and multiple users. We discuss how these uncertainties impact their usage and describe the potential for better tools to help monitor and manage data caps. We conclude that as a community we need to cater for users under Internet cost constraints.

This paper describes a field study of an interactive surface deployed in three family homes. The tabletop technology provides a central place where digital content, such as photos, can be easily archived, managed and viewed. The tabletop affords multi-touch input, allowing digital content to be sorted, triaged and interacted with using one or two-handed interactions. A physics-based simulation adds dynamics to digital content, providing users with rich ways of interacting that borrows from the real-world. The field study is one of the first of a surface computer within a domestic environment. Our goal is to uncover people's inter-actions, appropriations, perceptions and experiences with such technologies, exploring the potential barriers to use. Given these devices provide such a revolutionary shift in interaction, will people be able to engage with them in everyday life in the ways we intend? In answering this question, we hope to deepen our understanding of the design of such systems for home and consumer domains.

Material artifacts are passed down as a way of sustaining relationships and family history. However, new issues are emerging as families are increasingly left with the digital remains of their loved ones. We designed three devices to investigate how digital materials might be passed down, lived with and inherited in the future. We conducted in-home interviews with 8 families using the devices to provoke discussion about how technology might support (or complicate) their existing practices. Sessions revealed families desired to treat their archives in ways not fully supported by technology as well as potential tensions that could emerge. Findings are interpreted to detail design considerations for future work in this emerging space.

Artifacts play an important role as triggers for personal memory. They help in the recollection of past experience and in reminiscing about people, places, and times gone by. Of particular interest to us is one type of artifact, the heirloom, which may also have rich connections with memory, but often through the lens of the life of a deceased member of a family, or a friend. Issues of personal memory and heirlooms are complex, diverse, and subtle. In this article we describe a design case study investigating the role technology will play as part of the process of inheritance. We describe the process of translating fieldwork related to artifacts and heirlooms into a design space from which a broad set of themes, concepts and prototypes emerged. We describe the development of this space, its thematic arrangement, and finally a number of resultant artifact designs.

Examining developmental periods of the human lifespan has been a useful tradition for focusing HCI research (e.g., technologies for children or the elderly). In this paper, we identify the end of life as another period of the human lifespan that merits consideration by technology designers and researchers. This paper maps out current and future research in HCI at the end of life by first describing how this area raises questions concerning materiality and artifacts, social identities, temporality and methodologies. Having provided a description of the richness of this area, we then frame it against HCI traditions and practices in an orientation we term the lifespan-oriented approach. This paper maps early efforts in end of life research, structures and suggests areas for continued work, and situates the end of life among existing areas of HCI research.

In this paper we describe the development and realization of basic haptic design tools. A series of devices or setups allow designers and other stakeholders to adopt a hands-on approach to haptics, and ultimately develop a greater sensitivity and understanding of haptic concepts. By offering tangible manifestations that are relatively abstract and modular, designers can relate to, explore and discuss haptic interfaces and possible variations with greater ease and confidence.

As more technologies enter the home, householders are burdened with the task of digital housekeeping-managing and sharing digital resources like bandwidth. In response to this, we created and evaluated a domestic tool for bandwidth management called Home Watcher. Our field trial showed that when resource contention amongst different household members is made visible, people's understanding of bandwidth changes and household politics are revealed. In this paper, we describe the consequences of showing real time resource usage in a home, and how this varies depending on the social make up of the household.

While it can be a delicate and emotionally-laden topic, new technological trends compel us to confront a range of problems and issues about death and bereavement. This area presents complex challenges and the associated literature is extensive. In this paper we offer a way of slicing through several perspectives in the social sciences to see clearly a set of salient issues related to bereavement. Following this, we present a theoretical lens to provide a way of conceptualizing how the HCI community could begin to approach such issues. We then report field evidence from 11 in-depth interviews conducted with bereaved participants and apply the proposed lens to unpack key emergent problems and tensions. We conclude with a discussion on how the HCI design space might be sensitized to better support the social processes that unfold when bereavement occurs.

The Family Archive device is an interactive multi-touch tabletop technology with integrated capture facility for the archiving of sentimental artefacts and memorabilia. It was developed as a technology probe to help us open up current family archiving practices and to explore family archiving in situ. We detail the deployment and study of three of these devices in family homes and discuss how deploying a new, potentially disruptive, technology can foreground the social relations and organizing systems in domestic life. This in turn facilitates critical reflection on technology design.

This paper describes the rationale and design process for Shoebox, a "digital box" that combines the storage and display of digital images in the home in one unit. By combining these two functions in one, Shoebox attempts to bridge the divide between the location within a home where digital content is typically stored, and the means by which it can be put on display, as well as provide a form factor that encourages co-located sharing of images.

MOTIVATION: New developments in post-genomic technology now provide researchers with the data necessary to study regulatory processes in a holistic fashion at multiple levels of biological organization. One of the major challenges for the biologist is to integrate and interpret these vast data resources to gain a greater understanding of the structure and function of the molecular processes that mediate adaptive and cell cycle driven changes in gene expression. In order to achieve this biologists require new tools and techniques to allow pathway related data to be modelled and analysed as network structures, providing valuable insights which can then be validated and investigated in the laboratory. RESULTS: We propose a new technique for constructing and analysing qualitative models of genetic regulatory networks based on the Petri net formalism. We take as our starting point the Boolean network approach of treating genes as binary switches and develop a new Petri net model which uses logic minimization to automate the construction of compact qualitative models. Our approach addresses the shortcomings of Boolean networks by providing access to the wide range of existing Petri net analysis techniques and by using non-determinism to cope with incomplete and inconsistent data. The ideas we present are illustrated by a case study in which the genetic regulatory network controlling sporulation in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis is modelled and analysed. AVAILABILITY: The Petri net model construction tool and the data files for the B. subtilis sporulation case study are available at http://bioinf.ncl.ac.uk/gnapn.