Abstract Human–computer interaction (HCI) scholars and others have advocated treating design as inevitably implicating political and ethical sensitivities. A subset of those considerations has been the attempt to deal with the often conflicting interests of stakeholders through ‘value sensitivity’. Drawing on value-sensitive design (VSD) as an inspiration, we emphasize the necessary way in which the evolving contextuality of the values in question shaped our research collaborations. This paper presents a retrospective analysis of two case studies from long-term user-centered design projects in fields with explicit ambitions for value-driven HCI research and concerned with emancipation and empowerment. The first, a 3-year project, entailed an explicit commitment to feminist policy initiatives with female participants that aimed at fostering values of gender equality. The second, a 4-year project, dealt with HCI research with and for older adults, where a multimodal mobility platform for ridesharing and public transportation was developed. We show how we translated general commitment into pragmatic, co-design research goals and infrastructures. The long-term ambition of our endeavors and integration of a broad stakeholder base were vital to support this. We additionally provide insights into how our approach offered safe spaces for trustful collaboration and flexibility when adapting methods to specific contexts.

Autonomous driving enables new mobility concepts such as shared-autonomous services. Although significant re-search has been done on passenger-car interaction, work on passenger interaction with robo-taxis is still rare. In this paper, we tackle the question of how passengers experience robo-taxis as a service in real-life settings to inform the interaction design. We conducted a Wizard of Oz study with an electric vehicle where the driver was hidden from the passenger to simulate the service experience of a robo-taxi. 10 participants had the opportunity to use the simulated shared-autonomous service in real-life situations for one week. By the week's end, 33 rides were completed and recorded on video. Also, we flanked the study conducting interviews before and after with all participants. The findings provided insights into four design themes that could inform the service design of robo-taxis along the different stages including hailing, pick-up, travel, and drop-off.

Ageing societies and the associated pressure on the care systems are major drivers for new developments in socially assistive robotics. To understand better the real-world potential of robot-based assistance, we undertook a 10-week case study in a care home involving groups of residents, caregivers and managers as stakeholders. We identified both, enablers and barriers to the potential implementation of robot systems. The study employed the robot platform Pepper, which was deployed with a view to understanding better multi-domain interventions with a robot supporting physical activation, cognitive training and social facilitation. We employed the robot in a group setting in a care facility over the course of 10 weeks and 20 sessions, observing how stakeholders, including residents and caregivers, appropriated, adapted to, and perceived the robot. We also conducted interviews with 11 residents and caregivers. Our results indicate that the residents were positively engaged in the training sessions that were moderated by the robot. The study revealed that such humanoid robots can work in a care home but that there is a moderating person needed, that is in control of the robot.

We present the results of a design case study focusing on supporting the daily transportation of elderly in Germany. We conceptualized, developed and studied the appropriation of a transportation information system intended to ease switching between different transportation modes. Based on a literature review and a context study with 21 interviews we explored routinized transport mode usage and barriers when switching between modes. Iteratively, we co-designed a transport platform accessible via a website, a mobile app, and an iTV app. We further looked at the appropriation of the platform into the daily lives of 19 persons. Studying the appropriation highlighted different factors that facilitate the adoption of alternative transport options. The factors included reducing uncertainty, complementing transport information with context information (e.g. weather) and providing informational access based on the user's preferences as well as fitting in with the situational needs (activity related).

Alternative mobility modes for older adults are increasingly important for economic, ecological and social reasons. A promising option is ridesharing, defined as use of the same vehicle by two or more people traveling to a common destination. In particular, mobile computer supported ridesharing provides a promising way to enlarge older adults' mobility choices in addition to private driving and public transportation options. In order to understand the opportunities and obstacles of ridesharing from the point of view of elderly people, we conducted an interview study in order to examining ridesharing experiences. It turns out that "mobile independence" and "decisional autonomy" are key issues for mobile wellbeing. This partially conflicts with common ridesharing concepts. Hence, we further analyze older adults' strategies dealing with these conflicts and show that these strategies offer departure points for the design ridesharing solutions, which are better suited to the demands of older adults.