Modalities of Regulation in Sustainable HCI: Rethinking the Role of Design in Shaping Sustainable Behaviours and SocietyThere have been repeated calls for more ecological approaches to Sustainable HCI, and for the inclusion of the sociopolitical, structural, historical, and geographical aspects that shape technology-mediated practices of sustainability. Contributing to this discourse, and drawing from scholarship on Law and IT, this paper explores how the law, technology design, market mechanisms, and social norms enable and constrain behaviours – that is, how they regulate them. We use these modalities to discuss two digital technologies: a gig-work platform mediating practices of waste transportation, and an eco-visualisation platform scraping sustainability reports of publicly listed companies. The analysis expands on the set of dynamics that characterise the relations between these practices of sustainability, technology design, and regulation. We conclude by discussing the relevance of this conceptualisation for HCI, specifically in defining the roles of designers as regulators, and regarding design for sustainability as constituted through varying entanglements of these modalities.2026CRChiara Rossitto et al.Stockholm UniversitySustainable HCIEcological Design & Green ComputingVolunteer Coordination & Crowdsourced Disaster ReliefCHI
When Things Don’t Go As Planned with Digital Contraception.We present a qualitative interview study that examines what happens when things do not go as planned with digital contraception. Through an analysis of 27 interviews with ongoing users of digital contraception at the time of the study, we convey participants’ accounts of their experiences regarding unplanned pregnancies or use of emergency contraception to avoid an unplanned pregnancy. Our analysis considers participants' sense-making processes, and notably how they attended to questions of risk and responsibility. Finally, we depict how these participants came to continue using digital contraception after these experiences. Our study connects to ongoing conversations on technological failures in personal informatics and safety-critical systems. We emphasise that failure and success should not be used as a binary classification of long-term users' relationships with self-tracking technology, which are intimate and critical. Rather, the sustained relation with an intimate technology is composed by several `failures' which are interpreted, acted upon, and, ultimately, overcome.2026CBCristina Bosco et al.Indiana University BloomingtonHealth Self-TrackingBehavior Change & Reflection TechnologyPrivacy & Data Ownership in Self-TrackingCHI
Misalignments between Privacy Claims and Privacy Policies in Smart Sex ToysWe present a content analysis of the privacy policy documentation and product descriptions from 146 smart sex toys across fourteen brands. We examine marketing narratives, policy accessibility, and disclosure completeness. We contribute an empirical illustration of a disregard for data privacy considerations in product descriptions and vague references to data privacy in privacy policy documentation. Among available privacy policy documentation, critical data storage and transmission details were frequently omitted or ambiguous, leading to misalignment with privacy claims in marketing materials. Our findings highlight inadequate transparency in the industry, paralleling issues in broader IoT systems and FemTech products and services. We underscore the need for HCI researchers, designers, and practitioners to address the structural inefficiency of policy compliance, the need to elevate privacy as an essential feature in products that collect and store sensitive and intimate data, and the stakes of privacy in the context of digital intimacy.2026XSXiaofei Sun et al.Stockholm UniversityPrivacy by Design & User ControlIoT Device PrivacySex & Intimate TechnologyCHI
Vibe Coding Entanglements – Repositioning Boundaries of Intention, Authorship, and Responsibility in Programming with Generative AIVibe Coding is conceptualised as a co-constituted form of programming through which humans and AI tools engage in the mutual shaping of a piece of code. Using design provocations in the form of three different programming assistants, we examine how intentions, control, and outcomes emerge through mutual shaping between programmers, AI-tools, code, and visual sketches. The analysis reveals a set of interrelated themes that foreground the tensions that emerge in participants’ interactions with the programming assistants. A set of design configurations is identified in relation to how these programming processes unfold. We use this to outline how vibe coding can be understood as a decentered form of programming that emphasises the mutual co-constitution and shifting boundaries among humans and AI. We argue that this suggests a reconfiguration of how AI-based programming is understood - emphasising the evolving, co-creative interactions in which intention and control are mutually shaped.2026JTJakob Tholander et al.Stockholm UniversityGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Human-LLM CollaborationAI-Assisted Decision-Making & AutomationCHI
Ethical Encounters in Design Practice: A Framework Grounded in Practitioner ExperienceThis paper presents a framework of ethical encounters in design practice, grounded in 98 accounts of practitioners' experiences with ethics in their work. While HCI and design scholarship have produced a growing body of empirical work on design ethics, less attention has been given to concept-building informed by practice. Building on practice-oriented design ethics research in HCI, we define ethical encounters as practitioner-identified situations that expose tensions and value-laden decisions, emerging from the situated realities of day-to-day design work. Our analysis reveals three key dimensions of these encounters: the perceived issues, the actions taken to navigate them, and the new capacities emerging through them. Our analysis also considers how these dimensions play out differently across project phases. The framework offers a shared language and practical guidance for understanding and engaging with ethical challenges, and it contributes by framing ethical encounters as generative for relationships, ideas, and directions in HCI and design practice.2026GÖGizem Öz et al.Aarhus UniversityTechnology Ethics & Critical HCIParticipatory DesignUser Research Methods (Interviews, Surveys, Observation)CHI
Aesthetics of Felt AsymmetryOur bodies mediate every interaction with technology, yet—as soma design and feminist HCI remind us—the body is not a neutral canvas. We introduce and examine felt asymmetries—somaesthetic experiences of difference in the body—as a site for generative and critical engagement in interaction design. Through an autobiographical design exploration, and a series of somatic explorations with nine designers including individual inquiries and workshops, we sensitised to, articulated, and shared personal experiences of asymmetry. We draw from these explorations to contribute: (1) Opening a design space exploring the aesthetics of felt asymmetries; (2) Reflections on engaging with asymmetry in design, e.g. as a design material, an estrangement activity or doorway into intimate experience; (3) Considerations for creating technologies that resonate with, rather than erase, the asymmetries of lived experience. We argue that bodily asymmetries are not only to be accommodated in design, but embraced as aesthetic resources—sources of joy, tension, and creativity.2026AHAlice C Haynes et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyTechnology Ethics & Critical HCIParticipatory DesignPrototyping & User TestingCHI
(Computer) Vision in Action: Comparing Remote Sighted Assistance and a Multimodal Voice Agent in Inspection Sequences Does human–AI assistance unfold in the same way as human–human assistance? This research explores what can be learned from the expertise of blind individuals and sighted volunteers to inform the design of multimodal voice agents and address the enduring challenge of proactivity. Drawing on granular analysis of two representative fragments from a larger corpus, we contrast the practices co-produced by an experienced human remote sighted assistant and a blind participant—as they collaborate to find a stain on a blanket over the phone—with those achieved when the same participant worked with a multimodal voice agent on the same task, a few moments earlier. This comparison enables us to specify precisely which fundamental proactive practices the agent did not enact in situ. We conclude that, so long as multimodal voice agents cannot produce environmentally occasioned vision-based actions, they will lack a key resource relied upon by human remote sighted assistants.2026DRDamien Rudaz et al.University of CopenhagenIntelligent Voice Assistants (Alexa, Siri, etc.)Voice AccessibilityCHI
Ecological Systems Theory for Studying and Designing Menstrual TechnologiesMenstrual experiences are shaped by many different stakeholders, entities, and the broader socio-cultural context, or in other words, the ecological systems surrounding a menstruator. We explore what it means to take an ecological approach in studying and designing menstrual technologies. We translated and adapted Ecological Systems Theory (EST) for menstrual wellbeing and packaged the outcome in the form of a socio-ecological Canvas, accompanied by written examples and a set of prompts to facilitate engagement. We invited ten experts to engage with the Canvas in reflective workshops, which informed its further refinement. These sessions highlighted the Canvas' generative value, fostering critical reflection on how design choices are shaped by and ripple across layers of influence. With this translational research, we invite HCI researchers and practitioners to critically reflect on the ecologies they study and design for, envisioning both aspired versions of existing realities and realities that do not exist yet.2026ATAnupriya Tuli et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyReproductive & Women's HealthInclusive DesignTechnology Ethics & Critical HCICHI
Walking with robots: Video analysis of human-robot interactions in transit spacesThe proliferation of robots in public spaces necessitates a deeper understanding of how these robots can interact with those they share the space with. In this paper, we present findings from video analysis of publicly deployed cleaning robots in a transit space—a major commercial airport, using their navigational troubles as a tool to document what robots currently lack in interactional competence. We demonstrate that these robots, while technically proficient, can disrupt the social order of a space due to their inability to understand core aspects of human movement: mutual adjustment to others, the significance of understanding social groups, and the purpose of different locations. In discussion we argue for exploring a new design space of movement: socially-aware movement. By developing strong concepts that treat movement as an interactional and collaborative accomplishment, we can create systems that better integrate into the everyday rhythms of public life.2026BBBarry Brown et al.Stockholm UniversitySocial Robot InteractionHuman-Robot Collaboration (HRC)Teleoperation & TelepresenceCHI
Shared Use of Intimate Technology: A Large-Scale Qualitative Study on the Use of Natural Cycles as a Digital ContraceptiveWe present a large-scale, qualitative interview study that examines how an intimate technology within reproductive health comes to be chosen and trusted as a mode of contraception and how its use is shared between partners. We conducted 133 semi-structured interviews with \textit{primary users} of Natural Cycles, focusing specifically on its use as \textit{a digital contraceptive}. Our interpretive analysis, first, sheds light on perceptions of risks and benefits, along with how, and by whom, the decision to adopt Natural Cycles got made. Second, we discuss participants' and their partners' gradual development of trust in the system, and how this intertwines with interpersonal trust. Third, we consider the shared use of Natural Cycles, including partner involvement in temperature tracking, the sharing of intimate data, and navigating specific choices and risks regarding sex and contraception. We make a primarily empirical contribution to Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) research on shared uses of technology and the sharing of intimate data, and highlight avenues for future work to foster understanding of intimate technologies and their shared use in relational settings.2025ALAiri Lampinen et al.Women & GenderCSCW
The Collaborative Work of Stewardship in Waste Management in Multi-tenant Apartment BuildingsThis paper examines the collaborative work of residents, housing associations, and property owners, in a multi-apartment housing complex, to manage household waste. Framed within the feminist ecological perspective of digital environmental stewardship - that is, how diverse actors, motivations, and capacities producing care for the environment that can be digitally mediated - we unpack how the many actors involved work together to keep waste in place, maintain the local waste system, and call on `responsibility' as a means to produce sustainable actions and accountability. We frame these practices of waste management within the mundane work of sociotechnical innovation. Borrowing from Jackson's notion of repair work, we weave together an argument for the novel and valuable contribution to sustainability research of CSCW approaches grounded in the everyday contingent emergencies of environmental care. We argue for approaches to sustainability that reflect the work to maintain sustainability ––not just produce it-- and the `good enough', a locally and reflexively produced equilibrium between maintenance and repair, which can frame the design of sociotechnical interventions mediating practices of waste management.2025CRChiara Rossitto et al.Infrastructure StudiesCSCW
Designing for Secondary Users of Intimate TechnologiesDigital contraceptives are intimate technologies that support their users, and their partners, in preventing pregnancy. These technologies rely on basal body temperature data to predict ovulation and calculate a fertile window, where there is a risk of pregnancy if partners have unprotected sex. Although their use is shared and relational, these technologies are mainly designed for a primary user — the person who can become pregnant. We turn our attention to secondary users of digital contraception (i.e., sexual partners), specifically, Natural Cycles. We investigate how secondary users are designed for and how primary users imagine them to be. We contribute empirical insights on how secondary users are and are not involved in digital contraception and conclude with three design proposals describing how digital contraception tools could be designed to involve secondary users. We discuss how designing for secondary users of intimate technologies requires balancing their potential as co-users and adversaries.2025AOAlejandra Gómez Ortega et al.Reproductive & Women's HealthEmpowerment of Marginalized GroupsDIS
Let’s Talk Menopause: Promoting Intergenerational Dialogue about Menopause through DesignMenopause is an important life transition characterised by physiological, emotional, and social changes. It is surrounded by stigma and taboo. Thus, conversations about menopause are often rare, even among family members, and people often don’t know what to expect from menopause. We leverage design and collaborative making to promote (intergenerational) communication about menopause, between mothers and daughters, and between members of a broader audience. We describe a collaborative Research through Design process where we collaborated with six mother-daughter dyads to create material representations capturing and describing their diverse menopause experiences. Iterating on these representations, we designed and exhibited 5 interactive artifacts at Dutch Design Week 2024. We contribute with empirical findings on plural experiences around menopause, present the five artifacts built upon these experiences, and discuss the importance of pluralizing narratives around menopause through design.2025DODaisy O'Neill et al.Empowerment of Marginalized GroupsDesign FictionDIS
Making Intimate Technologies TogetherFeminist research highlights the urgent need to challenge the oppressive design of commercial intimate technologies, particularly how the FemTech industry restricts access to intimate bodily knowledge through paywalls and proprietary systems. Yet, for decades, women and marginalized communities have turned to Do-It-Yourself (DIY) or 'hacking' practices to reclaim control over their own gynecology and intimate health, addressing gaps often ignored by medical research and healthcare. Inspired by visual themes from these movements, this pictorial critically explores how designers and HCI researchers might advance DIY approaches to intimate technologies. We exemplify this with reflections from a series of workshops on handmade intimate sensors, and draw out the joyful potential of collaborative making—building alliances, destigmatizing intimate health, and using craft to subvert gender stereotypes. We discuss matters of safety when making together and contribute to ongoing work on building feminist makerspaces.2025NWNadia Campo Woytuk et al.LGBTQ+ Community Technology DesignParticipatory DesignFood Culture & Food InteractionDIS
Yarn as a Means to Give Form to Entanglements of Regulation, Design and Sustainability PracticesWhen designing with and for complex sustainability processes like waste management, it is crucial to understand digital technologies as entangled with broader systemic factors, including physical infrastructures and regulatory instruments. Within the specific case of organic household waste management, this pictorial aims at making such relations visible through design methods. We have used yarn to represent the different threads of these entanglements and defined specific configurations: tangles, knots, loose ends, and frayed threads. We discuss how the design practice of giving form to these entanglements can make complex relations between digital technology, infrastructures, and regulatory instruments more visible and actionable for HCI, and explore how digital technologies are – and can be – made to work within them.2025ARAnton Poikolainen Rosén et al.Sustainable HCIEcological Design & Green ComputingDIS
The Body as Its Own Best Sensor - An Autoethnographic Study of the Sensitivities of the Body in Long-Distance RunningLong-distance running is introduced as an example of a sport-specific somatic and embodied data practice that may expand the repertoire of techniques and methods of embodied interaction design and provide insights into the design of technologies for running specifically and sports technology more broadly. Through an autobiographic study of everyday experiences of running and the use of a basic sports watch, a number of themes revolving around the multi-sensoriality of running are introduced. Reflections on the intimate coupling of digital data, running skills, and somatic sensing in the practice of 'doing endurance running' are provided in order to conceptualise the specific sensitivities, perceptions and experiences of body-data-environment entanglements that emerge during long-distance running. By unpacking a number of such sports-specific skills and data practices involved in long-distance running, six themes for novel perspectives on the design of sports technology are discussed.2025JTJakob TholanderStockholm UniversityHuman Pose & Activity RecognitionFitness Tracking & Physical Activity MonitoringBiosensors & Physiological MonitoringCHI
I-Card: A Generative AI-Supported Intelligent Design Method Card DeckA design method card deck helps designers understand and provoke thinking by presenting each method in a simple format and allow designers to switch between methods seamlessly by maintaining the same simple format across the deck. However, recent observations have shown designers hesitate to use a card deck due to the lack of support, while other tools have provided identified support with generative AI. Through a formative study, we identified the specific support designers need when applying the design method cards and intentions in integrating generative AI. Accordingly, we developed the intelligent design method card deck, I-Card, which integrates generative AI to provide applicable design methods, design knowledge and data support, and interactive and dynamic support. A user study demonstrates that I-Card improved the design efficiency and applicability by offering personalized guidance, enhanced decision-making with comprehensive data generation and provided more design inspiration via interactive support.2025LCLiuqing Chen et al.Zhejiang University, College of Computer Science and TechnologyGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Prototyping & User TestingCHI
Unlocking the Power of Speech: Game-Based Accent and Oral Communication Training for Immigrant English Language Learners via Large Language ModelsWith the growing number of immigrants globally, language barriers have become a significant challenge, particularly for those entering English-speaking countries. Traditional language learning methods often fail to provide sufficient practical opportunities, especially for diverse accents. To address this, we introduce Language Urban Odyssey (LUO), a serious game that leverages large language models (LLMs) and game-based learning to offer a low-cost, accessible virtual environment for English learners. Built on the Minecraft platform, LUO offers real-time speech interaction with NPCs of various accents, supported by multi-modal feedback. A controlled study (N=30) showed improvements in speaking abilities, accent comprehension, and emotional confidence. Our findings suggest that LUO provides a scalable, immersive platform that bridges gaps in language learning for immigrants facing cultural and social challenges.2025YZYijun Zhao et al.Zhejiang University; Hangzhou Chuanhe Machinery Co., Ltd.Conversational ChatbotsHuman-LLM CollaborationSerious & Functional GamesCHI
Friction in Processual Ethics: Reconfiguring Ethical Relations in Interdisciplinary ResearchFriction -- disagreement and breakdown -- is an omnipresent aspect of conducting interdisciplinary research yet is rarely presented in formal research reporting. We analyse a performance-led research process where professional dancers with different disabilities explored how to improvise with an industrial robot, with the support of an interdisciplinary team of human-computer and human-robot interaction researchers. We focus on one site of friction in our research process; how to dance -- safely -- with robots? By presenting our research process, we exemplify the different ways in which we encountered this friction and how we reconfigured the research process around it. We contribute five ways in which we arrived at a generative ethical outcome, which may be helpful in productively engaging with friction in interdisciplinary collaboration.2025RGRachael Garrett et al.KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Media Technology and Interaction DesignHuman-Robot Collaboration (HRC)Technology Ethics & Critical HCIDance & Body Movement ComputingCHI
CharacterCritique: Supporting Children's Development of Critical Thinking through Multi-Agent Interaction in Story ReadingCritical thinking plays a crucial role in children's education for fostering cognitive development, cultivating independent thinking habits, and enhancing their ability to problem-solving. However, the current educational model places greater emphasis on children's understanding of factual knowledge, with relatively less focus on developing critical thinking skills. We present CharacterCritique to support children's critical thinking based on the theory of inquiry dialogue. This tool uses an analytical story as the medium, it encourages dialogue between parents, children, and story characters. Through this process, children continuously engage in interpretation, analysis, explanation, evaluation, and regulation, all of which promote critical thinking and decision-making. Such interaction is supported by multiple agents. In our between-subjects study (n=32), we compared CharacterCritique to traditional storybook reading. The results show that CharacterCritique is more effective at sparking children's interest in deeper discussions. It also better fosters critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and creates more opportunities for parent-child dialogue.2025ZWZizhen Wang et al.Zhejiang UniversityCollaborative Learning & Peer TeachingSTEM Education & Science CommunicationCHI