Can’t See Nature for the Trees: A Literature Review about Virtual Nature for Well-BeingHuman well-being is inseparable from environmental context, with nature long recognized for its restorative potential. As everyday life becomes increasingly mediated by technology, access to nature is reconfigured through digital media. Virtual nature is often proposed as a tool for supporting well-being, yet the assumptions guiding its design and evaluation remain under-examined. This paper presents a systematic review of 124 empirical studies on virtual nature and well-being. Results generally trend toward clear positive effects on well-being; however, the current state-of-the-art remains considerably limited. Research is dominated by short-term, passive interventions grounded in stress reduction and attention restoration theories, prioritizing affective and physiological outcomes over cognitive or relational dimensions. We conclude by outlining four design inspirations that reposition virtual nature within HCI, shifting attention from short-term relief toward more diverse forms of human–nature interaction including cultural, participatory, and more-than-human perspectives.2026BKBakhtawar Aurangzeb Khan et al.Tampere UniversityImmersion & Presence ResearchHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)Sustainable HCICHI
Which is Warmer, the Cake or the Oven? Unlocking Thermal Conductivity for Virtual Reality InteractionThermal feedback has the potential to enrich immersive interaction, yet its role in material discrimination remains underexplored. We designed and evaluated a conductivity model that simulates transient heating and cooling profiles based on material properties of an object. Thirty-eight participants used a Meta Quest 3 headset and WEART TouchDIVER Pro gloves to classify virtual blocks (metal, glass, wood) under three conditions: visual-thermal congruence, thermal-only, and visual-thermal incongruence. Although the results show accuracy decreased when congruence decreased, the objects were rated consistently following their material conductivity properties (Metal > Glass > Wood), supporting the validity of the conductivity model. Haptic Experience (HX) ratings of realism, involvement, and harmony remained stable across tasks, while sorting difficulty was lowest under congruent and highest under incongruent visuals. Physiological baselines did affect performance. Our findings demonstrate that conductivity-based thermal rendering enables perceptually reliable material differences in VR, informing design and application of thermal haptics.2026DADevbrat Anuragi et al.Tampere UniversityMid-Air Haptics (Ultrasonic)Immersion & Presence ResearchAffective Feedback & Emotion Regulation InterfacesCHI
Scaling Care-fully: Uncovering Labours of Care When Scaling Participatory Design in the Public SectorParticipatory design (PD) is readily applied in HCI to address complex sociotechnical challenges. However, PD faces ethical and practical concerns when it comes to scaling, i.e., extending its depth, scope or span. We extend the current understandings of scaling PD by applying feminist care ethics through Joan Tronto's framework of attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness and solidarity. Pursuing care when scaling participatory activities simultaneously requires acknowledging various backstage processes and the affective labour that typically remains invisible. Drawing from our experiences of diverse PD endeavours with migrant communities and a Finnish municipality, we use reflexive discussions to recognise 13 labours encountered while scaling our PD approaches with care in mind. We discuss how these introduce new costs and challenges and elaborate on their salience in PD work. Finally, we provide strategies for care-full scaling, which we define as primarily an affective, but also political process that requires continuous reflexivity.2026RŠRūta Šerpytytė et al.Tampere UniversityParticipatory DesignTechnology Ethics & Critical HCIDeveloping Countries & HCI for Development (HCI4D)CHI
Roaming with a Robot: Analyzing the Experiences and Understanding the Dimensions of Designing Human-Robot Walking InteractionsWalking is an essential aspect of daily life, while walking with companions offers numerous benefits. Recently developed mobile robots, through their ability to navigate challenging terrains, open new possibilities for outdoor walking companionship. Yet, little is known about how such companions shape the human walking experience. In this study, nine participants walked outdoors with a robot and later reflected on their walking experience in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis showed that the robot influenced how participants related to it, how they managed proximity, and how their attention, control, and social presence were affected. Building on these insights, we identify five key dimensions of human–robot walking: attunement, awareness mediation, proxemics, social perception, and playful curiosity. These dimensions capture how walking with robots transforms this ordinary activity into a co-experienced practice and additionally offer concrete design implications for designing and creating more meaningful, comfortable, and socially attuned human-robot walking interactions.2026EAEshtiak Ahmed et al.Tampere UniversitySocial Robot InteractionHuman-Robot Collaboration (HRC)Human Pose & Activity RecognitionCHI
SYNAPSE: A Sociotechnical Taxonomy of Bioadaptive MediaWith advances in biosensing and artificial intelligence, we are seeing fast developments of recursive biocybernetic closed-loop systems. These media technologies adapt the content in real-time based on users’ psychophysiological input, with the goal of modulating users' affective responses. However, existing research primarily focuses on technical design aspects. Building on Science, Technology, and Society, media, and HCI studies, we developed a critically grounded sociotechnical taxonomy of bioadaptive media with three interdependent dimensions: System Objective, Feedback Logic, and User Agency. By analysing these dimensions on artifact, organisational, and socio-political/ontological levels using our reflexive tool, we can interrogate whose perspectives and epistemologies these systems prioritise. We illustrate the application of the taxonomy through a critical evaluation of three speculative case studies, namely immersive journalism, collaborative VR, and mind-altering. Finally, we identify and discuss normalisation of affect; agency, power, and politics; and reflexivity and pluralism in design as core issues.2026MBMila Bujic et al.Tampere UniversityEmotion Recognition & DetectionAffective Feedback & Emotion Regulation InterfacesAffective Human-Computer DialogueCHI
“Standing Out While Blending In:” Learning from Experts about Designing Fashionable Wearable ExperiencesThis study examines fashionability in computational fashion wearables (CFWs) through the reflective accounts of ten academic researcher–designers. While wearables are often studied for technical functions, fashionability, a key to adoption and sustained use, has received less attention. Using semi-structured interviews, we captured designers’ reflections-on-action as they revisited their own prototypes and surfaced forms of tacit, practice-based knowledge that are difficult to access through conventional user studies. Reflexive thematic analysis generated five themes: Desirable Friction, Contextual and Sub-Cultural Relevance, Symbiotic Sensory Envelopes, Narrative Social Performance, and Adaptive Longevity and Circularity. These themes reposition CFWs not as seamless devices but as expressive, situated, and evolving interfaces that mediate sensory, social, and cultural experience. Our findings contribute to fashion theory and HCI by showing how designers mobilize friction, context, sensory depth, and temporality as design resources. We conclude with actionable directions for embodied prototyping, multisensory calibration, narrative staging, and modular longevity.2026SJShiva Jabari et al.Tampere UniversityHaptic WearablesShape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsContext-Aware ComputingCHI
DiaryPlay: AI-Assisted Creation of Interactive Story Vignettes for Everyday StorytellingAn interactive vignette is a visual storytelling medium that lets the audience role-play a character and interact with non-player characters (NPCs) and the digital environment. Yet, the authoring complexity of interactive vignettes has obstructed their adoption in everyday storytelling, which builds on immediacy. We introduce DiaryPlay, an AI-assisted authoring system that generates interactive vignettes from text stories. The Authoring Component visually elicits three core elements (environment, characters, events) through automation and author refinement. The Viewing Component delivers an interactive story to the audience using an LLM-powered Controlled Divergence Module, which allows divergent player and NPC behaviors within the boundaries defined by the author's intended story. A technical evaluation shows that the Controlled Divergence module generates believable NPC activities based on both character persona and storyline. A user study demonstrates that DiaryPlay enables low-effort authoring of interactive vignettes for everyday storytelling while providing engaging viewing experiences and conveying the core story message.2026JXJiangnan Xu et al.Tampere UniversityGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Role-Playing & Narrative GamesAI-Assisted Creative WritingCHI
Towards Immersive Mixed Reality Street Play: Understanding Co-located Bodily Play with See-through Head-Mounted Displays in Public SpacesWe are witnessing an upcoming paradigm shift as Mixed Reality (MR) See-through Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) become ubiquitous, with use shifting from controlled, private settings to spontaneous, public ones. While location-based pervasive mobile games like Pokémon GO have achieved success, the embodied interaction of MRHMDs is moving us from phone-based screen-touching gameplay to MRHMD-enabled co-located bodily play. Major tech companies are continuously releasing visionary videos where urban streets transform into vast MR playgrounds—imagine Harry Potter-style wizard duels on city streets. However, few researchers have conducted real-world, in-the-wild studies of such Immersive Mixed Reality Street Play (IMRSP) in public spaces in anticipation of a near future with prevalent MRHMDs. Through empirical studies on a series of research-through-design game probes called Multiplayer Omnipresent Fighting Arena (MOFA), we gain an initial understanding of this under-explored area by identifying the social implications, challenges, and opportunities of this new paradigm.2025BHBotao Amber Hu et al.Perspectives on VRCSCW
Are We in This Together? Investigating the Relationship of Avatar Customisation, Social Presence, and Communication Outcomes in Collaborative Embodied Virtual RealitySocial virtual reality (VR) enables embodied interactions with others within 3D environments. There has been a growing amount of research on avatar appearance and its influence on social presence and user behaviour, including communicative outcomes. As the focus has often been on the effects of avatar-related intrapersonal processes, it would be necessary to shed more light on the influence of interpersonal processes behind dynamic avatar-mediated interaction. This research aimed to investigate the effects of avatar customisation on social presence and perceived relational messages during a collaborative puzzle task in immersive social VR. The strictly controlled between-subject laboratory experiment (N = 50) with two body-tracked avatar conditions (Custom vs. Assigned) was conducted. Results do not indicate that avatar customisation has a significant effect on social presence or relational communication in the collaborative task-related context. However, it is worth noting that participants in both conditions presented markedly high social presence scores and rated partners’ relational messages positively, which might have introduced a ceiling effect diminishing any potential difference in social presence between the conditions.2025AMAnna-Leena Macey et al.Collaborating in Virtual EnvironmentsCSCW
How Can Interactive Technology Help Us to Experience Joy With(in) the Forest? Towards a Taxonomy of Tech for Joyful Human-Forest InteractionsThis paper presents intermediate-level knowledge in the form of a taxonomy that highlights 12 different ways in which interactive tech might support forest-related experiences that are joyful for humans. It can inspire and provide direction for designs that aim to enrich the experiential texture of forests. The taxonomy stemmed from a reflexive analysis of 104 speculative ideas produced during a year-long co-design process, where we co-experienced and creatively engaged a diverse range forests and forest-related activities with 250+ forest-goers with varied backgrounds and sensitivities. Given that breadth of forests and populations involved, our work foregrounds a rich set of design directions that set an actionable early frame for creating tech that supports joyful human-forest interplays – one that we hope will be extended and consolidated in future research, ours and others'.2025FBFerran Altarriba Bertran et al.Tampere University, Gamification Group; Universitat de Girona, Escola Universitària ERAMHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)CHI
Human-Nature Relationships through Video Games: An Exploration of Players’ Sense-MakingTechnology profoundly mediates how people feel, think and engage with nature. Here, video games are projected to become one of the most important mediums to facilitate digital human-nature interaction. In this paper, we explore how 16 players make sense of nature-in-games. Drawing from their own lived experiences, we 1) interviewed them, and 2) invited them to show us games that exemplify their conceptualisation of nature-in-games. We thematically analyse these "show-and-tell" conversations to construct three inductive themes: We arrive at an understanding that nature-in-games experiences are pluralistic, contested happenings. Participants positioned digital nature 1) as a relational other to respect, 2) as a space to reflect on humankind's current practices towards nature and 3) as a tool to escape from the lack of nature in their everyday lives. Based on our insights, we sketch out design inspirations for people wishing to augment, challenge and expand nature-in-games.2025VSVelvet Spors et al.Tampere University, Gamification GroupGame UX & Player BehaviorRole-Playing & Narrative GamesHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)CHI
User Motivations to Participate in Crowdsourcing and Contribute User-generated Content on Location-based Media: A Literature ReviewLocation-based media applications such as Google Maps, Strava and Pokémon GO together have more than a billion monthly active users, and popular social media such as Snapchat and Instagram now also feature map-based content. All these media products rely on user-generated content as a core element of their service, but there is a lack of synthesis on the users' motivations to contribute this data to the platform providers. In this study, we performed a literature review to uncover users' motivations to participate in location-based crowdsourcing and contribute shared content on these platforms. Among our findings, we show that spatial and temporal aspects, social effects, technical elements, motivational mechanisms, practical value offered to the contributors and individual differences need to be considered in motivating users to contribute shared content. We present recommendations for designers, suggest which terminology to use around this topic and propose an agenda for future research.2025SLSamuli Laato et al.University of Turku, Turku School of Economics; Tampere University , Gamification GroupCrowdsourcing Task Design & Quality ControlCitizen Science & Crowdsourced DataCommunity Engagement & Civic TechnologyCHI
Generative AI and News Consumption: Design Fictions and Critical AnalysisThe emergence of Generative AI features in news applications may radically change news consumption and challenge journalistic practices. To explore the future potentials and risks of this understudied area, we created six design fictions depicting scenarios such as virtual companions delivering news summaries to the user, AI providing context to news topics, and content being transformed into other formats on demand. The fictions, discussed with a multi-disciplinary group of experts, enabled a critical examination of the diverse ethical, societal, and journalistic implications of AI shaping this everyday activity. The discussions raised several concerns, suggesting that such consumer-oriented AI applications can clash with journalistic values and processes. These include fears that neither consumers nor AI could successfully balance engagement, objectivity, and truth, leading to growing detachment from shared understanding. We offer critical insights into the potential long-term effects to guide design efforts in this emerging application area of GenAI.2025JKJoel Kiskola et al.Tampere University, Faculty of Information Technology and CommunicationGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)Content Moderation & Platform GovernanceDesign FictionCHI
Trust and Visual Focus in Automated Vehicles: A Comparative Study of Beginner and Experienced DriversThis study investigated the relationship between trust in automation, gaze behavior, and driving performance in beginner and experienced drivers during a simulated driving session. Twenty participants completed a 17-minute drive across three conditions: manual driving, non-critical automated driving, and critical automated driving, with a non-driving-related task (NDRT) introduced between conditions to assess visual attention. Driving performance was evaluated using the Standard Deviation of Lateral Position (SDLP), and eye-tracking data in terms of mean gaze duration (MGD). While both groups demonstrated increased trust in the automated system post-session, beginners showed greater lateral position variability in critical conditions, suggesting over-reliance on automation. Eye-tracking analysis revealed significant changes in glance behavior across driving conditions, particularly in response to critical events. These findings highlight how driver experience shapes interactions with automated systems, emphasizing the importance of trust calibration in automated driving scenarios.2025RSRicha Singh et al.Tampere UniversityAutomated Driving Interface & Takeover DesignEye Tracking & Gaze InteractionCHI
Seeding a Repository of Methods-To-Be for Nature-Entangled Design ResearchWe share an emergent repository of nature-entangled methods-to-be shared, experimented with, and discussed during a conference workshop. We present them in-use, as they are in formation. We do not seek to theorise or even fully articulate these methods-to-be. Rather, to make them approachable and actionable for others by showing them not fully polished. By doing this, we advocate for increased transparency in the difficulties of creating new methods, techniques, tools, and approaches. Our contribution is threefold: we provide 1) an annotated portfolio of methods-to-be; 2) illustrative examples of how cross-pollination of these methods can enrich their situated use; and 3) a discussion of ways to further articulate the methods and deepen reflection on their roles in nature-entangled design processes.2024OTOscar Tomico et al.Participatory DesignHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)DIS
Traumatizing or Just Annoying? Unveiling the Spectrum of Gamer Toxicity in the StarCraft II CommunityThe aim of this work is to explore the forms of toxic behaviour that players encounter in competitive multiplayer real-time strategy (RTS) games. To this end, we carried out ethnographic observations and player interviews within the popular RTS game StarCraft II, and approached the data inductively, leading us to discover ten categories of toxic behaviour. While the harmfulness of toxic actions can be obtained as a product of severity and frequency, players' assessment of the severity of toxic behaviors was contextualized by, (1) directly observed; (2) background; and (3) extraneous factors. Following our empirical findings, we derive a conceptual model for differentiating toxicity from mildly annoying and more severe behaviors. The discovered view of toxicity challenges the prevailing paradigm of treating players' toxic behavior as a monolithic construct with a linear intensity spectrum. Instead, we advocate for a granular approach that acknowledges the underlying dynamics behind negative online behaviors.2024SLSamuli Laato et al.Tampere UniversitySocial Platform Design & User BehaviorCyberbullying & Online HarassmentCHI
Ecological In/Congruence: Becoming Sensitised to Nature in Video Games through Humanistic First-Person ResearchThe ongoing ecological crisis is the current biggest threat for our species. As we attempt to address the situation through policy, interventions, and education, we urgently need to understand how people encounter and relate to nature: As it is, in the world, and portrayed through different media. As an exemplary medium facilitating digital nature, this paper focuses on video games. Using first-person research methods, we report on the first author sensitising themselves to nature as a ubiquitous feature, theme, and actor in video games. They played eight nature-focused games for three months. Through auto-ethnography, close reading and "noticing'' (after Tsing), we make sense of their experiences using the humanistic concept of ecological (in)congruence: We draw out the relational gap and potential meanings between real nature and its virtual equivalent. Based on these insights, we outline two design impulses for how the HCI community might approach nature—within games and beyond.2024VSVelvet Spors et al.Tampere UniversityGame UX & Player BehaviorSustainable HCIHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)CHI
Communication, Collaboration, and Coordination in a Co-located Shared Augmented Reality Game: Perspectives From Deaf and Hard of Hearing PeopleCo-located collaborative shared augmented reality (CS-AR) environments have gained considerable research attention, mainly focusing on design, implementation, accuracy, and usability. Yet, a gap persists in our understanding regarding the accessibility and inclusivity of such environments for diverse user groups, such as deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people. To investigate this domain, we used Urban Legends, a multiplayer game in a co-located CS-AR setting. We conducted a user study followed by one-on-one interviews with 17 DHH participants. Our findings revealed the usage of multimodal communication (verbal and non-verbal) before and during the game, impacting the amount of collaboration among participants and how their coordination with AR components, their surroundings, and other participants improved throughout the rounds. We utilize our data to propose design enhancements, including onscreen visuals and speech-to-text transcription, centered on participant perspectives and our analysis.2024SLSanzida Mojib Luna et al.Rochester Institute of TechnologySocial & Collaborative VRDeaf & Hard-of-Hearing Support (Captions, Sign Language, Vibration)Accessible GamingCHI
Exploring the association between engagement with location-based game features and getting inspired about environmental issues and natureToday, millions worldwide play popular location-based games (LBGs) such as Pokémon GO. LBGs are designed to be played outdoors, and past research has shown that they can incentivize players to travel to nature. To further explore this nature-connection, we investigated via a mixed-methods approach the connections between engagement with LBGs, inspiration and environmental awareness as follows. First, we identified relevant gamification features in Study 1. Based on the insights, we built a survey that we sent to Pokémon GO players (N=311) in Study 2. The results showed that (a) social networking features, reminders, and virtual objects were the most relevant gamification features to explain inspired by playing Pokémon GO and that (b) inspired to outdoor engagement partially mediated the relationship between inspired by playing Pokémon GO and environmental awareness. These results warrant further investigations into whether LBGs could motivate pro-environment attitudes and inspire people to care for nature.2024BKBastian Kordyaka et al.University of BremenSerious & Functional GamesSustainable HCIHuman-Nature Relationships (More-than-Human Design)CHI
Developing a Conversational Interface for an ACT-based Online Program: Understanding Adolescents’ Expectations of Conversational StyleA preventative approach is crucial for adolescents’ mental well-being, as problems often arise at a young age. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based intervention approach used to enhance psychological flexibility, a central factor in adolescents’ mental well-being. Conversational interfaces are recently being experimented with in mental health promotion. Their conversational style plays a significant role in creating meaningful experiences to achieve positive intervention outcomes. In this study, our objective was to understand adolescents’ expectations of the conversational style of a text-based virtual coach being developed as part of an ACT-based online program to support intervention engagement. We evaluated eight conversation scripts by collecting qualitative and quantitative data through an online survey from over 200 adolescents. Our findings provide insights on preferred conversational interface features regarding conversational style, including language use, artificiality, and empathy in the domain of adolescent mental well-being.2023JPJohanna Peltola et al.Conversational ChatbotsMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesCUI