ClayPhys: Towards Toolkits that Support Making Expressive Data PhysicalizationExisting toolkits for data physicalization prioritize ease of use and adoption by novices. This is often achieved by limiting the affordances of the materials used and constraining design possibilities. The result is limited opportunities for creating expressive physicalizations. To address this limitation and to better understand how to support the creation process of expressive physicalizations, we created \textit{ClayPhys}, a low-fidelity data physicalization toolkit designed to encourage making expressive data physicalizations. Our toolkit consists of clay, clay work tools, instruction and documentation handbooks, and warm-up activities that scaffold the design process. We studied the use of \textit{ClayPhys} in a one-day workshop with nine expert participants. From our analysis of participants’ created data physicalizations, we observed that using \textit{ClayPhys}, participants could map data to different visual and physical variables, and that their designs incorporated various data interaction styles. Informed by our findings, we discuss implications for designing higher-fidelity expressive data physicalization toolkits.2026BBBahare Bakhtiari et al.University of VictoriaData PhysicalizationCustomizable & Personalized ObjectsCHI
LLM-based Embodied Conversational Agent for Reducing Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in Social VRForeign language speaking anxiety (FLSA) poses a major challenge for English-language learners, suppressing confidence and triggering a cycle of avoidance that hinders language acquisition. To address this, we explored the use of LLM-based embodied conversational agents (ECA) in social virtual reality (VR), which provide personalized support and multimodal interaction in a contextualized environment. We developed three English-language learning scenarios in social VR and conducted a five-day mixed-methods study where participants (N=20) engaged in daily 30-minute role-play practice with an LLM-based ECA to evaluate the efficacy of the system. Quantitative results showed a significant reduction in self-reported FLAS after 3 days, along with subtle gains in speaking proficiency measures. Qualitatively, learners perceived increased confidence, attributing it to the LLM-based ECA's non-judgmental stance, linguistic scaffolding, affective encouragement, and adaptive feedback. Our findings suggest the potential of LLM-based ECAs in social VR for language learning and offer considerations for future agent design.2026MPMengxu Pan et al.Northeastern UniversityHuman-LLM CollaborationSocial & Collaborative VRImmersion & Presence ResearchCHI
Game Changers: Exploring Player Perspectives of Digital Game ModificationAs long as there have been digital games, there have been players who seek to modify them, using settings, mods, online resources, and other methods. Despite the long history of modification in games, research has been limited by the dichotomous values implied by players using modifications for cheating (negative) or accessibility (positive). To address these limitations, we explore game modification broadly and neutrally by surveying 167 participants about their experiences, examining how and why players modify games, effects of modification, and perceptions of ethics. The results of a qualitative analysis distill diverse player perspectives into six core findings related to playfulness, agency, connection, norms, leet-ness, and technology in modified gaming experiences, where modifications add significant value to play by enabling users to tailor games to their optimal play experience. Results highlight the diversity and morality of users, and indicate that previous understandings may be too narrow and cynical.2026LPLaura Paul et al.University of VictoriaGame UX & Player BehaviorSerious & Functional GamesGamification DesignCHI
Accessibility-Driven Information Transformations in Mixed-Visual Ability Work TeamsBlind and low-vision (BLV) employees in mixed-visual ability teams often encounter information (e.g., PDFs, diagrams) in inaccessible formats. To enable teamwork, teams must transform these representations by modifying or re-creating them into accessible forms. However, these transformations are frequently overlooked, lack infrastructural support, and cause additional labour. To design systems that move beyond one-off accommodations to effective mixed-ability collaboration, we need a deeper understanding of the representations, their transformations and how they occur. We conducted a week-long diary study with follow-up interviews with 23 BLV and sighted professionals from five legal, non-profit, and consulting teams, documenting 36 transformation cases. Our analysis characterizes how teams perform representational transformations for accessibility: how they are triggered proactively or reactively, how they simplify or enhance, and four common patterns in which workers coordinate with each other to address representational incompatibility. Our findings uncover opportunities for designing systems that can better support mixed-visual ability work.2026YZYichun Zhao et al.University of VictoriaVisual Impairment Technologies (Screen Readers, Tactile Graphics, Braille)Universal & Inclusive DesignParticipatory DesignCHI
Understanding How Creativity Support Tools Can Foster HappinessEngaging in creative activities makes people happy. Creativity support tools (CSTs) are technologies that facilitate creative activities in the digital domain; however, little is known about how the use of CSTs affects happiness stemming from creative endeavours. To address this gap, we conducted a two-phase study. First, we carried out an exploratory interview study (N=15) to examine participants’ perceptions of how their chosen CSTs impacted their feelings of happiness. Our analysis shows that the CSTs our participants used introduced barriers to benefits typically associated with creativity---such as feeling joy, experiencing satisfaction, and alleviating negative feelings---and therefore did not make them happy. To explore how CSTs might be designed to facilitate happiness, we conducted a brainstorming study with experts (N=9). Participants generated six ideas for happiness-promoting CSTs. Drawing from both phases, we present a set of implications for design to help re-imagine CSTs as supports for cultivating happiness through creativity.2026SSSowmya Somanath et al.University of VictoriaCreative Collaboration & Feedback SystemsEmpathy & Emotional DesignCHI
GG Go Next... Lobby: How Players Use Queue Dodging to Anticipate and Avoid Negative Experiences in League of Legends"Queue dodging'' in League of Legends---the act of leaving a match during Champion Select---is characterised as problematic behaviour that increases lobby wait times, reduces the quality of matchmaking, and results in penalties for players. Although game companies try to eliminate queue dodging, it persists, raising the question of what motivates players to continue dodging in spite of repercussions. Through a thematic analysis of 2,932 Reddit posts and comments, we highlight four main motivations for dodging: 1) Avoiding toxic teammates, 2) Evading unfavourable matchups, 3) Exploiting system mechanics, and 4) Reacting to external circumstances. Our findings suggest that queue dodging is as likely to be a proactive strategy players use to avoid toxicity as an aggressive strategy to enact it. We discuss implications for the design of game systems that would support players to anticipate and avoid negative experiences while still preventing queue dodging as a toxic act.2026WYWenhao Yi et al.University of VictoriaGame UX & Player BehaviorGamification DesignMultiplayer & Social GamesCHI
The Potential of Cognitive Circles to Measure Mental LoadIn Human-Computer Interaction, Usability, and Interaction Design, obtaining objective measures of mental workload is desirable yet challenging, as current methods are either costly and intrusive or subjective and unreliable. To overcome these limitations, we devised Cognitive Circles, a technique that estimates workload by analyzing the kinematic properties of circular traces drawn on a tablet as people simultaneously perform cognitively demanding tasks of different types (arithmetic, reading, and spatial reasoning). We investigate the feasibility of this approach and lay the foundations for establishing its viability through a controlled experiment that addresses two questions: (A) Do participants' traces reliably encode information to predict the tasks' difficulty? and (B) Do predictive patterns generalize across tasks in different cognitive activities? Our results show that Cognitive Circles can predict task difficulty with an average accuracy of 75% (reaching up to 94% for spatial reasoning tasks), capturing meaningful signatures of mental workload (A). Prediction performance, however, varies substantially across task types (B), suggesting that each task domain induces people to exhibit distinct kinematic patterns. These findings highlight Cognitive Circles as a promising low-cost approach to workload assessment and point to its potential for informing adaptive HCI and the design of cognitively aware systems.2025GMGonzalo Gabriel Méndez et al.Human Pose & Activity RecognitionCognitive Impairment & Neurodiversity (Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia)Computational Methods in HCIUIST
Smart "Error"! Exploring Imperfect AI to Support Creative IdeationDesigners widely accept AI as a partner in the design process for its efficient and intelligent decision-making. However, AI is often not perfect, and AI error often makes humans dumbfounded. Literature has pointed out the value of such AI error, while still leaving its inspiration essence and application strategies uncharted from the practice perspective. This work focuses on bridging the practice gap by looking into and exploiting the imaginative ``mislabeled'' objects of object detection models. To gain insights into the inspiration of AI ``error'', we collected a dedicated AI ``error'' dataset from object detection and invited 8 designers to share divergent comments on the ``mislabeled'' objects. Coding was then performed on the comments, which summarizes the inspiration of AI ``error'' into six atomic dimensions. Subsequently, we took a step further to an exploratory study, a comparative ideation experiment with 20 designers, investigating how to apply these inspiration dimensions to create ideas. Questionnaire and interview results revealed that essential inspiration of AI ``error'' could positively activate creativity, especially the ``Outline'' dimension. A design model CETR is then formulated by summarizing the application of atomic inspiration of ``error'' into four forms of creativity, which could be taken as a guideline for cooperative design with AI ``error''. In addition, we also sketch two approaches to generate more inspiring and applicable AI ``error'', elaborate on two principal characteristics of AI ``error'' for promoting creativity, and propose three strategies for better co-creating with AI ``error''. Finally, we provide insight into design research about AI self-awareness and human-AI collaboration.2024FLFang Liu et al.Session 3a: AI in Creative Workflows: Opportunities and ChallengesCSCW
VISMOCK: A Programmable Smocking Technique for Creating Interactive Data PhysicalizationData physicalization is a research area that explores representing data attributes through manipulating the geometric and physical properties of tangible objects. We introduce VISMOCK, a data physicalization approach that leverages a fabric manipulation technique called “smocking”. VISMOCK supports the creation of interactive and dynamic data physicalizations by extending the smocking technique with programmable components such as thermochromic pigments and shape memory alloys. Using a research-through-design methodology, we develop an initial design space for VISMOCK that shows how data can be represented using visual and tactile variables, as well as the affordances of VISMOCK. We demonstrate the generative power of our design space through four exemplars, created using VISMOCK. We use these exemplars to discuss the advantages and limitations of VISMOCK as a tool for data physicalization.2024BBBahare Bakhtiari et al.Data PhysicalizationDigital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceDIS
Unpacking Norms, Narratives, and Nourishment: A Feminist HCI Critique on Food Tracking TechnologiesFood tracking applications (apps) can provide benefits (e.g., helping diagnose food intolerances) but can also create harm (e.g., facilitating disordered eating). However, food tracking apps—viewed as a women’s health issue, and critically examined through the lens of feminist HCI—are absent from the discourse of sociocultural, ethical, and political implications of apps designed to track bodily data. We use a walkthrough method to critically analyze three commercial food tracking apps with differing marketing narratives and designs, applying a reflexive feminist lens grounded in a perspective of fat liberation. We articulate how these apps reproduce normativities of food and nutrition, health, and bodies, and how they perpetuate narratives of embodiment, simplification and quantification of health, and neoliberalism and the individualization of health. Our work exposes the normativities of bodies being propagated by food tracking apps, spotlighting how designs and interaction features are situated within prevalent anti-fat narratives.2024DODaisy O'Neill et al.Eindhoven University of Technology, Philips Experience DesignDiet Tracking & Nutrition ManagementCHI
Expressive Clothing: Understanding Hobbyist-Sewers' Visions for Self-Expression Through ClothingResearchers have found that hobbyist-sewers seek to create new or adapted clothing designs that foster self-expression through communicating ideas, opinions and emotions. Although existing sewing technologies enable designing new patterns, they focus only on the technical aspects of pattern drafting and not on how information can be expressed. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative diary study with 12 hobbyist-sewers to better understand how they envision creating expressive clothing. From our analysis of the 24 expressive clothing sketches participants created and participant interviews, we identified i) five distinctive multifaceted approaches participants used for self-expression; and ii) four challenges participants identified from their design process. Informed by these insights, we present a set of implications for the design of future technologies that can better support hobbyist-sewers in designing and creating expressive clothing.2024SLSabrina Lakhdhir et al.University of VictoriaHaptic WearablesDigital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceCHI
TADA: Making Node-link Diagrams Accessible to Blind and Low-Vision PeopleDiagrams often appear as node-link representations in contexts such as taxonomies, mind maps and networks in textbooks. Despite their pervasiveness, they present accessibility challenges for blind and low-vision people. To address this challenge, we introduce Touch-and-Audio-based Diagram Access (TADA), a tablet-based interactive system that makes diagram exploration accessible through musical tones and speech. We designed TADA informed by an interview study with 15 participants who shared their challenges and strategies with diagrams. TADA enables people to access a diagram by: i) engaging in open-ended touch-based explorations, ii) searching for nodes, iii) navigating between nodes and iv) filtering information. We evaluated TADA with 25 participants and found it useful for gaining different perspectives on diagrammatic information.2024YZYichun Zhao et al.University of VictoriaVisual Impairment Technologies (Screen Readers, Tactile Graphics, Braille)CHI
GlucoMaker: Enabling Collaborative Customization of Glucose MonitorsMillions of individuals with diabetes use glucose monitors to track blood sugar levels. Research shows that such individuals seek to customize different aspects of their interactions with these devices, including how they engage with, decorate, and wear them. However, it remains challenging to tailor both device form and function to accommodate individual needs. To address this challenge, we introduce GlucoMaker, a system for collaboratively customizing physical design aspects of glucose monitors. Prior to designing GlucoMaker, we conducted a prototyping and focus group study to understand customization preferences and collaboration benefits. GlucoMaker provides individuals with the ability to a) select monitor form and function preferences, b) alter predefined and downloadable digital model files, c) receive feedback on monitor designs from stakeholders, and d) learn technical design aspects. We further demonstrate the versatility and design space of GlucoMaker with three examples of different form and function use cases.2024SLSabrina Lakhdhir et al.University of VictoriaChronic Disease Self-Management (Diabetes, Hypertension, etc.)Customizable & Personalized ObjectsCHI
Cheat Codes as External Support for Players Navigating Fear of Failure and Self-Regulation Challenges In Digital GamesFailure is an integral element of most games, and while some players may benefit from external support, such as cheat codes, to prompt self-soothing, most games lack supportive elements. We asked participants (N=88) to play Anno 1404 in single-player mode, and presented a money-generating cheat code in a challenging situation, also measuring the personality trait of action-state orientation, which explains differences in self-regulation ability (i.e., self-soothing) in response to threats of failure. Individuals higher in state orientation were more likely to take the offer, and used the cheat code more frequently. The cheat code also acted as an external support, as differences in experienced pressure between action- and state-oriented participants vanished when it was used. We found no negative consequences of using external support in intrinsic motivation, needs satisfaction, flow, or performance. We argue that external support mechanisms can help state-oriented players to self-regulate in gaming, when faced with failure.2024KWKarla Waldenmeier et al.University of TrierGame UX & Player BehaviorSerious & Functional GamesGamification DesignCHI
Toxicity in Online Games: The Prevalence and Efficacy of Coping StrategiesToxicity is pervasive in online multiplayer games, exposing players to disruptive and harmful behaviours. Players employ various approaches to cope with exposure to toxicity; however, game designers and researchers lack guidance on how to implement coping support within games. In this paper, we first conduct a formative study to collect a comprehensive list of coping approaches from toxicity literature and use affinity mapping to identify overarching game-based coping strategies. Then, we report findings from a survey (n = 85) on players’ experiences with toxicity, how they employ the identified coping strategies, how games support coping, and their general coping styles. Our paper contributes a framework for coping strategies to deal with game-based toxicity and provides insights into the prevalence of these strategies among players and factors that affect their usage and effectiveness. These findings can be used to guide better in-game tools that help players mitigate the harm caused by toxicity.2024JFJulian Frommel et al.Utrecht UniversityMultiplayer & Social GamesCyberbullying & Online HarassmentCHI
Co-Designing Interactions between Pedestrians in Wheelchairs and Autonomous VehiclesIn the near future, mixed traffic consisting of manual and autonomous vehicles (AVs) will be common. Questions surrounding how vulnerable road users such as pedestrians in wheelchairs (PWs) will make crossing decisions in these new situations are underexplored. We conducted a remote co-design study with one of the researchers of this work who has the lived experience as a powered wheelchair user and applied inclusive design practices. This allowed us to identify and reflect on interface design ideas that can help PWs make safe crossing decisions at intersections. Through an iterative five-week study, we implemented interfaces that can be placed on the vehicle, on the wheelchair, and on the street infrastructure and evaluated them during the co-design sessions using a VR simulator testbed. Informed by our findings, we discuss design insights for implementing inclusive interfaces to improve interactions between autonomous vehicles and vulnerable road users.2021AAAshratuz Zavin Asha et al.External HMI (eHMI) — Communication with Pedestrians & CyclistsUniversal & Inclusive DesignDIS
Homecoming: Exploring Returns to Long-Term Single Player GamesWe present an autobiographical design journey exploring the experience of returning to long-term single player games. Continuing progress from a previously saved game, particularly when substantial time has passed, is an understudied area in games research. To begin our exploration in this domain, we investigated what the return experience is like first-hand. By returning to four long-term single player games played extensively in the past, we revealed a phenomenon we call The Pivot Point, a ‘eureka’ moment in return gameplay. The pivot point anchors our design explorations, where we created prototypes to leverage the pivot point in reconnecting with the experience. These return experiences and subsequent prototyping iterations inform our understanding of how to design better returns to gameplay, which can benefit both producers and consumers of long-term single player games.2021NHNoor Hammad et al.University of Calgary, Carnegie Mellon UniversityGame UX & Player BehaviorRole-Playing & Narrative GamesCHI
Exploring Smartphone Relationships through Roland Barthes using an Instrumented Pillow Technology ProbeWe examine a vocabulary of affective language, borrowed from Roland Barthes’ “A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments,” and its applicability to discourse describing smartphone attachment. This vocabulary, adopted from four of Barthes’ terms, waiting, dependency, anxiety, and absence, is used as a discursive lens to illustrate some of the many ways people understand and engage with their relationships to their smartphones. Based on this, a survey is conducted, and a speculative technology probe is created in the form of an instrumented pillow for people to lock away their smartphones during the night. The pillow is deployed in a diary study in which five people sleep with their phone locked away for multiple nights. The self-reported and observed behaviours are presented in a selection of vignettes. The results support the proposed discursive lens and suggest future interdisciplinary strategies to investigate how people relate to interactive technology, using a combined approach of literary theory and a technology probe supported by survey and study data.2021JFJulie M. Funk et al.University of VictoriaUniversal & Inclusive DesignDesign FictionDigital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceCHI
Documented: Embedding Information onto and Retrieving Information from 3D Printed ObjectsDocumentation for DIY tasks serve as codified project knowledge and help makers reach new understandings and appreciations for the artifact. Engaging in reflective processes using the documentation can be challenging when it comes to physical objects as the documentation and the artifact exist separately. We hypothesize that spatially associating the documentation information with the artifact can provide richer contextualization to reflect upon the artifact and design process. We implemented and evaluated Documented, a web application that helps makers associate documentation to 3D printed objects. Information can be embedded using printed tags spatially placed on the model and accessed using mobile AR. Our study highlights the different strategies participants had for organizing, embedding, and retrieving information. Informed by our results, we discuss how the coupling of the documentation and the artifact can support reflection and identify potential barriers that need further investigation.2021OEOmid Ettehadi et al.OCAD UniversityContext-Aware ComputingDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationCustomizable & Personalized ObjectsCHI
MakeAware: Designing to Support Situation Awareness in MakerspacesPeople new to making and makerspaces often struggle with identifying what tools are available and where they are, understanding how to operate the tools, and predicting how their decisions will affect their final product. From literature on novices and our interviews with expert makers, we identified situation awareness support as one possible way to address some of the challenges faced by novices. We present a set of design goals intended to scaffold situation awareness in a makerspace, and MakeAware, a prototype system we implemented based on those design goals. MakeAware provides a combination of environmental cues, information about the project process, and background knowledge. In a preliminary evaluation, we found MakeAware can help novices make conscious choices during a project and put more emphasis on planning, thereby exhibiting traits associated with having situation awareness while making.2020JSJessi Stark et al.Context-Aware ComputingCustomizable & Personalized ObjectsDIS