MRL at CHI 2017 

Media researchers are adopting personalisation in diverse ways to deliver increasingly context-sensitive and customised media experiences. This paper explores user attitudes towards a personalised Electronic Programme Guide which tailors media recommendations based on users’ personal data. We used scenario based exploration enabled by the use of probes to convey the functionalities of data-driven Personalised EPGs and to facilitate user discussions around its potential use. Users preferred personalised EPGs over current popular EPGs but expressed a significant lack of trust in the personal data collection that drives personalisation. Users appreciated the functionalities afforded by personalisation of media but were apprehensive about the implications of the personal data being collected about them, particularly in the context of their homes. This calls for the need to design future personalised media experiences that help enhance trust in these socio-technical settings. 

We present a case study of how Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) theory is reused within the field. We analyze the HCI literature in order to reveal the impact of one particular theory, the trajectories framework that has been cited as an example of both contemporary HCI theory and a strong concept that sits between theory and design practice. Our analysis of 60 papers that seriously engaged with trajectories reveals the purposes that the framework served and which parts of it they used. We compare our findings to the originally stated goals of trajectories and to subsequent claims of its status as both theory and strong concept. The results shed new light on what we mean by theory in HCI, including its relationship to practice and to other disciplines.

HCI often requires scholars to build upon research from fields outside their expertise, creating the risk that foundational work is misunderstood and misrepresented. The prevailing goal of “exergames” research towards ameliorating obesity appears to be built on just such a misunderstanding of health research. In this paper, we analyse all citations to a single influential study, which has been extensively cited to justify research on exergames. We categorise the 375 citations based on whether they represent the findings of that study accurately or inaccurately. Our findings suggest that 69% of exergames papers citing this study misrepresent the findings, demonstrating a systematic failure of scholarship in exergames research. We argue that exergaming research should cease focusing on games as treatment for obesity, and that HCI publications should demand more critical and scholarly engagement with research from outside HCI.

This paper reflects on the dynamics and practices of building a maker community around a new hardware platform. We examine the factors promoting the successful uptake of a maker platform from two perspectives: first, we investigate the technical and user experience considerations that users identify as the most important. Second, we explore the specific activities that help attract a community and encourage sustained participation. We present an inductive approach based on the case study of Bela, an embedded platform for creating interactive audio systems. The technical design and community building processes are detailed, culminating in a successful crowdfunding campaign. To further understand the community dynamics, the paper also presents an intensive three-day workshop with eight digital musical instrument designers. From observations and interviews, we reflect on the relationship between the platform and the community and offer suggestions for HCI researchers and practitioners interested in establishing their own maker communities.

Social media and user-generated content (UGC) are increasingly important features of journalistic work in a number of different ways. However, their use presents major challenges, not least because information posted on social media is not always reliable and therefore its veracity needs to be checked before it can be considered as fit for use in the reporting of news. We report on the results of a series of in-depth ethnographic studies of journalist work practices undertaken as part of the requirements gathering for a prototype of a social media verification ‘dashboard’ and its subsequent evaluation. We conclude with some reflections upon the broader implications of our findings for the design of tools to support journalistic work.

We explore spectating on video game play as an interactional and participatory activity. Drawing on a corpus of video recordings capturing 'naturally occurring' Kinect gaming within home settings, we detail how the analytic 'work' of spectating is interactionally accomplished as a matter of collaborative action with players and engagement in the game. We examine: spectators supporting players with continuous 'scaffolding'; spectators critiquing player technique during and between moments of play; spectators recognising and complimenting competent player conduct; and spectators reflecting on prior play to build instructions for the player. From this we draw out a number of points that shift the conversation in HCI about 'the spectator' towards understanding and designing for spectating as an interactional activity; that is, sequentially ordered and temporally coordinated. We also discuss bodily conduct and the particular ways of 'seeing' involved in spectating, and conclude with remarks on conceptual and design implications for HCI.

We report lessons from iteratively developing a music recognition system to enable a wide range of musicians to embed musical codes into their typical performance practice. The musician composes fragments of music that can be played back with varying levels of embellishment, disguise and looseness to trigger digital interactions. We collaborated with twenty-three musicians, spanning professionals to amateurs and working with a variety of instruments. We chart the rapid evolution of the system to meet their needs as they strove to integrate music recognition technology into their performance practice, introducing multiple features to enable them to trade-off reliability with musical expression. Collectively, these support the idea of deliberately introducing ‘looseness’ into interactive systems by addressing the three key challenges of control, feedback and attunement, and highlight the potential role for written notations in other recognition-based systems.

This paper identifies a body of HCI research wherein the researchers take part in digitally mediated creative experiences alongside participants. We present our definition and rationale for ‘self-situated performance research’ based on theories in both the HCI and performance literatures. We then analyse four case studies of this type of work, ranging from overtly ‘performative’ staged events to locative audio and public making. We argue that by interrogating experience from within the context of self-situated performance, the 'performer/researcher' extends traditional practices in HCI in the following four ways: developing an intimate relationship between researchers and participants, providing new means of making sense of interactions, shaping participants’ relationship to the research, and enabling researchers to refine their work as it is being conducted.

HCI research often demonstrates lack of respect for other disciplines, evidenced by the way work from those disciplines are cited in CHI papers. We present 4 case studies that demonstrate; 1) that HCI researchers sometimes misunderstand and misrepresent work from other disciplines, and 2) how initial misrepresentations can become ‘accepted wisdom ’within HCI. This disregard for other disciplines leads to errors such as authors citing work to support ‘facts’ precisely opposite to those demonstrated by the cited literature. We conclude with recommendations for authors, editors, publishers and readers on how to reduce the risk of such failures.

In CHI papers, citation of previous work is typically a shallow, throwaway action that demonstrates little critical engagement with the work cited. We present a citation context analysis of over 3000 citations from 69 papers at CHI2016, which demonstrates that only 4.8% of papers cited are presented as anything other than uncontested fact. In 43% of CHI papers sampled, we found no evidence of any critical engagement. Lack of discussion and critique of previous work can encourage the spread of misunderstandings and errors. Authors, reviewers and publication venues must all change practices to respond to this failure of scholarship.

With the increasing popularity of mobile video games, game designers and developers are starting to integrate geolocation information into such games. Although popular location-based games (LBGs) such as Ingress and Pokémon -Go have millions of users, research still needs to be carried out to fully understand the ways in which such games impact upon a player’s interaction with other players and their physical surroundings. Consequently, there is limited knowledge on how user behavior can be addressed and drawn upon as a design resource to further engage and motivate players to play. To further understand this, we developed a LBG called CityConqueror and have conducted an in ’the wild’ study. This initial study starts to unpack the ways that human territoriality can be expressed in LBGs to facilitate player motivation, engagement and can support the integration of the game in the player’s daily life. Based on our findings we propose a series of design implications for LBGs. The primary purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the importance of territoriality and the way that this can be drawn upon as a resource for design.

Designing for mixed-reality performances is challenging both in terms of technology design, and in terms of understanding the interplay between technology, narration, and (the outcomes of) audience interactions. This complexity also stems from the variety of roles in the creative team often entailing technology designers, artists, directors, producers, set-designers and performers. In this multidisciplinary, one-day workshop, we seek to bring together HCI scholars, designers, artists, and curators to explore the potential provided by Design Fiction as a method to generate ideas for Mixed-Reality Performance (MRP) through various archetypes including scripts, programs, and posters. By drawing attention to novel interactive technologies, such as bio-sensors and environmental IoT, we seek to generate design fiction scenarios capturing the aesthetic and interactive potential for mixed-reality performances, as well as the challenges to gain access to audience members’ data – i.e. physiological states, daily routines, conversations, etc.

This one-day workshop aims to consider the opportunities for HCI at the intersection of maker culture and professional, industrial manufacturing. In particular, we are interested in exploring how the concept of open design could help to support productive interactions between professional manufacturers and non-professional makers.

The workshop aims to build on momentum established by previous related workshops (including one at CHI2016) and aims to respond critically to several industry and government reports published in 2015-2016 on the ‘maker movement’ see ‘Reports’.

Recent calls within the CHI community have argued for better understanding of both design research practice and the forms of knowledge it might produce, challenging the value of design practice within HCI projects. In response, our one-day CHI workshop, taking place on Sunday 7th May 2017, will gather case examples of design research in practice, for presentation and critique. We encourage participation from HCI design researchers with diverse backgrounds and a range of professional expertise.