With the rise of chronic diseases as the number one cause of death and disability among urban populations, it has become increasingly important to design for healthy environments. There is, however, a lack of interdisciplinary approaches and solutions to improve health and well-being through urban planning and design. This case study offers an HCI solution and approach to design for healthy urban structures and dynamics in existing neighborhoods. We discuss the design process and design of ROOT, an interactive lighting system that aims to stimulate walking and running through supportive, collaborative and social interaction.
DOCUMENT
Abundant HCI research exists on the many assistive technologies that provide help with everyday physical and cognitive tasks. However, while a purely assistive approach often casts aging people in passive roles, recent studies suggest that adults may be ‘flourishing’ way into advanced age, even though implicit ageist prejudices are difficult to eradicate. Negative age-related stereotypes are the hidden and yet urgent issue we address in this study. There is a clear opportunity for an anti-ageist perspective in HCI, an approach that we propose as complementary to assistive technologies: in addition to providing solutions for the aging population, we urgently call for designs about aging, to spark a conversation on age, raise awareness and ultimately contrast ageist stereotypes. We point at empathy as a key element to reconceptualize, at least in part, HCI’s contribution to research on aging. We present a design critique of two interactive pieces that, although not without flaws, suggest how future empathy-raising artifacts might be. Our analysis combines pragmatist aesthetics, interaction criticism and ludology, and yields four design tactics (recurring configurations of significant elements) that are generative in bringing about broader design implications towards a different, empathy-based concept of aging in HCI.
DOCUMENT
The gap between research and design practice has long been a concern for the HCI community. In this article, we explore how different translations of HCI knowledge might bridge this gap. A literature review characterizes the gap as having two key dimensions - one between general theory and particular artefacts and a second between academic HCI research and professional UX design practice. We report on a 5-year engagement between HCI researchers and a major media company to explore how a particular piece of HCI research, the trajectories conceptual framework, might be translated for and with UX practitioners. We present various translations of this framework and fit them into the gap we previously identified. This leads us to refine the idea of translations, suggesting that they may be led by researchers, by practitioners or co-produced by both as boundary objects. We consider the benefits of each approach.
MULTIFILE
In this paper we discuss mixed-method research in HCI. We report on an empirical literature study of the NordiCHI 2012 proceedings which aimed to uncover and describe common mixed-method approaches, and to identify good practices for mixed-methods research in HCI. We present our results as mixed-method research design patterns, which can be used to design, discuss and evaluate mixed-method research. Three dominant patterns are identified and fully described and three additional pattern candidates are proposed. With our pattern descriptions we aim to lay a foundation for a more thoughtful application of, and a stronger discourse about, mixed-method approaches in HCI.
DOCUMENT
A designerly journey into textiles and HCI leads to thinking about data as a material for a cybernetic future.
MULTIFILE
‘Creating the Difference’ is the theme of the 2014 edition of the Chi Sparks conference. It is also the challenge that the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community is facing today. HCI is a creative field where practitioners engage in design, production, and evaluation of interactions between people and digital technology. Creating excellent interfaces for people, they make a difference in media and systems that people are eager to use. Usability and user experience are fundamental for achieving this, as are abilities at the forefront of technology, but key to a successful difference is getting the right concepts, addressing genuine, intrinsic, human needs. Researchers and practitioners contribute to this area from theory as well as practice by sharing, discussing, and demonstrating new ideas and developments. This is how HCI creates a difference for society, for individuals, businesses, education, and organizations. The difference that an interactive product or service makes might lie in the concept of it but also in the making, the creation of details and the realisation. It is through powerful concepts and exceptional quality of realisation that innovation is truly achieved. At the Chi Sparks 2014 conference, researchers and practitioners in the HCI community convene to share and discuss their efforts on researching and developing methods, techniques, products, and services that enable people to have better interactions with systems and other people. The conference is hosted at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, and proudly built upon the previous conferences in Arnhem (2011) and Leiden (2009). Copyright van de individuele papers ligt bij de betreffende auteurs.
DOCUMENT
Teachers are expected to tailor their instruction to accommodate differences between students, in order to give all learners the opportunity to develop to their full potential. This is also called differentiated instruction (DI), and it requires teachers to continually monitor students’ progress towards the lesson goal and adjust their instruction accordingly. This is a complex skill for many teachers that they do not always implement. The goal of this dissertation was to research how educators can be supported in providing differentiation. In Study 1 we observed secondary school teachers with strong DI skills in their classrooms and interviewed them afterwards to analyse their decision-making processes. The findings of this study informed the design and implementation of a professional development program in Study 2, which was based on a whole-task approach where the participant teachers work on authentic tasks that require the integration of skills and knowledge, increasing the likelihood of transfer to practice. The impact of this professional development program on teachers’ DI practices was examined in Study 3, both from the teacher and student perspective. Results from both perspectives showed that all teachers made more intentional adaptations. To explore whether the findings of the first three studies were transferable to another context, we shifted the focus to students with hearing and/or communicative impairments (HCI). Instead of a single teacher, often a team of professionals has joint responsibility for HCI students’ education. In Study 4, we researched what providing DI and interprofessional collaboration in the HCI context looks like, by conducting a systematic literature review and an exploration of practice through focus group sessions. We found that there are four phases (preparing a lesson series, preparing a lesson, enacting a lesson, and evaluating the lesson) and five principles (work in a goal-oriented way, monitor continually, challenge all students, adapt the instruction, and stimulate self-regulation) that could be identified in DI across various educational contexts. The four phases and five principles can be used as a framework to support educators in improving their DI skills and thus making good, informed decisions that allow all their students to realise their learning potential.
LINK
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of people’s lives, and seems to have affected people’s wellbeing and relation to technology now, and in the future. Not only has it changed people’s lives and the way citizens live, work, exercise, craft and stay connected, the pandemic has also altered the way Human Computer Interaction (HCI) professionals can engage in face-to-face interactions and consequently participatory, human-centered design and research. Limitations in being close to others and having physical, visible and shared interactions pose a challenge as these aspects are typically considered critical for the accomplishment of a transparent, attractive and critical understanding of technology and respective civic and digital engagement for wellbeing. Consequently, the risk now observed is that citizens in the new ‘normal’ digital society, particularly vulnerable groups, are beingeven less connected, supported or heard. Drawing from a study with an expert panel of 20 selected HCI related professionals in The Netherlands that participated on-line (through focus groups, questionnaires and/or interviews) discussing co-creation for wellbeing in times of COVID-19 (N=20), and civic values for conditional data sharing (N=11), this paper presents issues encountered and potential new approaches to overcome participatory challenges in the ‘new’ digital society. This study further draws on project reporting and a ‘one week in the life of’ study in times of COVID-19 with a physical toolkit for remote data collection that was used with older adults (65+, N=13) and evaluated with professionals (N=6). Drawing on such projects and professional experiences, the paper discusses some opportunities of participatory approaches for the new ‘distant’ normal.
DOCUMENT
Recent years have witnessed a rise in Game Jams - organized events to create playable prototypes in a very short time frame. Game Jams offer a unique and quick way to prototype games. Beyond that, we believe Game Jams can also be seen as a design research method, situated in the research-through-design tradition, to create knowledge in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. The goal of this Game Jam is thus twofold: first, participants will use the Game Jam approach to investigate a research question; second, participants can, through actual practice, identify advantages and disadvantages of Game Jams as a research method. Hereby the Game Jam workshop provides a unique opportunity for HCI practitioners and researchers to gain experience in applying game-oriented methods for research.
DOCUMENT
![Game jam:[4 research]](https://publinova-harvester-content-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/thumbnails/files/previews/pdf/20250619194614546523.20250619171952155598.Game_Jam-thumbnail-400x300.png)
