danielleszafir

ATLAS@CHI2022

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 16:14:11 +0000

ATLAS@CHI2022 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/28/2022 - 10:14

ATLAS researchers will present six published works and two workshops at the 2022 ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI), the world’s preeminent forum for the field of human-computer interaction. The conference, commonly referred to as “CHI,” will be held hybrid-onsite April 30-May 6, 2022 in New Orleans.

Researchers affiliated with Laura Devendorf’s Unstable Design Lab will be presenting two workshops, one full paper and one journal article; Mirela Alistar’s Living Matter Lab authored two papers, one of which received a Best Paper Honorable Mention award. The ACME Lab collaborated with the VisuaLab (formerly with the ATLAS Institute) for one paper and ATLAS associated PhD students also will present one paper.

CHI Papers are publications of original research in the field of Human Computer Interaction that are read and cited worldwide, and have a broad impact on the development of HCI theory, method, and practice. It's a prestigious honor for papers to be accepted to CHI; within the last decade, the overall acceptance rate for CHI has only been 20-27 percent.

CHI 2022 papers, journal articles and workshops by ATLAS faculty and students

Living Matter Lab

ReClaym our Compost: Biodegradable Clay for Intimate Making. [Best Paper Honorable Mention Award].
Fiona Bell, (PhD student, ATLAS); Netta Ofer, (research master’s student, ATLAS); Mirela Alistar, (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science).
This paper presents ReClaym: a clay-like material made from the makers’ own compost, reflecting the makers' relationship with food, applied manual fabrication techniques and design explorations. Through a process of Intimate Making with an intimate material, researchers used ReClaym to create a collection of applications, including garden paraphernalia, games and personal household items.

Biomaterial Playground: Engaging with Bio-based Materiality (interactivity paper)
Fiona Bell, (ATLAS PhD student); Netta Ofer, (research master’s student, ATLAS); Hyelin Choi (undergraduate student, Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology); Ella S McQuaid (undergraduate student, Mechanical Engineering); Ethan Frier (MS, CTD—Creative Industries '21); Mirela Alistar, (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science).
In this work, researchers introduce a range of sustainable biomaterials including ReClaym, a clay-like material made from compost; Alganyl, an algae-based bioplastic; Dinoflagellates, bioluminescent algae; SCOBY, symbiotic cultures of bacteria and yeast; and Spirulina, nutrient-dense blue-green algae to create unique interactive interfaces. The researchers will present the biomaterials at CHI, where conference participants can engage with the biomaterials.

ACME Lab—Workshop Papers

Augmented Personification of Intelligent Music Tools for Creativity and Collaboration
ACM CHI 2022 Workshop 47: Intelligent Music Interfaces: When Interactive Assistance and Augmentation Meet Musical Instruments .
Torin Hopkins (ATLAS PhD student), Rishi Vanukuru (ATLAS PhD student), Suibi Che-Chuan Weng (Creative Industries master's student), Amy Banic, (Visiting Associate Professor, Computer Science), Ellen Yi-Luen Do (Professor, ATLAS Institute & Computer Science).

Designing and Studying Social Interactions in Shared Virtual Spaces using Mobile Augmented Reality
ACM CHI 2022 Workshop 46: Social Presence in Virtual Event Spaces
Rishi Vanukuru, (ATLAS PhD student), Amarnath Murugan, Jayesh Pillai, and Ellen Yi-Luen Do (Professor, ATLAS Institute & Computer Science).

What to Design Next: Actuated Materials and Soft Robots for Children
ACM CHI 2022 Workshop 39: Actuated Materials and Soft Robotics Strategies for Human Computer Interaction Design.
Chris Hill (ATLAS PhD student), Ruojia Sun, (ATLAS PhD student), Ellen Yi-Luen Do (Professor, ATLAS Institute & Computer Science).

ACME Lab and VisuaLab* collaboration

Making Data Tangible: A Cross-disciplinary Design Space for Data Physicalization
S. Sandra Bae, (ATLAS PhD student), Clement Zheng, (ATLAS post-doctoral research associate, PhD; Technology, Media & Society ‘20); Mary Etta West, (PhD student, Computer Science); Ellen Yi-Luen Do, (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science); Samuel Huron, (faculty, Telecom - Institut Polytechnique de Paris); Danielle Albers Szafir (UNC Chapel Hill, former ATLAS faculty).
Physicalizations are more than just physical representations of data. Each physicalization is also (un)consciously a product of different research communities physicalization is part of, specifically of their research perspective and values. But research currently lacks a synthesis across the different communities data physicalization sits upon, including their approaches, theories, and even terminologies. To bridge these communities synergistically, ATLAS researchers present a design space that describes and analyzes physicalizations according to three facets: context (end-user considerations), structure (the physical structure of the artifact), and interactions (interactions with both the artifact and data).

*Following Danielle Szafir's departure last summer, the ATLAS VisuaLab was closed

Unstable Design Lab

The Eco-Technical Interface: Attuning to the Instrumental
Maya Livio (PhD student, Intermedia Art, Writing and Performance); Laura Devendorf (faculty, ATLAS/Information Science).
This paper introduces the concept of the eco-technical interface— which represents the sites at which human, non-human and technological interfaces overlap—as a critical zone at which designers can surface and subvert issues of multispecies relations, such as nonhuman instrumentalization.

Examining Narrative Sonification: Using First-Person Retrospection Methods to Translate Radio Production to Interaction Design (journal article)
Jordan Wirfs-Brock (PhD candidate, Information Science); Alli Fam (reporter, New Hampshire Public Radio); Laura Devendorf (faculty, ATLAS/Information Science); Brian C Keegan (faculty, Information Science).
This first-person, retrospective exploration of two radio sonification pieces illuminates the role of narrative in designing to support listeners as they learn to listen to data.

Sketching Across the Senses: Exploring Sensory Translation as a Generative Practice for Designing Data Representations (workshop)
Jordan Wirfs-Brock , (PhD candidate, Information Science); Maxene Graze (Data Visualization Engineer, MURAL), Laura Devendorf (faculty, ATLAS/Information Science); Audrey Desjardins, (faculty, University of Washington); Visda Goudarzi (faculty, Columbia College Chicago); Mikhaila Friske, (PhD student, Information Science); Brian C Keegan (faculty, Information Science).
This workshop engages synesthesia to explore how translating between sensory modalities might uncover new ways to experience and represent data.

Making Access: Increasing Inclusiveness in Making (workshop)
Verena Fuchsberger (Post Doc, Center for Human-Computer Interaction, University of Salzburg), Dorothé Smit (Research Fellow, Center for Human-Computer Interaction, University of Salzburg), Nathalia Campreguer França (Research Fellow, Center for Human-Computer Interaction,University of Salzburg); Georg Regal (Scientist, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology); Stefanie Wuschitz (Mz. Baltazar’s Lab); Barbara Huber (Mz. Baltazar’s Lab); Joanna Kowolik (project manager, Happylab); Laura Devendorf (faculty, ATLAS/Information Science); Elisa Giaccardi (faculty, Delft University of Technology); Ambra Trotto (Research Institute of Sweden).
In this one-day workshop, organizers aim to counteract the phenomenon that access to making (e.g., in makerspaces, fablabs, etc.) is not equally distributed, with certain groups of people being underrepresented (e.g., women*).

Associated PhD Students

Augmented Reality and Robotics: A Survey and Taxonomy for AR-enhanced Human-Robot Interaction and Robotic Interfaces
Ryo Suzuki (ATLAS/PhD Computer Science '20; assistant professor, University of Calgary); Adnan Karim, (MS student, University of Calgary); Tian Xia, (BS, Computer Science, University of Calgary); Hooman Hedayati, (ATLAS/PhD Computer Science ‘21), Nicolai Marquardt (faculty, University College London).
Researchers surveyed 460 research papers, formulating key challenges and opportunities that guide and inform future research in AR and robotics.

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ATLAS @ CHI 2021

Anonymous — Fri, 14 May 2021 20:19:27 +0000

ATLAS @ CHI 2021 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/14/2021 - 14:19

ATLAS researchers presented 10 published works and one special interest group at the 2021 Human Factors in Computing Conference, the world’s preeminent forum for the field of human-computer interaction. The conference, commonly referred to as CHI, was held virtually May 8-13, 2021.

Researchers affiliated with Danielle Szafir's VisuaLab authored four of the nine ATLAS papers admitted to the conference, two of which received awards, including "Best Paper" and "Honorable Mention." The Unstable Design Lab had two papers accepted, while the THING, Emergent Nanomaterials, Superhuman Computing, and Living Matter labs each had one. An additional paper was co-authored by alumna Andrea DeVore TAM '18, who is not associated with an ATLAS lab.

In all, 2,844 papers were submitted to CHI 2021, 28 of which were selected for the "Best Paper" award and 114 received "Honorable Mention." In 2020, CHI accepted nine ATLAS papers, including four from the Unstable Design Lab and one each from the Superhuman Computing, Living Matter, VisuaLab, ACME and IRON labs.

CHI 2021 papers, position papers and workshops by ATLAS faculty and students

VisuaLab

Understanding Data Accessibility for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. [Best Paper Award].
Keke Wu (PhD student, ATLAS), Emma Petersen, (CTD MS student, ATLAS), Tahmina Ahmad, (Computer Science BS student), David Burlinson (PhD Computer Science, University of North Carolina), E. S. Tanis (faculty, CU Denver–Anschultz), and Danielle Szafir (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science)
Researchers conducted a web-based mixed-methods experiment with 34 participants with and without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDDs) to identify their differences in reading data and summarized the findings into four accessible visualization design guidelines.

Immersive Design Reviews through Situated Qualitative Feedback (workshop paper)
M. Whitlock (PhD student, Computer Science) and Danielle Albers Szafir (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science)
This paper on Immersive Design Reviews through Situated Qualitative Feedback was accepted to the Evaluating User Experiences in Mixed Reality Workshop at CHI 2021.

VisuaLab Collaborations

Grand Challenges in Immersive Analytics
Danielle Szafir (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science), Matt Whitlock (PhD student, Computer Science) and 22 other international experts.
A diverse group of 24 international experts developed 17 key research challenges, providing a systematic roadmap of current directions as well as the impending hurdles to facilitating productive and effective applications for Immersive Analytics.

danceON: Culturally Responsive Creative Computing for Data Literacy [Best Paper Honorable Mention]
Willie Payne (BS/MS alumnus Computer Science/Music Composition), Mary West (PhD student, Computer Science), Carlie Charp (CTD BS student, ATLAS), Ben Shapiro (faculty, Computer Science), Edd Taylor (faculty, Education).

Dance provides opportunities for embodied interdisciplinary learning experiences that can be personally and culturally relevant. danceON's system supports learners to leverage their body movement as they engage in artistic practices across data science, computing and dance. It allows users to bind virtual shapes to body positions in under three lines of code, while also enabling complex, dynamic animations that users can design working with conditionals and past position data. The work identifies implications for how design can support learners' expression across culturally relevant themes and examines challenges from the lens of usability of the computing language and technology.

Unstable Design Lab

The Fundamental Uncertainties of Mothering: Finding Ways to Honor Endurance, Struggle, and Contradiction
Laura Devendorf (faculty, ATLAS/Information Science), Laura Kristina Andersen, (faculty, Eindhoven University of Technology/Department of Industrial Design), Aisling Kelliher, (faculty, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University/Computer Science).
Parent-focused smart devices and data-tracking platforms frame the responsible parent as one who evaluates, analyzes and mitigates data-defined risks for their children and family. In this article, the researchers turn away from self-improvement narratives to attend to their own experiences as mothers and designers through creating Design Memoirs, speaking directly to the HCI community from their positions as both users and subjects of optimized parenting tools.

Late-breaking work
From The Art of Reflection to The Art of Noticing: A Shifting View of Self-Tracking Technologies’ Role in Supporting Sustainable Food Practices
Janghee Cho, (PhD student, Information Science), Laura Devendorf (faculty, ATLAS/Information Science) and Stephen Voida (faculty, Information Science).
This paper explores using self-tracking technologies that might help people draw attention to the impact of their food practices on the environment and promote sustainable food habits.
Video

Living Matter Lab

Self-deStaining Textiles: Designing Interactive Systems with Fabric, Stains and Light
Fiona Bell, (PhD student, ATLAS), Mirela Alistar (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science), and Laura Devendorf (faculty, ATLAS/Information Science)
More information
While staining happens unintentionally (e.g., spilling coffee), this paper introduces “destaining” as an intentional design tool that can be used by HCI practitioners and designers alike to selectively degrade stains on textiles in aesthetic ways.

Superhuman Computing Lab

Exploring Technology Design for Students with Vision Impairment in the Classroom and Remotely
Vinitha Gadiraju (PhD student, Computer Science), Olwyn Doyle (BA Computer Science and Political Science '20) and Shaun K. Kane (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science)
This work explores how classroom technology design can imitate the instructional strategies educators use to teach visually impaired students the academic and behavioral skills outlined by the Expanded Core Curriculum.

THING Lab & Laboratory for Emergent Nanomaterials

Soft Electrohydraulic Actuators for Origami Inspired Shape-Changing Interfaces
Purnendu (PhD student, ATLAS),Eric Acome (Keplinger Research Group), Christoph Keplinger, (faculty, Mechanical Engineering), Mark D. Gross (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science), Carson Bruns (faculty, ATLAS/Mechanical Engineering) and Daniel Leithinger (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science).
This work introduces electrohydraulic actuators capable of producing sharp hinge-like bends that can be used to actuate existing objects or fold origami creases.

OTHER

Parental Mediation for Young Children’s Use of Educational Media: A Case Study with Computational Toys and Kits
Junnan Yu (INFO PhD Candidate), Andrea DeVore (ATLAS Undergrad Alumna), Ricarose Roque (INFO Faculty)

Special Interest Group

Microbe-HCI: Introduction and Directions for Growth
Raphael Kim (Queen Mary University), Pat Pataranutaporn (MIT), Jack Forman (MIT), Seung Ah Lee (Yonsei University), Ingmar Riedel-Kruse (University of Arizona), Mirela Alistar (faculty, ATLAS/Computer Science), Eldy S. Lazaro Vasquez (UC Davis), Katia Vega (UC Davis) Roland van Dierendonck (Studio Roland van Dierendonck), Gilad Gome (The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya), Oren Zuckerman (The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya), Angela Vujic (MIT), David Sun Kong (MIT), Pattie Maes (MIT Media Lab), Hiroshi Ishii, (MIT), Misha Sra (UCSB), Stefan Poslad (Queen Mary University).

Microbes bring a distinct set of functional, practical and ethical ramifications in interaction design. This special interest group addresses the various forms that microbial integration in human-computer interaction can take. The sessions are engaging, focused and orientated conversations around microbes acting as agents of interaction.

ATLAS researchers have 10 published works and one special interest group associated with the CHI 2021 conference, the world’s preeminent conference for the field of human-computer interaction. Held virtually, CHI 2021, also known as ACM’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, took place May 8-13.

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Data accessibility: Leveling the field for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Anonymous — Mon, 10 May 2021 21:08:42 +0000

Data accessibility: Leveling the field for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/10/2021 - 15:08

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYl0ss1oJAE&feature=emb_imp_woyt]

In a world where decisions of all kinds are based on information derived from large datasets, ensuring people have access to information and understand its implications is more important than ever. The way most statistical information is made accessible is visually using charts and graphs, and the choice of which visualization to use is generally guided by the nature of the data to be communicated. However, research led by ATLAS PhD student Keke Wu finds that for those with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), some kinds of data visualizations are harder to interpret than others.

“Keke's work is really the first in the visualization community to explore the idea of cognitive accessibility,” says Wu’s advisor, Danielle Szafir, an assistant professor of computer science with ATLAS and director of the institute’s VisuaLab. “It was previously an invisible disability to the community; we were completely unaware that common best practices were creating barriers for a large number of people.”

For this pioneering work, Wu and her co-authors earned a Best Paper award from the 2021 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, the premier international conference on Human-Computer Interaction, which took place this week.

Approximately one in six children in the US has one or more developmental disabilities or other developmental delays, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) may struggle with abstract thinking and spatial reasoning and, historically, have had limited exposure to mathematical and statistical training at school.

But despite the large number of people with IDD, visualizations such as pie charts and line graphs are typically provided without consideration for the population with whom they wish to communicate. As a result, those with IDD may struggle to make sense of some kinds of visualized data, says Wu.

The project is a collaboration with CU’s Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, which is particularly interested in how visualizations can support people with IDD in decision-making around financial self-advocacy. In addition to Szafir, Wu's co-authors on the paper include Emma Petersen, who graduated this spring from the ATLAS Creative Technology and Design master’s program; Tahmina Ahmad, an undergraduate majoring in computer science; David Burlinson, a post-doc; and Shae Tanis, co-director of the Coleman Institute and on the faculty of the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.

Data and social equality

At the start of her research, Wu identified three visualization design elements that could improve data accessibility: chart type, chart embellishment and data continuity.

Together, the team conducted a web-based mixed-methods experiment with 34 participants with and without IDD over Zoom. They gave data visualization tests to both populations, measured their test completion times and accuracy, and conducted interviews with the participants about the strategies they use to make sense of data. Wu then summarized the findings into four accessible visualization design guidelines.

The researchers concluded that the best chart type differs for people with and without IDD and that pie charts should be avoided for those with IDD; that discrete data representations, such as using isotype visualizations–where discrete objects are stacked together– instead of bar graphs will lead to more accurate performance for people with IDD; that semantically meaningful chart embellishments (such as using dollar signs with charts with financial information or stick figures to represent people) will enhance data interpretation for people with IDD; and that the visual complexity of the visualization would need to be managed.

Wu says future research will include a remote participatory design workshop “to see through the eyes of people with IDD” so as to better understand how they approach data.

“It’s not just to come up with hypotheses or just do a test with people, but really engage them in this process,” Wu says.

And she says her research may benefit others, even those without IDD. “Data can be intimidating even to people without disabilities. Our project starts with a particular population and has the potential to go to a broader one.”

their Best Paper award, Wu says, “CHI confirmed our vision and the potential broader impact of our work, not just for a particular population, but for social equality.”

An imaginative journey to informatics

Wu’s personal journey to the field of informatics is an interesting one. As a documentary filmmaking student in China, Wu encouraged others to tell their personal stories in front of a camera. Later, as an exchange student in Maryland, she designed an app to encourage a severely depressed friend, using skills learned in a multimedia design class, and then wrote a workshop paper about it.

“I care about people,” says Wu. “And I care about society.”

Realizing that technology could be a gateway to helping others, Wu applied to ATLAS Institute’s MS-Creative Technology and Design (CTD) program to hone her technical and user-centered design skills. Soon after joining ATLAS, she met Danielle Szafir and joined Szafir’s VisuaLab, where Wu pivoted her academic focus to researching how people with IDD perceive data visualizations. She subsequently joined the ATLAS doctoral program.

“When I came to ATLAS, I didn’t have a very heavy technology background,” said Wu, who was also recognized this year as an Adobe Research Fellowship finalist. “This project and Danielle led me to become a researcher.”

In a world where decisions of all kinds are based on statistical information, maximizing access to data is more important than ever. However, a recent study finds that common practices may be cutting large portions of the population out of the picture.

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NSF CAREER award supports Danielle Szafir’s data-visualization research

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 01:49:04 +0000

NSF CAREER award supports Danielle Szafir’s data-visualization research Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/06/2021 - 19:49

News about COVID-19 often comes packaged with charts, maps and graphs that help the public understand the state of the pandemic and to justify policies around mask-wearing and social distancing. Such visual representations can succinctly reveal critical information from vast datasets and they are essential for communicating scientific findings to the general public and policymakers.

However, the way data is presented can influence its interpretation. “How data is represented can introduce bias, dramatically changing the conclusions drawn and ultimately affecting policy-making and other important decisions,” says Danielle Szafir, an assistant professor of computer science with the ATLAS Institute. As director of the VisuaLab, Szafir researches what scientists, policymakers and the general public take away from such visualizations and whether their conclusions reflect what the data actually means.

Recognizing the value of this research, the National Science Foundation recently awarded Szafir a CAREER award for a project titled, “Developing Perceptually-Driven Tools for Estimating Visualization Effectiveness.” An NSF CAREER award is one of the most prestigious given to faculty in the early phases of their careers. For Szafir, the grant provides $550,000 over five years to support research and outreach activities.

The award will allow Szafir to fill a gap in data visualization research. Past visualization studies have demonstrated which types of charts perform well for specific tasks, but there isn’t yet a concrete way to rapidly gauge the efficacy of different types of visualizations. Their goal is to offer designers automated solutions for rapidly estimating visualization effectiveness, including revealing what different types of visualizations fail to communicate or communicate incorrectly. By establishing a set of effective visualization design practices that are universally accessible, they will help designers make better choices that minimize misleading data representations and make data exploration more efficient and easier.

Another key goal for the initiative is to develop a curriculum for a Coursera Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) for an online Master of Data Science program to help students from a broad set of fields develop essential data visualization skills.

Befitting an ATLAS research lab, VisuaLab's work is highly interdisciplinary, touching on cognition, perception and the most advanced applications of visual technologies, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). To help connect researchers specializing in these various fields, Szafir cofounded VisXVision, an interdisciplinary initiative aimed at promoting collaboration between data science and cognitive science.

“We have seen an unprecedented increase in public communication using data,” Szafir says. “By offering designers a means to readily understand what patterns people will see in a visualization, we can rapidly improve the ways we use data.”

Commenting on Szafir's research, ATLAS Director Mark Gross says, "It's hard to overstate the potential of Danielle's work. Inventing tools that make it easier to communicate scientific findings can make us all more informed decision-makers."

Szafir’s CAREER award (NSF 2046725) is funded by the NSF’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering Faculty Early Career Development Program.

The National Science Foundation has awarded Danielle Szafir a CAREER award to develop tools to rapidly gauge the efficacy of different types of data visualizations.

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Assistant Professor Danielle Szafir explores latest trends in visualization on Data Stories podcast

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 22:51:34 +0000

Assistant Professor Danielle Szafir explores latest trends in visualization on Data Stories podcast Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/16/2020 - 15:51

In this Data Stories podcast, ATLAS Assistant Professor Danielle Szafir and Miriah Meyer from University of Utah review the highlights from the IEEE VIS’20 conference, while exploring the latest trends in visualization.

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ATLAS research helps define the future of human-computer interaction

Anonymous — Fri, 01 May 2020 06:00:00 +0000

ATLAS research helps define the future of human-computer interaction Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/01/2020 - 00:00

Helping robots behave tactfully in group situations, pinpointing ways social media can avoid reminding the bereaved of their losses, blending modern technology with ancient weaving practices to improve smart textiles, encouraging visually impaired children and sighted family members to learn Braille together through tangible blocks and computer games—these are some of the topics covered in the nine papers and two workshops by researchers at CU ��«��Ƶ’s ATLAS Institute that were accepted to CHI 2020, the world’s preeminent conference for the field of human-computer interaction.

Like so many other events, CHI 2020, also known as ACM’s Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, isn’t taking place this year, but the proceedings are published and faculty and students remain tremendously proud of their contributions. Commenting on their work, ATLAS Director Mark Gross said, “The interactions we all have with hardware and software range from the absurd to the sublime. The field of human-computer interaction has more impact today than ever before, and ATLAS students and faculty are contributing at the highest levels. I’m immensely proud of this work.”

Researchers in the Unstable Design Lab authored a remarkable four of the nine papers admitted to the conference, two of which earned honorable mention, an accolade reserved for the top 5 percent of accepted conference papers. The THING, Superhuman Computing, Living Matter, ACME and IRON labs also had papers accepted to the conference.

"Each of these papers is unique and forward-thinking," said Laura Devendorf, director of the Unstable Design Lab, of the researchers' papers. "They show new ways of both designing, engaging, but also recycling wearable tech devices. They not only present interesting design work, but present it in a way that ties in theories and practices from inside and outside our research community: from design for disassembly to ASMR channels on YouTube."

CHI 2020 was scheduled to take place April 25 – 30, in Hawaii. “I’m particularly disappointed for our students. It’s a big opportunity for them and their careers to get that kind of exposure,” said Devendorf.

In all, CHI 2020 received 3,126 submissions and accepted 760. In 2019, CHI accepted five ATLAS papers, including three from the Unstable Design Lab and two from the Superhuman Computing Lab.

CHI 2020 papers, position papers and workshops by ATLAS faculty and students

Unstable Design Lab

Craftspeople as Technical Collaborators: Lessons Learned through an Experimental Weaving Residency [Honorable Mention Award]
Laura Devendorf (ATLAS/INFO Faculty), Katya Arquilla (Aerospace PhD Student), Sandra Wirtanen, Allison Anderson (Aerospace Faculty), Steven Frost (Media Studies Faculty)
By broadening the idea of who and what is considered “technical,” this paper examines the ways HCI practitioners, engineers and craftspeople can productively collaborate.

Making Design Memoirs: Understanding and Honoring Difficult Experiences [Honorable Mention Award]
Laura Devendorf (ATLAS/INFO) Faculty), Kristina Andersen, Aisling Kelliher
How can we design for difficult emotional experiences without reducing a person’s experience? In this paper three researchers design objects that illustrate their personal experiences as mothers to gain a deeper understanding of their individual struggles.

Unfabricate: Designing Smart Fabrics for Disassembly
Shanel Wu (ATLAS), Laura Devendorf (ATLAS/INFO)
Being mindful of the massive waste streams for digital electronics and textiles, HCI researchers address sustainability and waste in smart textiles development through designing smart textile garments with reuse in mind.

What HCI Can Learn from ASMR: Becoming Enchanted with the Mundane
Josephine Klefeker (ATLAS, TAM undergraduate), Libi Striegl (Intermedia Art, Writing and Performance), Laura Devendorf (ATLAS/INFO)
Researchers introduced the online subculture of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) videos, showing people slowly interacting with objects and whispering into microphones and triggering a tingling bodily sensation in viewers and listeners, as a source of inspiration for wearables and experiences of enchantment, to cultivate deeper connections with our mundane and everyday environments.

IRON Lab

Comparing F-Formations between Humans and On-Screen Agents
Hooman Hedayati (PhD student, Computer Science), James Kennedy, Daniel Szafir
While humans most often learn to interpret social situations and adjust their behavior accordingly, robots must be programmed to do so. This paper explores ways for robots to detect and predict the position of individuals in human conversational groups in order to more fluidly interact and participate in a conversation with them. More information

THING Lab & ACME Lab

RoomShift: Room-scale Dynamic Haptics for VR with Furniture-moving Swarm Robots
Ryo Suzuki, Hooman Hedayati, (both PhD student, CS), Clement Zheng (ATLAS PhD candidate), James Bohn (undergraduate, CS), Daniel Szaﬁr, Ellen Yi-Luen Do, Mark D. Gross, Daniel Leithinger (all ATLAS faculty)
With applications in virtual tours and architectural design, this project dynamically synchronizes virtual reality with the physical environments by rearranging objects using a small swarm of robots able to elevate and relocate tables, chairs and other objects. When users can sit on, lean against, touch and otherwise interact with objects in a virtual scene, it provides more a fuller immersion in the virtual world than purely visual VR. More information

Living Matter Lab

Semina Aeternitatis: Using Bacteria for Tangible Interaction with Data
Mirela Alistar (ATLAS), Margherita Pevere
An exploration of the potential of DNA molecules to enable new ways for humans to interact with their stories and memories via a physical interface. The project involved encoding an elderly woman's written memories into precisely sequenced DNA and then splicing the code into the genome of a microorganism. The transformed bacteria then replicated, creating billions of facsimiles of the woman's memories. The resulting biofilm was presented in an exhibition as a sculpture. (CHI '20: Extended Abstracts)

Superhuman Computing Lab

BrailleBlocks: Computational Braille Toys for Collaborative Learning
Vinitha Gadiraju, Annika Muehlbradt, and Shaun K. Kane (ATLAS/CS)
BrailleBlocks tactile gaming system encourages visually impaired children and their sighted family members to learn Braille together through tangible blocks and pegs and an iPad application with interactive educational games. More information.

ATLAS PhD Student in External Labs

Experiences of Trust in Postmortem Profile Management
Katie Z. Gach (ATLAS PhD Student), Jed Brubaker (INFO Faculty)
Managing Facebook pages for loved ones after their death is fraught with difficulty, according to this paper. While Facebook has created the ability for users to appoint post-mortem managers, called legacy contacts, Facebook gives them limited authority over the content, making them feel distrusted by the social network (Published in Transactions on Social Computing, invited for presentation at CHI 2020)

Workshops Organized

Embracing Uncertainty in HCI
Robert Soden (ATLAS alumnus), Laura Devendorf (ATLAS/INFO faculty), Richmond Y. Wong, Lydia B. Chilton, Ann Light, Yoko Akama
This workshop explores the many ways uncertainty appears in research and the different types of responses that HCI has to offer. Outcomes of the workshop include exercises designed to evoke uncertainty in participants, concept mappings and a collection of essays developed by participants.

Asian CHI Symposium: HCI Research from Asia and on Asian Contexts and Cultures
Ellen Yi-Luen Do(ATLAS faculty) among many others listed here
This symposium showcases the latest HCI work from Asia and those focusing on incorporating Asian sociocultural factors in their design and implementation. In addition to circulating ideas and envisioning future research in human-computer interaction, this symposium aims to foster social networks among researchers and practitioners and grow the Asian research community.

Workshop Papers

Toward Effective Multimodal Interaction in Augmented Reality
Matt Whitlock (CS student), Daniel Leithinger (ATLAS faculty), Danielle Albers Szafir (ATLAS faculty/INFO affiliate faculty)
This paper on envisioning future productivity for immersive analytics was accepted to the Immersive Analytics workshop at CHI 2020.

Virtual and Augmented Reality for Public Safety
Cassandra Goodby (CTD student)
This paper explores potential applications of AR and VR technologies, haptics and voice recognition for first-responders. It was accepted to the Everyday Proxy Objects for Virtual Reality workshop at CHI 2020.

Mental Health Survey and Synthesis
Cassandra Goodby (CTD student)
This paper on tools and technologies available through mental health applications was accepted to the Technology Ecosystems: Rethinking Resources for Mental Health workshop at CHI 2020.

At a time when the field of human-computer interaction is becoming more important than ever, ATLAS researchers are making substantial contributions, contributing nine papers and two workshops to CHI '20.

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