Computing and Information Systems - Research Publications
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ItemPlaying blind: Revealing the world of gamers with visual impairment(ACM, 2019-05)Previous research on games for people with visual impairment (PVI) has focused on co-designing or evaluating specific games - mostly under controlled conditions. In this research, we follow a game-agnostic, "in-the-wild" approach, investigating the habits, opinions and concerns of PVI regarding digital games. To explore these issues, we conducted an online survey and follow-up interviews with gamers with VI (GVI). Dominant themes from our analysis include the particular appeal of digital games to GVI, the importance of social trajectories and histories of gameplay, the need to balance complexity and accessibility in both games targeted to PVI and mainstream games, opinions about the state of the gaming industry, and accessibility concerns around new and emerging technologies such as VR and AR. Our study gives voice to an underrepresented group in the gaming community. Understanding the practices, experiences and motivations of GVI provides a valuable foundation for informing development of more inclusive games.
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ItemNot For Me: Older Adults Choosing Not to Participate in a Social Isolation Intervention(Association for Computing Machinery, 2016-05)This paper considers what we can learn from the experiences of people who choose not to participate in technology-based social interventions. We conducted ethnographically-informed field studies with socially isolated older adults, who used and evaluated a new iPad application designed to help build new social connections. In this paper we reflect on how the values and assumptions guiding the technological intervention were not always shared by those participating in the evaluation. Drawing on our field notes and interviews with the older adults who chose to discontinue participation, we use personas to illustrate the complexities and tensions involved in individual decisions to not participate. This analysis contributes to HCI research calling for a more critical perspective on technological interventions. We provide detailed examples highlighting the complex circumstances of our non-participants' lives, present a framework that outlines the socio-technical context of non-participation, and use our findings to promote reflective practice in HCI research that aims to address complex social issues.
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ItemClassifying Attention Types with Thermal Imaging and Eye Tracking(Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2019-09-09)Despite the importance of attention in user performance, current methods for attention classification do not allow to discriminate between different attention types. We propose a novel method that combines thermal imaging and eye tracking to unobtrusively classify four types of attention: sustained, alternating, selective, and divided. We collected a data set in which we stimulate these four attention types in a user study (N = 22) using combinations of audio and visual stimuli while measuring users' facial temperature and eye movement. Using a Logistic Regression on features extracted from both sensing technologies, we can classify the four attention types with high AUC scores up to 75.7% for the user independent-condition independent, 87% for the user-independent-condition dependent, and 77.4% for the user-dependent prediction. Our findings not only demonstrate the potential of thermal imaging and eye tracking for unobtrusive classification of different attention types but also pave the way for novel applications for attentive user interfaces and attention-aware computing.
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ItemEvaluating Real-Time Gaze Representations to Infer Intentions in Competitive Turn-Based Strategy Games(Association for Computing Machinery, 2017)In this paper, we investigate nine different visual representations of gaze in a competitive digital game setting. We evaluate the ability of spectators to infer a player's intentions in the game for each visual representation. Our results show that spectators have a remarkable ability to infer intent accurately using all nine visualizations, but that visualizations with certain characteristics were more comprehensible and more readily revealed the player's intent. The real-time Heatmap visualization was the most highly preferred by participants and the most effective in revealing intent, due to its ability to balance real-time gaze information with a persistent summary of recent gaze behaviour. Our findings show that eye-tracking visualization can enable playful interactions in competitive games based on players' ability to interpret opponents' attention and intention through gaze information.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableNonverbal Communication in Human-AI Interaction: Opportunities and Challenges(Cardiff University Press, 2020-05-07)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableExplainable Reinforcement Learning through a Causal Lens(ASSOC ADVANCEMENT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, 2020)Prominent theories in cognitive science propose that humans understand and represent the knowledge of the world through causal relationships. In making sense of the world, we build causal models in our mind to encode cause-effect relations of events and use these to explain why new events happen by referring to counterfactuals — things that did not happen. In this paper, we use causal models to derive causal explanations of the behaviour of model-free reinforcement learning agents. We present an approach that learns a structural causal model during reinforcement learning and encodes causal relationships between variables of interest. This model is then used to generate explanations of behaviour based on counterfactual analysis of the causal model. We computationally evaluate the model in 6 domains and measure performance and task prediction accuracy. We report on a study with 120 participants who observe agents playing a real-time strategy game (Starcraft II) and then receive explanations of the agents' behaviour. We investigate: 1) participants' understanding gained by explanations through task prediction; 2) explanation satisfaction and 3) trust. Our results show that causal model explanations perform better on these measures compared to two other baseline explanation models.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableIntroducing the Gamer Information-Control Framework(ACM, 2020-04-21)In this paper, we present a foundation for understanding the elements that enable people with visual impairment to engage with digital games. This is defined by the gamer's relation- ships with information and with elements of control provided by the game, and is mediated through in-game metaphors and affordances when gamers interact as users or creators. This work complements previous research exploring the points of view of gamers with visual impairment by focusing on the games they play and prioritising the relationships between the key enablers of access to digital games. Using the framework to examine existing and missing components will enable de- signers to consider broader aspects of accessibility in game design.
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ItemAvatar-Mediated Communication in Social VR: An In-depth Exploration of Older Adult Interaction in an Emerging Communication Platform(Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2021-05-08)While HCI researchers have begun designing personalised VR experiences for older adults, there has been limited research examining the use of social VR - where users interact via avatars in a virtual environment. Avatar-mediated communication (AMC) is a crucial component of the social VR experience, but older users’ experience with AMC is poorly understood. We conducted a five-month study with 16 older adults evaluating a co-designed social VR prototype. Results show that AMC in social VR was seen as medium that supported introverted users to express themselves and was viewed as offering advantages when discussing sensitive topics. Our study provides new insights into how older adults view AMC in social VR as a communication medium and we contribute six design reflections, based on our results, that highlight the steps that can be taken to ensure that AMC in social VR can meet the communication needs of older users.
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ItemHow Therapists Use Visualizations of Upper Limb Movement Information From Stroke Patients: A Qualitative Study With Simulated Information.(JMIR Publications Inc., 2016-10-05)BACKGROUND: Stroke is a leading cause of disability worldwide, with upper limb deficits affecting an estimated 30% to 60% of survivors. The effectiveness of upper limb rehabilitation relies on numerous factors, particularly patient compliance to home programs and exercises set by therapists. However, therapists lack objective information about their patients' adherence to rehabilitation exercises as well as other uses of the affected arm and hand in everyday life outside the clinic. We developed a system that consists of wearable sensor technology to monitor a patient's arm movement and a Web-based dashboard to visualize this information for therapists. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to evaluate how therapists use upper limb movement information visualized on a dashboard to support the rehabilitation process. METHODS: An interactive dashboard prototype with simulated movement information was created and evaluated through a user-centered design process with therapists (N=8) at a rehabilitation clinic. Data were collected through observations of therapists interacting with an interactive dashboard prototype, think-aloud data, and interviews. Data were analyzed qualitatively through thematic analysis. RESULTS: Therapists use visualizations of upper limb information in the following ways: (1) to obtain objective data of patients' activity levels, exercise, and neglect outside the clinic, (2) to engage patients in the rehabilitation process through education, motivation, and discussion of experiences with activities of daily living, and (3) to engage with other clinicians and researchers based on objective data. A major limitation is the lack of contextual data, which is needed by therapists to discern how movement data visualized on the dashboard relate to activities of daily living. CONCLUSIONS: Upper limb information captured through wearable devices provides novel insights for therapists and helps to engage patients and other clinicians in therapy. Consideration needs to be given to the collection and visualization of contextual information to provide meaningful insights into patient engagement in activities of daily living. These findings open the door for further work to develop a fully functioning system and to trial it with patients and clinicians during therapy.
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ItemSchool’s Back: Scaffolding Reminiscence in Social Virtual Reality with Older Adults(Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2020-12-01)Social virtual reality (social VR) is an emerging technology that has the potential to support unique social experiences for groups of older adults. In this paper we explore the use of social VR to support group reminiscence, an activity that has been shown to have a positive impact on the lives of older adults. We developed School Days, a bespoke social VR application that enables groups of geographically dispersed older adults to meet in a virtual environment to reminisce about their school experiences. We conducted a user study over the course of 5 months with 16 participants aged 70--81 to evaluate how School Days supported reminiscence. In this paper, we focus on how the use of reminiscence scaffolding features in School Days impacted on the older adults' ability to participate more fully in the reminiscence activities. Our results illustrate the value of social VR for connecting older adults over distance, and contribute new knowledge of how virtual environments can be designed to scaffold reminiscence; how techniques such as 3D conversation starters and individual artefacts can be used to scaffold reminiscence; and how pre-recorded holographic stories (Avacasts) can be used to introduce new perspectives and prompt self-reflection. We contribute five design reflections aimed at guiding the design of future reminiscence tools in social VR.