Filtered by themeQualitative interviews9 papersclear ✕

Exploring Mental Models for Transparent and Controllable Recommender Systems: A Qualitative StudyThao Ngo · 2020While online content is personalized to an increasing degree, e.g. us- ing recommender systems (RS), the rationale behind personalization and how users can adjust it typically remains opaque. This was often observed to have negative effects on the user experience and perceived quality of RS. As a result, research increasingly has taken user-centric aspects such as transparency and control of a RS into account, when assessing its quality. However, we argue that too little of this research has investigated the users’ perception and understanding of RS in their entirety. In this paper, we explore the users’ mental models of RS. More specifically, we followed the qualitative grounded theory methodology and conducted 10 semi- structured face-to-face interviews with typical and regular Netflix users. During interviews participants expressed high levels of un- certainty and confusion about the RS in Netflix. Consequently, we found a broad range of different mental models. Nevertheless, we also identified a general structure underlying all of these models, consisting of four steps: data acquisition, inference of user profile, comparison of user profiles or items, and generation of recommen- dations. Based on our findings, we discuss implications to design more transparent, controllable, and user friendly RS in the future. CCS CONCEPTS • Information systems →Recommender systems; • Human- centered computing →User studies.

UX of AI & PersonalizationResearch Papers

Retroactive Transfer Phenomena inAlternating User Interfaces · 2020We investigated retroactive transfer when users alternate be­ tween different interfaces. Retroactive transfer is the influence of a newly learned interface on users’ performance with a pre­ viously learned interface. In an interview study, participants described their experiences when alternating between different interfaces, e.g. different operating systems, devices or tech­ niques. Negative retroactive transfer related to text entry was the most frequently reported incident. We then reported a lab­ oratory experiment that investigated the impact of similarity between two abstract keyboard layouts, and the number of alternations between them, on retroactive interference. Results indicated that even small changes in the interference interface produced a significant performance drop for the entire previ­ ously learned interface. The amplitude of this performance drop decreases with the number of alternations. We suggest that retroactive transfer should receive more attention in HCI, as the ubiquitous nature of interactions across applications and systems requires users to increasingly alternate between similar interfaces. Author Keywords skill transfer; retroactive interference; keyboard layout CCS Concepts •Human-centered computing → User studies;

UX of AI & PersonalizationResearch Papers

Questioning the AI: Informing Design Practices for Explainable AI User ExperincesLiao · 2020A surge of interest in explainable AI (XAI) has led to a vast collection of algorithmic work on the topic. While many rec- ognize the necessity to incorporate explainability features in AI systems, how to address real-world user needs for under- standing AI remains an open question. By interviewing 20 UX and design practitioners working on various AI products, we seek to identify gaps between the current XAI algorithmic work and practices to create explainable AI products. To do so, we develop an algorithm-informed XAI question bank in which user needs for explainability are represented as proto- typical questions users might ask about the AI, and use it as a study probe. Our work contributes insights into the design space of XAI, informs efforts to support design practices in this space, and identifies opportunities for future XAI work. We also provide an extended XAI question bank and discuss how it can be used for creating user-centered XAI. Author Keywords Explainable AI; human-AI interaction; User experience

UX of AI & PersonalizationResearch Papers

Investigating How Experienced UX Designers Effectively Work with Machine LearningQian Yang · 2018Machine learning (ML) plays an increasingly important role in improving a user’s experience. However, most UX practitioners face challenges in understanding ML’s capabilities or envisioning what it might be. We interviewed 13 designers who had many years of experience designing the UX of ML-enhanced products and services. We probed them to characterize their practices. They shared they do not view themselves as ML experts, nor do they think learning more about ML would make them better designers. Instead, our participants appeared to be the most successful when they engaged in ongoing collaboration with data scientists to help envision what to make and when they embraced a data-centric culture. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of UX education and as opportunities for additional design research in support of UX designers working with ML. Author Keywords User Experience Design; UX Practice; Machine Learning; Design Material; Interaction Design. ACM Classification Keywords H.5.m. Information Interfaces and Presentation (e.g. HCI): Miscellaneous

UX of AI & PersonalizationResearch Papers

Unconscious Human Behaviour in Product Design: Designers' Perception, Analysis, and Reflection2014The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a new perimeter of design thinking with respect to the value of unconscious human behaviour, as well as the direction for the development of innovative product design. In this study, Verbal Protocol Analysis (VPA) is used as a method to bring out into the open that somewhat mysterious cognitive ability of designers. Designers were asked to sketch a conceptual product design based on given design brief. The design brief consist with four images of interaction between user and products which are categorized into four attributes of unconscious everyday human behaviour. In this session, designers verbalized their thoughts, feelings and beliefs while doing their conceptual sketches. There are two objectives in this study. The first objective of this paper is to find out what words are generally used by designers to describe their perception towards the theory of unconscious human behaviour in product design. The second objective is to determine how designers reflect the theory by generating the innovative concept. This has led to the following implications: 1. The identification of general understanding and perception of the theory of unconscious human behaviour in product design, including the similarities and contradicting elements. 2. The development of an understanding on how these perceptions, expressed as an adjective, influences or can be used as a basis of identifying problem in design. The study has shown that in finding a fit between human values, designers should start to understand critically and look at every tiny factor existing in human unconscious behaviour. It is hoped the study will establish an understanding of the value of unconscious human behaviour, achieve a new knowledge and develop significant information on understanding the user’s implicit needs to design concept of an innovative solution. Key Words: unconscious human behaviour; design thinking; conceptual sketches

Emotional DesignResearch Papers

Personas and user-centered design: How can personas benefit product design processes?Tomasz Miaskiewicz, Kenneth A. Kozar · 2011This paper investigates personas, an alternative method for representing and communicating customer needs. By using a narrative, picture, and name, a persona provides product designers with a vivid representation of the design target. Numerous benefits of incorporating personas into product design approaches have been suggested, but the present literature fails to identify the most significant and universal advantages of persona use. By incorporating expert opinion through the use of Delphi methodology, this research first examines the benefits of incorporating personas into design processes. After gaining consensus on the perceived importance of the individual benefits, this paper then elaborates on the most significant benefits of persona use and needed future research on the personas method.

Emotional DesignResearch Papers

Full-immersion virtual reality for experiential education: An exploratory user experience analysisChristian Schott, Stephen Marshall · 2021Experiential education is widely considered an effective pedagogy to foster learning for our rapidly changing world. Despite this, residential fieldtrips are on the decline. Recent advances in full-immersion virtual reality (VR) technology offer great potential to make situated experiential education, such as fieldtrips, more accessible to educational institutions, however, research on VR technology's effectiveness in this context is lacking. This article documents exploratory action research which examines the effectiveness of full-immersion VR technology for experiential education by adopting a user experience (UX) analytical frame. Six university staff and five students who participated in a trial of a virtual environment developed for sustainable tourism education, discussed their user experience through semi-structured interviews. The UX lens which distinguished between three UX facets during the analysis, *beyond the instrumental, emotion and affect*, *experiential*, serves to identify research areas requiring attention and assists in the technology's improvement prioritisation. Interviews revealed many positive perspectives thus lending support to VR technology's suitability to foster experiential education, however, several negative experiences were also identified; principally motion sickness. The exploratory findings suggest that more research is warranted to more comprehensively examine VR technology's capacity to foster experiential education and locate VR's place in the education landscape.

HCI & Adaptive InterfacesResearch Papers

SENSORY URBANISM AND PLACEMAKING2019Sensory Urbanism is an experimental prototyping project exploring the potential of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environments to support the incorporation of sensory and intangible aspects of place. The study investigates how sensory exploration of urban places can be integrated into decision making regarding the future of cities. In the past, numerous studies reported various sophisticated ‘livability’ measures, deeming to determine what makes a city a great place to live in. While a part of these measures can be quantified and be represented as text, graphs or images, most of the qualitative aspects of place are inherently abstract and sensory. These aspects have to be experienced to be understood and therefore they are extremely difficult to communicate using conventional representation means. The proposition explored in this study is that the increasing ubiquity of VR and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies can provide new opportunities to engage with the multi-sensory and temporal aspects of urban place. A mixed media approach was adopted, tapping into a temporal dimension as well as visual, aural and kinesthetic range of human senses. The paper reports on the development of the VR sensory urbanism prototype and the initial pilot study that demonstrated the proof-of-concept.

HCI & Adaptive InterfacesResearch Papers

INSPIRING ENGAGEMENT THROUGH THE USER EXPERIENCE:Lisa Joy Gumerman · 2014INSPIRING ENGAGEMENT THROUGH THE USER EXPERIENCE: A PROJECT WITH THE FORT COLLINS MUSEUM OF DISCOVERY This project focused on user experience to create a plan for a web application that would increase engagement with the audience of a local museum. With the support of the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, the researcher performed user experience research to create an interactive feature on the museum's website that can showcase the experiences and history and science content the museum has to offer. The project was conducted using a human-centered design framework and focused on engagement and user experience. Activity theory and the user experience framework drove the method. The process started with five stakeholder interviews, then proceeded to four observation sessions, five personas, and rounds of prototyping and testing. The final deliverable to the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery was a project plan – including specific design, content and technology recommendations resulting from research and development – they can use to implement the web application on their currently existing site to increase engagement and their audience size. ii

HCI & Adaptive InterfacesResearch Papers