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We are rapidly moving towards a hybrid world where communication and collaboration occur in reality, virtuality, and everywhere in-between. But, are current technologies ready for such a shift? Social Extended Reality (XR) systems promise to overcome the limitations of current real-time teleconferencing systems, enabling a better sense of immersion, enhancing the sense of presence, and fostering more successful interpersonal interactions. The possibility for familiar, meaningful, and strategically heightened social interaction in XR has positioned immersive technology as the future of real-time communication and collaboration. This Dagstuhl Seminar gathered academics and practitioners from different disciplines to address the open challenges of immersive interaction including the ethical, legal and societal aspects of possible futures. Participants shared their work through rapid talks and XR demos. The seminar organizers provided provocation talks before small groups convened to discuss three topics over three days: XR design approaches, ethics and values; capturing and modelling; and proxemics, metrics, instrumentation and evaluation. We conclude with a set of grand challenges in the field of social XR in the areas of empathic computing, blended reality, assets and datasets, and survey instruments.

Over the last several years, remote collaboration has been getting more attention in the research community because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In previous studies, researchers have investigated the effect of adding visual communication cues or shared views in collaboration, but there has not been any previous study exploring the influence between them. In this paper, we investigate the influence of view types on the use of visual communication cues. We compared the use of the three visual cues (hand gesture, a pointer with hand gesture, and sketches with hand gesture) across two view types (dependent and independent views), respectively. We conducted a user study, and the results showed that hand gesture and sketches with the hand gesture cues were well matched with the dependent view condition, and using a pointer with the hand gesture cue was suited to the independent view condition. With the dependent view, the hand gesture and sketch cues required less mental effort for collaborative communication, had better usability, provided better message understanding, and increased feeling of co-presence compared to the independent view. Since the dependent view supported the same viewpoint between the remote expert and a local worker, the local worker could easily understand the remote expert’s hand gestures. In contrast, in the independent view case, when they had different viewpoints, it was not easy for the local worker to understand the remote expert’s hand gestures. The sketch cue had a benefit of showing the final position and orientation of the manipulating objects with the dependent view, but this benefit was less obvious in the independent view case (which provided a further view compared to the dependent view) because precise drawing in the sketches was difficult from a distance. On the contrary, a pointer with the hand gesture cue required less mental effort to collaborate, had better usability, provided better message understanding, and an increased feeling of

This paper describes a case study and the insights gained from pro-totyping an Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA) for English vocabulary building for Spanish-speaking preschool children. After an initial exploration to evaluate the feasibility of developing an IVA, we followed a Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach to create a prototype. We report on the multidisciplinary process used that incorporated two well-known educative concepts: gamification and story-telling as the main components for engagement. Our results suggest that a multidisciplinary approach to developing an educational IVA is effective. We report on the relevant aspects of the ideation and design processes that informed the vision and mission of the project.

Remote guidance on physical tasks is a type of collaboration in which a local worker is guided by a remote helper to operate on a set of physical objects. It has many applications in industrial sections such as remote maintenance and how to support this type of remote collaboration has been researched for almost three decades. Although a range of different modern computing tools and systems have been proposed, developed and used to support remote guidance in different application scenarios, it is essential to provide communication cues in a shared visual space to achieve common ground for effective communication and collaboration. In this paper, we conduct a selective review to summarize communication cues, approaches that implement the cues and their effects on augmented reality based remote guidance. We also discuss challenges and propose possible future research and development directions.

Immersive media is becoming increasingly common in day-to-day scenarios: from extended reality systems to multimodal interfaces. Such ubiquity opens an opportunity for building more inclusive environments for users with disabilities (permanent, temporary, or situational) by either introducing immersive and multimodal elements into existing applications, or designing and creating immersive applications with inclusivity in mind. Thus the aim of this workshop is to create a discussion platform on intersections between the fields of immersive media, accessibility, and human-computer interaction, outline the key current and future problems of immersive inclusive design, and define a set of methodologies for design and evaluation of immersive systems from inclusivity perspective.

Collaborative Immersive Analytics (IA) is a tool which enables multiple people to explore the same dataset using immersive technologies, such as Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR). In this poster, we describe a system which uses AR to provide situated 3D visualisations in a practical agile collaborative setting. Through a preliminary user study we found that our system helps users accept the concept of IA while enhancing engagement and interactivity during AR collaboration.

Knowledge about how social robots should be designed is fragmented, and there is currently limited discussion around developing a consistent body of knowledge to describe the design process of these social machines. This paper describes eleven design principles for the development of interactions between humans and robots including programming practices, characteristics of robots as products, interactive behaviours, and even moral values for users. We draw inspiration from the development and design practices of a range of interactive systems and several fields of design that inform the interdisciplinary potential of social robotics. Finally, we propose the empirical validation of these design principles in future work.

Audio recordings are playing an ever more important role in environmental conservation, however as many of these recordings can be thousands of hours long it becomes impossible for a human to listen to them. There already exist several methods of visualising this long-duration data, and each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages that makes it useful for its own niche. There are currently no methods that allow for interactive navigation of an entire year of big environmental audio data on a single screen. This paper proposes a new method that will allow for those involved in species conservation to more easily view and interact with large scale eco-acoustic recordings and quickly interact to support the decision-making process.

Making is a generative and creative process that can be engaging and empowering. Craft groups and making communities have grown in popularity for the ageing population, both to pursue traditional making activities like knitting as well as to explore making through emerging interactive technologies. However, there is yet to be an overview of how older people engage in making. This paper seeks to map the landscape of making for older adults, in order to understand the characteristics and benefits of making for this demographic. We explore the literature on making and then use the lens of "positive ageing" to examine the benefits and challenges of making for health, security and participation of older people. We conclude by discussing opportunities for design and highlight avenues for future HCI research into supporting making for older adults.

Despite mounting evidence that standardised tests and diagnoses are often not appropriate to recruit and describe participants with intellectual disability while acknowledging their diversity, designers have few tools to describe their participants when reporting in academic literature. More importantly, most clinical language about intellectual disability is neither owned nor mastered by the people to whom it refers. This paper proposes an approach that integrates the executive function framework, as used and understood by practitioners, with the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), as experienced and understood by people with intellectual disability, into a set of questions in relation to support. We discuss the applicability of our proposed approach, broadly and through the lens of reflections on a small case study.

People with intellectual disability are keen users of information technology, but the need for spelling and typing skills often presents a barrier to information and media search and access. The paper presents a study to understand how people with intellectual disabilities can use Voice Activated Interfaces (VAIs) to access information and assist in daily activities. The study involves observations and video analysis of 18 adults with intellectual disability using VAIs and performing 4 tasks: calibrating the VAIs, using voice assistant (Siri or Google) to search images, using voice to query Youtube, and using the voice assistant to perform a daily task (managing calendar, finding directions, etc.). 72% of participants stated that this was their preferred form of input. 50% could perform all four tasks they attempted with successful outcomes, and 55% three of the tasks. We identify the main barriers and opportunities for existing VAIs and suggest future improvements mainly around audio feedback given to participants. Notably, we found that participants’ mental model of the VAIs was that of a person, implications for which include the user having to speak in long polite sentences and expecting voice responses and feedback about the state of the device. We suggest ways that VAIs can be adjusted so that they are more inclusive.

This paper presents findings from a set of co-design workshops aimed at identifying the core values of underbanked women from rural Sri Lanka, associated with their everyday financial practices and experiences. We sought to gain in-depth insights into the aspirations, rationales, and concerns of this demography, where traditionally household finances are handled by men. In collaboration with a Microfinance Institute (MFI), we carried out two co-design workshops involving 17 participants. We used group discussions and various design activities such as persona creation to enable participants to share their experiences related to household finances. From our findings, three central values associated with household finances came out strongly: Supporting Family, Independence, and Spiritual Beliefs. We conclude by reflecting on the values identified while providing suggestions to support those through technology.

Newcomer refugees face enormous challenges on their arrival in host countries to start their new lives. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and volunteers play a vital role in helping newly arrived refugees meet their needs during their process of resettlement. ICT can facilitate social interactions between refugees and NGOs, thus supporting refugees’ connections within the host community. This study focuses on evaluating an initial prototype that has been designed to support social interaction between refugees and NGOs in a host community. We present the findings from a design workshop with seven newcomer refugees from Iraq. Following the workshop, we interviewed the head of an NGO and two volunteers. We found that participants face problems in finding information, getting jobs, and connecting with members from the host community. Based on these results, we offer three main design concepts that will guide us to improve our initial prototype in future work to support the social interaction between refugees and NGOs.

This paper 1 presents lessons learnt from the first stage of participatory and iterative design of an application to support people with intellectual disability to use public transport in a large city. We first present an initial prototype inspired by existing literature, available data and accessibility guidelines. We explored this initial prototype within three sessions, each with a young adult with intellectual disability and one of their carers. Our young adult participants were comfortable using the phone app, though some visuals needed redesign. We found that our participants valued social connectedness and the journey itself more than efficiency. Finally, they shifted the narrative of independence into greater self-determination to choose their own forms of social connectedness and support.

Entrepreneurs and start-up founders using innovation spaces and hubs often find themselves inside a filter bubble or echo chamber, where like-minded people tend to come up with similar ideas and recommend similar approaches to innovation. This trend towards homophily and a polarisation of like-mindedness is aggravated by algorithmic filtering and recommender systems embedded in mobile technology and social media platforms. Yet, genuine innovation thrives on social inclusion fostering a diversity of ideas. To escape these echo chambers, we designed and tested the Skunkworks Finder – an exploratory tool that employs social network analysis to help users discover spaces of difference and otherness in their local urban innovation ecosystem.

We report on an early design concept that focuses on how we en-gage with our contemporary urban environments along with ani-mal companions. The project recognises that dogs and dog walking both contribute to mental and physical health and well-being, and builds on a growing awareness that companion animals and walking in urban localities also fosters community cohesion and social capital. We put these themes together in the context of de-signing for Queeland’s growing senior population with the in-tent of gaining insights into connections made through place-making activities of human and animal companions. The project is currently in its exploratory design phase as ‘grounded’ practice-based work with on-going emerging insights to underpin the development of a design scenario and cultural probe. We begin with insights generated from personal experienc-es and a desire to foster age-friendly, intergenerational ‘slow’ urban environments. This paper offers the background and context, and then considers some of the design dilemmas. We share an early design concept that draws on lessons learned from game design and theories of place-making that has the potential to reveal experience in place (for both humans and our animal companions).

This paper explores how parents use interactive technologies to encourage young children (under the age of 5) to be physically active, as well as how technologies might undermine physical activity. Based on an analysis of 1528 posts made online on Reddit and Quora, we found that many parents regard time spent with technologies as time taken away from physical activity. However, we also identified how parents appropriated technology to promote physical activity, i.e., through rewarding, modelling, facilitating, participating, tracking and documenting. We hope these practices will inspire design work with families to create new exertion interfaces, games, and persuasive technologies. In framing our findings as practices, we hope to expand the focus of future design activities from narrow concerns with health, tracking, and competition, towards broader concerns with what families do in everyday life, how they socialize, and what resources and technologies they have available to flourish.

Young Adults with Intellectual Disability (YAID) are interested in participating in social media as it offers opportunities for their social participation and inclusion. However, the literature remains incomplete on the nature of participation across popular social media sites by YAID, and how different social media sites fulfil their participation interests. To explore this, we employed a mixed methods approach involving interviews, participant observation, training workshops, and a survey with YAID. We found that participation interests varied between platforms: all participants used YouTube for entertainment, some participated in Facebook to stay connected with family, whereas Snapchat and Instagram were used for playful interaction with strangers. Awareness of online safety emerged as a key competence, while literacy, authentication, netiquette and disruption from advertising content adversely affected participation. We discuss how to address these issues to support and sustain participation, as well as opportunities for leveraging participation in social media for skills development.

Current surgical procedures need to be properly understood before designing robotic platforms for surgery, so that the strengths of robotic systems can cover and enhance the capabilities of the surgeon, which will create better patient outcomes. The aim of our research is to explore the potential of robotic assistance in arthroscopic knee surgery, which is one of the most common elective surgeries undertaken. We observed and video-recorded 15 arthroscopic knee surgeries performed by four orthopaedic surgeons and conducted interviews with two of these surgeons to gain further insight and clarification. Our findings highlight the challenges experienced by surgeons: (1) frustration with instruments, (2) visibility challenges, and (3) ergonomic, cognitive, social, and cooperative work demands. Furthermore, we identified the following needs: flexible distal end of instruments and better visualisation of instruments. With this knowledge we plan to develop a video card game, which, with the collaboration of orthopaedic surgeons, will be used to design an interface for a robotic surgical assistant to help alleviate these challenges.

This study explores how to move towards designing technologies to enrich the parent-adult child relationship after adult children leave home. This time is a turning point for adult children as they establish an independent life, while it marks a change in responsibilities and freedoms enjoyed by parents. We conducted interviews with 7 parents and 6 adult children to understand how they currently use technologies like Skype and WhatsApp to maintain their relationship. The findings show how parents and adult children's positions raise tensions when balancing independence and closeness, how these tensions affect technology-mediated communication, and that there is limited dialogue about the differences between their positions. Inspired by Position Exchange Theory, we discuss how design methods and technology design can enable parents and adult children to see the world through each other's eyes. This process can contribute to developing a better understanding of how they can renegotiate their new social positions and thus enrich their relationship.

Acoustic sensors offer a promising new tool to detect furtive animals; however, sifting through years of audio data is fraught with challenges. Developing automatic detection software still requires a large dataset of calls that have been accurately annotated by experts. Few studies have explored how people identify species by vocalisations in the wild, and how this skill can be applied to designing technologies for locating and identifying calls in recordings. To explore how birders often find and identify animals by calls and share their observations, we conducted qualitative interviews and a visualization-review activity with nine birders, eliciting insight into their existing practices, knowledge, and visualisation interpretation. We found that visualisations evoked memories demonstrating birder expertise on the natural history, behaviours, and habitats of birds. Birders were curious and learned from exploring the abstract patterns in visualisations of acoustic data, relying on past experiences with nature to interpret acoustic visualisations. Birders often wanted to corroborate findings with other birders by reviewing acoustic recordings and local bird lists. This study demonstrates how qualitative review of visualisations can elicit a nuanced understanding of community practices, knowledge, and sensemaking, which are essential to improve design of future technologies.

Research has identified that people in close relationships value effort that is invested into the creation of digital messages. This paper explores the potential for communication systems to encourage reflection by revealing evidence of effort to message recipients, allowing for it to be appreciated. Focusing on text-based communication, we report findings from an exploratory study of three interface prototypes that probe users’ reactions to the notion of revealing sender effort. We find that information about effort can foster empathy and appreciation by encouraging reflection over meaningful actions. However, designers of communication tools must address the issues of authenticity, controlled disclosure and cost in access if reflection on effort is to be valued. We consider how designers might negotiate these issues in future effort- sensitive communication technologies.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows users to view and interact in real time with virtual images seamlessly superimposed over the real world. AR systems can be used to create unique collaborative experiences. For example, co-located users can see shared 3D virtual objects that they interact with, or a user can annotate the live video view of a remote worker, enabling them to collaborate at a distance. The overall goal is to augment the face-to-face collaborative experience, or to enable remote people to feel that they are virtually co-located. In this special issue on collaboration in augmented reality, we begin with the visions of science fiction authors of future technologies that might significantly improve collaboration, then introduce research articles which describe progress towards these visions, finally we outline a research agenda discussing the work still to be done., Multi Actor Systems, Technology, Policy and Management

Harvest Available online: 6-11-2015, System Engineering

Mixed presence collaboration combines distributed and collocated collaboration -- there are multiple distributed sites, each with a collocated group. While collocated collaboration and purely distributed collaboration are each the subject of rich bodies of research, the combination is less well explored. In this paper we present our initial concepts of awareness support in mixed presence collaboration. We present this as a first version model of awareness. The selected literature we have used to inform the model is drawn from collocated research and distributed research as well as the small body of work addressing mixed presence collaboration directly. In this paper we present a discussion of this relevant literature and use it to explain our model. We also offer a sample of applying the model through the use of a scenario.