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We present perspectives from 10 autistic Twitch streamers regarding their experiences as livestreamers and how autism uniquely colors their experiences. Livestreaming offers a social online experience distinct from in-person, face-to-face communication, where autistic people tend to encounter challenges. Our reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with 10 participants showcases autistic livestreamers’ perspectives in their own words. Our findings center on the importance of having streamers establishing connections with other, sharing autistic identities, controlling a space for social interaction, personal growth, and accessibility challenges. In our discussion, we highlight the crucial value of having a medium for autistic representation, as well as design opportunities for streaming platforms to onboard autistic livestreamers and to facilitate livestreamers communication with their audience.

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Abstract

Empathy tools are experiences designed to evoke empathetic responses by placing the user in another’s lived and felt experience. The problem is that designers do not have a common vocabulary to describe empathy tool experiences; consequently, it is difficult to compare/contrast empathy tool designs or to think about their efficacy. To address this problem, we analyzed 26 publications on empathy tools to develop a descriptive framework for designers of empathy tools. Based on our analysis, we found that empathy tools can be described along three dimensions: (i) the amount of agency the tool allows, (ii) the user’s perspective while using the tool, and (iii) the type of sensations that are experienced. We show that this framework can be used to describe a wide variety of empathy tools and provide recommendations for empathy tool designers, as well as techniques for measuring the efficacy of an empathy tool experience.

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We focus on the problem of simulating the haptic infrastructure of a virtual environment (i.e. walls, doors). Our approach relies on multiple ZoomWalls---autonomous robotic encounter-type haptic wall-shaped props---that coordinate to provide haptic feedback for room-scale virtual reality. Based on a user's movement through the physical space, ZoomWall props are coordinated through a predict-and-dispatch architecture to provide just-in-time haptic feedback for objects the user is about to touch. To refine our system, we conducted simulation studies of different prediction algorithms, which helped us to refine our algorithmic approach to realize the physical ZoomWall prototype. Finally, we evaluated our system through a user experience study, which showed that participants found that ZoomWalls increased their sense of presence in the VR environment. ZoomWalls represents an instance of autonomous mobile reusable props, which we view as an important design direction for haptics in VR.

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We built a chatbot system–Audience Bot–that simulates an audience for novice live streamers to engage with while streaming. New live streamers on platforms like Twitch are expected to perform and talk to themselves, even while no one is watching. We ran an observational lab study on how Audience Bot assists novice live streamers as they acclimate to multitasking–simultaneously playing a video game while performing for a (simulated) audience.

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We present a mixed-methods study of viewers on their practices and motivations around watching mukbang — video streams of people eating large quantities of food. Viewers' experiences provide insight on future technologies for multisensorial video streams and technology-supported commensality (eating with others). We surveyed 104 viewers and interviewed 15 of them about their attitudes and reflections on their mukbang viewing habits, their physiological aspects of watching someone eat, and their perceived social relationship with mukbangers. Based on our findings, we propose design implications for remote commensality, and for synchronized multisensorial video streaming content.

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Talk

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Drawing upon multiple disciplines, avant-garde fashion-tech teams push the boundaries between fashion and technology. Many are well trained in envisioning aesthetic qualities of garments, but few have formal training on designing and fabricating technologies themselves. We introduce Mannequette, a prototyping tool for fashion-tech garments that enables teams to experiment with interactive technologies at early stages of their design processes. Mannequette provides an abstraction of light-based outputs and sensor-based inputs for garments through a DJ mixer-like interface that allows for dynamic changes and recording/playback of visual effects. The base of Mannequette can also be incorporated into the final garment, where it is then connected to the final components. We conducted an 8-week deployment study with eight design teams who created new garments for a runway show. Our results revealed Mannequette allowed teams to repeatedly consider new design and technical options early in their creative processes, and to communicate more effectively across disciplinary backgrounds.

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Wind simulations are typically one-off implementations for specific applications. We introduce WindyWall, a platform for creative design and exploration of wind simulations. WindyWall is a three-panel 90-fan array that encapsulates users with 270? of wind coverage. We describe the design and implementation of the array panels, discussing how the panels can be re-arranged, where various wind simulations can be realized as simple effects. To understand how people perceive "wind" generated from WindyWall, we conducted a pilot study of wind magnitude perception using different wind activation patterns from WindyWall. Our findings suggest that: horizontal wind activations are perceived more readily than vertical ones, and that people's perceptions of wind are highly variable-most individuals will rate airflow differently in subsequent exposures. Based on our findings, we discuss the importance of developing a method for characterizing wind simulations, and provide design directions for others using fan arrays to simulate wind.

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Because gesture design for augmented reality (AR) remains idiosyncratic, people cannot necessarily use gestures learned in one AR application in another. To design discoverable gestures, we need to understand what gestures people expect to use. We explore how the scale of AR affects the gestures people expect to use to interact with 3D holograms. Using an elicitation study, we asked participants to generate gestures in response to holographic task referents, where we varied the scale of holograms from desktop-scale to room-scale objects. We found that the scale of objects and scenes in the AR experience moderates the generated gestures. Most gestures were informed by physical interaction, and when people interacted from a distance, they sought a good perspective on the target object before and during the interaction. These results suggest that gesture designers need to account for scale, and should not simply reuse gestures across different hologram sizes.

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Based on an analysis of 49 popular contemporary video games, we develop a descriptive framework of visual interaction cues in video games. These cues are used to inform players what can be interacted with, where to look, and where to go within the game world. These cues vary along three dimensions: the purpose of the cue, the visual design of the cue, and the circumstances under which the cue is shown. We demonstrate that this framework can also be used to describe interaction cues for augmented reality applications. Beyond this, we show how the framework can be used to generatively derive new design ideas for visual interaction cues in augmented reality experiences.

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Talk

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Remote collaborators working together on physical objects have difficulty building a shared understanding of what each person is talking about. Conventional video chat systems are insufficient for many situations because they present a single view of the object in a flattened image. To understand how this limited perspective affects collaboration, we designed the Remote Manipulator (ReMa), which can reproduce orientation manipulations on a proxy object at a remote site. We conducted two studies with ReMa, with two main findings. First, a shared perspective is more effective and preferred compared to the opposing perspective offered by conventional video chat systems. Second, the physical proxy and video chat complement one another in a combined system: people used the physical proxy to understand objects, and used video chat to perform gestures and confirm remote actions.

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People often enjoy sharing outdoor activities together such as walking and hiking. However, when family and friends are separated by distance it can be difficult if not impossible to share such activities. We explore this design space by investigating the benefits and challenges of using a telepresence robot to support outdoor leisure activities. In our study, participants participated in the outdoor activity of geocaching where one person geocached with the help of a remote partner via a telepresence robot. We compared a wide field of view (WFOV) camera to a 360° camera. Results show the benefits of having a physical embodiment and a sense of immersion with the 360° view. Yet challenges related to a lack of environmental awareness, safety issues, and privacy concerns resulting from bystander interactions. These findings illustrate the need to design telepresence robots with the environment and public in mind to provide an enhanced sensory experience while balancing safety and privacy issues resulting from being amongst the general public.

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In the physical world, teammates develop situation awareness about each other's location, status, and actions through cues such as gaze direction and ambient noise. To support situation awareness, distributed multiplayer games provide awareness cues - information that games automatically make available to players to support cooperative gameplay. The design of awareness cues can be extremely complex, impacting how players experience games and work with teammates. Despite the importance of awareness cues, designers have little beyond experiential knowledge to guide their design. In this work, we describe a design framework for awareness cues, providing insight into what information they provide, how they communicate this information, and how design choices can impact play experience. Our research, based on a grounded theory analysis of current games, is the first to provide a characterization of awareness cues, providing a palette for game designers to improve design practice and a starting point for deeper research into collaborative play.

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In this paper, we discuss the role of the movement trajectory and velocity enabled by our tele-robotic system (ReMa) for remote collaboration on physical tasks. Our system reproduces changes in object orientation and position at a remote location using a humanoid robotic arm. However, even minor kinematics differences between robot and human arm can result in awkward or exaggerated robot movements. As a result, user communication with the robotic system can become less efficient, less fluent and more time intensive.

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People are increasingly using mobile video to communicate, collaborate, and share experiences while on the go. Yet this presents challenges in adequately sharing camera views with remote users. In this paper, we study the use of semi-autonomous drones for video conferencing, where an outdoor user (using a smartphone) is connected to a desktop user who can explore the environment from the drone's perspective. We describe findings from a study where pairs collaborated to complete shared navigation and search tasks. We illustrate the benefits of providing the desktop user with a view that is elevated, manipulable, and decoupled from the outdoor user. In addition, we articulate how participants overcame challenges in communicating environmental information and navigational cues, negotiated control of the view, and used the drone as a tool for sharing experiences. This provides a new way of thinking about mobile video conferencing where cameras that are decoupled from both users play an integral role in communication, collaboration, and sharing experiences.

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Software is typically developed incrementally and released in stages. Planning these releases involves deciding which features of the system should be implemented for each release. This is a complex planning process involving numerous trade-offs-constraints and factors that often make decisions difficult. Since the success of a product depends on this plan, it is important to understand the trade-offs between different release plans in order to make an informed choice. We present STRATOS, a tool that simultaneously visualizes several software release plans. The visualization shows several attributes about each plan that are important to planners. Multiple plans are shown in a single layout to help planners find and understand the trade-offs between alternative plans. We evaluated our tool via a qualitative study and found that STRATOS enables a range of decision-making processes, helping participants decide on which plan is most optimal.

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Mobile video conferencing, where one or more participants are moving about in the real world, enables entirely new interaction scenarios (e.g., asking for help to construct or repair an object, or showing a physical location). While we have a good understanding of the challenges of video conferencing in office or home environments, we do not fully understand the mechanics of camera work-how people use mobile devices to communicate with one another-during mobile video calls. To provide an understanding of what people do in mobile video collaboration, we conducted an observational study where pairs of participants completed tasks using a mobile video conferencing system. Our analysis suggests that people use the camera view deliberately to support their interactions-for example, to convey a message or to ask questions-but the limited field of view, and the lack of camera control can make it a frustrating experience.

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Performative wearable technology has become a powerful medium for storytelling, advocacy, and social change. At the intersection of fashion and human-computer interaction (HCI), performative wearable technology explores how wearable technology can be utilized as an expressive tool, enabling designers to convey embodied and personal experiences. This thesis explores two distinct categories of performative wearables: (1) wearable empathy tools, designed to immerse the wearer in an experience of another, and (2) fashion-technology garments, which utilize performance and spectacle to engage audiences with social issues visually. By examining these two approaches, this research aims to understand how performative contexts influence the design process of performative wearables addressing social issues and how contextual factors impact the final designs. To achieve this, I employ qualitative research methods to explore designers' design strategies to create empathy tools and fashion-technology runway garments. I focus on the use of Research through Design (RtD) methodologies, where I incorporate first-person autobiographical accounts, soma design, and artifact evaluation to document and critically reflect on the design and impact of two performative wearable projects: HACKLES.empathy}and HACKLES.runway. The first, an empathy tool, is designed to simulate and communicate the lived experience of anxiety that I, as a woman, feel when walking alone at night, aiming to foster a deeper understanding through embodied interaction. The second, a runway garment, translates the same narrative into a spectacle-driven fashion-technology piece intended for audience engagement and public discourse on safety and gendered experiences in urban spaces. Through comparative analysis, my research shows that the design process for performative wearables is heavily affected by and informed by how the garment will be experienced. In addition, first-person experiences embedded in the design of empathy tools and fashion-technology garments lead to rich expressions of social issues. Personal experiences are crucial in these designs, and designers who are not inspired by personal experiences should collaborate with individuals who have. This thesis contributes to ongoing discourse in HCI, design research, and interactive fashion by synthesizing insights from fashion activism, embodied interaction, and first-person HCI design. The work proposes a design framework for performative wearables that helps designers navigate the trade-offs between individual experience and visual communication in wearable technology for social awareness. Ultimately, this research highlights the potential of wearable technologies to transcend their functional utility, instead positioning performative wearables as a critical medium for storytelling, activism, and empathy-building.

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