Publications

April 25, 2020

Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)

People compare themselves to one another both offline and online. The specific online activities that worsen social comparison are partly understood, though much existing research relies on people recalling their own online activities post hoc and is situated in only a few countries. To better understand social comparison worldwide and the range of associated behaviors on social media, a survey of 38,000 people from 18 countries was paired with logged activity on Facebook for the prior month.

Areas: Data Science Human Computer Interaction & UX

April 25, 2020

Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)

This paper compares data from ten self-reported Facebook use survey measures deployed in 15 countries (N = 49,934) against data from Facebook’s server logs to describe factors associated with error in commonly used survey items from the literature.

Areas: Data Science Human Computer Interaction & UX

April 24, 2020

ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)

We present a compact broadband linear actuator, Chasm, that renders expressive haptic feedback on wearable and handheld devices. Unlike typical motor-based haptic devices with integrated gearheads, Chasm utilizes a miniature leadscrew coupled to a motor shaft, thereby directly translating the high-speed rotation of the motor to the linear motion of a nut carriage without an additional transmission.

Areas: AR/VR Human Computer Interaction & UX

April 9, 2020

International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP)

The paper proposes an efficient, robust, and reconfigurable technique to suppress various types of noises for any sampling rate. The theoretical analyses, subjective and objective test results show that the proposed noise suppression (NS) solution significantly enhances the speech transmission index (STI), speech intelligibility (SI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and subjective listening experience.

Areas: AR/VR Facebook AI Research Human Computer Interaction & UX Machine Learning Natural Language Processing & Speech

March 28, 2020

IEEE Haptics Symposium

We explore how a custom-built, low degree-of-freedom, wearable haptic display may mediate the encoding and decoding of a set of complex socio-emotional messages that is sent and received by strangers, intimate partners, and even the same individual a week later.

Areas: AR/VR Human Computer Interaction & UX

March 21, 2020

IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces

When building virtual reality applications teams must choose between different configurations of the hardware and/or software aspects, and other factors, of the experience. In this paper we extend a framework for assessing how these factors contribute to quality of experience in an example evaluation. We consider how four factors related to avatar expressiveness affect quality of experience: Eye Gaze, Eye Blinking, Mouth Animation, and Microexpressions.

Areas: AR/VR Human Computer Interaction & UX

January 1, 2020

Ethics in Design and Communication

Virtual Reality (VR) designers accept the ethical responsibilities of removing a user’s entire world and superseding it with a fabricated reality. These unique immersive design challenges are intensified when virtual experiences become public and socially-driven. As female VR designers in 2018, we see an opportunity to fold the language of consent into the design practice of virtual reality—as a means to design safe, accessible, virtual spaces.

Publication will be made available in 2020.

Areas: AR/VR Human Computer Interaction & UX

November 9, 2019

Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW)

In immersive virtual reality (VR) environments, experiences of harassment can be exacerbated by features such as synchronous voice chat, heightened feelings of presence and embodiment, and avatar movements that can feel like violations of personal space (such as simulated touching or grabbing). Simultaneously, efforts to govern these developing spaces are made more complex by the distributed landscape of virtual reality applications and the dynamic nature of local community norms. To better understand this nascent social and psychological environment, we interviewed VR users (n=25) about their experiences with harassment, abuse, and discomfort in social VR.

Areas: AR/VR Human Computer Interaction & UX

July 12, 2019

IEEE World Haptics Conference

Hybrid actuation approaches for haptic interfaces generally suffer from asymmetry in active and passive torque capabilities. This paper describes the design of a high-performance balanced hybrid haptic device, which addresses the asymmetry by combining a high-power, low-impedance active compliant actuation (series-elastic actuator) with energy absorbing high-force passive actuation in parallel with a fast, low-power secondary active actuation.

Areas: AR/VR Human Computer Interaction & UX

July 12, 2019

IEEE World Haptics Conference

In this paper we present the design and control of Bellowband, a pneumatic wristband for localized pressure and vibration haptic feedback. The wristband has eight equally spaced pneumatic bellows that extend into the wrist, constructed from layers of polyester thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), resulting in a flexible, lightweight (11 g) band capable of rendering complex pressure and vibration cues to the user.

Areas: AR/VR Human Computer Interaction & UX