2024-01-23: ACM SIGCHI conference on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS) 2023 - Swansea, Wales, UK Trip Report

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We're happy that our research paper, titled "Enabling Customization of Discussion Forums for Blind Users" has been recognized at EICS 2023 which happened in Swansea, UK. Our paper focuses on making online discussion platforms more usable for people who are blind. The conference is well-known for its thorough distribution of research findings in human-computer interface and software engineering. This conference serves as a hub, bringing together many researchers and experts in the field, encouraging collaboration, and providing a platform for the exchange of knowledge and creative ideas. Being a part of this conference provides us with a great chance to discuss our results and work with others who are dedicated to enhancing technology for all users.



Workshops:

Workshop 2: Engineering Interactive Systems Embedding AI Technologies (EIS-embedding-AI)

Out of the different workshops that were offered, I chose to go to "EIS-embedding-AI" because it would give me a deeper look at how automation is used in interaction systems and how AI technologies are integrated. Organized by prominent people in the field, including Alan J. Dix, Sven Mayer, Philippe Palanque, Emanuele Panizzi, and Davide Spano, delves into the complexities introduced by AI automation, the workshop explores levels of integration, acknowledging challenges from micro to macro engineering perspectives. It emphasizes the need to mitigate issues arising from the black-box nature of AI technologies, particularly in user interactions, even with added explanations. The workshop's primary goals are to gather insights on engineering practices for user-friendly interactive systems embedded with AI technologies and to identify gaps hindering their effective utilization in user-centered design processes. Additionally, it seeks to understand stakeholders' perspectives in assessing the impact of AI technologies on various system properties beyond conventional usability, such as performance and dependability.

Listed below are some interesting works:

1) 'Simulating the Rare Disease Diagnostic Journey' 

Emily Esther Nielsen from Swansea University introduced a race-to-diagnosis game for rare diseases, offering a simulation of the diagnostic journey. This demonstration has evaluated pre-diagnostic technology statistically by involving participants from the general population in a laboratory study post-conference. I enjoyed the interactive presentation and learned innovative strategies for participant recruitment and alternative study designs.


"Engineering Rehabilitation" by Carayon Axel of Toulouse III, France, addresses post-stroke or post-brain injury rehabilitation challenges. It emphasizes the need for well-defined, goal-oriented exercises to enhance functional independence in patients. The paper integrates SIVIRE, offering graphical feedback, and HAMSTERS-XLE, providing task models and editor tools, to enhance patient monitoring and exercise precision. This integration allows for exercise definition in HAMSTERS-XLE, fine-tuning in SIVIRE, continuous patient practice monitoring, and data transfer for therapists to track patient progress and issues. The study demonstrates the tool's efficacy in enhancing rehabilitation through goal-oriented exercises and precise monitoring mechanisms.

Patrik Zander from the Technical University of Munich focuses on the challenges of employee data usage in People Analytics (PA) due to privacy concerns and GDPR regulations. The paper explores the integration of data owner benefits, like automated feedback, as a strategy to encourage employees to share their data for PA. While the study emphasizes the importance of including benefits in PA design, the user study (n = 46) reveals mixed outcomes, where some benefits positively impact employee consent, but others raise concerns or do not motivate data sharing, signaling the necessity for cautious consideration and refinement of such incentives.

Yuchong Zhang from KTH Royal Institute of Technology compares the impact of virtual and physical interfaces on human memorization in a memory matching game. Their study (n=12) using head-mounted display (HMD) AR and physical paper board games revealed that the gamified HMD AR system performed better than the physical version. Quantitative metrics including game completion time, system usability, recommendation level, and cognitive workload (NASA TLX) favored the HMD AR system, indicating its superiority in supporting human memorization in a gamified context.

Nicolas Burny from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain) assessed Instigator, an LLM-based system for finding relevant GUI layouts for web pages. Results from practitioner interaction (N=34) indicated high similarity between Instigator's generated layouts and practitioners' rankings concerning design relevance. Thirteen UEQ+ scales gauged the user experience, providing insights for enhancing future tools aiming to improve GUI layout searches through LLM-based systems.

Paul Brie from Teleport HQ presents their API, based on computer vision using Resnet101 and Faster R-CNN architectures, which facilitates segmenting and recognizing various elements (e.g., buttons, text inputs, images) in hand-sketched GUIs both offline and online, achieving an 85% recognition rate across 21 classes of interface elements. This innovation addresses challenges in identifying UI components from evolving or varied formats like whiteboard drawings or paper sketches.

Vitor Maia from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or the University of Brazil presented the research aims to enhance medical equipment location and use in health centers using context-aware interactive software systems, minimizing explicit user interactions. A preliminary conceptual model for locating medical objects and monitoring their usage states was developed, aiming to link users, locations, technologies, and objects while considering environmental rules. The proof of concept illustrates this approach, and feasibility will be tested in hospitals across two countries using context-aware IoT software systems.

Tom Gross from the University of Bamberg presented the study delved into the proliferation of technologically advanced tools for the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), focusing on 30 systems and toolkits. It provides insights for developers on technological capabilities, study administrators on design opportunities, and study participants on usability aspects. The research offers a comprehensive review of current ESM tools, highlights their shortcomings, and suggests recommendations for future enhancements.

Mahyar T. Moghaddam from the University of Southern Denmark proposes a quality-driven approach, Emoticontrol, utilizing Model-Free Reinforcement Learning (MFRL) to adapt user interfaces (UIs) based on users' emotions. The approach aims to optimize essential adaptations for enhanced Quality of Experience (QoE) while considering software Quality of Service (QoS) through alternative software architectures. Evaluating in the context of emergency evacuation training, experiments with a mobile application employing face recognition for users' emotional input showcased efficient UI adaptations, ensuring emotional control while guiding individuals to safe areas. The study confirmed the efficacy of MFRL in UI adaptation compared to other techniques.

Vittoria Frau from the University of Cagliari was honored with the Best Paper award. The paper addressed the challenge of simplifying XR interaction implementation for novice AR/VR developers. XRSpotlight, a system developed for this purpose, curates XR interactions in Unity scenes and translates them into natural language rules, facilitating comprehension for novices. By unifying XR toolkit implementations, XRSpotlight aids novices in understanding, suggesting, and implementing interactions from various toolkits, bridging the gap between tools and fostering better project comprehension and execution. Professional VR developers validated the model's effectiveness, highlighting XRSpotlight's assistance in comprehending and applying XR interaction concepts in projects. In conclusion, participating in the EICS conference in Swansea, UK, was a valuable learning experience that not only expanded my knowledge of interactive computing systems but also let me experience the lively culture and friendly people of Swansea. Engaging with prominent researchers and industry leaders presented me with unique views, encouraging me to explore creative ideas and novel techniques in this dynamic field. The conference provided a venue for me to present my research while also encouraging collaborations and discussions that extended my views. Seeing various techniques and cutting-edge breakthroughs revived my desire to contribute to the progress of interactive computing. I am excited to utilize what I learned at this conference in my future research projects, expanding my dedication to the advancement of interactive computing systems. The city of Swansea's rich history, nice people, and wide range of cultural activities made it a great place for academic interaction and networking. Many of the memories I made in Swansea will stay with me forever, and I can't wait to visit this lovely city again. The 2024 EICS Conference will be held in Caligari, Italy.

–  Mohan Krishna Sunkara (@mk344567)

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