Publications in Human-Computer Interaction

Abstract

Video games are now recognized as an important part of our culture and history. However, this redefinition of the cultural value of video games has received scant academic attention.

In this paper I explore the transformation video games have, and are undergoing by: 1) drawing on the event of the first excavation searching for video game history in the Alamogordo Landfill in New Mexico and 2) interviews with collection and exhibition experts in charge of video games in two U.S. museums: MoMA, New York and MADE, Oakland.

Results explore how video games have gone from trash to treasure as exemplified by the excavation of the 1982 Atari game E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. As video games enter museums they become valued using traditional western ideals on how cultural heritage is defined, based on ideals of age, materiality, monumentality, and aesthetics. Yet, the interactivity imperative of video games makes new evaluation structures relevant.

Abstract

Instructional videos for physical training have gained popularity in recent years among sport and ftness practitioners, due to the proliferation of afordable and ubiquitous forms of online training. Yet, learning movement this way poses challenges: lack of feedback and personalised instructions, and having to rely on personal imitation capacity to learn movements. We address some of these challenges by exploring visual cues’ potential to help people imitate movements from instructional videos. With a Research through Design approach, focused on strength training, we augmented an instructional video with diferent sets of visual cues: directional cues, body highlights, and metaphorical visualizations. We tested each set with ten practitioners over three recorded sessions, with follow-up interviews. Through thematic analysis, we derived insights on the efect of each set of cues for supporting movement learning. Finally, we generated design takeaways to inform future HCI work on visual cues for instructional training videos.

Abstract

Anonymity on the Internet is a contentious issue; by some seen as an important freedom to be protected, while others argue for increased identification to protect groups at risk of exploitation. The debate reflects a dichotomous view of online anonymity; you are, or you are not anonymous. However, anonymity is a complex process played out on different levels and defined by various actors. While empirical studies show this, theoretical synthesis is lacking. This essay provides perspective on anonymity online by comparing two critical cases, online auctions and online gaming, we corroborate results from a 4-year interdisciplinary project with researchers from sociology, economics, and computer and system sciences. We argue that one should talk about anonymities in plural form, as online anonymity is not a state but a relational process. We put forth a conceptual model, which unpacks online anonymity as interdependent macro structures – legal, commercial, and technological – and micro/meso facets – factual, social group, and physical – to be used in future research.

Abstract

For many families, ICTs have become an indispensable part of family life. Smartphones and other digital communication technologies help them to keep up with each other during school/work hours; organizing family gatherings can be coordinated in chat-groups created specifically for that purpose; and keeping up with grandparents overseas has become much more vivid thanks to video-telephony. However, integrating ICTs into families’ everyday lives means new (micro) tasks, new opportunities, but also new troubles.

Drawing on interview data with six extended Swedish families spread over 18 households, we investigate how (grand-)parents manage, relate to, and assist in children’s digital family work. In our qualitative analysis, we show how particular roles and tasks are assigned to and expected of the children. We find that the children are often put into a paradoxical position. On the one hand, they are understood as digital natives “by default”, who embrace digital technologies and for whom communicating online is automatically fun and easy. On the other hand, they are placed as victims of omnipresent digitalisation, who need to be protected in favor of a more ‘natural childhood’. In accordance to these opposing positions, we analyze how technologies are called ‘good’ in the framework of family communication, and ‘bad’ in other contexts, such as entertainment.

Abstract

ICTs are an indispensable part of many families’ everyday life, not only for family management but also for maintaining family intimacy. Yet, we know little about the everyday practices of using ICTs for family work. How do contemporary Swedish families use ICTs to support family intimacy? We investigate how particular social needs for family intimacy lead to creative forms of technology adaptation and use. We conducted interviews with six, Swedish families, living in different households, cities, and even countries. Our results detail three main distances—spatiotemporal, generational, and embodied—that people experience in their family life. We conclude that bridging distances requires doing digital intimate family work; i.e. families find ways of translating or recreating intimate family settings, situations, and interactions into digital contexts.