Faculty, students, and scholars from the School of Information are preparing to present their research at this year’s CHI conference from April 26–May 1 in Yokohama, Japan.
This year, the conference is centered around the theme of Ikigai — a Japanese concept referring to what gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living — and the ability of a person to balance their agency, their passion, their capabilities, and the impact they can have.
At the conference, I School scholars will present papers and participate in workshops and information sessions. One paper has been given an honorable mention in the conference’s Best Paper competition. One contribution has been placed into the “SIG” or “Special Interest Group” category — forums for informal, facilitated discussions among people with common interests within the field, and two in “Late-Breaking Work” — showcases of new and exciting contributions that showcase innovative technologies.
Papers
Prestige and Prejudice: How the Interplay of Recruiting Work and Algorithms Reinforces Social Inequities in Software Engineering
MIMS alums Austin Biehl, Daniela Perez, Jessica Ingle (all ’23), and Professor Morgan G. Ames
“The technology industry has long sought to diversify its workforce. This study evaluates one avenue that works against these efforts: the interaction between recruiter work practices and algorithmic recruiting tools. Through interviews and cognitive walkthroughs with fifteen recruiters, the team finds that recruiters—often under deadlines and quotas—develop shortcuts (e.g., computer science degrees and employment at prestigious companies) for identifying “typical” software engineers (one of the most sought-after roles in the field) who have a higher chance of being successfully hired.”
Sustaining Human Agency, Attending to Its Cost: An Investigation into Generative AI Design for Non-Native Speakers’ Language Use
Ph.D. student Nikita Mehandru, Professor Niloufar Salehi, Yimin Xiao, Cartor Hancock, Sweta Agrawal, Marine Carpuat, and Ge Gao
“AI systems and tools today can generate human-like expressions on behalf of people. It raises the crucial question about how to sustain human agency in AI-mediated communication. The team investigated this question in the context of machine translation (MT) assisted conversations.”
Being The Creek: Mobile Augmented Reality Experience as an Invitation for Exploring More-Than-Human Perspectives
Ph.D. student Yangyang Yang and Professor Kimiko Ryokai
“Being The Creek, a mobile augmented reality (MAR) experience invites participants to take a “first-person” perspective of a historically-significant-creek by lying alongside her and getting attuned to her environment through embodied multisensory engagement. As participants moved between human-centered and creek-centered perspectives, they explored the Creek’s unique subjectivity and the human-nonhuman power relations, leading them to de-emphasize the stereotypical human-centric stance.”
“It Actually Doesn’t Feel Very Mutual:” How Technology Impacts the Values of Mutual Aid Groups in Practice
Ph.D. student Tonya Nguyen, Professor Niloufar Salehi, and Darya Kaviani
“Social movement organizations, such as mutual aid groups, rely on technology to increase their influence, meet immediate needs, and address systemic inequalities. In this paper, the team examines the role of technology in moments of crisis and the tensions mutual aid groups face when relying on tools designed with values that may be antithetical to their own. Through a qualitative study with mutual aid volunteers in the United States, they found that mutual aid groups’ values, such as solidarity, security, and co-production, are prioritized as they navigate adopting technology.”
Generative AI in Knowledge Work: Design Implications for Data Navigation and Decision-Making
HONORABLE MENTION
Professor Niloufar Salehi, Bhada Yun, Dana Feng, Ace S. Chen, and Afshin Nikzad
“The team’s study of 20 knowledge workers revealed a common challenge: the difficulty of synthesizing unstructured information scattered across multiple platforms to make informed decisions. Drawing on their vision of an ideal knowledge synthesis tool, they developed Yodeai, an AI-enabled system, to explore both the opportunities and limitations of AI in knowledge work.”
Workshops
Ph.D. students Zoe Kahn and Lauren Chambers, alongside Professor Deirdre Mulligan, will be presenting on “Emerging Practices in Participatory AI Design in Public Sector Innovation”.
“Local and federal agencies are rapidly adopting AI systems to augment or automate critical decisions, efficiently use resources, and improve public service delivery. AI systems are being used to support tasks associated with urban planning, security, surveillance, energy and critical infrastructure, and support decisions that directly affect citizens and their ability to access essential services…This workshop will explore emerging practices in participatory algorithm design – or the use of public participation and community engagement - in the scoping, design, adoption, and implementation of public sector algorithms.”
Late Breaking Work
‘The world has changed...’—Unlocking Teen Perspectives on Technological Futures through Design Fiction Workshops
Ph.D. student Liza Gak, alum Daniela Rosner (MIMS ’08, Ph.D. ’12), Professor Niloufar Salehi, and Isabel Li
“Eliciting youth perspectives on technology presents unique challenges, as traditional research methods often feel formal, abstract, or disconnected from teens’ lived experiences. Building on HCI research engaged with present-day sociotechnical experiences, the team’s work examines teens' impressions of their technological futures through design fiction. This work highlights design fiction as an insightful method for understanding youth’s nuanced views on technology.”
When AI Tells Their Story: Researchers’ Reactions to AI-Generated Podcasts as a Tool for Communicating Research
Ph.D. students Qian Connie Gu and Daniel Hickey, and Professor Kimiko Ryokai
“Podcasts have been recognized as an accessible and engaging medium for education and science communication. Recent advances in generative AI have led to the development of tools that transform science communication by summarizing complex research for broader audiences. Through interviews with 10 authors from 9 different disciplines, the team’s study examines authors’ perspectives on the accuracy, effectiveness, and role of AI-generated podcasts in engaging both academic and general audiences.”
SIG
Bidirectional Human-AI Alignment: Emerging Challenges and Opportunities
Professor Marti Hearst, Hua Shen, Tiffany Knearem, Reshmi Ghosh, Michael Xieyang Liu, Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Tongshuang Wu, Diyi Yang, Yun Huang, Tanushree Mitra, and Yang Li
“Recent advancements in general-purpose AI have highlighted the urgent need to align AI systems with the goals, ethical principles, and values of individuals and society. This SIG aims to outline the emerging areas of bidirectional human-AI alignment research, propose a blueprint of future goals and challenges for fundamental alignment research, and establish a shared platform to bring together experts from HCI, AI, social sciences, and more to advance interdisciplinary research and collaboration on human-AI alignment.”
