The emergence of ubiquitous computing as a new design paradigm poses significant challenges for human-computer interaction (HCI) and interaction design. Traditionally, HCI has taken place within a constrained and well-understood domain of experience—single users sitting at desks and interacting with conventionally-designed computers employing screens, keyboards and mice for interaction. New opportunities have engendered considerable interest in “context-aware computing”—computational systems that can sense and respond to aspects of the settings in which they are used. However, considerable confusion surrounds the notion of “context”—what it means, what it includes and what role it plays in interactive systems. This paper suggests that the representational stance implied by conventional interpretations of “context” misinterprets the role of context in everyday human activity, and proposes an alternative model that suggests different directions for design.

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What we talk about when we talk about context

We present steps toward a conceptual framework for tangible user interfaces. We introduce the MCRpd interaction model for tangible interfaces, which relates the role of physical and digital representations, physical control, and underlying digital models. This model serves as a foundation for identifying and discussing several key characteristics of tangible user interfaces. We identify a number of systems exhibiting these characteristics, and situate these within 12 application domains. Finally, we discuss tangible interfaces in the context of related research themes, both within and outside of the human-computer interaction domain.

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Emerging frameworks for tangible user interfaces

Intimacy is a crucial element of domestic life, and many interactive technologies designed for other purposes have been appropriated for use within intimate relationships. However, there is a deficit in current understandings of how technologies are used within intimate relationships, and how to design technologies to support intimate acts. In this paper we report on work that has addressed these deficits. We used cultural probes and contextual interviews and other ethnographically informed techniques to investigate how interactive technologies are used within intimate relationships. From this empirical work we generated a thematic understanding of intimacy and the use of interactional technologies to support intimate acts. We used this understanding to inform the design of intimate technologies. A selection of our design concepts is also presented.

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Mediating intimacy: designing technologies to support strong-tie relationships

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Enhancing Our Lives with Immersive Virtual Reality

The Face of Emotion

We envision that the architectural space we inhabit will be a new form of interface between humans and online digital information. This paper discusses Ambient Displays: a new approach to interfacing people with online digital information. Ambient Displays present information within a space through subtle changes in light, sound, and movement, which can be processed in the background of awareness. We describe the design and implementation of two example Ambient Displays, the ambientROOM and Ambient Fixtures. Additionally, we discuss applications of Ambient Displays and propose theories of design of such interfaces based on our initial experiences.

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Ambient Displays: Turning Architectural Space into an Interface between People and Digital Information

Embodied computer agents are becoming an increasingly popular human-computer interaction technique. Often, these agents are programmed with the capacity for emotional expression. This dissertation investigates the psychological effect of emotion in agents upon users. In particular, two types of emotion were evaluated: self-oriented emotion and other-oriented, empathic emotion. Empathic emotion was found to lead to more positive ratings of the agent by users, consistent with the hypothesis that empathic emotion is inferred to reflect caring for the user. No such effect was found for the presence of self-oriented emotion. 
Experiment 1 compared an agent exhibiting both self-oriented and empathic emotion to an agent exhibiting self-oriented emotion only in a 2 (empathic emotion: absent vs. present) by 2 (gender dyad: male vs. female) between-subjects experiment (N = 48). Significant main effects demonstrated that the presence of empathic emotion increased users' ratings of the agent's likability, trustworthiness, and caring. In addition, caring was found to be a significant mediator of the effect of empathic emotion on both likability and trustworthiness. 
To ensure that the effects of empathic emotion were not due to emotion more generally, and to investigate the potential moderating effect of self-oriented emotion, Experiment 2 additionally investigated the effect of self-oriented emotion in a 2 (self-oriented emotion: absent vs. present) by 2 (empathic emotion: absent vs. present) by 2 (gender dyad: male vs. female) between-subjects experiment (N = 96). Empathic emotion was found to have a significant effect on the agent's likability, trustworthiness, and perceived caring, as well as on the user's felt support, independent of the presence of self-oriented emotion. The presence of self-oriented emotion was found to have no such effects. Implications for the design of embodied computer agents are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.

Computers that care: investigating the effects of orientation of emotion exhibited by an embodied computer agent

Interfaces that talk and listen are populating computers, cars, call centers, and even home appliances and toys, but voice interfaces invariably frustrate rather than help. In Wired for Speech, Clifford Nass and Scott Brave reveal how interactive voice technologies can readily and effectively tap into the automatic responses all speech -- whether from human or machine -- evokes. Wired for Speech demonstrates that people are "voice-activated": we respond to voice technologies as we respond to actual people and behave as we would in any social situation. By leveraging this powerful finding, voice interfaces can truly emerge as the next frontier for efficient, user-friendly technology.Wired for Speech presents new theories and experiments and applies them to critical issues concerning how people interact with technology-based voices. It considers how people respond to a female voice in e-commerce (does stereotyping matter?), how a car's voice can promote safer driving (are "happy" cars better cars?), whether synthetic voices have personality and emotion (is sounding like a person always good?), whether an automated call center should apologize when it cannot understand a spoken request ("To Err is Interface; To Blame, Complex"), and much more. Nass and Brave's deep understanding of both social science and design, drawn from ten years of research at Nass's Stanford laboratory, produces results that often challenge conventional wisdom and common design practices. These insights will help designers and marketers build better interfaces, scientists construct better theories, and everyone gain better understandings of the future of the machines that speak with us.

Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human-Computer Relationship

We envision that the physical architectural space we inhabit will be a new form of interface between humans and digital information. This paper and video present the design of the ambientROOM, an interface to information for processing in the background of awareness. This information is displayed through various subtle displays of light, sound, and movement. Physical objects are also employed as controls for these “ambient media.”

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ambientROOM: integrating ambient media with architectural space

Understanding Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Distinguishing Emotion from Related Constructs . . . . 55Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Sentiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Effects of Affect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Causes of Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Needs and Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Appraisal Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Contagion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Moods and Sentiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Previous Emotional State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Causes of Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Contagion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Other Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Measuring Affect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Neurological Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Autonomic Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Facial Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Self-Report Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Affect Recognition by Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Open Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641. With which emotion should HCI designersbe most concerned? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642. When and how should interfaces attempt todirectly address users’ emotions and basicneeds (vs. application-specific goals)? . . . . . . . . . . . . 643. How accurate must emotion recognition beto be useful as an interface technique? . . . . . . . . . . . 644. When and how should users be informedthat their affective states are being monitoredand adapted to? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645. How does emotion play out in computer-mediated communication (CMC)? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Emotion is a fundamental component of being human. Joy,
hate, anger, and pride, among the plethora of other emotions,
motivate action and add meaning and richness to virtually all
human experience. Traditionally, human-computer interaction
(HCI) has been viewed as the “ultimate” exception; users must
discard their emotional selves to work efficiently and rationality with computers, the quintessentially unemotional artifact.
Emotion seemed at best marginally relevant to HCI and at worst
oxymoronic.

Scott Brave

Papers

Ambient Displays: Turning Architectural Space into an Interface between People and Digital Information

Computers that care: investigating the effects of orientation of emotion exhibited by an embodied computer agent

Wired for Speech: How Voice Activates and Advances the Human-Computer Relationship

ambientROOM: integrating ambient media with architectural space

Emotion in human-computer interaction