Participatory Design Sessions Research Articles

Understanding the influence of AI autonomy on AI explainability levels in human-AI teams using a mixed methods approach

AbstractAn obstacle to effective teaming between humans and AI is the agent’s "black box" design. AI explanations have proven benefits, but few studies have explored the effects that explanations can have in a teaming environment with AI agents operating at heightened levels of autonomy. We conducted two complementary studies, an experiment and participatory design sessions, investigating the effect that varying levels of AI explainability and AI autonomy have on the participants’ perceived trust and competence of an AI teammate to address this research gap. The results of the experiment were counter-intuitive, where the participants actually perceived the lower explainability agent as both more trustworthy and more competent. The participatory design sessions further revealed how a team’s need to know influences when and what teammates need explained from AI teammates. Based on these findings, several design recommendations were developed for the HCI community to guide how AI teammates should share decision information with their human counterparts considering the careful balance between trust and competence in human-AI teams.

293 The MEND Initiative: Meaningfully Empowering the NeuroDiverse

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: This project’s objective is to empower verbally-communicating autistic adults to express their mental health needs to mental health professionals, regardless of their training or experience in autism. By enhancing empowerment in this area, we aim to enhance their self-awareness and confidence in navigating and accessing mental health support. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Following the Toronto Translational Framework (TTF), our approach involves co-designing and testing an intervention directly with the autistic population through three phases. Phase I will review published literature on autism, mental health, and patient empowerment, validate our identified need through informal meetings with stakeholders, and assemble an autistic advisory committee (AAC) of 5-8 members who are able to provide informed conset without assistant, are fluent in English, and 18 years of age or older. Phase II will involve participatory design sessions with our AAC to develop a low-fidelity prototype to address the identified need. Phase III will evaluate our prototype’s effectiveness through a separate series of focus groups, which will consist of members from our target population. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We are anticipating that by the end of our research, we have successfully co-designed an intervention that effectievly empowers autistic adults in their mental health journey through increasing their self-awareness and confidence in navigating and receiving mental health support. At a larger scale, results may include the empowerment of autistic adults to seek and receive mental health care from mental health professionals, regardless of professionals’ prior autism expertise. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: By enhancing self-awareness of their mental healthcare needs and boosting self-reported confidence in communicating with mental health professionals, we aim to take the first step in creating timely, patient-centered solutions, and bridging gaps in the evolving neuro-affirmative healthcare system.

Communicating the results of risk-based breast cancer screening through visualizations of risk: a participatory design approach

BackgroundRisk-based breast cancer (BC) screening raises new questions regarding information provision and risk communication. This study aimed to: 1) investigate women’s beliefs and knowledge (i.e., mental models) regarding BC risk and (risk-based) BC screening in view of implications for information development; 2) develop novel informational materials to communicate the screening result in risk-based BC screening, including risk visualizations of both quantitative and qualitative information, from a Human-Centered Design perspective.MethodsPhase 1: Interviews were conducted (n = 15, 40–50 years, 5 lower health literate) on women’s beliefs about BC risk and (risk-based) BC screening. Phase 2: In three participatory design sessions, women (n = 4–6 across sessions, 40–50 years, 2–3 lower health literate) made assignments and created and evaluated visualizations of risk information central to the screening result. Prototypes were evaluated in two additional sessions (n = 2, 54–62 years, 0–1 lower health literate). Phase 3: Experts (n = 5) and women (n = 9, 40–74 years) evaluated the resulting materials. Two other experts were consulted throughout the development process to ensure that the content of the information materials was accurate. Interviews were transcribed literally and analysed using qualitative thematic analysis, focusing on implications for information development. Notes, assignments and materials from the participatory design sessions were summarized and main themes were identified.ResultsWomen in both interviews and design sessions were positive about risk-based BC screening, especially because personal risk factors would be taken into account. However, they emphasized that the rationale of risk-based screening and classification into a risk category should be clearly stated and visualized, especially for higher- and lower-risk categories (which may cause anxiety or feelings of unfairness due to a lower screening frequency). Women wanted to know their personal risk, preferably visualized in an icon array, and wanted advice on risk reduction and breast self-examination. However, most risk factors were considered modifiable by women, and the risk factor breast density was not known, implying that information should emphasize that BC risk depends on multiple factors, including breast density.ConclusionsThe information materials, including risk visualizations of both quantitative and qualitative information, developed from a Human-Centered Design perspective and a mental model approach, were positively evaluated by the target group.

One size does not fit all: Three tools and approaches for soundscape simulations

We present a reflection on three prototypes of real-time interactive soundscape simulators aimed at supporting participatory urban sound planning and interventions. These prototypes were developed as part of the Sounds in the City cross-sectoral partnership through an iterative process involving various stakeholders. Each prototype enables different ways to manipulate soundscapes through tailored interfaces and audio/visual outputs, targeting different types of users. The first version is audio-only and uses live music tools for Ambisonics spatialization, with limited environmental modeling for co-design exercises with urban and sound professionals. The second version builds on the idea of the first and adds acoustic modeling. It was used to assess the impact of sound installations in public spaces through research-creation involving sound artists and residents. The last version utilizes (desktop or head-mounted) virtual reality with binaural rendering, immersing the user in an audio-visual city to raise sound awareness and support urban soundscape design. We emphasize that there is no one-size-fits-all tool. Rather, we highlight how different tools are needed for different auralization tasks and target user groups. These tools are presented through examples of early-stage conceptualization, educational components, creative processes, laboratory-based soundscape assessments, and both individual and participatory design sessions.

Identifying Interventions to Improve Diagnostic Safety in Emergency Departments: Protocol for a Participatory Design Study.

Emergency departments (EDs) are complex and fast-paced clinical settings where a diagnosis is made in a time-, information-, and resource-constrained context. Thus, it is predisposed to suboptimal diagnostic outcomes, leading to errors and subsequent patient harm. Arriving at a timely and accurate diagnosis is an activity that occurs after an effective collaboration between the patient or caregiver and the clinical team within the ED. Interventions such as novel sociotechnical solutions are needed to mitigate errors and risks. This study aims to identify challenges that frontline ED health care providers and patients face in the ED diagnostic process and involve them in co-designing technological interventions to enhance diagnostic excellence. We will conduct separate sessions with ED health care providers and patients, respectively, to assess various design ideas and use a participatory design (PD) approach for technological interventions to improve ED diagnostic safety. In the sessions, various intervention ideas will be presented to participants through storyboards. Based on a preliminary interview study with ED patients and health care providers, we created intervention storyboards that illustrate different care contexts in which ED health care providers or patients experience challenges and show how each intervention would address the specific challenge. By facilitating participant group discussion, we will reveal the overlap between the needs of the design research team observed during fieldwork and the needs perceived by target users (ie, participants) in their own experience to gain their perspectives and assessment on each idea. After the group discussions, participants will rank the ideas and co-design to improve our interventions. Data sources will include audio and video recordings, design sketches, and ratings of intervention design ideas from PD sessions. The University of Michigan Institutional Review Board approved this study. This foundational work will help identify the needs and challenges of key stakeholders in the ED diagnostic process and develop initial design ideas, specifically focusing on sociotechnological ideas for patient-, health care provider-, and system-level interventions for improving patient safety in EDs. The recruitment of participants for ED health care providers and patients is complete. We are currently preparing for PD sessions. The first results from design sessions with health care providers will be reported in fall 2024. The study findings will provide unique insights for designing sociotechnological interventions to support ED diagnostic processes. By inviting frontline health care providers and patients into the design process, we anticipate obtaining unique insights into the ED diagnostic process and designing novel sociotechnical interventions to enhance patient safety. Based on this study's collected data and intervention ideas, we will develop prototypes of multilevel interventions that can be tested and subsequently implemented for patients, health care providers, or hospitals as a system. DERR1-10.2196/55357.

Exploring the Opportunities of AR for Enriching Storytelling with Family Photos between Grandparents and Grandchildren

Storytelling with family photos, as an important mode of reminiscence-based activities, can be instrumental in promoting intergenerational communication between grandparents and grandchildren by strengthening generation bonds and shared family values. Motivated by challenges that existing technology approaches encountered for improving intergenerational storytelling (e.g., the need to hold the tablet, the potential view detachment from the physical world in Virtual Reality (VR)), we sought to find new ways of using Augmented Reality (AR) to support intergenerational storytelling, which offers new capabilities (e.g., 3D models, new interactivity) to enhance the expression for the storyteller. We conducted a two-part exploratory study, where pairs of grandparents and grandchildren 1) participated in an in-person storytelling activity with a semi-structured interview 2) and then a participatory design session with AR technology probes that we designed to inspire their exploration. Our findings revealed insights into the possible ways of intergenerational storytelling, the feasibility and usages of AR in facilitating it, and the key design implications for leveraging AR in intergenerational storytelling.

Community-Engaged Participatory Methods to Address Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning Young People's Health Information Needs With a Resource Website: Participatory Design and Development Study.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) young people (aged 15 to 25 years) face unique health challenges and often lack resources to adequately address their health information needs related to gender and sexuality. Beyond information access issues, LGBTQ+ young people may need information resources to be designed and organized differently compared with their cisgender and heterosexual peers and, because of identity exploration, may have different information needs related to gender and sexuality than older people. The objective of our study was to work with a community partner to develop an inclusive and comprehensive new website to address LGBTQ+ young people's health information needs. To design this resource website using a community-engaged approach, our objective required working with and incorporating content and design recommendations from young LGBTQ+ participants. We conducted interviews (n=17) and participatory design sessions (n=11; total individual participants: n=25) with LGBTQ+ young people to understand their health information needs and elicit design recommendations for the new website. We involved our community partner in all aspects of the research and design process. We present participants' desired resources, health topics, and technical website features that can facilitate information seeking for LGBTQ+ young people exploring their sexuality and gender and looking for health resources. We describe how filters can allow people to find information related to intersecting marginalized identities and how dark mode can be a privacy measure to avoid unwanted identity disclosure. We reflect on our design process and situate the website development in previous critical reflections on participatory research with marginalized communities. We suggest recommendations for future LGBTQ+ health websites based on our research and design experiences and final website design, which can enable LGBTQ+ young people to access information, find the right information, and navigate identity disclosure concerns. These design recommendations include filters, a reduced number of links, conscientious choice of graphics, dark mode, and resources tailored to intersecting identities. Meaningful collaboration with community partners throughout the design process is vital for developing technological resources that meet community needs. We argue for community partner leadership rather than just involvement in community-based research endeavors at the intersection of human-computer interaction and health.

Evaluating and refining a pain quality information visualization tool with patients and interpreters to facilitate pain assessment in primary care settings

ABSTRACTInformation visualization (InfoViz) tools offer a potential solution to pain communication challenges. Incongruencies in communication styles between patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), interpreters, and providers contribute to significant disparities in pain care and outcomes. This study’s purpose is to evaluate and refine a culturally appropriate InfoViz pain quality assessment tool for LEP Hmong patients. We conducted a three-part iterative user-centered study with LEP Hmong, bilingual Hmong, and Hmong interpreters with (1) participatory design sessions to evaluate and refine pain infographics for inclusion on the tool, (2) card-sorting to organize the infographics to match the mental models of LEP patients, and (3) a tool assessment to identify which tool accurately represented LEP patients’ mental models and was preferred in clinical settings. Fifty-five participants provided three common themes for pain infographics refinement: culturally-relevant colors, infographics resembling human anatomy, and action-specific squiggle lines. The card-sorting sessions revealed three organizational themes: sensation (n = 15; 71.4%), localization (n = 6; 28.6%), and severity of pain quality (n = 5; 24.3%). Most participants selected the localization as the most accurate tool and preferred it in clinical settings. Using a multi-step, user-centered approach resulted in a culturally appropriate pain InfoViz tool for LEP Hmong patients.

Design and Evaluation of a Multisensory Concert for Cochlear Implant Users

This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of vibrotactile concert furniture, aiming to improve the live music experience of people with hearing loss using hearing technology such as cochlear implants (CI). The system was the result of a series of participatory design sessions involving CI users with different hearing assistive setups (bi-implant, bimodal, and monoimplant), and it was evaluated in a concert scenario (drums, bass, and female vocals) at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. The project aimed to improve the music appreciation for CI users by providing a multisensory concert designed with CI challenges in mind, but not excluding normal-hearing individuals or individuals with other forms of hearing aids from participating in the event. The evaluation was based on (video-recorded) observations and postexperience semistructured interviews; the data were analyzed using event analysis and meaning condensation. The results indicate that tactile augmentation provides a pleasant experience for CI users. However, concertgoers with residual hearing reported being overwhelmed if the tactile stimulation amplitude exceeds a certain threshold. Furthermore, devices that highlight instrument segregation are preferred over ones that present a tactile mixdown of multiple auditory streams.

A Technology-Enhanced Intervention for Violence and Substance Use Prevention Among Young Black Men: Protocol for Adaptation and Pilot Testing.

Black boys and men from disinvested communities are disproportionately survivors and perpetrators of youth violence. Those presenting to emergency departments with firearm-related injuries also report recent substance use. However, young Black men face several critical individual and systemic barriers to accessing trauma-focused prevention programs. These barriers contribute to service avoidance, the exacerbation of violence recidivism, substance use relapse, and a revolving-door approach to prevention. In addition, young Black men are known to be digital natives. Therefore, technology-enhanced interventions offer a pragmatic and promising opportunity to mitigate these barriers, provide vital life skills for self-led behavior change, and boost service engagement with vital community resources. The study aims to systematically adapt and pilot-test Boosting Violence-Related Outcomes Using Technology for Empowerment, Risk Reduction, and Life Skills Preparation in Youth Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (BrotherlyACT), a culturally congruent, trauma-focused digital psychoeducational and service-engagement tool tailored to young Black men aged 15-24 years. BrotherlyACT will incorporate microlearning modules, interactive safety planning tools for risk assessment, goal-setting, mindfulness practice, and a service-engagement conversational agent or chatbot to connect young Black men to relevant services. The development of BrotherlyACT will occur in 3 phases. In phase 1, we will qualitatively investigate barriers and facilitators influencing young Black men's willingness to use violence and substance use prevention services with 15-30 young Black men (aged 15-24 years) who report perpetrating violence and substance use in the past year and 10 service providers (aged >18 years; any gender; including health care providers, street outreach workers, social workers, violence interrupters, community advocates, and school staff). Both groups will be recruited from community and pediatric emergency settings. In phase 2, a steering group of topic experts (n=3-5) and a youth and community advisory board comprising young Black men (n=8-12) and service providers (n=5-10) will be involved in participatory design, alpha testing, and beta testing sessions to develop, refine, and adapt BrotherlyACT based on an existing skills-based program (Achieving Change Through Values-Based Behavior). We will use user-centered design principles and the Assessment, Decision, Administration, Production, Topical, Experts, Integration, Training, and Testing framework to guide this adaptation process (phase 2). In phase 3, a total of 60 young Black men will pilot-test the adapted BrotherlyACT over 10 weeks in a single-group, pretest-posttest design to determine its feasibility and implementation outcomes. Phase 1 data collection began in September 2021. Phases 2 and 3 are scheduled to start in June 2023 and end in September 2024. The development and testing of BrotherlyACT is a crucial first step in expanding an evidence-based psychoeducational and service-mediating intervention for young Black men involved in violence. This colocation of services shifts the current prevention strategy from telling them why to change to teaching them how. PRR1-10.2196/43842.

Development and Usability Testing of a Web-Based Workplace Disability Disclosure Decision Aid Tool for Autistic Youth and Young Adults: Qualitative Co-design Study.

Deciding whether and how to disclose one's autism at work is complex, especially for autistic youth and young adults who are newly entering the labor market and still learning important decision-making and self-determination skills. Autistic youth and young adults may benefit from tools to support disclosure processes at work; however, to our knowledge, no evidence-based, theoretically grounded tool exists specifically for this population. There is also limited guidance on how to pursue the development of such a tool in collaboration with knowledge users. This study aimed to co-design a prototype of a disclosure decision aid tool with and for Canadian autistic youth and young adults, explore the perceived usability of the prototype (usefulness, satisfaction, and ease of use) and make necessary revisions, and outline the process used to achieve the aforementioned objectives. Taking a patient-oriented research approach, we engaged 4 autistic youths and young adults as collaborators on this project. Prototype development was guided by co-design principles and strategies, and tool content was informed by a previous needs assessment led by our team, the autistic collaborators' lived experiences, considering intersectionality, research on knowledge translation (KT) tool development, and recommendations from the International Patient Decision Aid Standards. We co-designed a web-based PDF prototype. To assess perceived usability and experiences with the prototype, we conducted 4 participatory design and focus group Zoom (Zoom Video Communications) sessions with 19 Canadian autistic youths and young adults aged 16 to 29 (mean 22.8, SD 4.1) years. We analyzed the data using a combined conventional (inductive) and modified framework method (deductive) analysis to map the data onto usability indicators (usefulness, satisfaction, and ease of use). Grounded in participants' feedback, considering factors of feasibility and availability of resources, and ensuring tool fidelity, we revised the prototype. We developed 4 categories pertaining to the perceived usability of and participant experiences with the prototype: past disclosure experiences, prototype information and activities, prototype design and structure, and overall usability. Participant feedback was favorable and indicative of the tool's potential impact and usability. The usability indicator requiring the most attention was ease of use, which was prioritized when revising the prototype. Our findings highlight the importance of engaging knowledge users throughout the entire prototype co-design and testing processes; incorporating co-design strategies and principles; and having content informed by relevant theories, evidence, and knowledge users' experiences. We outline an innovative co-design process that other researchers, clinicians, and KT practitioners may consider when developing KT tools. We also developed a novel, evidence-based, and theoretically informed web-based disclosure decision aid tool that may help autistic youth and young adults navigate disclosure processes and improve their transitional outcomes as they enter the workforce.

EquiP: A Method to Co-Design for Cooperation

In Participatory Design (PD), the design of a cooperative digital solution should involve all stakeholders in the co-design. When one stakeholder’s position is weaker due to socio-cultural structures or differences in knowledge or abilities, PD methods should help designers balance the power in the design process at both the macro and micro levels. We present a PD method that addresses the power relations arising during the design process and draws on theories about participation and power in the design and organisation of change processes. We contribute to Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) by using the PD method to design computer support for cooperation on cognitive rehabilitation between people with Mild Acquired Brain Injuries (MACI) and their healthcare professionals, where strengthening the cooperation is considered an element of patient empowerment. This method is presented as a contribution to the intersection between PD and CSCW. The discussion of power in PD contributes to the discussion of cooperation in CSCW. We found that EquiP supported the creation of choices, and hence the ‘power to’ influence the design. This method can contribute to a power ‘equilibrium’ and a positive-sum power relation in PD sessions involving all stakeholders.

Play—An essential part of children’s lives and their computational empowerment

This article addresses the computational empowerment of children, with an emphasis on the importance of play in realizing it. Although play has been brought up as central for children within numerous disciplines, there is a lack of thorough treatment of the phenomenon in the context of technology design, computational thinking, and computational empowerment. The objective of this research is to open the eyes of adults to see children’s play and improvisation as not only an essential part of children’s life but also an important part of their computational empowerment. We organized numerous participatory design sessions with children (aged 5–6 years), during which play was supported to obtain material for designing a music game. We analyzed the collected data with a framework combining aspects on computational empowerment and play. Our analysis of the sessions showed that play had numerous important functions in the design sessions with the children. Our examination revealed that play is intertwined with computational empowerment in many ways and it supports different aspects of computational empowerment. We recommend that researchers offer various forms of play for children during design sessions to support children’s creativity, narratives, embodiment, and, ultimately, their computational empowerment.

Exploring Opportunities to Improve Physical Activity in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury Using Context-Aware Messaging

Spinal cord injury (SCI) affects the mobility of 250,000 people per year worldwide. Physical activity (PA) in individuals with SCI is positively associated with improved mental and physical health outcomes. Mobile technologies have been developed to motivate individuals with SCI to increase PA using activity tracking and real-time feedback. We conducted semi-structured interviews and participatory design sessions with 15 manual wheelchair users with SCI and eight of their family members/friends to investigate user impressions of future technologies that might use computer-mediated, sensor-triggered communication to motivate PA. We assessed barriers to PA and how context-aware communication could help overcome them. Participants with SCI expressed that PA tracking and communication technologies must be tailored to their specific needs. Further analysis revealed that context-aware messaging could help participants with SCI connect with others to initiate timely conversations about overcoming PA barriers, and to provide encouragement to meet their PA goals. We discuss opportunities to empower individuals with SCI with regards to PA using tailored, context-aware communication.

Socially facilitative robots for older adults to alleviate social isolation: A participatory design workshop approach in the US and Japan.

Social technology can improve the quality of older adults' social lives and mitigate negative mental and physical health outcomes associated with loneliness, but it should be designed collaboratively with this population. In this paper, we used participatory design (PD) methods to investigate how robots might be used as social facilitators for middle-aged and older adults (age 50+) in both the US and Japan. We conducted PD workshops in the US and Japan because both countries are concerned about the social isolation of these older adults due to their rapidly aging populations. We developed a novel approach to participatory design of future technologies that spends 2/3 of the PD session asking participants about their own life experiences as a foundation. This grounds the conversation in reality, creates rapport among the participants, and engages them in creative critical thinking. Then, we build upon this foundation, pose an abstract topic, and ask participants to brainstorm on the topic based on their previous discussion. In both countries, participants were eager to actively discuss design ideas for socially facilitative robots and imagine how they might improve their social lives. US participants suggested design ideas for telepresence robots, social distancing robots, and social skills artificial intelligence programs, while Japanese participants suggested ideas for pet robots, robots for sharing experiences, and easy-to-operate instructor robots. Comparing these two countries, we found that US participants saw robots as tools to help facilitate their social connections, while Japanese participants envisioned robots to function as surrogate companions for their parents and distract them from loneliness when they were unavailable. With this paper, we contribute to the literature in two main ways, presenting: (1) A novel approach to participatory design of future technologies that grounds participants in their everyday experience, and (2) Results of the study indicating how middle-aged and older adults from the US and Japan wanted technologies to improve their social lives. Although we conducted the workshops during the COVID-19 pandemic, many findings generalized to other situations related to social isolation, such as older adults living alone.

Democratic Design Through Play

Abstract The theoretical paper explores the question how designers and children can interact as peer citizens in participatory design (PD) processes. By discussing and integrating Mouritsen’s (2002) concept of child culture, approaches to child-citizenship and concepts of free play, we discuss how participatory design practices could stimulate child and adult cultures to permeate each other and by doing so, enable democratic interactions. Both children and adults are required to step away from their internalized normative ways of interaction. Adult designers are invited to also play and improvise whereas children are encouraged to play, but also to share responsibility for the process and outcome of PD sessions. The Ambiguity Approach (Vaneycken, 2020) is introduced as a methodological basis for more democratic PD practice with children. Two snapshots of PD processes illustrate the implementation of ambiguity of roles and ambiguity of materials respectively.

Disrupting Computing Education: Teen-Led Participatory Design in Libraries

Large-scale disparities in computing exist for many youth of color. Learning in informal settings can increase the participation of youth in computing; however, computing education programs have typically been developed by adults for youth. We argue computing education can contribute toward decolonization by directly involving youth from nondominant communities as design partners. When we directly involve youth voices, we can move away from focusing solely on the structural barriers faced by youth of color toward an assets-based approach. We examine a 10-week case study within KidsTeam Libraries, an intergenerational digital design program where local youth conceptualize what digital learning could look like in libraries. Our qualitative dataset includes over 15 hours of video recordings from participatory design sessions, six interviews with participants, 10 researcher jottings, and a corpus of 25 researcher memos written by researchers, librarians, and teens. Throughout our investigation, our knowledge claims are co-constructed with the two teenagers who led the design and implementation of a three-dimensional printing curriculum in their local library with 10 children. Our findings emphasize (1) the ways in which the involvement of teen leaders can foster and sustain community-level relationships for computing education; (2) how we noticed, enforced, and disrupted power within our computing education program; and (3) the systemic challenges we confronted in our process toward disrupting computing education. We provide empirical evidence of teen-led participatory design approaches for computing education in their community through detailed vignettes from sessions and through quotes from key participants. We contribute to the computing education community a novel approach in which youth are positioned as design partners for reimagining a computing education experience in libraries that centers and serves community members.

Designing Spellcasters from Clinician Perspectives: A Customizable Gesture-Based Immersive Virtual Reality Game for Stroke Rehabilitation

Developing games is time-consuming and costly. Overly clinical therapy games run the risk of being boring, which defeats the purpose of using games to motivate healing in the first place [ 10 , 23 ]. In this work, we adapt and repurpose an existing immersive virtual reality (iVR) game, Spellcasters, originally designed purely for entertainment for use as a stroke rehabilitation game—which is particularly relevant in the wake of COVID-19, where telehealth solutions are increasingly needed [ 4 ]. In preparation for participatory design sessions with stroke survivors, we collaborate with 14 medical professionals to ensure Spellcasters is safe and therapeutically valid for clinical adoption. We present our novel VR sandbox implementation that allows medical professionals to customize appropriate gestures and interactions for each patient’s unique needs. Additionally, we share a co-designed companion app prototype based on clinicians’ preferred data reporting mechanisms for telehealth. We discuss insights about adapting and repurposing entertainment games as serious games for health, features that clinicians value, and the potential broader impacts of applications like Spellcasters for stroke management.

“Pictures are easier to remember than spellings!”: Designing and evaluating KidsPic — A graphical image-based authentication mechanism

Children encounter difficulties when they login to computers or websites because they have challenges remembering passwords. To improve children’s authentication, we conducted a series of formative studies with children (n=8, ages 6–11) to understand their authentication practices with respect to a traditional text-based password and a new graphical picture-based password called KidsPic. The results obtained from these initial investigations, a security analysis of these authentication mechanisms, and participatory design sessions with children (ages 6–11) inspired design enhancements to KidsPic. We subsequently conducted a study comparing KidsPic to a traditional text-based authentication mechanism (n=40, ages 6–11). The results and analysis indicate that children experience significantly more memorability challenges when using an alphanumeric authentication mechanism than with the graphical password KidsPic.

The information won't just sink in: Helping teachers provide technology‐assisted data literacy instruction in social studies

AbstractIn this study, support for teaching data literacy in social studies is provided through the design of a pedagogical support system informed by participatory design sessions with both pre‐service and in‐service social studies teachers. It provides instruction on teaching and learning data literacy in social studies, examples of standards‐based lesson plans, made‐to‐purpose data visualization tools and minimal manuals that put existing online tools in a social studies context. Based on case studies of eleven practicing teachers, this study provides insight into features of technology resources that social studies teachers find usable and useful for using data visualizations as part of standards‐ and inquiry‐based social studies instruction, teaching critical analysis of data visualizations and helping students create data visualizations with online computing tools. The final result, though, is that few of our participating teachers have yet adopted the provided resources into their own classrooms, which highlights weaknesses of the technology acceptance model for describing teacher adoption. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Data literacy is an important part of social studies education in the United States. Most teachers do not teach data literacy as a part of social studies. Teachers may adopt technology to help them teach data literacy if they think it is useful and usable. What this paper adds Educational technology can help teachers learn about data literacy in social studies. Social studies teachers want simple tools that fit with their existing curricula, give them new project ideas and help students learn difficult concepts. Making tools useful and usable does not predict adoption; context plays a large role in a social studies teachers' adoption. Implications for practice and/or policy Designing purpose‐built tools for social studies teachers will encourage them to teach data literacy in their classes. Professional learning opportunities for teachers around data literacy should include opportunities for experimentation with tools. Teachers are not likely to use tools if they are not accompanied by lesson and project ideas.