Technology-mediated Interactions Research Articles

Avatars at Risk: Exploring Public Response to Sexual Violence in Immersive Digital Spaces

As the metaverse emerges as a new frontier of human interaction, understanding public perceptions of crime in virtual spaces becomes crucial. This study delves into public perceptions of such crimes, focusing on reported incidents of sexual assault in virtual reality environments. We uncover complex dynamics, shaping threat perception in immersive digital realms by analysing YouTube comments through an innovative mixed-methods approach combining machine learning and empirical analysis. Our findings reveal that social norms and expectations are pivotal in influencing perceptions of threats, while technology-mediated interactions correlate with reduced perceived risks. Surprisingly, the oft-discussed blurring of virtual and physical realities shows no significant impact on threat perception. This research contributes to the expanding literature on the social construction of reality and public perception of emerging technologies. The results have implications for the development and governance of metaverse platforms, highlighting the necessity for comprehensive user education initiatives and culturally sensitive approaches to community guidelines and safety features.

Technology-mediated interactions and their impact on the human mind and behavior in a time of social distancing.

Technology-mediated interactions and their impact on the human mind and behavior in a time of social distancing.

Enhancing Student Engagement in Learning Management Systems through Exploration of Avatars in Virtual Classrooms: A Systematic Review

The rise of online education has highlighted the crucial need to comprehend student participation in virtual learning environments. With the evolution of online learning platforms, understanding the impact of technological components, especially interactive avatars, on student engagement has become imperative. This study aims to investigate the influence of avatars on student participation in virtual classrooms. Specifically, it seeks to understand the impact of avatars on student interactions, engagement, and involvement within online learning environments. Three primary research questions guide the inquiry: the impact of avatars on student participation, the extent of technology-mediated interaction's effect on engagement, and the nuanced ways in which avatars contribute to or hinder student involvement. The study conducts a comprehensive review of existing literature, delving into the design, integration, and influence of avatars in virtual learning environments. It critically assesses technological advancements, focusing on interactive avatars, and their implications for student engagement. The methodology involves an in-depth analysis of scholarly works, educational platforms, and user experiences to gather valuable insights. The study uncovers the multifaceted impact of avatars in virtual classrooms. Interactive avatars significantly enhance student engagement and participation, fostering interactions between students and teachers as well as among peers. The customization and interactivity of avatars create a more immersive learning experience, positively influencing student involvement. Future research endeavours could explore the integration of avatars with emerging technologies like augmented reality and artificial intelligence, enhancing the depth and scope of virtual classroom interactions. Continued research in this area is essential for refining virtual learning environments and ensuring optimal student participation in the digital educational landscape.

Preference for digital media use, biobehavioral attention bias, and anxiety symptoms in adolescents

Adolescence is a critical developmental period of biological and social change during which 1 in 3 youth experience significant anxiety symptoms. The social-emotional lives of the majority of adolescents are largely conducted via digital media use (DMU; e.g., social media, text messaging). Yet the past decade of research on DMU and anxiety has yielded mixed results (e.g., Keles et al., 2020 review), leaving the complex role that DMU might play in the emergence and maintenance of anxiety poorly understood. A key step forward is to leverage psychophysiology to identify individual differences in cognitive and emotional processes that confer vulnerability to potential negative effects of DMU. Further, given the ubiquity of DMU, a greater focus is needed on measurements that move beyond sheer frequency to capture DMU in comparison to face-to-face (FTF) social interactions. This study examined attention bias (AB), characterized by selective and exaggerated attention toward or away from threat, as a moderator of the link between DMU and anxiety in adolescents (N = 75; 42 female) aged 12–14 years (M = 13.28, SD = 0.87). AB was indexed during a dot probe task using reaction time metrics (i.e., trial-level bias) and via ERPs capturing attentional selection and discrimination (N170) and cognitive control (N2) to threat compared to neutral faces. AB moderated associations between DMU and anxiety. A greater preference to use DMU vs FTF predicted greater anxiety among those with a greater behavioral bias away from threat, blunted N170, and blunted N2 in the presence of threat. Future research should examine potential causal and bidirectional links between DMU and anxiety and explore whether preferences for technology-mediated interactions and individual differences in threat processing increase risk.

Digital Behavior Change Intervention Designs for Habit Formation: Systematic Review.

With the development of emerging technologies, digital behavior change interventions (DBCIs) help to maintain regular physical activity in daily life. To comprehensively understand the design implementations of habit formation techniques in current DBCIs, a systematic review was conducted to investigate the implementations of behavior change techniques, types of habit formation techniques, and design strategies in current DBCIs. The process of this review followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. A total of 4 databases were systematically searched from 2012 to 2022, which included Web of Science, Scopus, ACM Digital Library, and PubMed. The inclusion criteria encompassed studies that used digital tools for physical activity, examined behavior change intervention techniques, and were written in English. A total of 41 identified research articles were included in this review. The results show that the most applied behavior change techniques were the self-monitoring of behavior, goal setting, and prompts and cues. Moreover, habit formation techniques were identified and developed based on intentions, cues, and positive reinforcement. Commonly used methods included automatic monitoring, descriptive feedback, general guidelines, self-set goals, time-based cues, and virtual rewards. A total of 32 commonly design strategies of habit formation techniques were summarized and mapped to the proposed conceptual framework, which was categorized into target-mediated (generalization and personalization) and technology-mediated interactions (explicitness and implicitness). Most of the existing studies use the explicit interaction, aligning with the personalized habit formation techniques in the design strategies of DBCIs. However, implicit interaction design strategies are lacking in the reviewed studies. The proposed conceptual framework and potential solutions can serve as guidelines for designing strategies aimed at habit formation within DBCIs.

Enhancing Team Performance in The Digital Age: Impact of Technologically Moderated Communication in The Interplay of E-Leadership & Trust

As the COVID-19 pandemic concluded, anticipating future health crises underscores the urgency of effective management and adaptable organizations. This paper draws from existing literature on e-leadership, virtual teams, and organizations, and conceptualizes a foundation to explore e-leadership challenges in virtual contexts. Emphasizing the pivotal role of e-leadership competencies in bridging technology-mediated interactions and effective leadership, the study addresses communication, trust, and coordination issues within virtual teams. It illuminates the impact of technology and assesses how diversity shapes the link between employee engagement and performance. The paper contributes to theoretical knowledge in the field, highlighting the importance of trust-building, relationship cultivation, and clear communication. Moreover, its practical implications offer insights into organizational practices and guide leaders in navigating challenges and opportunities posed by virtual teams and organizations.

Integrating Chatbots In Educational Administration For Improved Language Learning Outcomes

This study investigates using chatbots in educational management to improve language learning outcomes. Due to their ability to offer individualized and practical help to learners, chatbots have been introduced as educational aids. The effect of chatbot integration on language learning results is examined in this study, along with its theoretical and practical ramifications. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, integrating qualitative student experiences and quantitative data on language competence levels. The results show a link between using chatbots and successful language learning. While practical implications emphasize the importance of seamless integration and user-centered design, theoretical implications underline the relevance of technology-mediated interactions in education. In its final section, the paper discusses its limits and makes suggestions for educational institutions looking to use chatbots to improve language learning.

Social touch to build trust: A systematic review of technology-mediated and unmediated interactions

Avatars and social robots offer new opportunities for communication and raise questions about how trust is built and maintained in hybrid social interactions. We wonder what kind of trust people build with these technologies, especially where they are no longer simply tools but rather partners in interactions and affective exchanges involving vulnerability and reciprocity. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a systematic review on how trust in humans and technology can be shaped by social touch, which is the bodily contact occurring between two or more parties that express and share affective signals. Based on the n = 15 papers that meet the inclusion criteria, the evidence on the power of social touch to facilitate trust appears limited. Especially in the realm of technology-mediated interactions, mixed and inconclusive results emerge in different social contexts. Individual differences and neurophysiological correlates that could shed light on the effects between touch and trust are rarely investigated. Our positive proposal is that future studies should overcome the divisive conceptualisation of trustor and trustee, and rather explore the phenomenon of trust as a two-person bridge built in synergy between the parties. Outlining some key directions for future research, we discuss the extant solutions and applications of technology-mediated social touch, delving into the sensory and contextual factors that make it similar but different to unmediated social touch. We propose that if social touch were to be effective in promoting trust in specific technologies, this would have important consequences on various application domains such as telecommunication, healthcare, and education.

No place to go? Older people reconsidering the meaning of social spaces in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Under COVID-19 restrictions, older people were advised to avoid social contact and to self-isolate at home. The situation forced them to reconsider their everyday social spaces such as home and leisure time places. This study approached the meaning of social spaces for older people by examining how older people positioned themselves in relation to social spaces during the pandemic. The data were drawn from the Ageing and social well-being (SoWell) research project at Tampere University, Finland, and they consisted of phone interviews collected during the summer of 2020 with 31 older persons aged 64–96 years. The data were analysed using the frameworks of positioning analysis and environmental positioning. Results showed the positions of older people being manifold, flexible and even contradictory. Within home, the participants portrayed themselves as restricted due to limited social contact, but also as able to adapt to and content being alone. Virtual spaces were depicted as spaces for younger and healthy persons, and the participants themselves as sceptical technology users not satisfied with technology-mediated interaction. Within an assisted living facility, the participants described themselves as sensible and responsible persons who wanted to follow the facility's pandemic-related rules but also as independent persons having nothing to do with these rules. In the spaces outside the home, the participants portrayed themselves as persons who followed pandemic instructions but also as persons who were not required to follow the instructions because they could use their own judgement. These self-positions shed light on the social needs of older people in the spaces of their everyday lives. Our results provide useful insights for policy makers and professionals working with older people and will help to promote spaces of living, care and everyday life that can enhance and maintain social interaction and well-being both in times of change and in more stable times.

The machine/human agentic impact on practices in learning and development: a study across MSME, NGO and MNC organizations

PurposeThe importance of learning in development in increasingly dynamic contexts can help individuals and organizations adapt to disruption. Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a disruptive technology, with increasing adoption by various human resource management (HRM) functions. However, learning and development (L&D) adoption of AI is lagging, and there is a need to understand of this low adoption based on the internal/external contexts and organization types. Building on open system theory and adopting a technology-in-practice lens, the authors examine the various L&D approaches and the roles of human and technology agencies, enabled by differing structures, different types of organizations and the use of AI in L&D.Design/methodology/approachThrough a qualitative interview design, data were collected from 27 key stakeholders and L&D professionals of MSMEs, NGOs and MNEs organizations. The authors used Gioia's qualitative research approach for the thematic analysis of the collected data.FindingsThe authors argue that human and technology agencies develop organizational protocols and structures consistent with their internal/external contexts, resource availability and technology adoptions. While the reasons for lagging AI adoption in L&D were determined, the future potential of AI to support L&D also emerges. The authors theorize about the socialization of human and technology-mediated interactions to develop three emerging structures for L&D in organizations of various sizes, industries, sectors and internal/external contexts.Research limitations/implicationsThe study hinges on open system theory (OST) and technology-in-practice to demonstrate the interdependence and inseparability of human activity, technological advancement and capability, and structured contexts. The authors examine the reasons for lagging AI adoption in L&D and how agentic focus shifts contingent on the organization's internal/external contexts.Originality/valueWhile AI-HRM scholarship has primarily relied on psychological theories to examine impact and outcomes, the authors adopt the OST and technology in practice lens to explain how organizational contexts, resources and technology adoption may influence L&D. This study investigates the use of AI-based technology and its enabling factors for L&D, which has been under-researched.

Closing live video streams: A sequential analysis

Research has argued that “ordinary conversation” and its organization are foundational to “institutional” talk (Drew & Heritage, 1992), and that institutional forms can be characterized as constraints on such a sequential organization. Such an argument can be extended to technology-mediated interaction, in which participants may orient jointly to “standard” conversational sequences and the technology’s interactional “affordances” to achieve interactional ends. We discuss here how such an interactional goal (closing a technology-mediated encounter) may be achieved in live video streaming. We argue that while participants can be seen to do that in a way that orients to the organization of closings in ordinary conversation, they do so in a way that is sensitive to the affordances of live video streams. We find that: a) Most of the streams involve closing sequences, thus framing the live stream as a social encounter for which closing is relevant; b) A partial and relaxed orientation to talking heads configuration in live stream closings; c) A four-part closing sequence; d) Two different topic development in closing the live streams—a topic message comes from the audience and some “mentionable noticeables” initiated by the streamer.

Interaction rituals and technology: A review essay

This article aims to advance research on interaction rituals (IR) and technology. Its starting point is interaction ritual theory, a key micro-sociological approach that postulates IRs as the micro-interactional glue that holds social life together. This approach sees IRs as requiring bodily co-presence among interactants, thus casting doubt over the ritual potential of technology-mediated interaction. In recent years, however, studies have begun problematizing this view through investigations of technology-mediated IRs (TMIR). Counter to IR theory, these studies show that IRs can take place in lieu of bodily copresence and that technologies offer new opportunities for and create distinctively novel forms of rituals and communities. Crucially, however, this emerging literature has an under-theorized understanding of user-technology relationships, which leaves significant gaps in our understanding of IRs and technology. To advance the field, it is suggested that future research should consider: a broader ecology of technologies; heterogeneous users, uses, and circumstances; cultural coding and domestication; and the technologies of face-to-face interaction. This can facilitate a more fundamental reappraisal of the relationship between IRs and technology, which, in turn, can improve our understanding of both TMIR and IR more generally.

Integrating technology in mental healthcare practice: A repeated cross-sectional survey study on professionals' adoption of Digital Mental Health before and during COVID-19.

As a consequence of the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic in the spring of 2020, large-scale social distancing measures were implemented, resulting in the forced adoption of online or digital forms of psychological treatment. This sudden transition to digital care offered a unique opportunity to investigate if and how this experience impacted mental healthcare professionals' perceptions and use of Digital Mental Health tools. The current paper presents findings of a repeated cross-sectional study consisting of three iterations of a national online survey in the Netherlands. This survey contained open and closed questions on professionals' adoption readiness, frequency of use, perceived competency, and perceived value of Digital Mental Health collected in 2019 (before the pandemic), in 2020 (after the first wave), and in 2021 (after the second wave). The inclusion of data gathered prior to the COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique window to assess how professionals' adoption has developed through this transition from voluntary to mandatory use of Digital Mental Health tools. Our study also re-assesses the drivers, barriers, and needs of mental healthcare professionals after having gained experience with Digital Mental Health. In total, 1,039 practitioners completed the surveys (Survey 1: n = 432, Survey 2: n = 363, and Survey 3: n = 244). Results indicate that compared to the period before the pandemic, there was a particularly large increase in use, competency, and perceived value regarding videoconferencing. Small differences were also found for some other basic tools that were crucial to ensure the continuation of care, such as e-mail, text messaging, and online screening, but not for more innovative technologies, such as virtual reality and biofeedback. Many practitioners reported to have gained skills regarding Digital Mental Health and experienced several benefits of it. They expressed the intention to continue with a blended approach, using Digital Mental Health tools in combination with face-to-face care, focused on situations in which they found it to have specific added value, such as when clients are unable to travel. Others were less satisfied with the technology-mediated interactions and remained more reluctant to future use of DMH. Implications for broader implementation of Digital Mental Health and future research are discussed.

Test design and validity evidence of interactive speaking assessment in the era of emerging technologies

As access to smartphones and emerging technologies has become ubiquitous in our daily lives and in language learning, technology-mediated social interaction has become common in teaching and assessing L2 speaking. The changing ecology of L2 spoken interaction provides language educators and testers with opportunities for renewed test design and the gathering of context-sensitive validity evidence of interactive speaking assessment. First, I review the current research on interactive speaking assessment focusing on commonly used test formats and types of validity evidence. Second, I discuss recent research that reports the use of artificial intelligence and technologies in teaching and assessing speaking in order to understand how and what evidence of interactive speaking is elicited. Based on the discussion, I argue that it is critical to identify what features of interactive speaking are elicited depending on the types of technology-mediated interaction for valid assessment decisions in relation to intended uses. I further discuss opportunities and challenges for future research on test design and eliciting validity evidence of interactive speaking using technology-mediated interaction.

Definitions of Solitude in Everyday Life.

What does it mean to be in solitude? Researchers building this nascent field are learning much about the potential affordances of solitude, but lack an agreed-upon definition or set of definitions. Arriving at that meaning is crucial to forming a solid foundation for studies that use both naturalistic and laboratory designs to explore outcomes of solitude. This study identified themes from semi-structured interviews with adults aged 19 to 80 from diverse backgrounds. We concluded that solitude is a state in which the dominant relationship is with the self. If not physically alone, people in solitude are mentally distanced from others and away from active technology-mediated interactions. Complete solitude involves both physical separation and inner focus, but solitude is best defined through a taxonomy that recognizes physical separation and internal focus as independent, sufficient characteristics. An internal focus benefits from (but is not defined by) balancing solitude with social time, quiet, and choice.

How is work group inclusiveness influenced by working virtually?

In human resource management research it has become a highly relevant issue to try to understand the challenges that an online work environment pose for the inclusion of marginalized employees. In this regard, inclusiveness scholars have focused on the role that dissimilarities play for organizational inclusion of employees but rarely on how this takes place through technology-mediated interaction. We integrate notions of identity and communication from inclusiveness and virtual work research to develop a theoretical model depicting two variants of social distance (targeted and diffuse). Subsequently we discuss how these forms of social distance affect different dimensions of inclusiveness. Our analysis suggests that the virtual work environment may weaken some negative aspects of bias and discrimination while strengthening others. Based on such findings we argue for the development of a greater sensitivity to the context in inclusiveness research.

Estudio de caso de narrativas infantiles en videollamadas: Aportes al análisis de interacciones mediadas por tecnología

The preventive and compulsory social isolation established in Argentina due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic led families to look for alternatives to maintain the bond and communicate with their non-cohabitant relatives. One of these alternatives was the use of videochat. Videochat enables new ways of audiovisual communication (Ames et al., 2010; Ballagas et al., 2009; McClure & Barr, 2017) that could affect the interactions in which adults and children collaborate in the construction of different types of discourses. Narratives are one of the first and most relevant forms of discourse, it allows for the reconstruction and communication of one’s experience and is one of the ways in which thought is configured. In this work, a case study was conducted of the narratives produced during videochat conversations of a four-year-old girl with non-cohabiting relatives. The aim was to characterize the interactions that help in the configuration of children’s narratives during technology-mediated situations. The research question were: (a) how do technology-mediated interactions allow the child to narrate about past and future events and to create fictional narratives?; (b) how does the child participate in the construction of those narrative in the context of these technology-mediated situations? Five videos of videochat interaction belonging to a single four year old girl were selected from the corpus “Contextos naturales de interacción en los hogares en los que los/as niños/as usan tempranamente tecnología”. This corpus gathers different technology-mediated interactions collected during daily activities in the home of children aged 0 to 6 years. First, 31 narratives in which the girl participated were identified. Subsequently, used the constant comparative method was used (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) as well as analysis tools developed within the framework of interactive sociolinguistics (Gumperz, 1982, 1984); also, concepts developed in previous research (Arrúe et al., 2014; Labov, 1972; Rosemberg et al., 2010; Stein et al., 2020) were heuristically recovered to answer the research questions. Of the 31 narratives produced in the interactions, 14 were related to personal experience, 13 were of future events, and 4 were fiction narratives. Regarding the posed questions, results showed that children do in fact create personal, future and fictional narratives in technology-mediated interactions with adults. Technology also enables children to decide how much they want to participate in interactions: they can lead the narrative, or they can back off to a yes-or-no answer kind of participation. The child relies on the possibility to share visual information, beyond audio, to provide both events and context information. This interactive and multimodal aspect of videochats was also found to enable the girl to turn to present adults both to scaffold her narrative production and to resolve doubts about unknown words. Even though there are methodological limitations to this study, this first approach to narratives in technology-mediated interactions shows the richness that this type of interaction can have for the development of children’s language. https://doi.org/10.16888/interd.2022.39.3.2

Technological pedagogical content knowledge of primary school science teachers during the COVID-19 in Thailand and Finland

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) is important for teaching science during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper investigates the TPACK of Finnish and Thai primary school teachers in the context of teaching science through blended learning (BL) during the COVID-19. 11 teachers from Finland and Thailand were interviewed. The interview data were examined using deductive content analysis. The analysis revealed that all teachers used educational technology in their online classes in terms of providing the lesson content, learning activities, and the students’ learning assessment. Zoom and MS Teams were the tools used for online teaching in both countries. The main teaching method used in both types of instruction was experimentation. For online instruction, most teachers considered educational technology in every step of the teaching process to enhance students’ learning of science as much as possible. Many types of direct and technology-mediated interaction appeared during BL, especially during online teaching, which could be designed and analyzed in the context of the TPACK model.

Tinkering in the time of COVID: lessons from educators’ efforts to facilitate playful tinkering through online learning

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on children’s educational and play experiences. In this paper, we analyze and report on interviews with a sample of 14 educators who continued to facilitate playful tinkering experiences during online learning near the beginning of school facility closures related to COVID-19. After a review of relevant literatures on playful learning and making and tinkering, we discuss three themes that emerged in the data: (1) rethinking materials, where educators either moved to simplified activities or to those that could flexibly embrace the diverse materials found in children’s homes; (2) adapting in-the-moment facilitation, where educators sought new means to engage students and facilitate persistence and continued exploration; and (3) searching for emotional connections, where educators prioritized emotional connections with students, despite the challenges of technology-mediated interactions. We close with implications for the future of making and tinkering centered learning opportunities post-pandemic.

"I Just Can't Help But Smile Sometimes": Collaborative Self-Management of Depression

Depression is a challenging condition that requires individuals to manage their moods and emotions over time. Within CSCW, there has been an interest in understanding how individuals seek and share support on social media and in online communities. However, less attention has been paid to how collaboration as an aspect of self-management of depression unfolds in people's daily lives. In this paper, we explore the collaborative self-management work of 28 individuals managing depression who live in the United States. Data collection included remote semi-structured interviews with an associated cognitive mapping exercise. Our findings describe who participants turn to for day-to-day collaborative support, how collaborative activities are enacted (across both mood-focused and preventative support practices), and where these often technology-mediated interactions occur across text, phone, video, and picture-based channels. We discuss collaborative self-management in the depression support context, including key characteristics: agency, reciprocity, time, and interaction. We also present a four-step model of how the process occurs over time (awareness, planning, interaction, and reflection). We conclude by discussing how technology ecosystems support individuals' collaborative self-management.