This paper introduces a new form of real-time affective interface that engages the user in a process of conceptualisation of their emotional state. Inspired by Barrett's Theory of Constructed Emotion, 'Mirror Ritual' aims to expand upon the user's accessible emotion concepts, and to ultimately provoke emotional reflection and regulation. The interface uses classified emotions obtained through facial expression recognition -- as a basis for dynamically generating poetry. The perceived emotion is used to seed a poetry generation system based on OpenAI's GPT-2 model, fine-tuned on a specially curated corpus. We evaluate the device's ability to foster a personalised, meaningful experience for individual users over a sustained period. A qualitative analysis revealed that participants were able to affectively engage with the mirror, with each participant developing a unique interpretation of its poetry in the context of their own emotional landscape.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376625
Today an increasing number of personal informatics tools and platforms support intended behavior change and goal achievement through data-based self-reflection. The scope of self-reflection expands with emerging sources, goals, and challenges of human well-being, demanding for reframing recent computer-mediated reflective practice. This study investigates a broader range of contexts and forms of self-reflection that support navigating one's mind and goals beyond achieving preset goals. This paper describes contemporary issues on human well-being and two exploratory studies—one conducted in a traveling artists' residency and the other in a design studio class—which surveyed various triggers, contexts, and forms of self-reflection. By connecting the insights from the two studies, I propose evocative and generative reflection as an alternative perspective to tracking-based, goal-oriented reflection and discuss implications for the design for reflection with a focus on the creative dimension of human well-being.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376231
Bullet journals are hand-written and self-created combinations of calendar, journal and planner. Central to this practice is how personal information is managed through a craft-based process. Based on a qualitative study, we discuss a set of themes that emerged in our analysis of this practice. We discuss how open-ended use of various materials for crafting of personal information engages in: 1) deliberate and strategic boundary work of what information to include and how combinations of data provide holistic and novel views of practitioner's life situations; 2) processes of self-creation and reflection on personal life trajectories; 3) appreciation of ourselves and the world around us as imperfect; and 4) ways of resisting the "business-like efficiency" that come with the large quantities of information that permeate contemporary life. We propose that this opens up new directions for thinking about how technologies of personal information may come into play in people's lives.
Public interactive displays (PID) are a promising technology for providing information and collecting feedback in public spaces. Research on PIDs has shown that, like all public displays, their efficacy is reduced by display blindness. Rather than increase the visual attention-grabbing nature of PIDs, we propose that additional understanding is required around how and when these displays are able to offer value to users. We tackle this through a systematic analysis of PID studies published in the literature, which led to 9 aspects of value across 4 factors: people, location, community, and time. We discuss the identified aspects and their utility for the design of PIDs through a review of our own deployments carried out by 4 different labs across 5 countries. We conclude with a set of recommendations for identifying and optimising the intended value of future PIDs.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376532