Educational programming languages (EPLs) are rarely designed to be both accessible and multilingual. We describe a 30-month community-engaged case study to surface design challenges at this intersection, creating Wordplay, an accessible, multilingual platform for youth to program interactive typography. Wordplay combines functional programming, multilingual text, multimodal editors, time travel debugging, and teacher- and youth-centered community governance. Across five 2-hour focus group sessions, a group of 6 multilingual students and teachers affirmed many of the platform’s design choices, but reinforced that design at the margins was unfinished, including support for limited internet access, decade-old devices, and high turnover of device use by students with different access, language, and attentional needs. The group also highlighted open source platforms like GitHub as unsuitable for engaging youth. These findings suggest that EPLs that are both accessible and language-inclusive are feasible, but that there remain many design tensions between language design, learnability, accessibility, culture, and governance.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713196
A growing body of research investigates how to make captioning experiences more accessible and enjoyable to disabled people. However, prior work has focused largely on English captioning, neglecting the majority of people who are multilingual (i.e., understand or express themselves in more than one language). To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews and diary logs with 13 participants who used multilingual captions for accessibility. Our findings highlight the linguistic and cultural dimensions of captioning, detailing how language features (scripts and orthography) and the inclusion/negation of cultural context shape the accessibility of captions. Despite lack of quality and availability, participants emphasized the importance of multilingual captioning to learn a new language, build community, and preserve cultural heritage. Moving toward a future where all ways of communicating are celebrated, we present ways to orient captioning research to a language justice agenda that decenters English and engages with varied levels of fluency.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713622
Cultural differences influence how cyclists and drivers interact, affecting global autonomous vehicle (AV) adoption. AV-cyclist interfaces are needed to clarify AV intentions and resolve ambiguities when no human driver is present. These must adapt across cultures and road infrastructure. We conducted the first cross-cultural AV-cyclist user study across Stockholm (high segregation of cyclists from drivers), Glasgow (some segregation), and Muscat (no segregation). Cyclists used an AR simulator to cycle in physical space and experienced three holistic AV-cyclist interfaces. These integrated multiple interfaces into a larger ecosystem, e.g., a smartwatch synchronised with on-vehicle eHMI. Interfaces communicated AV location, intentions, or both. Riders from all cities preferred combined AV location and intention information but used it differently. Stockholm cyclists focused on location, validating intentions with driving behaviour. Glasgow riders valued both cues equally. Muscat cyclists trusted interfaces, prioritising intentions without relying on driving behaviour. These insights are key for global AV adoption.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713407
Transitioning to manual control following a Take-Over Request (TOR) in Level 3 autonomous cars is challenging, requiring drivers to re-engage with driving after engaging with Non-Driving Related Tasks (NDRTs). Effective TOR design can mitigate this challenge. We present the first study on how culture, age, and NDRT intersect to shape TOR design. In a cross-cultural study across the UK (high traffic-law compliance) and Israel (low compliance), involving older and younger drivers, participants designed TORs for four NDRTs in a real car setting. Results revealed a universal preference for re-purposing NDRT-devices to issue TORs. Older drivers preferred tri-modal TORs that suspend the NDRT; younger drivers favoured bi-modal TORs allowing NDRT interruption management. Due to altered alert sensitivity and low law compliance, Israeli participants included a RiskMeter to assess hazard criticality. We introduce novel TOR designs and taxonomy features to guide culturally and age-sensitive TOR development, key for global Level 3 adoption.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713451
Young children increasingly interact with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their everyday lives, often without being made aware of the ethical issues in the design and use of such technologies. This prompts the need for AI literacy that also implores them to adopt critical perspectives towards technology design and use. We conducted critical AI literacy workshops with 96 schoolchildren (ages 11-12 years) in Japan, inviting participants to imagine and design future classrooms and schools. While participants' imagined future technologies incorporated elements of anthropomorphised AI as well as magical thinking; these future imaginaries revealed diverse perspectives on ethical AI design and use, including concerns about empathy, inclusion and fairness, and accountability and sustainability. Their future designs also underscored the everyday problems that matter to them the most. With our work, we highlight the need for exploring children's perspectives towards ethical AI to envision inclusive ethical AI futures with and by children.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713204
Youth are particularly likely to encounter hateful internet content, which can severely impact their well-being. While most social media provide reporting mechanisms, in several countries, severe hateful content can alternatively be reported to law enforcement or dedicated reporting centers. However, in Germany, many youth never resort to reporting. While research in human-computer interaction has investigated adults' views on platform-based reporting, youth perspectives and platform-independent alternatives have received little attention. By involving a diverse group of 47 German adolescents and young adults in eight focus group interviews, we investigate how youth-sensitive reporting systems for hateful content can be designed. We explore German youth’s reporting barriers, finding that on platforms, they feel particularly discouraged by deficient rule enforcement and feedback, while platform-independent alternatives are rather unknown and perceived as time-consuming and disruptive. We further elicit their requirements for platform-independent reporting tools and contribute with heuristics for designing youth-sensitive and inclusive reporting systems.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713542
Live Q&A sessions at English-based, international academic conferences usually pose significant challenges for non-native English-speaking presenters, as they demand real-time comprehension and response in one's non-native language under stress. While language-supportive tools (e.g., real-time translation, transcription) can help alleviate such challenges, their adoption remains limited, even at HCI academic conferences that focus on how technology can better serve human needs. Through in-depth interviews with 15 non-native English-speaking academics, we identify their concerns and expectations regarding technological language support for HCI live Q&As. Our research provides critical design implications for future language support tools by highlighting the importance of culturally-aware solutions that offer accurate and seamless language experiences while fostering personal growth and building confidence. We also call for community-wide efforts in HCI to embrace more inclusive practices that actively support non-native English speakers, which can empower all scholars to equally engage in the HCI academic discourse regardless of their native languages.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713124