Companionship is crucial for people's everyday psychological well-being. With growing concerns over harassment against women in embodied social VR spaces, we turn an eye towards AI companions as a potential new approach to protect women in social VR by better fulfilling their under-addressed harassment mitigation needs. Using 20 interviews with women social VR users, we reveal their envisionings for leveraging AI as Accessible Companions, Informational Companions, Emotional Support Companions, and Protective Companions to better protect them in social VR compared to their existing safety mechanisms and strategies. We also reflect upon various sociotechnical complexities for designing and implementing such AI companions in social VR spaces and propose three design principles to inform future efforts to create AI companions to protect women and other marginalized users in social VR. Our work contributes to ongoing discussions on nuanced harassment mitigation approaches that further support marginalized social VR users’ multidimensional needs without harming their self-agency, human relationships, and supportive networks.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713473
Glitches -- moments when technologies do not work as desired -- will become increasingly common as industrially-designed robots move into complex contexts. Taking glitches to be potential sites of critical ethical reflection, we examine a glitch that occurred in the context of a collaborative research project where professional dancers with different disabilities improvised with a robotic arm. Through a first-person account, we analyse how the dancer, the robot, and the rest of the research team enacted ethics in the moment of glitch. Through this analysis, we discovered a deep and implicit ethical misalignment wherein our enactments of ethics in response to the glitch did not align with the values of the project. This prompted a critical re-engagement with our research process through which we forged a dialogue between different ethical perspectives that acted as an invitation to bring us back into ethical alignment with the project's values.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713632
This paper offers new perspectives for More-Than-Human (MTH) design and Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) by rethinking technoscientific logics of temporality. To do this, we draw on alternative logics such as Hydrofeminism, interlocutor and autobiographical accounts, and Leaky Cups—a set of willfully dysfunctional data-enabled artefacts that leak in response to local water data. In doing so, it repositions more-than-human agency not as a passive conduit merely mediating human experiences but as a force capable of creating change and ethics through non-progressivist care labor. By engaging with these ideas, this work critiques and disrupts normative assumptions about progress, openness, fluidity, and objectivity in MTH research and design, and presents productive tensions that challenge dominant temporal frameworks.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3714108
Following a review of papers in the ACM DL on ethics and children, this paper shows the growth of interest in this area, summarises the literature found, and then, using detail from 26 papers that offer practical advice, distils a Child Centred Ethics Framework that maps literature onto ethical concerns in relation to the practical application of ethics with children. The framework offers questions and solutions for researchers from the first inception of a project to the dissemination of the results back to the children. The framework is offered as an adjunct to an ethics / IRB document in that it places the child's experience at the centre of decision-making allowing fuller exploration of aspects like assent, anonymity, inclusion and contribution. As a practical resource that researchers can use, the framework is presented as a living document waiting to be owned by the community.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3714248
Feminist self-defense combines physical self-defense with mental strength exercises through role-playing scenarios. It aims to challenge limiting beliefs about women’s abilities to respond to interpersonal violence. We present the experiences from feminist self-defense classes in Sweden and the results of a set of speculative designs that combined contribute to imagine how technology could play a role in experiencing these holistic practices. The goal is to illustrate the potential of embodied interaction design to empower beginner feminist self-defense practitioners. To do so, the study was conducted via two methods: semi-structured interviews with students and teachers, and a participatory speculative design workshop with novice practitioners. The speculative concepts demonstrate how design can support the practice of feminist self-defense. Through this study we contribute to the corpus of embodied design interventions, in this case combining design for bodily movements with feminist consciousness raising in relation to the topic of gender-based violence.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713975
Previous research on interactive technology design has often focused on individual aspects of marginalized identities and their impact on technology use. However, there is a growing need to adopt a more holistic approach that considers how multiple, intersecting aspects of marginalized identities shape technology engagement across various contexts. In this qualitative case study, we investigate the communication experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals with disabilities within romantic relationships, focusing on the role of technology in facilitating connection, intimacy, and joy. Our findings emphasize the dynamic experiences of early disability disclosure, the transformation of vulnerability into opportunities for authentic connection, and the co-creation of communication practices tailored to the relationship's needs. We advocate for inclusive technologies that adapt to evolving intersectional experiences, advocating for assistive technology (AT) that supports communication while nurturing emotional and relational well-being. Moreover, drawing on the concept of interdependence, we show how access is co-created in LGBTQIA+ romantic relationships, challenging the traditional views of AT as specialized tools.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713195
Addressing the complexities of conflict-affected regions remains a critical challenge for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This paper examines the establishment of computer clubs in Palestinian refugee camps, where efforts to create sustainable interventions weighed against the instability of prolonged conflict. To capture this dynamic, we introduce the notion of ‘adaptive ponds of stability,’ which extends the ‘tech public of erosion’ framework [12]. While the latter emphasizes systemic depletion of socio-technical infrastructures, adaptive ponds of stability highlight efforts to foster temporary spaces of resilience. The clubs became hubs of learning, respite, and collaboration—offering moments of routine and empowerment amidst disruption. Reflecting on this, we advocate for a paradigm shift from sustainability to resilience as the primary design goal in unstable contexts. Our findings emphasize adaptability, local agency, and cultural sensitivity that respond dynamically to context-specific challenges, offering a nuanced approach to advancing HCI interventions in conflict-affected settings.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713253