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Enhancing Social Messaging with Mediated Social Touch

Qianhui Wei, Jun Hu & Min Li

Mediated social touch (MST) is a popular way to communicate emotion and connect people in mobile communication. This article applies MST gestures with vibrotactile stimuli in two online communication modes—asynchronous and synchronous communication (texting and video calling) to enhance social presence for mobile communication. We first designed the application that included the visual design of MST gestures, the vibrotactile stimuli design for MST gestures, and the interface design for texting and video calling. Then, we conducted a user study to explore if the MST gestures with vibrotactile stimuli could increase social presence in texting and video calling compared to MST gestures without vibrotactile stimuli. We also explored if the communication modes affected the social presence significantly when applying MST signals. The quantitative data analysis shows that adding vibrotactile stimuli to MST gestures helps to increase social presence in the aspects of co-presence, perceived behavior interdependence, perceived affective understanding, and perceived emotional interdependence. Adding vibrotactile stimuli to MST gestures causes no significant differences in attentional allocation and perceived message understanding. There is no significant difference between texting and video calling when applying MST signals in mobile communication. The qualitative data analysis shows that participants think MST gestures with vibrotactile stimuli are interesting, and they are willing to use them in mobile communication, but the application design should be iterated based on their feedback.

Q. Wei, J. Hu, and M. Li, “Enhancing Social Messaging with Mediated Social Touch,” International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, vol. 40, no. 7, pp. 1669–1688, 2024.
FULLTEXT: PDF REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote
DOI: 10.1080/10447318.2022.2148883

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I’m not upset–I get it

  • Help-seekers adjust their diction to be more empathic and tactful when they perceive co-workers as stressed.
  • Help-seekers experience less negative emotional shifts when rejected by stressed rather than relaxed co-workers, suggesting empathy towards stressed individuals.
  • Social messaging applications could boost workplace empathy by enabling stress status sharing, albeit with caution for relaxed status displays.
  • For privacy and reduced stigmatization, using subtle haptic vibrations could be considered for signaling users’ negative or sensitive emotional states.
N. Zhang, B. Yu, J. Hu, M. Li, and P. An, “I’m Not Upset–I Get It: Effects of Co-workers’ Stress Cues on Help-seekers’ Social Diction and Empathy in Telecommuting,” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, pp. 103218, 2024/01/12/, 2024. FULLTEXT: PDF REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2024.103218
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Robot Design Competition Award at IEEE RO-MAN 2023

Best Robot Design Process Award @ IEEE RO-MAN 2023 Robot Design Competition, for the design Petting Pen for Stress Awareness and Management in Children. We are very proud of our PhD candidates Jing Li and Pinhao Wang!

J. Li, P. Wang, E. Barakova, and J. Hu, “Petting Pen for Stress Awareness and Management in Children,” in 2023 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Robot Design Competition Award – Robot Design Process, 2023. FULLTEXT: PDF REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote
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DDW 2019 Mind the Step: LightSit – Subtle periods of rest and activity at your workstation

See more at
http://www.mindthestep.nl/lightsit.html

Although the ‘new way of working’ has many advantages, the more intelligent use of time, space and resources often results in (even) less exercise and more stress. The solution? A cushion filled with sensors that discreetly register your breathing patterns and a light strip integrated in the monitor stand. In other words: LightSit. Have you sat without moving for too long? The block of light that repeatedly moves from left to right supports stretching exercises for your back. Suffering from stress? The alternating bright and dim light invites you to concentrate on your breathing. Information is power! 

Continue reading DDW 2019 Mind the Step: LightSit – Subtle periods of rest and activity at your workstation
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Best Demo Award @ AutomitiveUI 2017

C. Wang, S. Steeghs, D. Chakraborty, A. Gorle, D. Dey, S. v. d. Star, A. Sudhakaran, J. Terken, and J. Hu, “Designing for Enhancing Situational Awareness of Semi-Autonomous Driving Vehicles,” in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications Adjunct, Oldenburg, Germany, 2017, pp. 228-229. FULLTEXT: PDF REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote DOI: 10.1145/3131726.3132061

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Flow: Contextual Information Exchange

by Olaf Corduwener. [Complete Report, PDF, 1.7M]

Flow
Flow

In his report, “…The concept is visioned to be a one-of-a-kind lighting installation that reflects the contextual status of a (public) building or space. One-of-a-kind means that it is not an actual product, but it’s tailored and made specifically for a certain place. The actual contextual status it communicates therefore also depends on the placement. The way it communicates this contextual information was approached in a rather artistic way, as in the metaphorical flowing or raining of coloured light. The metaphor ‘flow’ as in the flow of people (the context of movements) or being in mental flow (immersed in the activity; the context of activity). Coloured lighting as output was chosen for its attractiveness and diverse capabilities. The lighting is placed inside dozens of glass-formed raindrops hanging from the ceiling, animating the falling of rain in diverse colours, speed and frequency. It is not an individual drop that has a particular meaning. Instead, it’s the total picture the complete installation radiates that gives it its meaning. The different output variables (colour, diversity in colour, speed of falling, frequency of falling, etc) do not reflect different input variables, but change and work simultaneously to give an impression of the contextual status…”

 

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Software Architecture Support for Biofeedback Based In-flight Music Systems

Hao Liu , Jun Hu, Matthias Rauterberg

Abstract In this paper, we present a software architecture support for biofeedback in-flight music systems to promote stress free air travels. Once the passenger sits in a seat of a flight, his/her bio signals are acquired via non intrusive sensors embedded in the seat and then are modeled into stress states. If the passenger is in a stress state, the system recommends a personalized stress reduction music playlist to the passenger to transfer him/her from the current stress state to the target comfort state; if the passenger is not in a stress state, the system recommends a personalized non stress induction music playlist keep him/her at comfort state. If the passenger does not accept the recommendation, he/she can browse the in-flight music system and select preferred music himself/herself.

Keywords in-flight music; biofeedback; healthy air travels; stress reduction.

H. Liu, J. Hu, and M. Rauterberg, “Software Architecture Support for Biofeedback Based In-flight Music Systems,” in 2nd IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology (ICCSIT 2009), Beijing, China, 2009, pp. 580-584.
FULLTEXT: PDF HTML REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote
DOI: 10.1109/ICCSIT.2009.5234489
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“Er loopt een patentaanvraag voor het ontwerp van ID-studente Alice Verdonk”

Alice Verdonk’s final project “Personal Alarm System” appeared in Cursor (or a PDF version from here):

“Er loopt een patentaanvraag voor het ontwerp van ID-studente Alice Verdonk. ‘’Ik wil graag vertellen over mijn project, maar ik mag niet te veel details prijsgeven.’’ Verdonk wist wat ze wilde als afstudeerstage: bij een bedrijf en in het buitenland. Haar begeleider Jun Hu had contacten met de researchafdeling van Philips Healthcare in Sjanghai. ‘’Dus werd het Sjanghai.’’ Het werd geen liefde op het eerste gezicht. ‘’Toen ik aankwam dacht ik “wat een vieze stad’’, vertelt Verdonk. Gelukkig waren de mensen er toegankelijker en behulpzamer dan ze had verwacht.

Haar opdracht was de ontwikkeling van een product dat ouderen moet helpen om langer zelfstandig te blijven wonen. ‘’Het ging om apparaatje dat op het lichaam gedragen moet worden, waar sensoren inzitten. Dat apparaat moet zorgen dat er sneller hulp komt bij noodgevallen, maar het moet daarnaast ook voorkomen dat dat nodig is.’’ Er was al een eerste prototype toen Verdonk arriveerde. ‘’Daarmee hebben we praktijktesten gedaan. Ik heb hem zelf gedragen, maar we hebben hem ook getest bij bewoners in een verpleeghuis. Zij hebben het apparaatje een maand gedragen.’’ Met de evaluatie van die test en een grote stapel literatuur ging Verdonk aan de slag. ‘’Ik heb een interactiemethode bedacht op basis van de criteria die daar uitrolden. Zo is het bijvoorbeeld belangrijk dat het apparaatje met één hand kan worden bediend. Ook moest ik er rekening mee houden dat de fijne motoriek het bij ouderen niet meer zo goed doet. En de werking moet heel eenvoudig zijn; de drager moet er ook mee overweg kunnen als hij in de war is.’’ Over het daadwerkelijke ontwerp mag ze vanwege de patentaanvraag niets zeggen.

Verdonk besteedde ook tijd aan een plan van aanpak om het product op de Chinese markt te brengen. ‘’Philips richt zich hiermee vooral op de Europese en Amerikaanse markt, terwijl China zelf ook een groeimarkt is. Door de eenkindspolitiek kunnen ouderen vaak niet meer worden opgevangen door hun kinderen.’’ De ideeën van Verdonk gaan nu naar de afdeling Design van Philips. ‘’Zij richten zich helemaal op het ontwerp.

Uiteindelijk kan het er nog helemaal anders uit komen te zien. Ik ben benieuwd hoe dat uitpakt.’’ De verwachting is dat het apparaatje over een paar jaar te koop is.”

[Final report, 1.4M PDF]