
[Watch video presentations of all 8 UChicago CS papers from CHI 2020]
With computers of various forms now integral to society, the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) has thrived as a multidisciplinary approach to both expand the potential and avoid the dangers of our technology. Each year, the epicenter of HCI is the annual ACM SIGCHI conference, known as CHI for short, which was scheduled for late April 2020 in Hawaii. Though the physical gathering was cancelled due to COVID-19, many CHI authors have presented and shared their work through self-produced videos.
Among those authors are several faculty and students from UChicago CS, who contributed an impressive eight papers to the conference. UChicago research also received multiple commendations, including one Best Paper award and four Honorable Mentions. The innovative research, described below, runs the gamut from a bracelet that jams nearby smart devices and scent-based illusions for virtual reality to systems for detecting undisclosed advertisements on social media and gender stereotypes in text and sound.
The papers also ask provocative questions about model transparency, privacy, and how modern life is affected by ubiquitous technology and algorithmic approaches. In fact, one paper authored by a large cast of of the field’s luminaries (including Pedro Lopes of UChicago CS) proposed that the acronym HCI itself might even be redefined as “human computer integration,” predicting that the future will bring a further blurring of the boundaries between people and their devices.
The UChicago CHI papers will be presented on May 26th as part of a special virtual “CHIcago” session. RSVP information is available here.