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The HCIL has an open, semi-organized weekly "brown bag lunch (BBL)" every <span style='color:red; font-weight:800'>Thursdays from 12:30-1:30pm in HCIL (2105 Hornbake, South Wing)</span>.  The topics range from someone's work, current interests in the HCIL, software demos/reviews, study design, proposed research topics, introductions to new people, etc.  The BBL is the one hour a week where we all come together--thus, it’s a unique time for HCIL members with unique opportunities to help build collaborations, increase awareness of each other’s activities, and generally just have a bit of fun together. There is no RSVP; simply show up!
= THIS PAGE IS NOT UPDATED ANYMORE=


If you would like to give or suggest a talk, presentation, workshop, etc., send an email to BBL student co-coordinators '''Deokgun Park  (intuinno@umd.edu)''' or '''Rebecca Stone (rstone1@umd.edu)'''. In the email, briefly describe the topic and preferred dates.
'''Instead see this new page about the [https://hcil.umd.edu/bbl-speaker-series/ BBL Lecture series]'''


To be notified about upcoming events, please subscribe one of [[BBL mailing lists|these mailing lists]].  
OLD TEXT:  The HCIL has an open, semi-organized weekly "Guest Speaker & Pizza Series" every <span style='color:green; font-weight:800'>Thursday from 12:30-1:30pm in HCIL (2119 Hornbake, South Wing)</span>.  The topics range from someone's work, current interests in the HCIL, software demos/reviews, study design, proposed research topics, introductions to new people, etc. The BBL is the one hour a week where we all come together--thus, it’s a unique time for HCIL members with unique opportunities to help build collaborations, increase awareness of each other’s activities, and generally just have a bit of fun together. There is no RSVP; simply show up!


We thank YAHOO for its past sponsorship of the HCIL Brown Bag Lunches
If you would like to give or suggest a talk, presentation, workshop, etc., send an email to BBL student co-coordinators '''Teja Maddali (hmaddali@umd.edu)''' or '''Aravind JR (aravind@umd.edu)'''. In the email, briefly describe the topic and preferred dates.
[[File:Yahoo.jpg|60px]].
 
<br><br>
To be notified about upcoming events, please subscribe to one of [[BBL mailing lists|these mailing lists]].  
 
<br>


== Spring 2017 Schedule ==
== Spring 2020 Guest Speaker Series Schedule ==
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| 02/06/2020
|   
<b>Dr. Joel Chan, Dr. Amanda Lazar and Dr. Catherine Plaisant</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Panel discussion "What does a successful process for an HCI researcher look like?</b>
<br>
We'll be kicking off this semester with a panel discussion. Dr. Joel Chan, Dr. Amanda Lazar, and Dr. Catherine Plaisant will engage in a conversation with us about what successful processes for an HCI researcher look like in terms of personal development, week to week / day to day workflow, moving ideas forward, etc. 
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|-
|-
| 02/02/2017
| 02/13/2020
|     
|     
Kickoff to a new Semester!
<b>Christian Vogler,</b> Gallaudet University
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Come network, make introductions, and share what each of us is working on
<b>The User Experience of Viewing Captioned Content</b>
<br>
Much has been made of the ability of automatic speech recognition (ASR) to supplement or replace human captioners both for video content and for live meetings. While the word error rate of ASR has been steadily improving, and on some types of content can even beat out human captioners, these improvements do not automatically in a good user experience for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. In this talk we will examine the reasons why this is so, and provide an overview of current efforts to develop human-centered caption quality metrics that are more closely aligned with meeting the needs of people who depend on captions to consume content.
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Please come to our first BBL of the spring 2017 semester to introduce yourself and share what you're working on in the coming semester. The first BBL will be for us to network with each other and kickoff a great new semester.
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|-
|-
| 02/09/2017
| 02/20/2020
|    
|    
'''Bilge Mutlu''',<br>University of Wisconsin-Madison
<b>Wei Ai</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Human-Centered Principles and Methods for Designing Robotic Technologies'''
<b>Promoting Pro-social Behavior with End-to-End Data Science</b>
<br>
The recent development of data science methods, including large-scale machine learning and causal inference, has presented a game-changing opportunity for social good provision through the effort of the crowd. In this talk, I introduce an end-to-end data science pipeline to promote behavioral change for pro-social benefits. More specifically, this involves conducting causal data analysis on empirical data for actionable insights and robust prediction models, incorporating the insights and predictions in designing recommender systems for individual actions, and evaluating the effectiveness of the recommender systems in promoting behavioral changes with randomized field experiments. I will present two applications of the end-to-end pipeline, where we designed and deployed team recommender systems on an online microfinance platform (Kiva.org) and a ride-sharing platform (DiDi). We evaluated the recommender systems through large-scale field experiments, which show significant increases in user participation. The recommender system has been deployed in DiDi and has impacted millions of users in practice.
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<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Abstract:''' The increasing emergence of robotic technologies that serve as automated tools, assistants, and collaborators promises tremendous benefits in everyday settings from the home to manufacturing facilities. While these technologies promise interactions that can be highly complex and beneficial, their successful integration into the human environment ultimately requires these interactions to also be natural and intuitive. To achieve complex but intuitive interactions, designers and developers must simultaneously understand and address human and computational challenges.  In this talk, I will present my group’s work on building human-centered guidelines, methods, and tools to address these challenges in order to facilitate the design of robotic technologies that are more effective, intuitive, acceptable, and even enjoyable through successful integration into the human environment. The first part of the talk will review a series of projects that will demonstrate how the marrying of knowledge about people and computational methods through a systematic design process can enable effective user interactions with social, assistive, and telepresence robots. The second part of the talk will cover ongoing work that provides designers and developers with tools to apply these guidelines to the development of real-world robotic technologies and that utilizes partnerships with domain experts and end users to ensure the successful integration of these technologies into everyday settings. The talk will conclude with a discussion of high-level design guidelines that can be drawn from this body of work.
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<br><br>
'''Bio:''' Bilge Mutlu is an associate professor of computer science, psychology, and industrial engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  He received his Ph.D. degree from Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute in 2009. His background combines training in interaction design, human-computer interaction, and robotics with industry experience in product design and development.  Dr. Mutlu is a former Fulbright Scholar and the recipient of the NSF CAREER award as well as several best paper awards and nominations, including HRI 2008, HRI 2009, HRI 2011, UbiComp 2013, IVA 2013, RSS 2013, HRI 2014, CHI 2015, and ASHA 2015.  His research has been covered by national and international press including the NewScientist, MIT Technology Review, Discovery News, Science Nation, and Voice of America.  He has served in the Steering Committee of the HRI Conference and the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, co-chairing the Program Committees for ROMAN 2016, HRI 2015, ROMAN 2015, and ICSR 2011, the Program Sub-committees on Design for CHI 2013 and CHI 2014, and the organizing committee for HRI 2017. More information on Dr. Mutlu and his research can be found at http://bilgemutlu.com and http://hci.cs.wisc.edu.</br>
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| 02/27/2019
|   
<b>B Prabhakaran</b> University of Texas, Dallas
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Quantifying Human Performance and the Quality of Immersive Experiences</b>
<br>
Psychometric evaluations are generally used to understand the Quality of Experience (QoE) of immersive environments produced using augmented/mixed/virtual reality. Typically, these subjective evaluations are done from an end-user point-of-view, but these are limited by the subjective observations due to a number of factors. The objective approach consists of measuring the QoE by monitoring the network technical parameters or the network Quality of Service (QoS), such as throughput, delay, and packet loss. Most of the research on objective approaches for QoS-QoE mapping have focused on video streaming. Such objective QoS-QoE mapping strategies cannot be directly applied for immersive environments.
Hence, in this talk, we address two related questions: (1) Can we identify metrics that can objectively quantify the performance of an immersive environment? (2) Can we use the above objective performance metrics to understand the possible user QoE without the need for subjective user study or with minimal user study? We start with different examples of immersive environments such as haptic-enabled applications, mirror therapy, and games. We discuss what metrics are influenced by different system parameters such as processing power, and network QoS. Then, we present some of our preliminary work on understanding users’ QoE through these metrics.
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|-
|-
| 02/16/2017
| 03/05/2020
|    
|    
'''Susan Winter''',<br>University of Maryland, College Park
<b>Dr. Joel Chan</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Designing for Diversity: HCI and the Support of Scientific Research'''
<b>What does a successful process for an HCI researcher look like? Part 2</b>
<br>
TBA
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<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Abstract:''' Understanding user needs and designing new technologies to meet those needs has long been a focus of HCI research.  HCI has been embedded within a sociotechnical systems approach often considering user needs within a work context where an employing organization designs the work, chooses the technologies, and hires and trains the employees.  This organizational “container” has been eroding, which raises interesting questions about the relationships among people, innovative technologies, work, and the role of HCI in this new hyper-diverse environment.
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<br><br>
 
'''Bio:''' Susan J. Winter, Ph.D.  is Associate Dean for Research and co-Director of the Center for Advanced Study of Communities and Information at the University of Maryland’s School of Information Studies.  She has previously been a Science Advisor in the Directorate for Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences, Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Cyberinfrastructure at the National Science Foundation and a Program Director supporting distributed, interdisciplinary scientific collaboration where she was responsible for programs funding research on virtual organizations as sociotechnical systems, cyber-enabled discovery and innovation, and cyberinfrastructure education, and enabling resources for building community and capacity for complex data-driven and computational science including high performance computers, large-scale databases, and advanced software tools. Her award-winning research on the impact of information and communications technology on the organization of work has appeared in top journals; she has extensive international managerial and consulting experience, and currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Information Technology, Information and Organization, and Group and Organization Management. She received her PhD from the University of Arizona, her MA from the Claremont Graduate University, and her BA from the University of California, Berkeley. 
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== Fall 2019 HCIL Guest Speaker Series Schedule ==
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| 08/29/2019
|   
<b>Hack-a-thon</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-expand">
<b>HCIL Website Hack-a-thon.</b>
<br>
We are kick starting this semester's BBL with a Hack-a-thon event. You will be tasked to update the HCIL website by checking for broken links, updating faculty information, checking for spelling and grammar errors and also improving the accessibility of the images in the website.
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|-
|-
| 02/23/2017
| 09/05/2019
|    
|    
'''Virginia Byrne and Joohee Choi''',<br>University of Maryland, College Park
<b>Prof. Jun-Dong Cho</b> Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
<br>''''''
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Research design review & CSCW Practice Talk'''
<b>Celestial: Color Patterns for improving Color Perception for blind people.</b>
<br>
It is relatively difficult to recreate the abstract three-dimensional shape with only the tactile sense. Gibson said "These abilities can be improved through practice." "When you touch something, You may have no idea about it at first touch, but as you continue touching, you soon will know vaguely what it is" , Kojiro Hirose said. 
 
Recently, we developed "Blind-touch" to aid the visually impaired to appreciate greater painter’s work of art. This work is a reproduction of an existing masterpiece by means of a 3D printer and haptic electronics. It recognizes the pattern by touching the object in the artwork with a fingertip, and voice explanation and sound effect are provided through the voice user interface.  Color is an equaling lens through which we experience the natural and digital realities. Now, we are exploring the tactile-color association based on semiotics  to represent colors  with fingertip tactile sensation. In this way, audio  and touch contribute information to the non-visual perception of color in an complementary manner. In this talk, we review the related works and  introduce a so-called “Celestial color tactile pattern”  built based on the concept of both pictogram and ideogram and its variants.
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<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Research Design Review'''<br>
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'''Abstract:''' Virginia is seeking feedback on a new research project conducted in partnership with the Division of Information Technology: studying and designing an online orientation for college students about online success strategies. The project is motivated by instructor reports that online students have lower rates of retention and reported satisfaction. This project is an exploratory mixed methods design with a series of planned design iterations. We hope to better understand the real vs. perceived strategies enacted by successful online college students. Then, we will design an orientation program to scaffold online learning so that our online students are more likely to enact the strategies shows to predict success. Please come give advice & feedback!  
<br><br>
'''Bio:''' Virginia Byrne is a Technology, Learning and Leadership PhD student in the College of Education's Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership department. She researches how the learning experience changes when learners interact with peers through technology. At the HCIL, Virginia is a member of the BodyVis research team.  <br>  


'''Title: Characteristics of Collaboration in the Emerging Practice of Open Data Analysis''' <br>
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'''Abstract:''' The democratization of data science and open government data initiatives are inspiring groups from civic hackers to data journalists to use data to address social issues. The analysis of open government data is expected to encourage citizens to participate in government as well as to improve transparency and efficiency in government processes. Through interviews and survey responses we gathered information on forty projects that involved the analysis of open data. We found that collaborations were interdisciplinary, small in scale, with low turnover, and synchronous communication. Most of the projects asked exploratory questions and made use of descriptive statistics and visualizations. We discuss how these findings contribute to an understanding of the emerging practice of open data analysis and to a broader understanding of open collaboration.  
|-
<br><br>
| 09/12/2019
'''Bio:''' Joohee Choi is a Ph.D. student in Information Studies at University of Maryland, College Park. She is advised by Prof. Yla Tausczik. Her research interest is in understanding collaborative problem solving phenomenon mediated by information technology. She studied how collaboration emerges around the practice of open government data analysis, as well as in multiple online platforms like Github and Stack Overflow. Her current research looks at online Q&A community, Stack Exchange, with a focus on moderators' roles in the community. <br>  
|   
<b>Prof. Niklas Elmqvist, Prof. Amanda Lazar, and Prof. Joel Chan</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b> A panel discussion on approaches to reviewing research papers.</b>
<br>
In light of the approaching deadline for SIGCHI 2020, Professors Niklas Elmqvist, Amanda Lazar, and Joel Chan will discuss the why/how of giving feedback on drafts of research papers. This would be helpful for anyone (Undergrad, Masters, or PhD students) who might be thinking of volunteering to review for conferences, ACM SIGCHI, or even for other lab members in the HCIL’s very own CHI clinic. Reviewers of all levels of expertise, even if you’ve never reviewed a research paper, are encouraged to participate and ask questions during the discussion. ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdpW6sU2b9Y link to video])
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</div></div>
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|-
| 09/19/2019
|   
<b>Ben Shneiderman</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b> Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence: Designing Next Generation User Experiences</b>
<br>
The next generation of user experiences will produce 1000-fold improvements in human capabilities. These new tools will amplify, augment, enhance, and empower people, just as the Web, email, search, navigation, digital photography, and many other applications have already done. These new human-centered tools will produce comprehensible, predictable, and controllable applications that promote self-efficacy and social participation at scale. The goal is to ensure human control, while increasing the level of automation. In short, the next generation of tools will make more people, more creative, more often.
<br>
Improved designs will give billions of users comprehensible interfaces that hide the underlying complexity of advanced algorithms. Users will see familiar visual strategies based on direct manipulation to provide informative feedback about the machine’s state and what they can do. Every use will build confidence that users can reliably accomplish their goals and increase the trust that the machine is under their control.
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|-
| 09/26/2019
|   
<b>Tom Ball</b> Microsoft Research
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>MakeCode and CODAL: intuitive and efficient embedded systems programming for education</b>
<br>
Across the globe, it is now commonplace for educators to engage in the making (design and development) of embedded systems in the classroom to motivate and excite their students. This new domain brings its own set of unique requirements. Historically, embedded systems development requires knowledge of low-level programming languages, local installation of compilation toolchains, device drivers, and applications. For students and educators, these requirements can introduce insurmountable barriers.<br>
We present the motivation, requirements, implementation, and evaluation of a new programming platform that enables novice users to create software for embedded systems. The platform has two major components: <br>1) Microsoft MakeCode (www.makecode.com), a web app that encapsulates an entire beginner IDE for microcontrollers; and <br>2) CODAL, an efficient component-oriented C++ runtime for microcontrollers.<br> We show how MakeCode and CODAL provide an accessible, cross-platform, installation-free programming experience for the BBC micro:bit and other embedded devices.
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|-
|-
| 03/02/2017
| 10/3/2019
|    
|    
'''Diversity in Tech Discussion'''
<b>Naeemul Hassan</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
To continue our discussions surrounding diversity in tech please come to Thursday's BBL prepared to talk about two current diversity topics:
<b> Towards Automated Fact Discovery and Ranking</b>
<br>
In this talk, I present the work of finding new, prominent situational facts, which are emerging statements about objects that stand out within certain contexts. Many such facts
are newsworthy—e.g., an athlete’s outstanding performance in a game, or a viral video’s impressive popularity. Effective and efficient identification of these facts assists journalists in reporting,
one of the main goals of computational journalism. A situational fact can be modeled as a “contextual” tuple that stands out against historical tuples in a context, specified by a conjunctive constraint involving dimension attributes when a set of measure attributes are compared. New tuples are constantly added to the table, reflecting events happening in the real world. Our goal is to discover constraint-measure pairs that qualify a new tuple as a contextual significant tuple, and discover them quickly before the event becomes yesterday’s news.
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| 10/10/2019
|   
<b>John Dickerson</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-expand">
<b> Diversity in Matching Markets</b>
<br>
In bipartite matching problems, vertices on one side of a bipartite graph are paired with those on the other. In its offline variant, both sides of the graph are known a priori; in its online variant, one side of the graph is available offline, while vertices on the other arrive online and are irrevocably and immediately matched (or ignored) by an algorithm. Examples of such problems include matching workers to firms, advertisers to keywords, organs to patients, and riders to rideshare drivers. Much of the literature focuses on maximizing the total relevance---modeled via total weight---of the matching. However, in many real-world problems, it is also important to consider the contribution of diversity: hiring a diverse pool of candidates, displaying a relevant but diverse set of ads, and so on.
 
In this talk, we model the promotion of diversity in matching markets via maximization of a submodular function over the set of matched edges. We present new results in a generalization of traditional offline matching, b-matching, where vertices have both lower and upper bounds on the number of adjacent matched edges. We also present new theoretical results in online submodular bipartite matching. Finally, we conclude with ongoing work that approaches the problem of hiring a diverse cohort of workers through the lens of combinatorial pure exploration (CPE) in the multiarmed bandit setting, and discuss an ongoing experiment in this space at a large research university.


This talk will cover joint work with Saba Ahmadi, Faez Ahmed, Samsara Counts, Jeff Foster, Mark Fuge, Samir Khuller, Zhi Lang, Nicholas Mattei, Karthik A. Sankararaman, Candice Schumann, Aravind Srinivasan, and Pan Xu.
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<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
1. Diversity and the LGBTQ Community
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http://www.geekwire.com/2015/out-in-tech-what-its-like-to-be-lgbt-in-an-industry-struggling-with-diversity/
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|-
| 10/17/2019
|   
<b>Prof. Caro Williams-Pierce</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Designing for Mathematical Play: Failure and Feedback</b>
<br>
Prof. Caro will share her analysis of three types of microworld (videogame, simulation, and cognitive tutor), and how each constrain and afford mathematical play differently through their feedback and failure mechanisms. In doing so, she will also introduce her framework for youth and adult mathematical play, and describe how different design approaches influence different ways of mathematical learning. Anyone interested in designing digital learning environments is particularly encouraged to come - Prof. Caro promises that it'll be interesting even if you don't research math learning!
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http://fortune.com/2015/03/12/lesbians-in-tech/
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|-
| 10/24/2019
|   
<b>Karen Holtzblatt</b> Incontext Design
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b> What is Valuing vs “Jerk” Behavior? How behavior impacts a positive working experience</b>
<br>
Women in tech leave the field at twice the quit rate as men. Women often state, and research confirms, that women don’t feel valued. They point to the culture of the organization and how they are treated as a contributing factor. They say that men are “bro’s” or “jerks.” In 2018, we launched the Valuing &amp; Jerk Project as one WITops initiative (https://www.witops.org). This talk
will present our findings and perspective.
Behavior creates or undermines connection and value. The Valuing and Jerk Project focuses on understanding which behaviors are experienced as valuing in everyday work and which result in
naming the other as a “jerk”. Using Contextual Inquiry, we have uncovered core valuing behaviors, what devaluing means, and where behavior crosses the line to become “jerk” behavior. Armed with this understanding our next step is to generate and test interventions and solutions. The talk will introduce the Valuing and Jerk Project.
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2. Sexism in Tech
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|-
| 10/31/2019
|   
<b>Rachael Bradley Montgomery</b><br> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Designing to Support People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities</b>
<br>
Have you ever wondered how to create websites, applications, and content that support individuals with cognitive and learning disabilities; individuals who are aging; or individuals who are tired, overworked, and distracted?  The W3C
Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility (COGA) Task Force has been working on a design guide that goes beyond WCAG 2.2 to support individuals with cognitive and learning disabilities. The resulting design patterns and guidance bridges accessibility and usability and support a much wider audience than just those with disabilities.  Rachael will present her perspectives as an invited expert on this work. Please come learn about the design patterns and how to provide input on this evolving document.
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https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
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|-
| 11/7/2019
|   
<b>Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden</b><br>TRACE center
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Underestimating the challenge of cognitive disabilities (and digital literacy). Directions to explore in short, medium and long term.
</b>
<br>
Recent work has caused us to question our understanding of the challenge of digital access by people with cognitive disabilities.  Our underestimation may, in part, help explain our difficulties as a field to date. In part, it has exposed what may be a much wider problem than we understood, and one that goes beyond those we have thought of as having cognitive disabilities. It intersects with digital literacy but also has implications for those with other disabilities as well. The concept of Technology Quotient (TQ) will be discussed and approaches for addressing access by people with cognitive disabilities and low digital literacy today, tomorrow and in the future will be explored in this talk.
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http://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/totally-unacceptable-environment-women-tech.html
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|-
| 11/14/2019
|   
<b>Adam Aviv</b> George Washington
University
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b> Human Factors in Mobile Authentication</b>
<br>
Mobile authentication is a crucial component of authentication more broadly,
especially as mobile devices become evermore connected to the broader computer
security ecosystem. The overarching goal of my research is to improve the
current state of mobile authentication by taking a holistic approach to
measuring mobile authentication and its impacts that intersect directly with the
user experience. In this talk, I will present a narrative of contributions to
mobile authentication over the last 10 years, focusing on how human factors
impact the security, from attacks, choices, and perceptions. I will particularly
focus on one form of mobile authentication, Android's graphical pattern unlock,
which may be the most heavily used graphical authentication system, ever. Based
on my experience, I will also present some new directions and methods that can
improve the security of mobile authentication and some new results on PINs and
LG's graphical Knock Code Authentication.  
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|-
| 11/21/2019
|   
<b>Whitney Quesenbery</b> Co-Director, Center for Civic Design
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b> Storytelling makes research data come to life </b>
<br>
We all love our user research data…but why is it such a struggle to use the insights we uncover to create direction for a project?  Storytelling is the missing link, getting past charts and graphs to dig into what the data means for meeting human needs and making something usable and useful. Whitney will show how stories put research insights into context, communicate the entire user journey, show problems through the eyes of your users, and help you ask better questions (and run better usability tests) to gain deeper insights. Whitney is the co-founder of the Center for Civic Design, approaching democracy as a design problem, so there will be examples from the challenges of designing elections as well as stories from her work in theatre.
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|-
| 11/28/2019
|   
<b>Happy Thanksgiving Day</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b> No BBL. Time to catch up with families and friends :) </b>
<br>
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The readings are simply posted as a quick read to get us all thinking about these topics.  Please bring your questions and comments as we continue to support and build a diverse and inclusive community here in the HCIL, in the HCI field more broadly, and in the world as a whole.
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'''
|-
| 12/05/2019
|   
<b>TBA</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b> TBA</b>
<br>
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== Spring 2019 Schedule ==
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! Date
! width="150px" | Leader
! Topic


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|-
|-
| 03/09/2017
| 01/31/2019
|    
|    
'''Tim Summers & Sanjna Srivatsa''',<br>University of Maryland, College Park
<b>Faculty Only BBL</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Using Business Intelligence and Machine Learning in financial decision making in Cybersecurity sector'''
Regular BBLs will start from 7th Feb, 2019.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Abstract:''' Cybersecurity is a complex and multifaceted challenge that is continuously growing in importance. It is a concern that not only affects banks and government agencies, as it constantly revealed through the media, but its implications expand beyond. It comes as no surprise that Wall Street would push efforts to cash in on the opportunity that is cybersecurity. In fact, cybercrime is fueling a worldwide cybersecurity market which is expected to grow from $75 billion presently to $170 billion by 2020. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent by consumers, businesses, governments, and the rest of the world to secure our ever-changing catalog of technology including, PCs, personal and corporate networks, the Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile devices. Despite a tumultuous stock market and poor venture capital returns, cybersecurity companies are raising large rounds of financing from investors. Due to the nascent nature of this field, the highly data-driven investment methodologies of old are not effective in guiding investment decisions. Investors complain that these methods are not agile and fall short when keeping up with current trends in the cybersecurity market. Our research utilizes principles of business intelligence and the latest research in hacker cognitive psychology to present a comprehensive, informative and easily digestible indicator for investors that is agile and self-optimizing. We present a model that considers blogosphere sentiment, relevant news, trend data, and real-time cyber-attack tools, techniques, and procedures to produce an investment indicator that will assist investors in their decision making.<br><br>
<!-- row end -->
'''Bio:'''<br>Dr. Timothy Summers - Director of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Engagement
 
<br>PhD, Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, selected Innovation and Design Fellow
<!-- row start -->
<br>M.S. in Information Security Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University
|-
<br>Field of Interest: Cybersecurity - Providing a better understanding of hackers and their influence on our largest, most complex socio technological issues
| 02/07/2019
<br><br>
|   
Sanjna Srivatsa - Graduate Student of the Information Management Program specializing in Business Intelligence and Machine Learning
<b>Faez Ahmed,</b> University of Maryland
<br>Graduate assistant for the Virtual Computing Lab
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<br>Independent study with Dr. Summers
<b>Design Democratization in the Age of Machine Learning.</b>
<br>Recipient of the MIM Alumni award for Academic excellence 2016
<br>
</div></div>
Design democratization can transform the way we think about designing products. However, to enable design democratization, we need machine learning and computing methods to enable organizations to process a large amount of information efficiently. Using the example of online design contests, we will discuss three problems which organizations face in conducting design contests: a) How does one form teams to evaluate design ideas? b) How does one filter high quality and diverse ideas out of hundreds of submissions? and c) How does one reliably measure the creativity of ideas? We will discuss how matching, ranking, and novelty estimation methods developed in our work address these issues and what challenges remain for the field.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|-
|-
| 03/16/2017
| 02/14/2019
|    
|    
'''Raja Kushalnagar''',<br>Gallaudet University
<b>Huaishu Peng,</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Multimedia for Deaf Eyes: How do we make multimedia accessible for deaf and hard of hearing people?'''
<b>Interactive Fabrication and Fabrication for Interaction.</b>
<br>
3D printing technology has been widely applied to produce well-designed objects. There is a hope to make both the modeling process and printing outputs more interactive, so that designers can get in-situ tangible feedback to fabricate objects with rich functionalities. To date, however, knowledge accumulated to realize this hope remains limited. In this talk, I will present two lines of research. The first line of work aims at facilitating an interactive process of fabrication. I demonstrate novel interactive fabrication systems that allow the designer to create 3D models in AR with a robotic arm to print the model in real time and on-site. The second line of work concerns the fabrication of 3D printed objects that are interactive. I report new techniques for 3D printing with novel materials such as fabric sheet, and how to print one-off functional objects such as sensor and motor. I will conclude the talk by outlining future research directions built upon my current work.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Abstract:''' Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people have relied on assistive and accessible technologies/services to consume or produce aural information. Some hard of hearing people rely on an assistive technology approach to enhance aural information for easier perception and understanding. Other hard of hearing and most deaf people rely on an accessible technology approach to transform the aural information to visual or tactile information for easier perception and understanding.
<!-- row end -->
<br><br>
 
We will briefly discuss the history of DHH assistive and accessible technology. We will then go through interactive examples of how deaf and hard of hearing people consume and produce information through assistive and accessible technologies. After the examples, we will discuss how the differences in aural, visual and tactile modalities influence multimodal information consumption and production Finally, we will discuss the design and development of effective accessible computing solutions for multimodal information access.<br><br>
<!-- row start -->
'''Bio:''' Raja Kushalnagar is the Director of the Information Technology program in the Department of Science, Technology and Mathematics at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.
|-
<br><br>
| 02/21/2019
His research interests encompass the fields of accessible computing and accessibility/intellectual property law, with the goal of improving access to multimodal information for deaf and hard of hearing (deaf) individuals. In the accessible computing field, he investigates how deaf individuals use aural-to-visual access such as speech-to-text or sign language interpreters and on multimodal access disparities between hearing and deaf. He also develops accessible computing solutions to address these disparities in multimodal information access. In the accessibility/intellectual property law field, he advocates for updates in accessible and intellectual property law, to incorporate accessible computing advances such as captioning/subtitling.
|   
<br><br>
<b>Niklas Elmqvist</b> University of Maryland
He worked in industry for over five years before returning to academia and disability law policy. Towards that end, he completed a J.D. and LL.M. in disability law, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science. He served on the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advocacy Commission.  He has published several peer-reviewed publications and received grants in the fields of accessible computing, accessible law and intellectual property law. He can be reached at raja.kushalnagar@gallaudet.edu<br>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
</div></div>
<b>Everyone a Data Scientist: Empowering Casual Users to Understand Complex Data.</b>
<br>
Understanding data is quickly becoming the new digital divide. Merely having access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) is no longer sufficient when our society is overflowing with massive volumes of raw, complex, and heterogeneous data. Since best-practice data science workflows are still only available through esoteric software libraries, typically accessed using the Python and R languages, leveraging this data to its full potential often requires significant programming expertise. Even commercial point-and-click analytics tools such as Tableau, Spotfire, and QlikView require training and assume significant prior knowledge of mathematical, statistical, and sometimes even machine learning concepts. This means that currently only people who have the appropriate data and technology literacy can harness the ready availability of data in our society.


|- style="background-color: darkgray;" |
In this work-in-progress talk, I will discuss our efforts for shrinking or outright eliminating this new digital data divide through interactive visualization, explainable machine learning, and collaborative technologies. More specifically, I will talk about several past, current, or planned projects on this topic, including (1) the use of mixed-initiative interaction, which combines both human and computational efforts in the analytical process; (2) the use of attention for computational steering; (3) recommender systems for automatically suggesting the next analytical step in a workflow; (4) direct manipulation methods for interacting with machine learning models; and (5) "team-first" collaborative mechanisms that reduce the barrier to synchronizing and sharing work to facilitate emergent collaboration. This is ongoing research, so your feedback on these efforts is welcome.
| 03/23/2017
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
| colspan="2" | No Brown Bag, Spring Break.
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|-
|-
| 03/30/2017
| 02/28/2019
|    
|    
'''Dion Goh''',<br> Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and information
<b>Townhall</b>
Nanyang Technological University
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Research Speed Dating</b>
<br>
This week everyone is a speaker. We want everyone to talk about what is keeping you busy these days. This is a great way to recruiting participants, get feedback on your research questions, your data collection methods or anything concerning your research. We want you to share your research to the rest of HCIL group.
 
Faculty members, Ph.D. students, Masters students, and Bachelors students, we strongly encourage you to share your work so that everyone is aware of what’s happening inside HCIL.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|- style="background-color: lightgreen;" |
| 03/07/2019
| colspan="2" | <b>HCIL Spring Cleaning</b><br>Join and help spruce up the HCIL and be a part of a larger conversation of what the lab space should look like. We start at noon (12 pm) and there is free food for anyone who joins!
<!-- row end -->
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 03/14/2019
|   
<b>Stories from the HCIL</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Gaming the System: How Useful are Game-based Approaches for Crowdsourcing Content?
Come and tell your favorite stories about the HCIL and the iSchool in this new format that we're trying for the BBL. It's like a casual fireside chat where you get to learn about the rich history of the HCIL from the people who know it best! And there is pizza, of course.
'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Abstract''': Crowdsourcing has become a major way of getting work done through an online community. In addition to employing volunteers or paid human experts, computer games are a possible means to attract participants for crowdsourcing projects. Such games are seen as a promising approach to crowdsourcing because they capitalize on people's desire for entertainment. In other words, they make crowdsourcing fun and engaging, fostering participation in the process.
<!-- row end -->
 
<!-- row start -->
|- style="background-color: lightgray;" |
| 03/21/2019
| colspan="2" | No Brown Bag, Spring Break.
<!-- row end -->
 
<!-- row start -->
|- style="background-color: lightgreen;" |
| 03/28/2019
| colspan="2" | <b>HCIL Symposium Practice Talks</b><br>All speakers are invited to come rehearse their talk. Please shoot an email to the BBL coordinators and add your name to the schedule: <b>[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17E6g3SgnnNdJIFFnGjkOVDWCETR7DXnBUh29s0kMYnY/edit#gid=0 HERE]</b>.
<!-- row end -->


This talk will introduce game-based approaches for crowdsourcing. The talk will illustrate these ideas in a specific context of crowdsourcing content, and in particular, mobile media. By blending games with crowdsourcing of mobile media, such applications provide entertainment and content is created as a result of gameplay. Nevertheless, there are challenges associated with game-based approaches for crowdsourcing since they have to meet the twin goals of entertaining users and producing quality output. Through various studies that will be presented, issues in creating these games as well as design lessons are discussed.
<!-- row start -->
|- style="background-color: lightgreen;" |
| 04/04/2019
| colspan="2" | <b>HCIL Symposium In Session</b><br>No BBL, instead we encourage you to join us at the <b>[http://hcil.umd.edu/events/event/hcil-annual-symposium/ HCIL Symposium]</b>.
<!-- row end -->
 
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 04/11/2019
|   
<b>Wayne Lutters,</b> University of Maryland
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Supporting service work in information infrastructure</b>
<br>
An introduction to Wayne’s lab via a high-level overview of some key historical projects and an active discussion of what we are wrestling with this particular week – representing maps of belief space (w/ Phil Feldman).
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|-
| 04/18/2019
|   
<b>Zheng Yao,</b> Carnegie Mellon University
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Join, Stay or Go? Members’ Life Cycles in Online Health Communities</b>
<br>
<br>
'''Bio''': Dion Goh has a PhD in computer science. He is currently Associate Professor with Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), where is also the Founding and current Director of the Masters of Information Systems program in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. He was also the Founding Associate Chair of Graduate Studies of the school. His major areas of research are in mobile information sharing and seeking, social media perceptions and practices, and gamification techniques for shaping user perceptions and motivating behavior. Dion has led a number of funded projects in the use of gamification in mobile content sharing, the use of games for mental health interventions, human computation games for data analytics, mobile tagging, and collaborative querying.
This talk discusses temporal changes in members’ participation in online health community (OHC), focusing on their motivations for joining and changes in their motivations as they transition to other roles or ultimately leave the community. We use mixed methods, combining behavioral log analysis, automated content analysis, surveys and interviews. We found that members started participating in OHCs for a common set of reasons, mainly to acquire support and to perform social comparisons. When their need for support decreased, most members quit the site. The motivations of those who stayed shifted to providing support and helping other members in the community. Oldtimers also established social ties with others members, which motivated them to stay in the community. These oldtimers, who contributed the majority of content, encountered challenges that threatened their commitment to the community, including negative emotion related to other members’ deaths. These challenges led them to take leaves of absence from the community or to drop out permanently. Our findings shed light on the changing motivations of OHC members, which provide implications for better designing OHCs.
</div></div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<!-- row end -->
 
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 04/25/2019
|   
<b>TBA</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b> Aravind will run a workshop on how to make PDF documents accessible</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|-
|-
| 04/06/2017
| 05/02/2019
|    
|    
'''Allison Druin'''
<b>Yue Jiang,</b> University of Maryland, College Park
<br>University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Information @ the Extremes:  
<b>ORC Layout: Adaptive GUI Layout with OR-Constraints</b>
The National Park Service and a Digital Future'''
<p>We propose a novel approach for constraint-based graphical user interface (GUI) layout based on OR-constraints (ORC) in standard soft/hard linear constraint systems. ORC layout unifies grid layout and flow layout, supporting both their features as well as cases where grid and flow layouts individually fail. We describe ORC design patterns that enable designers to safely create flexible layouts that work across different screen sizes and orientations. We also present the ORC Editor, a GUI editor that enables designers to apply ORC in a safe and effective manner, mixing grid, flow and new ORC layout features as appropriate. We demonstrate that our prototype can adapt layouts to screens with different aspect ratios with only a single layout specification, easing the burden of GUI maintenance. Finally, we show that ORC specifications can be modified interactively and solved efficiently at runtime.</p>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<!-- row end -->


Information access, use, preservation, and policy has taken on new meanings for me as I have worked in the federal government. My leave from UMD has spanned two presidential administrations and almost two years. Join me as I reflect on "information @ the extremes" and how we have brought participatory leadership to digital change at the National Park Service. The information I share with you represents my own opinions and ideas and does not reflect the positions of the National Park Service, nor the Department of the Interior, nor the federal government. I also ask that social media not be used to post a summary.
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 05/09/2019
|   
<b>TBA</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
TBA
<br><br><b>Note:</b> CHI 2019 will be in session during this time. Everyone is still invited, but many people might be away for the conference.  
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<!-- row end -->


Dr. Allison Druin is currently a Special Advisor for National Digital Strategy at the National Park Service. To serve in the federal government, Dr. Druin has taken a 2-year leave of absence being a Professor from the University of Maryland. Previous to her position with the National Park Service, she was Chief Futurist for the UMD Office of the Vice President of Research, and co-founded the Future of Information of Alliance. One position that has not changed for almost 20 years, is being a proud member of the University of Maryland's Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) where she founded "KidsTeam" to design new technologies for children with children as design partners. For over 12 years she worked with the National Park Service as an outside partner to help develop new digital experiences for learning about the historic, scientific, or cultural aspects of a park or NPS program. <br>
<!-- row start -->
</div></div>
|-
| 05/16/2019
|   
<b>Adil Yalcin,</b> Founder and CEO at Keshif
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>It's all about creating new possibilities for people: A journey from the lab to a startup</b>


One of the most valuable parts of the DNA of HCIL is its focus on "human", and how our mentors guide us to connect our work with people (users). As a student of this school of thought, I had found my purpose to help the 95% by identifying, questioning, and removing barriers (creating opportunities) in visual analytics. Two years ago, with results baked in lab, and the same driving purpose, I stepped into a world unknown to me: creating, running, and growing a business, one customer at a time.


I am back to share some of the surprises, new perspectives, and validations from this journey so far. What I missed can help you realize the opportunities you already have. What I wish I knew may reveal some gaps. And, what remained constant may hint that research in university and what comes after may not be so different after all. I also will touch on the subtle and dynamic balance between your elevator pitch, your audience, the value you provide, and crossing the finish line.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|-
|-
| 04/13/2017
| 05/23/2019
|    
|    
'''Daniel Votipka'''
<b>TBA</b>
<br>University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Who is Mr. Robot?: A Study of the Humans Behind Software  Vulnerability Discovery'''
TBA
<br><br><b>Note:</b> This slot may be cancelled since it is right at this end of the semester.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Abstract''': Finding security vulnerabilities in software is a critical task for any organization which still requires human effort even though automation has made significant strides in recent years.  The task of vulnerability discovery typically falls on traditional software testers within an organization and white-hat hackers either through bug bounty programs or contracting.  This talk explores the experiences, skills, processes, motivations, and metal models of these two communities.  We describe our ongoing, semi-structured interview study which focuses on how these groups find bugs, how they have developed the necessary skills, and the challenges they face and give some preliminary findings.
<!-- row end -->


<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>
<br>
<br>
'''Bio''': Daniel Votipka is a PhD student in the CS Department at the University of Maryland, College Park. Daniel received his MS in Information Security, Technology, and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and his BS in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Daniel's research interests are in usable security, in particular, studying the security behaviors and mental models of those involved in the creation and use of software (i.e. developers, testers, and end-users).
<br>
</div></div>
</div></div>
|}


== Fall 2018 Schedule ==
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
|-
| 04/20/2017
! Date
|    
! width="150px" | Leader
'''Rebecca Stone'''
! Topic
<br>University of Maryland, College Park
 
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 08/30/2018
|    
<b>Student Townhall</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Keeping Culture SAFe - DrupalCon Practice Talk'''
Instead of the regular BBL, there will be an internal HCIL-students-only townhall meeting instead.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Bio''':  Currently works as a contractor for a global science and technology firm, where she specializes in Automated Behavioral Analysis, a unique and significant automated expansion of psychology's Applied Behavior Analysis. Rebecca co-chairs her company’s Women's Network Employee Resource Group at the enterprise level, where she is responsible for thirteen chapters both nationally and internationally and serving over 30,000 employees.  Prior to this she served in the armed forces and worked in multiple technical and leadership positions around the world to include Europe, the Middle East, and the White House.
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->
 
</div></div>


She also serves on many state commissions and national boards.  She is the only Commissioner in Maryland's history to hold dual commissions:  American Indian Affairs and Veterans Affairs. Nationally she has served on multiple boards, including the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans, where she was the sub-committee chair on health under the former Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Bob McDonald.
|-
| 09/06/2018
|   
<b>BBL Student Co-coordinators</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Come, network, make introductions, and share what you are working on.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">


Her dedication and loyalty have earned Rebecca multiple accolades, including the President’s Volunteer Service Award - Gold; the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; the Working Mother Magazine & National Association of Female Executives-Women of Excellence Rising Star Award; a CNN Hero nomination; and the 2016 Maryland Governor's Service Award.  
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 09/13/2018
|   
<b>Joel Chan, Tammy Clegg</b><br>
University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
TBA
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


Rebecca holds a BS in Psychology (USM) and completed the summer intensive program on cultural neuroscience at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, she is currently pursuing an MS in Human Computer Interaction at UMD and is exploring research opportunities in UX surrounding cultures & sub-cultures and diversity differences in various technologies.
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 09/20/2018
|   
<b>Joel Zhang</b><br>
University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Research proposal centered around pain tracking and sharing.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


Rebecca is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the National Association of Female Executives (NAFE), Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion.
<!-- row start -->
|- style="background-color: darkgray;" |
| 03/22/2017
| colspan="2" | No Brown Bag, Cancelled.
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|-
| 10/4/2018
|   
<b>Brian Ondov, Sriram Karthik Badam</b><br>
University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Brian’s paper talks about Evaluating Visual Comparison and seeks to understand how different encodings of data can drastically affect how we perceive quantities. More information about this project is available at http://hcil.umd.edu/visualcomparison/.
<br> <br>
Karthik’s paper is about a computing platform called Vistrates which seeks to unify the fragmented analytical workflows employed by users to analyze a group of visualizations created in different tools.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
'''Abstract''': The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) has provided one of the most accepted and widely used methods with which to scale agility within an organization. It also inherently calls upon the delivery of value to the customer.  While value is typically encapsulated within the value stream, through areas such as vision and UX, one word that cannot be found anywhere within the framework is "culture".
|-
| 10/11/2018
|   
<b>Polly Lee O'Rourke</b><br>
University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Improving language learning using brain simulation.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


This talk explores how consideration of culture and the target user(s) can dramatically shift the direction of a project, value stream or business. It also covers how this influences the vision and UX design within a portfolio. It will cover the cost of refactoring legacy code that did not consider target demographics when initially conceived, as well as some of the UX Research methods, such as ethnography, that can be used to build cultural consideration within your business model.
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 10/18/2018
|   
<b>Andrea Batch</b><br>
University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Information Olfactation: Harnessing Scent to Convey Data</b><br>
Olfactory feedback for analytical tasks is a virtually unexplored area in spite of the advantages it offers for information recall, feature identification, and location detection. We have introduced the concept of information olfactation as the fragrant sibling of information visualization, and this talk will cover our theoretical model of how scent can be used to convey data. Building on a review of the human olfactory system and mirroring common visualization practice, we propose olfactory marks, the substrate in which they exist, and their olfactory channels that are available to designers. To exemplify this idea, we present viScent: A six-scent stereo olfactory display capable of conveying olfactory glyphs of varying temperature and direction, as well as a corresponding software system that integrates the display with a traditional visualization display, along with three applications that make use of the viScent system.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


It will help people focus on a larger picture than just a team, project, program or portfolio approach to the end user... that end users themselves function as a system of systems that needs to be considered.
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 10/25/2018
|   
<b>Student Townhall</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Research speed-dating
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


The talk is primarily aimed at intermediate practitioners: ScrumMasters/Developers/UX Content Strategists/Product Owners/CEOs/Biz Dev/UX Researchers/UX Designers/SAFe Practitioners
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 11/01/2018
|   
<b>Joohee Choi</b> <br>
University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Will Too Many Editors Spoil The Tag? Conflicts and Alignment in Q&A Categorization (CSCW Practice Talk)
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


This session will be of interest to those with intermediate experience who work in UX, Agile, Business or Portfolio Vision/Management and who have an interest in how culture can be considered in SAFe and other Scaled Agile approaches.
<!-- row start -->
</div></div>
|-
| 11/08/2018
|   
<b>Alina Striner</b> <br>
University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Learning in the Holodeck: the Role of Multisensory Cues on Pattern Recognition in VR</b><br>
Designing for multiple senses has the capacity to improve virtual realism, extend our ability to process information, and more easily transfer knowledge between physical and digital environments. HCI researchers are beginning to explore the viability of integrating multisensory media (“multimedia”) into virtual experiences, however research has yet to consider whether mulsemedia truly enhances pattern recognition in virtual reality (VR). In the context of citizen science watershed habitat training, our research asks, how does realism affect observation skills in VR? Within this domain, we build a multisensory system that allows users to feel (wind, thermal, humidity) and smell landscape and environmental conditions. We then compare and report on how users make observations and infer patterns between 2 stream habitats in VR, with and without the multisensory information. Our findings reveal that multisensory information improved the number of high-level, mid-level and low-level observations participants made, and positively impacted engagement and immersion.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|-
|-
| 04/27/2017
| 11/15/2018
|    
|    
'''Anthony Pellicone''', <br>
<b>Student Townhall</b>
'''Elissa Redmiles''', <br>
'''Brenna McNally''' 
<br>University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''CHI Practice Talk'''
Research speed dating.
<br><br>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Anthony Pellicone'''
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->
 
<!-- row start -->
|- style="background-color: darkgray;" |
| 03/22/2017
| colspan="2" | No Brown Bag, Thanksgiving Break.
<!-- row end -->


''' The Game of Performing Play: Understanding Streaming as Cultural Production'''
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 11/29/2018
|   
<b>Lelani Battle</b><br>
University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
A Characterization Study of Exploratory Analysis Behaviors in Tableau <br>
Exploratory visual analysis (EVA) is an interactive process comprising both focused tasks and more open-ended exploration. Visual analysis tools aim to facilitate this process by enabling rapid specification of both data transformations and visualizations, using a combination of direct manipulation and automated design. With a better understanding of users’ analysis behavior, we might improve the design of these visualization tools to promote effective outcomes. <br>


'''Abstract''' : Live streaming has become pervasive in digital game culture. Previous work has focused largely on technological considerations in streaming platforms. However, little is known about how streamers enter the practice, gain skills, and operate as content producers. We present a qualitative study of an online forum dedicated to streaming. By observing the conversations between veterans and newcomers to the practice, we develop an understanding of how streamers must tie together technological, social, and gameplay-based skills to craft an appealing performance of play. We find that a key skill in streaming is the development of a unique attitude and persona as a gamer, which permeates into every element of a streamer’s performance. As individual identity becomes important in streaming practice, design considerations for platform features such as community moderation and stream metrics may help improve equitable participation in this increasingly important aspect of game culture.<br>  
In this talk, I will present our recent work on characterizing the EVA process. We contribute a consistent definition of EVA through review of the relevant literature, and an empirical evaluation of existing assumptions regarding how analysts perform EVA. We present the results of a study where 27 Tableau users answered various analysis questions across 3 datasets. We measure task performance, identify recurring patterns across participants’ analyses, and assess variance from task specificity and dataset. We find striking differences between existing assumptions and the collected data. Participants successfully completed a variety of tasks, with over 80% accuracy across focused tasks with measurably correct answers. The observed cadence of analyses is surprisingly slow compared to popular assumptions from the database community. We find significant overlap in analyses across participants, showing that EVA behaviors can be predictable. Furthermore, we find few structural differences between open-ended and more focused analysis tasks. Finally, I will discuss the implications of our findings for the design of effective data analytics systems, and highlight several promising directions for future study.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


'''Bio''': Anthony is in his fifth year of the Information Studies PhD program at the University of Maryland, and he will be defending his dissertation in May. Generally, he is interested in the ways that people learn, socialize, and play in online spaces dedicated to games. His previous work has centered on digital gameplay as an experience that is connected across multiple platforms and communities, and the culture of play in these environments. Currently he is researching both informal science learning in Alternate Reality Games, as well as live-streaming video games as an act of performance and cultural production.
<!-- row start -->
|-
| 12/06/2018
|   
<b>Student Townhall</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
TBA
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


<!-- row start -->
|-
| 12/13/2018
|   
<b>Cookie Exchange</b>
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
We encourage you to make/buy cookies (or some related treat) and create individual bags (about six cookies in each bag, and about 4-6 bags). Then bring them in labeled on 12/13 and you can pick bags from other people to take home or eat on the spot. However, you do not need to make cookies to attend! All are welcome to come and hang out.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
.
<br>
<!-- row end -->


'''Elissa Redmiles'''
<br>
<br>
<b>
<br>
<br>
</div></div>


'''Where is the Digital Divide? A Survey of Security, Privacy, and Socioeconomics'''


'''Abstract''': The behavior of the least-secure user can influence security and privacy outcomes for everyone else. Thus, it is important to understand the factors that influence the security and privacy of a broad variety of people. Prior work has suggested that users with differing socioeconomic status (SES) may behave differently; however, no research has examined how SES, advice sources, and resources relate to the security and privacy incidents users report. To address this question, we analyze a 3,000 respondent, census-representative telephone survey. We find that, contrary to prior assumptions, people with lower educational attainment report equal or fewer incidents as more educated people, and that users’ experiences are significantly correlated with their advice sources, regardless of SES or resources.
|}


'''Bio''': Elissa Redmiles is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland in Computer Science. Her research focuses on understanding and measuring users' security behavior and developing security education interventions for at-risk users. She is the recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Facebook Fellowship. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Elissa held Marketing Management and Software Engineering roles at IBM and was a Data Science for Social Good Fellow at the University of Chicago.
== Spring 2018 Schedule ==
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Date
! width="150px" | Leader
! Topic


|-
| 01/25/2018
|   
Kickoff to a new Semester!
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Come, network, make introductions, and share what you are working on</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Please come to our first BBL of the Spring 2018 semester to introduce yourself and share what you're working on in the coming semester. The first BBL will be for us to network with each other and kickoff a great new semester.
<br>
</div></div>


'''Brenna McNally'''
|-
| 02/01/2018
|   
'''Bahador Saket'''
<br> Georgia Tech, Atlanta
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Visualization by Demonstration</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract:</b> A commonly used interaction paradigm in most visualization tools is manual view specification. Tools implementing manual view specification often require users to manually specify visual properties through GUI operations on collections of visual properties and data attributes that are presented visually on control panels. To interact with tools implementing manual view specification users need to understand the potentially complex system parameters being controlled. Additionally, in such tools, users need to constantly shift their attention from the visual features of interest when interacting.


'''Gains from Participatory Design Team Membership as Perceived by Child Alumni and their Parents'''
In this talk, I present an alternative interaction paradigm for visualization construction and data exploration called visualization by demonstration. This paradigm advocates for a different process of visualization construction. I will also discuss the trade-offs between these interaction paradigms based on the data collected from an empirical study. I will then discuss applications of the "by demonstration’" paradigm in other areas in data visualization.
<br>
<br>
<b>Bio:</b> Bahador Saket is a third-year Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech, where he works with Dr. Alex Endert. His current research focuses on the design of interaction techniques for visualization construction and visual data exploration. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Bahador worked at different research labs including Microsoft Research, CNS Research Center, and NUS-HCI Lab. He has published over 12 peer-reviewed articles in the leading journals and conferences in the field of human-computer interaction and data visualization such as IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), Computer Graphics Forum, CSCW, UIST, and MobileHCI.
<br>
<br>
</div></div>


'''Abstract''': The direct gains children perceive from their membership on Participatory Design (PD) teams are seldom the focus of research studies. Yet, how HCI practitioners choose to include children in PD methods may influence the value participants see in their participation, and thereafter the outcomes of PD processes. To understand what gains former child members of a PD team perceive from their participation we conducted a two-part study. In Study 1 we surveyed and interviewed child alumni of a PD team to determine gains that are perceived first-hand. In Study 2 we obtained a secondary perspective by surveying and interviewing parents of alumni. We report on the perceived gains to former participants that were identified and described in these two studies—including collaboration, communication, design process knowledge, and confidence. We reflect on our findings through discussions of the continued applicability of gains, new opportunities, and implications for PD practitioners and methods.  
|-
| 02/08/2018
|   
'''Elissa Redmiles'''
<br> University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Dancing Pigs or Security? Measuring the Rationality of End-User Security Behavior</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract:</b> Accurately modeling human decision-making in security is critical to think about when, why, and how to recommend that users adopt certain secure behaviors. We used behavioral economics experiments to model the rationality of end-user security decision-making in a realistic online experimental system simulating a bank account. We ask participants to make a financially impactful security choice, in the face of transparent risks of account compromise and benefits offered by an optional security behavior (two-factor authentication). We find that more than 50% of our participants made rational (e.g., utility optimal) decisions, and we find that participants are more likely to behave rationally in the face of higher risk. Additionally, we confirm that users are boundedly rational: they make decisions based on some risks and context, but not others, and we can model their behavior well as a function of these factors. Finally, we show that a “one-size-fits-all” emphasis on security can lead to market losses, but that adoption by a subset of users with higher risks or lower costs can lead to market gains.
<br>
<b>Bio:</b> Elissa Redmiles is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland in Computer Science. Her research focuses on using computational and social science methodologies to understand and improve users' privacy and security learning processes, behavior, and perceptions. She is the recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a National Science Defense and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, and a Facebook Fellowship. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Elissa held Marketing Management and Software Engineering roles at IBM and was a Data Science for Social Good Fellow at the University of Chicago.
<br>
</div></div>


'''Bio''': Brenna is a PhD candidate in Information Studies at the University of Maryland’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). Brenna’s thesis investigates participant perspectives on their membership in an intergenerational Participatory Design team, with a focus on how participants view the ethics of their participation and perceive gains from participation.
Brenna is also the Research Coordinator for Kidsteam: A co-design team that works with children to design technologies that support children’s learning and play. Through this work she has been a part of the design of many amazing children’s technologies with researchers throughout the university as well as numerous industry (e.g., Pearson International, Nickelodeon) and government (e.g., U.S. National Park Service, the Office of Science, Technology and Policy at the White House) organizations. Brenna has a M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in Telecommunication- Digital Media, Art, and Technology from Michigan State University.


</div>
|-
| 02/15/2018
|   
'''Erin Peters-Burton'''
<br> George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Building Student Self-Awareness of Learning to Enhance Diversity in the Sciences</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract:</b> Many students are being left out of pursuing further studies in science because the current system of science education values students who learn via completion in an isolated, rather than collaborative way (Tobias, 1990). The stereotype of students who excel in science tend to be the ones who can conform to the institutional structure where the teacher is the sole source of knowledge (Friere, 2000). Through the idea of “Education as the Practice of Freedom” (hooks, 1994), the presentation will explain investigations that explore tangible ways to break down that stereotype. This research begins with the assumption that if teachers taught the ways science operates as a discipline, then students gain more power to construct their own scientific knowledge because they understand the “rules” of knowledge validation (Duschl, 1990). Learning how scientific knowledge is constructed and being self-aware of one’s own learning in science can help level the playing field so that students can do inquiry well (NRC, 1996; AAAS, 1993) and the science classroom will be a more inclusive, positive environment rather than relying on isolated competition for teaching. In this presentation, I will present an overview of research I have done over the past 10 years that focuses on helping students to become self-aware of their learning in science and how scientific knowledge is constructed. The work involves 8th grade students, undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals. The studies include constructs such as self-efficacy, motivation, metacognition, self-regulated learning, and visualization. Findings of the studies are synthesized into self-awareness priorities and how those constructs will ultimately impact social justice by providing more opportunities to see alternative perspectives and learn the “rules” of knowledge validation in science. As a result, students develop a sense of agency and an identity where anything is possible because they can learn independently in any situation.
<br>
<b>Bio:</b> Erin E. Peters-Burton is the Donna R. and David E. Sterling Endowed Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. She has a B.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois, a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology and Social Foundations of Education from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. from George Mason University (VA) in Educational Psychology and Educational Research Methods.
She has taught middle school and high school science and mathematics for 15 years prior to her academic work and was a National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescence Science.
She has published in science education, teacher education, educational psychology, marine biology, geology education, history and philosophy of science, technology, educational leadership, and learning disability journals. Her book, Thinking Like Scientists: Using Metacognitive Prompts to Develop Nature of Science Knowledge, and her edited book, The STEM Road Map: A Framework for Integrated STEM Education have led to the curriculum series books from the National Science Teacher Association entitled, STEM Road Map for Elementary School, STEM Road Map for Middle School, and STEM Road Map for High School.
In 2016 she was awarded the Association of Science Teacher Educators Outstanding Science Teacher of the Year in recognition of her work with the professional development of secondary science teachers.
<br>  
<br>  
<br>  
</div></div>


</div>


|-
|-
| 05/04/2017
| 02/22/2018
|    
|    
'''Fan Du''',<br>
'''Norman Su'''
'''Matthew Mauriello''',<br>
<br> Indiana University
'''Majeed Kazemitabaar''',  
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<br>University of Maryland, College Park
<b>The Problem of Designing for Subcultures</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract:</b> Members of subcultures speak about and act with pervasive technologies in service to their distinct traditions. I will describe how outwardly subcultures maintain a unified front, yet inwardly are rich sites for compromise and confrontation over technology. I will highlight findings from work we have done with subcultures and, in particular, my own fieldwork with Irish traditional musicians. I will close by describing new design opportunities for technologies that acknowledge the remarkable solidarity and discord of subcultures.
<br>
<b>Bio:</b> Norman Makoto Su is an Assistant Professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington. His research interests lie in human–computer interaction (HCI) and computer–supported cooperative work (CSCW). His Authentic User Experience (AUX) lab characterizes the relationship of technology with subcultures and designs systems to support their notion of authenticity. He received his Ph.D. in Information and Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine and a B.A. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Information and Library Studies at University College Dublin, Ireland. He has done internships at IBM, The Aerospace Corporation, and PARC.
<br>
</div></div>


|-
| 03/01/2018
|   
'''Ya-Wei Li'''
<br> Center for Conservation Innovation, Defenders of Wildlife
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''CHI Practice Talk'''
<b>Using Data and Technology to Save Endangered Species.</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract: </b>We will discuss how Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization, is expanding its use of technology and data analytics to conserve endangered species.  We will summarize our projects involving remote-sensing data to monitor wildlife habitat and compliance with conservation agreements; data mining of federal government decisions to build the largest public repository of text-searchable documents on the U.S. Endangered Species Act; natural language processing of those documents to improve public understanding of how our government conserves endangered species; use of data visualization tools to reveal patterns in large datasets; and other initiatives.  We invite the audience to actively engage with us about how we can improve our work and offer ideas for future projects and potential collaborations.
<br><br>  
<br><br>  
<b>Bio: </b>Ya-Wei (Jake) specializes in endangered species law, policy, and science.  He leads the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders of Wildlife, which focuses on developing innovative and pragmatic strategies to conserve endangered and at-risk species.  Before joining Defenders in 2010, Jake practiced environmental law in the private sector.  Jake holds a B.S. from Drexel University and a J.D. from Cornell University Law School.  At Cornell, Jake also completed graduate coursework in conservation biology and herpetology.
<br><br>
Jacob works on linking science to Endangered Species Act policy.  He works with others inside and outside of Defenders to make ESA-related data available and easily interpretable, so that policy makers and the public can make informed decisions about conservation.  Before joining Defenders, Jacob was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Connecticut, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013.  From 2000-2008, Jacob was a field biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in New Mexico and Arizona, during which time he completed his Bachelor's degree in Conservation Ecology at Prescott College.
</div></div>


|-
| 03/08/2018
|   
'''Deok Gun Park'''
<br> University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Thinking, Autism and AGI</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<br>
<b>Abstract:</b> Despite recent advances in deep learning, we do not know yet how we can combine these application-specific models to build an artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Furthermore, the data is becoming the bottleneck to scale these approaches for the multiple tasks.  In this talk, I propose a theory of the thinking and a neural algorithm that can bootstrap intelligence with limited computational resources and data.  This neural algorithm approximates the O(n3) parameter space of the thinking theory into the O(1) parameters to make learning tractable for the biological intelligent agents. I will explain this proposal by cognitive phenomenons that are observed in a human, such as infant language acquisition, visual and verbal thinking, personality, creativity, exploit-exploration trade off, dreaming, one-shot learning, abstract language.
<br><br>
<b>Bio:</b> Deokgun Park is a Ph.D. candidate in the HCILab of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park, being advised by Prof. Niklas Elmqvist. His research focuses on the computational methods for open-ended tasks.  He completed M.S. in Interdisciplinary Engineering at Purdue University and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Seoul National University, where he obtained B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at Seoul National University. He worked at the government research institute, industry research labs, and startups. He has published and licensed his patents to companies including Samsung Electronics.
</div></div>


'''Fan Du'''  
|-
| 03/15/2018
|   
'''Clemens Klokmose'''
<br> Aarhus University, Denmark
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Shareable Dynamic Media: A revisit of the fundamentals of interactive computing</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract:</b> Developing interactive systems that support collaboration between people, distribution across heterogeneous devices and user appropriation is notoriously difficult. Today’s software rests on a foundation built for personal computing, and to properly support the aforementioned qualities we need to revisit this foundation. In this talk, I will present you with a vision called Shareable Dynamic Media, inspired by Alan Kay’s seminal vision of Personal Dynamic Media. I will present a prototype implementation of the vision called Webstrates, and demonstrate how it enables the development of software where distribution across devices, collaboration between people, and malleability and reprogrammability are the norm rather than the exception. I will show our latest project, Codestrates, that combines Webstrates with the literate computing approach of interactive notebooks.
<br><br>
<b>Bio:</b> Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose is an associate professor in the development of advanced interactive systems at the Department of Digital Design and Information Studies, at the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University. He co-directs the Digital Creativity Lab that is part of the Center for Advanced Visualisation and Interaction (CAVI). Clemens has worked as a postdoc at Computer Science, Aarhus University and at Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique, Université Paris-Sud. He has furthermore spent a year as a user interface specialist in the industry. Clemens received his PhD in Computer Science in 2009 from Aarhus University supervised by prof. Susanne Bødker. Clemens’ main interest is the fundamentals of interactive computing, particularly to support and understanding computing with multiple devices and multiple people. Many of his ideas are crystallised into the Webstrates platform (webstrates.net), which he leads the development of.
</div></div>


'''PeerFinder: Finding Similar People to Guide Life Choices'''
|- style="background-color: darkgray;" |
| 03/22/2017
| colspan="2" | No Brown Bag, Spring Break.
 
|-
| 03/29/2018
|
'''Wei Bai'''
<br> University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Understanding User Tradeoffs for Search in Encrypted Communication</b>
<br>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Abstract: End-to-end message encryption is the only way to achieve absolute message privacy. However, searching over
end-to-end encrypted messages is complicated. Several popular instant messaging tools (e.g., WhatsApp, iMessage) circumvent this inconvenience by storing the search index locally on the devices. Another approach, called searchable encryption, allows users to search encrypted messages without storing the search index locally. These approaches have inherent tradeoffs between usability and security properties, yet little is known about how general users value these tradeoffs, especially in the context of email rather than instant messaging. In this paper, we systematize these tradeoffs in order to identify key feature differences. We use these differences as the basis for a choice-based conjoint analysis experiment focused on email (n=160), in which participants make a series of choices between email services with competing features. The results allow us to quantify the relative importance of each feature. We find that users indicate high relative importance for increasing privacy and minimizing local storage requirements. While privacy is more important overall, local storage is more important than adding additional marginal privacy after an initial improvement. These results suggest that local indexing, which provides more privacy, may often be appropriate for encrypted email, but that searchable encryption, which limits local storage, may also hold promise for some users.
<br><br>
Bio: Wei Bai is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, advised by Prof. Michelle L. Mazurek. His research interests include network security and privacy with an emphasis on human factors, and his dissertation is about user perceptions of and attitudes toward encrypted communication. He obtained his MS in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Maryland. Contact him at wbai@umd.edu.
</div></div>


'''Abstract''': People often seek examples of similar individuals to guide
|-
their own life choices. For example, students making academic
| 04/05/2018
plans refer to friends; patients refer to acquaintances with
|
similar conditions, physicians mention past cases seen in their
'''Eun-Kyoung Choe'''
practice. How would they want to search for similar people in
<br> University of Maryland, College Park
databases? We discuss the challenge of finding similar people
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
to guide life choices and report on a need analysis based on
<b>Designing A Flexible Personal Data Tracking Tool</b>
13 interviews. Our PeerFinder prototype enables users to find
<br>
records that are similar to a seed record, using both record
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
attributes and temporal events found in the records. A user
<b>Abstract:</b> We now see an increasing number of self-tracking apps and wearable devices. Despite the vast number of available tools, however, it is still challenging for self-trackers to find apps that suit their unique tracking needs, preferences, and commitments. In this talk, I will present OmniTrack, a mobile self-tracking system, which enables self-trackers to construct their own trackers and customize tracking items to meet their individual tracking needs. OmniTrack leverages a semi-automated tracking approach that combines manual and automated tracking methods. From a deployment study, we showed how participants used OmniTrack to create, revise, and appropriate trackers—ranging from a simple mood tracker to a sophisticated daily activity tracker. I will discuss how to further improve OmniTrack by incorporating multimodal interactions, providing more appropriate visualizations on a mobile device, and supporting researchers' unique data collection needs.
study with 18 participants and four experts shows that users
<br><br>
are more engaged and more confident about the value of the
<b>Bio:</b> Eun Kyoung Choe (http://eunkyoungchoe.com) is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information Studies at University of Maryland, College Park. Her primary research areas are in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Health Informatics. She examines the design and evaluation of personal informatics tools to empower individuals—including patients, caregivers, clinicians, and those who wish to engage in self-tracking—to make positive behavior changes through fully leveraging their personal data. She explores this topic in various contexts, including sleep and productivity, patient-clinician communication and data sharing, and personal data insights and visualization. Her past and current research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Microsoft Research, and the Google Anita Borg Scholarship. She received her PhD in Information Science from University of Washington, MS in Information Management and Systems from University of California, Berkeley, and BS in Industrial Design from KAIST, Korea.
results to provide useful evidence to guide life choices when
</div></div>
provided with more control over the search process and more
context for the results, even at the cost of added complexity.<br>  


'''Majeed Kazemitabaar'''
|-
| 04/12/2018
|   
'''CHI practice talks'''
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Combining smartwatches with large displays for visual data exploration by Karthik Badam and Tom Horak</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
TBD
<br>
</div></div>


'''MakerWear: A Tangible Approach to Interactive Wearable Creation for Children'''
|-
| 04/19/2018
|   
'''Hernisa Kacorri'''
<br> University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Accessibility and Assistive Technologies at the Intersection of Users and Data</b>
<br>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract</b>: Advances in artificial intelligence enable us to address key social issues. However, to see the benefit of this technology in many real-world applications, an integrative approach is necessary; effective solutions consist of a pipeline of processes or tasks involving both humans and machines. My research has integrated human computer interaction (HCI) techniques and data-driven methods applied to human data to steer technological innovations for people with visual impairments and for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. In this talk, I will provide an overview of my research program, and I will demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating machine learning and HCI methodologies with two concrete examples: i) teachable object recognizers trained by blind users, and ii) facial expression synthesis in sign language animations.
<br><br>
<b>Bio</b>: Hernisa Kacorri is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information Studies and holds an affiliate appointment in the Computer Science and the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at University of Maryland, College Park. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2016 from The Graduate Center at City University of New York, and has conducted research at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, IBM Research-Tokyo, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on data-driven technologies that address human challenges, faced due to health or disability, with an emphasis on rigorous, user-based experimental methodologies to assess impact. Hernisa is a recipient of a Mina Rees Dissertation Fellowship in the Sciences, an ACM ASSETS best paper finalist, and an CHI honorable mention award. She has been recognized by the Rising Stars in EECS program of CMU/MIT.
</div></div>


'''Abstract''': Wearable construction toolkits have shown promise in broadening participation in computing and empowering users to create personally meaningful computational designs. However, these kits present a high barrier of entry for some users, particularly young children (K-6). In this paper, we introduce MakerWear, a new wearable construction kit for children that uses a tangible, modular approach to wearable creation. We describe our participatory design process, the iterative development of MakerWear, and results from single- and multi-session workshops with 32 children (ages 5-12; M=8.3 years). Our findings reveal how children engage in wearable design, what they make (and want to make), and what challenges they face. As a secondary analysis, we also explore age-related differences.


'''Bio''': Majeed is Masters Student in the Computer Science department, working with Jon Froehlich in the HackerSpace. He co-designs, builds and evaluates technologies for children.
|-
| 04/26/2018
|   
'''Chi-Young Oh'''  
<br> University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Small Worlds in a Distant Land: International Newcomer Students' Local Information Behavior in Unfamiliar Environments</b>
<br>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract</b>: International students are a rapidly growing sub-population of students, and the United States, as a top destination, has hosted students from 218 different countries. However, as with other international newcomers, these students face various types of challenges in a new country. Studies have reported the challenges this population faces in regard to cultures, academic systems, and general adjustments, but research is less clear about the challenges they face in terms of information behaviors during adjustment to a new country. This study addresses the information behaviors of international newcomer students in the context of adjustment to new local environments; that is, their local information behavior (LIB). Specifically, drawing on prior work and theories, this research conceptualizes the idea of "socio-national context," the degree to which there are individuals from the same country available in one's local environment, as a factor influencing international newcomer students’ information behavior. Through the findings from this longitudinal mixed-method study of international and U.S. graduate students in different socio-national contexts, it is argued that information behavior theories and models need to account for people's socio-national contexts if they are to inform research involving international newcomer students and provide insights on designing systems and services for all international newcomer students, especially those from countries that tend to be less well-represented among international students in a host country.
<br><br>
<b>Bio</b>: Chi Young Oh is a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park's College of Information Studies. His areas of research span information behavior, human-computer interaction, health informatics, and community informatics, and his dissertation research examines international newcomer students' information behaviors during adjustment to a host country. Chi Young holds an MS in Information Science (with a concentration in Human-Computer Interaction) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a BA in Psychology, a BA in Library and Information Science, and a BBA in Business Administration from Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. Prior to joining University of Maryland, he was a user experience researcher in the UX Lab of internet search portal Daum in South Korea and a new product planner and assistant marketing manager at LG Electronics.
</div></div>


<br>
'''Matthew Mauriello'''


|-
| 05/03/2018
|   
'''Amanda Lazar'''
<br> University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Rethinking technology for dementia</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract</b>: As the population ages, research is increasingly focused on conditions associated with growing older, such as cognitive and physical impairment. Technology is often presented as a solution for managing or treating these changes. This framing can position health conditions as problems to address through design and can neglect the complexity and positive aspects of older adulthood. In this talk, I draw on critical perspectives from Human-Computer Interaction and Gerontology. I describe ways in which technology can help us understand and challenge stereotypes around aging as well as cognitive impairment, and my ongoing and future work in this area. I will argue for a view of aging that takes into account the ways that technologies position older individuals and, in turn, the way that this view can inform the design of new technologies to enrich the experience of growing older.
<br><br>
<b>Bio</b>: Amanda Lazar is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information studies at the University of
Maryland, College Park. Her research is in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction and Health
Informatics. She studies how technologies designed for health and wellbeing position and support
marginalized populations. She received her PhD from the University of Washington in the Biomedical and Health Informatics program and her undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.
</div></div>


</div>


</div>
|-
| 05/10/2018
|   
'''Joel Chan'''
<br> University of Maryland, College Park
| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
<b>Back to the Future: How people construct new creative ideas from old knowledge, and how technology can help</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<b>Abstract:</b> Where do good ideas come from? One answer is that they come from prior knowledge: for example, Thomas Edison leveraged his knowledge of phonographs to “do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear”. Yet, much research on human creativity demonstrates that prior knowledge often constrains creativity. How do people construct new creative ideas from old knowledge? And (how) can technology help? In the first part of my talk, I will summarize empirical work I have done that advances theories of the conditions under which people successfully construct new creative ideas from prior knowledge. This empirical work shows that prior knowledge can inspire creativity when it is analogically related to the current problem. This insight informs the ongoing work I will discuss in the second part of my talk: developing information technologies that combine human and machine intelligence to more effectively support analogical reasoning over prior knowledge.
<br><br>
<b>Bio: </b>Joel Chan is an Assistant Professor in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (iSchool), and Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). His research and teaching focus on the intersection of people, information, and creativity. He wants to know how they (can best) combine to enable us to design the future(s) we want to live in. His work has been recognized with a Best Paper Award at the ASME Design Theory and Methodology conference, the Design Studies Award 2015, and supported by an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Project Scientist in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. He received his PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.
</div></div>




|-
|-
| 05/18/2017
| 05/17/2018
|    
|    
'''Tim Dwyer'''
'''Rachel Kramer'''
<br>Monash University
<br> World Wildlife Fund
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| <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
''' Network Visualization and Immersive Analytics'''
<b>WILDLABS.NET: the conservation technology network</b>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''Abstract''': In this talk I will give an overview of on-going and recent research activities in the Monash Adaptive Visualisation Lab (MArVL). We currently have two significant research initiatives.  The first is Network Visualisation, an area we have exploring for many years, with a focus on developing techniques to produce high-quality diagrams using constraint-based optimisation and alternative, scalable approaches to visualise large graphs. Our second research thrust in recent years has been Immersive Analytics: developing a new research area for the visualisation community that seeks to investigate the use of emerging display and interaction technologies and techniques for visualisation visual analytics. We believe these new technologies represent the potential for a paradigm shift in the utility and ubiquity of visual thinking.
<b>Abstract: </b> WILDLABS.NET: the conservation technology network is a collaboration across organizations that provides online infrastructure to connect wildlife conservationists directly to technologists to support the informed integration of technology tools in conservation practice. Since 2015, WILDLABS has evolved into a thriving online community of over 2,300 experts around the globe who crowd-source ideas and information, share case studies and co-develop solutions to pressing conservation and research challenges. WILDLABS community members range from academics to tech sector professionals, NGO staff, field-based practitioners and makers. On our platform, ideas are shared in over 25 technology and conservation challenge-specific groups with over 450 active discussion threads. The community is also a hub for posting grant and job opportunities to enhance the uptake of technical expertise into wildlife conservation initiatives. In this talk, we’ll explore the latest happenings on WILDLABS and empower those with engineering and related expertise to share their abilities to help save species.
 
<br><br>
<br>
<b>Bio: </b> Rachel Kramer is a wildlife crime expert at World Wildlife Fund with a decade of experience in field-based conservation, wildlife and natural resource trade monitoring, policy and technology solutions. With TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network that is a strategic alliance of WWF and IUCN, Rachel has overseen projects in Africa and Asia and manages wildlife trade assessments—including in the United States—to support enforcement action and policy change. Through WWF’s Wildlife Crime Technology Project supported by a Google Global Impact Award, Rachel joined United for Wildlife partners in 2015 in founding WILDLABS.NET: the conservation technology network. Rachel got her start in conservation serving in the Peace Corps in Madagascar from 2006-2009, leading community-based monitoring and conservation projects until her evacuation in the coup. Her graduate research at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies focused on surveying wild species consumption and natural resource dependence in Park-bordering communities in Madagascar’s northeastern rainforest. Rachel is committed to harnessing the power of communities and technology to advance the sustainable use of natural resources for future generations.
'''Bio''': Tim Dwyer received his PhD on "Two and a Half Dimensional Visualisation of Relational Networks" from the University of Sydney in 2005. He was a post-doctoral Research Fellow at Monash University from 2005 to 2008, then a Visiting Researcher at Microsoft Research, USA in 2008-2009. From 2009 to 2012 He worked as a Senior Software Development Engineer with the Visual Studio product group at Microsoft, USA. A highlight of this period was shipping the Code Map software dependency visualisation tool with Visual Studio 2012. In late 2012 He returned to Monash University as a Larkins Fellow where he now co-directs the Immersive Analytics Initiative and is a founding member of the Monash Adaptive Visualisation Lab.
</div></div>
</div></div>



Latest revision as of 20:51, 1 February 2021

THIS PAGE IS NOT UPDATED ANYMORE

Instead see this new page about the BBL Lecture series

OLD TEXT: The HCIL has an open, semi-organized weekly "Guest Speaker & Pizza Series" every Thursday from 12:30-1:30pm in HCIL (2119 Hornbake, South Wing). The topics range from someone's work, current interests in the HCIL, software demos/reviews, study design, proposed research topics, introductions to new people, etc. The BBL is the one hour a week where we all come together--thus, it’s a unique time for HCIL members with unique opportunities to help build collaborations, increase awareness of each other’s activities, and generally just have a bit of fun together. There is no RSVP; simply show up!

If you would like to give or suggest a talk, presentation, workshop, etc., send an email to BBL student co-coordinators Teja Maddali (hmaddali@umd.edu) or Aravind JR (aravind@umd.edu). In the email, briefly describe the topic and preferred dates.

To be notified about upcoming events, please subscribe to one of these mailing lists.


Spring 2020 Guest Speaker Series Schedule

Date Leader Topic
02/06/2020

Dr. Joel Chan, Dr. Amanda Lazar and Dr. Catherine Plaisant University of Maryland

Panel discussion "What does a successful process for an HCI researcher look like?
We'll be kicking off this semester with a panel discussion. Dr. Joel Chan, Dr. Amanda Lazar, and Dr. Catherine Plaisant will engage in a conversation with us about what successful processes for an HCI researcher look like in terms of personal development, week to week / day to day workflow, moving ideas forward, etc.

02/13/2020

Christian Vogler, Gallaudet University

The User Experience of Viewing Captioned Content
Much has been made of the ability of automatic speech recognition (ASR) to supplement or replace human captioners both for video content and for live meetings. While the word error rate of ASR has been steadily improving, and on some types of content can even beat out human captioners, these improvements do not automatically in a good user experience for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. In this talk we will examine the reasons why this is so, and provide an overview of current efforts to develop human-centered caption quality metrics that are more closely aligned with meeting the needs of people who depend on captions to consume content.

02/20/2020

Wei Ai University of Maryland

Promoting Pro-social Behavior with End-to-End Data Science
The recent development of data science methods, including large-scale machine learning and causal inference, has presented a game-changing opportunity for social good provision through the effort of the crowd. In this talk, I introduce an end-to-end data science pipeline to promote behavioral change for pro-social benefits. More specifically, this involves conducting causal data analysis on empirical data for actionable insights and robust prediction models, incorporating the insights and predictions in designing recommender systems for individual actions, and evaluating the effectiveness of the recommender systems in promoting behavioral changes with randomized field experiments. I will present two applications of the end-to-end pipeline, where we designed and deployed team recommender systems on an online microfinance platform (Kiva.org) and a ride-sharing platform (DiDi). We evaluated the recommender systems through large-scale field experiments, which show significant increases in user participation. The recommender system has been deployed in DiDi and has impacted millions of users in practice.

02/27/2019

B Prabhakaran University of Texas, Dallas

Quantifying Human Performance and the Quality of Immersive Experiences
Psychometric evaluations are generally used to understand the Quality of Experience (QoE) of immersive environments produced using augmented/mixed/virtual reality. Typically, these subjective evaluations are done from an end-user point-of-view, but these are limited by the subjective observations due to a number of factors. The objective approach consists of measuring the QoE by monitoring the network technical parameters or the network Quality of Service (QoS), such as throughput, delay, and packet loss. Most of the research on objective approaches for QoS-QoE mapping have focused on video streaming. Such objective QoS-QoE mapping strategies cannot be directly applied for immersive environments. Hence, in this talk, we address two related questions: (1) Can we identify metrics that can objectively quantify the performance of an immersive environment? (2) Can we use the above objective performance metrics to understand the possible user QoE without the need for subjective user study or with minimal user study? We start with different examples of immersive environments such as haptic-enabled applications, mirror therapy, and games. We discuss what metrics are influenced by different system parameters such as processing power, and network QoS. Then, we present some of our preliminary work on understanding users’ QoE through these metrics.

03/05/2020

Dr. Joel Chan University of Maryland

What does a successful process for an HCI researcher look like? Part 2
TBA

Fall 2019 HCIL Guest Speaker Series Schedule

Date Leader Topic
08/29/2019

Hack-a-thon

HCIL Website Hack-a-thon.
We are kick starting this semester's BBL with a Hack-a-thon event. You will be tasked to update the HCIL website by checking for broken links, updating faculty information, checking for spelling and grammar errors and also improving the accessibility of the images in the website.


09/05/2019

Prof. Jun-Dong Cho Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea

Celestial: Color Patterns for improving Color Perception for blind people.
It is relatively difficult to recreate the abstract three-dimensional shape with only the tactile sense. Gibson said "These abilities can be improved through practice." "When you touch something, You may have no idea about it at first touch, but as you continue touching, you soon will know vaguely what it is" , Kojiro Hirose said.

Recently, we developed "Blind-touch" to aid the visually impaired to appreciate greater painter’s work of art. This work is a reproduction of an existing masterpiece by means of a 3D printer and haptic electronics. It recognizes the pattern by touching the object in the artwork with a fingertip, and voice explanation and sound effect are provided through the voice user interface. Color is an equaling lens through which we experience the natural and digital realities. Now, we are exploring the tactile-color association based on semiotics to represent colors with fingertip tactile sensation. In this way, audio and touch contribute information to the non-visual perception of color in an complementary manner. In this talk, we review the related works and introduce a so-called “Celestial color tactile pattern” built based on the concept of both pictogram and ideogram and its variants.

09/12/2019

Prof. Niklas Elmqvist, Prof. Amanda Lazar, and Prof. Joel Chan University of Maryland

A panel discussion on approaches to reviewing research papers.
In light of the approaching deadline for SIGCHI 2020, Professors Niklas Elmqvist, Amanda Lazar, and Joel Chan will discuss the why/how of giving feedback on drafts of research papers. This would be helpful for anyone (Undergrad, Masters, or PhD students) who might be thinking of volunteering to review for conferences, ACM SIGCHI, or even for other lab members in the HCIL’s very own CHI clinic. Reviewers of all levels of expertise, even if you’ve never reviewed a research paper, are encouraged to participate and ask questions during the discussion. (link to video)

09/19/2019

Ben Shneiderman University of Maryland

Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence: Designing Next Generation User Experiences
The next generation of user experiences will produce 1000-fold improvements in human capabilities. These new tools will amplify, augment, enhance, and empower people, just as the Web, email, search, navigation, digital photography, and many other applications have already done. These new human-centered tools will produce comprehensible, predictable, and controllable applications that promote self-efficacy and social participation at scale. The goal is to ensure human control, while increasing the level of automation. In short, the next generation of tools will make more people, more creative, more often.
Improved designs will give billions of users comprehensible interfaces that hide the underlying complexity of advanced algorithms. Users will see familiar visual strategies based on direct manipulation to provide informative feedback about the machine’s state and what they can do. Every use will build confidence that users can reliably accomplish their goals and increase the trust that the machine is under their control.

09/26/2019

Tom Ball Microsoft Research

MakeCode and CODAL: intuitive and efficient embedded systems programming for education
Across the globe, it is now commonplace for educators to engage in the making (design and development) of embedded systems in the classroom to motivate and excite their students. This new domain brings its own set of unique requirements. Historically, embedded systems development requires knowledge of low-level programming languages, local installation of compilation toolchains, device drivers, and applications. For students and educators, these requirements can introduce insurmountable barriers.
We present the motivation, requirements, implementation, and evaluation of a new programming platform that enables novice users to create software for embedded systems. The platform has two major components:
1) Microsoft MakeCode (www.makecode.com), a web app that encapsulates an entire beginner IDE for microcontrollers; and
2) CODAL, an efficient component-oriented C++ runtime for microcontrollers.
We show how MakeCode and CODAL provide an accessible, cross-platform, installation-free programming experience for the BBC micro:bit and other embedded devices.

10/3/2019

Naeemul Hassan University of Maryland

Towards Automated Fact Discovery and Ranking
In this talk, I present the work of finding new, prominent situational facts, which are emerging statements about objects that stand out within certain contexts. Many such facts are newsworthy—e.g., an athlete’s outstanding performance in a game, or a viral video’s impressive popularity. Effective and efficient identification of these facts assists journalists in reporting, one of the main goals of computational journalism. A situational fact can be modeled as a “contextual” tuple that stands out against historical tuples in a context, specified by a conjunctive constraint involving dimension attributes when a set of measure attributes are compared. New tuples are constantly added to the table, reflecting events happening in the real world. Our goal is to discover constraint-measure pairs that qualify a new tuple as a contextual significant tuple, and discover them quickly before the event becomes yesterday’s news.

10/10/2019

John Dickerson University of Maryland

Diversity in Matching Markets
In bipartite matching problems, vertices on one side of a bipartite graph are paired with those on the other. In its offline variant, both sides of the graph are known a priori; in its online variant, one side of the graph is available offline, while vertices on the other arrive online and are irrevocably and immediately matched (or ignored) by an algorithm. Examples of such problems include matching workers to firms, advertisers to keywords, organs to patients, and riders to rideshare drivers. Much of the literature focuses on maximizing the total relevance---modeled via total weight---of the matching. However, in many real-world problems, it is also important to consider the contribution of diversity: hiring a diverse pool of candidates, displaying a relevant but diverse set of ads, and so on.

In this talk, we model the promotion of diversity in matching markets via maximization of a submodular function over the set of matched edges. We present new results in a generalization of traditional offline matching, b-matching, where vertices have both lower and upper bounds on the number of adjacent matched edges. We also present new theoretical results in online submodular bipartite matching. Finally, we conclude with ongoing work that approaches the problem of hiring a diverse cohort of workers through the lens of combinatorial pure exploration (CPE) in the multiarmed bandit setting, and discuss an ongoing experiment in this space at a large research university.

This talk will cover joint work with Saba Ahmadi, Faez Ahmed, Samsara Counts, Jeff Foster, Mark Fuge, Samir Khuller, Zhi Lang, Nicholas Mattei, Karthik A. Sankararaman, Candice Schumann, Aravind Srinivasan, and Pan Xu.

10/17/2019

Prof. Caro Williams-Pierce University of Maryland

Designing for Mathematical Play: Failure and Feedback
Prof. Caro will share her analysis of three types of microworld (videogame, simulation, and cognitive tutor), and how each constrain and afford mathematical play differently through their feedback and failure mechanisms. In doing so, she will also introduce her framework for youth and adult mathematical play, and describe how different design approaches influence different ways of mathematical learning. Anyone interested in designing digital learning environments is particularly encouraged to come - Prof. Caro promises that it'll be interesting even if you don't research math learning!

10/24/2019

Karen Holtzblatt Incontext Design

What is Valuing vs “Jerk” Behavior? How behavior impacts a positive working experience
Women in tech leave the field at twice the quit rate as men. Women often state, and research confirms, that women don’t feel valued. They point to the culture of the organization and how they are treated as a contributing factor. They say that men are “bro’s” or “jerks.” In 2018, we launched the Valuing & Jerk Project as one WITops initiative (https://www.witops.org). This talk will present our findings and perspective. Behavior creates or undermines connection and value. The Valuing and Jerk Project focuses on understanding which behaviors are experienced as valuing in everyday work and which result in naming the other as a “jerk”. Using Contextual Inquiry, we have uncovered core valuing behaviors, what devaluing means, and where behavior crosses the line to become “jerk” behavior. Armed with this understanding our next step is to generate and test interventions and solutions. The talk will introduce the Valuing and Jerk Project.

10/31/2019

Rachael Bradley Montgomery
University of Maryland

Designing to Support People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities
Have you ever wondered how to create websites, applications, and content that support individuals with cognitive and learning disabilities; individuals who are aging; or individuals who are tired, overworked, and distracted? The W3C Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility (COGA) Task Force has been working on a design guide that goes beyond WCAG 2.2 to support individuals with cognitive and learning disabilities. The resulting design patterns and guidance bridges accessibility and usability and support a much wider audience than just those with disabilities. Rachael will present her perspectives as an invited expert on this work. Please come learn about the design patterns and how to provide input on this evolving document.

11/7/2019

Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden
TRACE center

Underestimating the challenge of cognitive disabilities (and digital literacy). Directions to explore in short, medium and long term.
Recent work has caused us to question our understanding of the challenge of digital access by people with cognitive disabilities. Our underestimation may, in part, help explain our difficulties as a field to date. In part, it has exposed what may be a much wider problem than we understood, and one that goes beyond those we have thought of as having cognitive disabilities. It intersects with digital literacy but also has implications for those with other disabilities as well. The concept of Technology Quotient (TQ) will be discussed and approaches for addressing access by people with cognitive disabilities and low digital literacy today, tomorrow and in the future will be explored in this talk.

11/14/2019

Adam Aviv George Washington University

Human Factors in Mobile Authentication
Mobile authentication is a crucial component of authentication more broadly, especially as mobile devices become evermore connected to the broader computer security ecosystem. The overarching goal of my research is to improve the current state of mobile authentication by taking a holistic approach to measuring mobile authentication and its impacts that intersect directly with the user experience. In this talk, I will present a narrative of contributions to mobile authentication over the last 10 years, focusing on how human factors impact the security, from attacks, choices, and perceptions. I will particularly focus on one form of mobile authentication, Android's graphical pattern unlock, which may be the most heavily used graphical authentication system, ever. Based on my experience, I will also present some new directions and methods that can improve the security of mobile authentication and some new results on PINs and LG's graphical Knock Code Authentication.

11/21/2019

Whitney Quesenbery Co-Director, Center for Civic Design

Storytelling makes research data come to life
We all love our user research data…but why is it such a struggle to use the insights we uncover to create direction for a project? Storytelling is the missing link, getting past charts and graphs to dig into what the data means for meeting human needs and making something usable and useful. Whitney will show how stories put research insights into context, communicate the entire user journey, show problems through the eyes of your users, and help you ask better questions (and run better usability tests) to gain deeper insights. Whitney is the co-founder of the Center for Civic Design, approaching democracy as a design problem, so there will be examples from the challenges of designing elections as well as stories from her work in theatre.


11/28/2019

Happy Thanksgiving Day

No BBL. Time to catch up with families and friends :)

12/05/2019

TBA

TBA






Spring 2019 Schedule

Date Leader Topic
01/31/2019

Faculty Only BBL

Regular BBLs will start from 7th Feb, 2019.

02/07/2019

Faez Ahmed, University of Maryland

Design Democratization in the Age of Machine Learning.
Design democratization can transform the way we think about designing products. However, to enable design democratization, we need machine learning and computing methods to enable organizations to process a large amount of information efficiently. Using the example of online design contests, we will discuss three problems which organizations face in conducting design contests: a) How does one form teams to evaluate design ideas? b) How does one filter high quality and diverse ideas out of hundreds of submissions? and c) How does one reliably measure the creativity of ideas? We will discuss how matching, ranking, and novelty estimation methods developed in our work address these issues and what challenges remain for the field.

02/14/2019

Huaishu Peng, University of Maryland

Interactive Fabrication and Fabrication for Interaction.
3D printing technology has been widely applied to produce well-designed objects. There is a hope to make both the modeling process and printing outputs more interactive, so that designers can get in-situ tangible feedback to fabricate objects with rich functionalities. To date, however, knowledge accumulated to realize this hope remains limited. In this talk, I will present two lines of research. The first line of work aims at facilitating an interactive process of fabrication. I demonstrate novel interactive fabrication systems that allow the designer to create 3D models in AR with a robotic arm to print the model in real time and on-site. The second line of work concerns the fabrication of 3D printed objects that are interactive. I report new techniques for 3D printing with novel materials such as fabric sheet, and how to print one-off functional objects such as sensor and motor. I will conclude the talk by outlining future research directions built upon my current work.

02/21/2019

Niklas Elmqvist University of Maryland

Everyone a Data Scientist: Empowering Casual Users to Understand Complex Data.
Understanding data is quickly becoming the new digital divide. Merely having access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) is no longer sufficient when our society is overflowing with massive volumes of raw, complex, and heterogeneous data. Since best-practice data science workflows are still only available through esoteric software libraries, typically accessed using the Python and R languages, leveraging this data to its full potential often requires significant programming expertise. Even commercial point-and-click analytics tools such as Tableau, Spotfire, and QlikView require training and assume significant prior knowledge of mathematical, statistical, and sometimes even machine learning concepts. This means that currently only people who have the appropriate data and technology literacy can harness the ready availability of data in our society.

In this work-in-progress talk, I will discuss our efforts for shrinking or outright eliminating this new digital data divide through interactive visualization, explainable machine learning, and collaborative technologies. More specifically, I will talk about several past, current, or planned projects on this topic, including (1) the use of mixed-initiative interaction, which combines both human and computational efforts in the analytical process; (2) the use of attention for computational steering; (3) recommender systems for automatically suggesting the next analytical step in a workflow; (4) direct manipulation methods for interacting with machine learning models; and (5) "team-first" collaborative mechanisms that reduce the barrier to synchronizing and sharing work to facilitate emergent collaboration. This is ongoing research, so your feedback on these efforts is welcome.

02/28/2019

Townhall

Research Speed Dating
This week everyone is a speaker. We want everyone to talk about what is keeping you busy these days. This is a great way to recruiting participants, get feedback on your research questions, your data collection methods or anything concerning your research. We want you to share your research to the rest of HCIL group.

Faculty members, Ph.D. students, Masters students, and Bachelors students, we strongly encourage you to share your work so that everyone is aware of what’s happening inside HCIL.

03/07/2019 HCIL Spring Cleaning
Join and help spruce up the HCIL and be a part of a larger conversation of what the lab space should look like. We start at noon (12 pm) and there is free food for anyone who joins!
03/14/2019

Stories from the HCIL

Come and tell your favorite stories about the HCIL and the iSchool in this new format that we're trying for the BBL. It's like a casual fireside chat where you get to learn about the rich history of the HCIL from the people who know it best! And there is pizza, of course.

03/21/2019 No Brown Bag, Spring Break.
03/28/2019 HCIL Symposium Practice Talks
All speakers are invited to come rehearse their talk. Please shoot an email to the BBL coordinators and add your name to the schedule: HERE.
04/04/2019 HCIL Symposium In Session
No BBL, instead we encourage you to join us at the HCIL Symposium.
04/11/2019

Wayne Lutters, University of Maryland

Supporting service work in information infrastructure
An introduction to Wayne’s lab via a high-level overview of some key historical projects and an active discussion of what we are wrestling with this particular week – representing maps of belief space (w/ Phil Feldman).

04/18/2019

Zheng Yao, Carnegie Mellon University

Join, Stay or Go? Members’ Life Cycles in Online Health Communities
This talk discusses temporal changes in members’ participation in online health community (OHC), focusing on their motivations for joining and changes in their motivations as they transition to other roles or ultimately leave the community. We use mixed methods, combining behavioral log analysis, automated content analysis, surveys and interviews. We found that members started participating in OHCs for a common set of reasons, mainly to acquire support and to perform social comparisons. When their need for support decreased, most members quit the site. The motivations of those who stayed shifted to providing support and helping other members in the community. Oldtimers also established social ties with others members, which motivated them to stay in the community. These oldtimers, who contributed the majority of content, encountered challenges that threatened their commitment to the community, including negative emotion related to other members’ deaths. These challenges led them to take leaves of absence from the community or to drop out permanently. Our findings shed light on the changing motivations of OHC members, which provide implications for better designing OHCs.

04/25/2019

TBA

 Aravind will run a workshop on how to make PDF documents accessible
05/02/2019

Yue Jiang, University of Maryland, College Park

ORC Layout: Adaptive GUI Layout with OR-Constraints

We propose a novel approach for constraint-based graphical user interface (GUI) layout based on OR-constraints (ORC) in standard soft/hard linear constraint systems. ORC layout unifies grid layout and flow layout, supporting both their features as well as cases where grid and flow layouts individually fail. We describe ORC design patterns that enable designers to safely create flexible layouts that work across different screen sizes and orientations. We also present the ORC Editor, a GUI editor that enables designers to apply ORC in a safe and effective manner, mixing grid, flow and new ORC layout features as appropriate. We demonstrate that our prototype can adapt layouts to screens with different aspect ratios with only a single layout specification, easing the burden of GUI maintenance. Finally, we show that ORC specifications can be modified interactively and solved efficiently at runtime.

05/09/2019

TBA

TBA

Note: CHI 2019 will be in session during this time. Everyone is still invited, but many people might be away for the conference.

05/16/2019

Adil Yalcin, Founder and CEO at Keshif

It's all about creating new possibilities for people: A journey from the lab to a startup

One of the most valuable parts of the DNA of HCIL is its focus on "human", and how our mentors guide us to connect our work with people (users). As a student of this school of thought, I had found my purpose to help the 95% by identifying, questioning, and removing barriers (creating opportunities) in visual analytics. Two years ago, with results baked in lab, and the same driving purpose, I stepped into a world unknown to me: creating, running, and growing a business, one customer at a time.

I am back to share some of the surprises, new perspectives, and validations from this journey so far. What I missed can help you realize the opportunities you already have. What I wish I knew may reveal some gaps. And, what remained constant may hint that research in university and what comes after may not be so different after all. I also will touch on the subtle and dynamic balance between your elevator pitch, your audience, the value you provide, and crossing the finish line.

05/23/2019

TBA

TBA

Note: This slot may be cancelled since it is right at this end of the semester.






Fall 2018 Schedule

Date Leader Topic
08/30/2018

Student Townhall

Instead of the regular BBL, there will be an internal HCIL-students-only townhall meeting instead.

.

09/06/2018

BBL Student Co-coordinators

Come, network, make introductions, and share what you are working on.

09/13/2018

Joel Chan, Tammy Clegg
University of Maryland, College Park

TBA

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09/20/2018

Joel Zhang
University of Maryland, College Park

Research proposal centered around pain tracking and sharing.

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03/22/2017 No Brown Bag, Cancelled.
10/4/2018

Brian Ondov, Sriram Karthik Badam
University of Maryland, College Park

Brian’s paper talks about Evaluating Visual Comparison and seeks to understand how different encodings of data can drastically affect how we perceive quantities. More information about this project is available at http://hcil.umd.edu/visualcomparison/.

Karthik’s paper is about a computing platform called Vistrates which seeks to unify the fragmented analytical workflows employed by users to analyze a group of visualizations created in different tools.

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10/11/2018

Polly Lee O'Rourke
University of Maryland, College Park

Improving language learning using brain simulation.

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10/18/2018

Andrea Batch
University of Maryland, College Park

Information Olfactation: Harnessing Scent to Convey Data
Olfactory feedback for analytical tasks is a virtually unexplored area in spite of the advantages it offers for information recall, feature identification, and location detection. We have introduced the concept of information olfactation as the fragrant sibling of information visualization, and this talk will cover our theoretical model of how scent can be used to convey data. Building on a review of the human olfactory system and mirroring common visualization practice, we propose olfactory marks, the substrate in which they exist, and their olfactory channels that are available to designers. To exemplify this idea, we present viScent: A six-scent stereo olfactory display capable of conveying olfactory glyphs of varying temperature and direction, as well as a corresponding software system that integrates the display with a traditional visualization display, along with three applications that make use of the viScent system.

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10/25/2018

Student Townhall

Research speed-dating

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11/01/2018

Joohee Choi
University of Maryland, College Park

Will Too Many Editors Spoil The Tag? Conflicts and Alignment in Q&A Categorization (CSCW Practice Talk)

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11/08/2018

Alina Striner
University of Maryland, College Park

Learning in the Holodeck: the Role of Multisensory Cues on Pattern Recognition in VR
Designing for multiple senses has the capacity to improve virtual realism, extend our ability to process information, and more easily transfer knowledge between physical and digital environments. HCI researchers are beginning to explore the viability of integrating multisensory media (“multimedia”) into virtual experiences, however research has yet to consider whether mulsemedia truly enhances pattern recognition in virtual reality (VR). In the context of citizen science watershed habitat training, our research asks, how does realism affect observation skills in VR? Within this domain, we build a multisensory system that allows users to feel (wind, thermal, humidity) and smell landscape and environmental conditions. We then compare and report on how users make observations and infer patterns between 2 stream habitats in VR, with and without the multisensory information. Our findings reveal that multisensory information improved the number of high-level, mid-level and low-level observations participants made, and positively impacted engagement and immersion.

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11/15/2018

Student Townhall

Research speed dating.

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03/22/2017 No Brown Bag, Thanksgiving Break.
11/29/2018

Lelani Battle
University of Maryland, College Park

A Characterization Study of Exploratory Analysis Behaviors in Tableau
Exploratory visual analysis (EVA) is an interactive process comprising both focused tasks and more open-ended exploration. Visual analysis tools aim to facilitate this process by enabling rapid specification of both data transformations and visualizations, using a combination of direct manipulation and automated design. With a better understanding of users’ analysis behavior, we might improve the design of these visualization tools to promote effective outcomes.

In this talk, I will present our recent work on characterizing the EVA process. We contribute a consistent definition of EVA through review of the relevant literature, and an empirical evaluation of existing assumptions regarding how analysts perform EVA. We present the results of a study where 27 Tableau users answered various analysis questions across 3 datasets. We measure task performance, identify recurring patterns across participants’ analyses, and assess variance from task specificity and dataset. We find striking differences between existing assumptions and the collected data. Participants successfully completed a variety of tasks, with over 80% accuracy across focused tasks with measurably correct answers. The observed cadence of analyses is surprisingly slow compared to popular assumptions from the database community. We find significant overlap in analyses across participants, showing that EVA behaviors can be predictable. Furthermore, we find few structural differences between open-ended and more focused analysis tasks. Finally, I will discuss the implications of our findings for the design of effective data analytics systems, and highlight several promising directions for future study.

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12/06/2018

Student Townhall

TBA

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12/13/2018

Cookie Exchange

We encourage you to make/buy cookies (or some related treat) and create individual bags (about six cookies in each bag, and about 4-6 bags). Then bring them in labeled on 12/13 and you can pick bags from other people to take home or eat on the spot. However, you do not need to make cookies to attend! All are welcome to come and hang out.

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Spring 2018 Schedule

Date Leader Topic
01/25/2018

Kickoff to a new Semester!

Come, network, make introductions, and share what you are working on

Please come to our first BBL of the Spring 2018 semester to introduce yourself and share what you're working on in the coming semester. The first BBL will be for us to network with each other and kickoff a great new semester.

02/01/2018

Bahador Saket
Georgia Tech, Atlanta

Visualization by Demonstration

Abstract: A commonly used interaction paradigm in most visualization tools is manual view specification. Tools implementing manual view specification often require users to manually specify visual properties through GUI operations on collections of visual properties and data attributes that are presented visually on control panels. To interact with tools implementing manual view specification users need to understand the potentially complex system parameters being controlled. Additionally, in such tools, users need to constantly shift their attention from the visual features of interest when interacting.

In this talk, I present an alternative interaction paradigm for visualization construction and data exploration called visualization by demonstration. This paradigm advocates for a different process of visualization construction. I will also discuss the trade-offs between these interaction paradigms based on the data collected from an empirical study. I will then discuss applications of the "by demonstration’" paradigm in other areas in data visualization.

Bio: Bahador Saket is a third-year Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech, where he works with Dr. Alex Endert. His current research focuses on the design of interaction techniques for visualization construction and visual data exploration. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Bahador worked at different research labs including Microsoft Research, CNS Research Center, and NUS-HCI Lab. He has published over 12 peer-reviewed articles in the leading journals and conferences in the field of human-computer interaction and data visualization such as IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), Computer Graphics Forum, CSCW, UIST, and MobileHCI.

02/08/2018

Elissa Redmiles
University of Maryland, College Park

Dancing Pigs or Security? Measuring the Rationality of End-User Security Behavior

Abstract: Accurately modeling human decision-making in security is critical to think about when, why, and how to recommend that users adopt certain secure behaviors. We used behavioral economics experiments to model the rationality of end-user security decision-making in a realistic online experimental system simulating a bank account. We ask participants to make a financially impactful security choice, in the face of transparent risks of account compromise and benefits offered by an optional security behavior (two-factor authentication). We find that more than 50% of our participants made rational (e.g., utility optimal) decisions, and we find that participants are more likely to behave rationally in the face of higher risk. Additionally, we confirm that users are boundedly rational: they make decisions based on some risks and context, but not others, and we can model their behavior well as a function of these factors. Finally, we show that a “one-size-fits-all” emphasis on security can lead to market losses, but that adoption by a subset of users with higher risks or lower costs can lead to market gains.
Bio: Elissa Redmiles is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland in Computer Science. Her research focuses on using computational and social science methodologies to understand and improve users' privacy and security learning processes, behavior, and perceptions. She is the recipient of an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a National Science Defense and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, and a Facebook Fellowship. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Elissa held Marketing Management and Software Engineering roles at IBM and was a Data Science for Social Good Fellow at the University of Chicago.


02/15/2018

Erin Peters-Burton
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

Building Student Self-Awareness of Learning to Enhance Diversity in the Sciences

Abstract: Many students are being left out of pursuing further studies in science because the current system of science education values students who learn via completion in an isolated, rather than collaborative way (Tobias, 1990). The stereotype of students who excel in science tend to be the ones who can conform to the institutional structure where the teacher is the sole source of knowledge (Friere, 2000). Through the idea of “Education as the Practice of Freedom” (hooks, 1994), the presentation will explain investigations that explore tangible ways to break down that stereotype. This research begins with the assumption that if teachers taught the ways science operates as a discipline, then students gain more power to construct their own scientific knowledge because they understand the “rules” of knowledge validation (Duschl, 1990). Learning how scientific knowledge is constructed and being self-aware of one’s own learning in science can help level the playing field so that students can do inquiry well (NRC, 1996; AAAS, 1993) and the science classroom will be a more inclusive, positive environment rather than relying on isolated competition for teaching. In this presentation, I will present an overview of research I have done over the past 10 years that focuses on helping students to become self-aware of their learning in science and how scientific knowledge is constructed. The work involves 8th grade students, undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals. The studies include constructs such as self-efficacy, motivation, metacognition, self-regulated learning, and visualization. Findings of the studies are synthesized into self-awareness priorities and how those constructs will ultimately impact social justice by providing more opportunities to see alternative perspectives and learn the “rules” of knowledge validation in science. As a result, students develop a sense of agency and an identity where anything is possible because they can learn independently in any situation.
Bio: Erin E. Peters-Burton is the Donna R. and David E. Sterling Endowed Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. She has a B.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois, a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology and Social Foundations of Education from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. from George Mason University (VA) in Educational Psychology and Educational Research Methods. She has taught middle school and high school science and mathematics for 15 years prior to her academic work and was a National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescence Science. She has published in science education, teacher education, educational psychology, marine biology, geology education, history and philosophy of science, technology, educational leadership, and learning disability journals. Her book, Thinking Like Scientists: Using Metacognitive Prompts to Develop Nature of Science Knowledge, and her edited book, The STEM Road Map: A Framework for Integrated STEM Education have led to the curriculum series books from the National Science Teacher Association entitled, STEM Road Map for Elementary School, STEM Road Map for Middle School, and STEM Road Map for High School. In 2016 she was awarded the Association of Science Teacher Educators Outstanding Science Teacher of the Year in recognition of her work with the professional development of secondary science teachers.


02/22/2018

Norman Su
Indiana University

The Problem of Designing for Subcultures

Abstract: Members of subcultures speak about and act with pervasive technologies in service to their distinct traditions. I will describe how outwardly subcultures maintain a unified front, yet inwardly are rich sites for compromise and confrontation over technology. I will highlight findings from work we have done with subcultures and, in particular, my own fieldwork with Irish traditional musicians. I will close by describing new design opportunities for technologies that acknowledge the remarkable solidarity and discord of subcultures.
Bio: Norman Makoto Su is an Assistant Professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington. His research interests lie in human–computer interaction (HCI) and computer–supported cooperative work (CSCW). His Authentic User Experience (AUX) lab characterizes the relationship of technology with subcultures and designs systems to support their notion of authenticity. He received his Ph.D. in Information and Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine and a B.A. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Information and Library Studies at University College Dublin, Ireland. He has done internships at IBM, The Aerospace Corporation, and PARC.

03/01/2018

Ya-Wei Li
Center for Conservation Innovation, Defenders of Wildlife

Using Data and Technology to Save Endangered Species.

Abstract: We will discuss how Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization, is expanding its use of technology and data analytics to conserve endangered species. We will summarize our projects involving remote-sensing data to monitor wildlife habitat and compliance with conservation agreements; data mining of federal government decisions to build the largest public repository of text-searchable documents on the U.S. Endangered Species Act; natural language processing of those documents to improve public understanding of how our government conserves endangered species; use of data visualization tools to reveal patterns in large datasets; and other initiatives. We invite the audience to actively engage with us about how we can improve our work and offer ideas for future projects and potential collaborations.

Bio: Ya-Wei (Jake) specializes in endangered species law, policy, and science. He leads the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders of Wildlife, which focuses on developing innovative and pragmatic strategies to conserve endangered and at-risk species. Before joining Defenders in 2010, Jake practiced environmental law in the private sector. Jake holds a B.S. from Drexel University and a J.D. from Cornell University Law School. At Cornell, Jake also completed graduate coursework in conservation biology and herpetology.

Jacob works on linking science to Endangered Species Act policy. He works with others inside and outside of Defenders to make ESA-related data available and easily interpretable, so that policy makers and the public can make informed decisions about conservation. Before joining Defenders, Jacob was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Connecticut, and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013. From 2000-2008, Jacob was a field biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in New Mexico and Arizona, during which time he completed his Bachelor's degree in Conservation Ecology at Prescott College.

03/08/2018

Deok Gun Park
University of Maryland, College Park

Thinking, Autism and AGI


Abstract: Despite recent advances in deep learning, we do not know yet how we can combine these application-specific models to build an artificial general intelligence (AGI). Furthermore, the data is becoming the bottleneck to scale these approaches for the multiple tasks. In this talk, I propose a theory of the thinking and a neural algorithm that can bootstrap intelligence with limited computational resources and data. This neural algorithm approximates the O(n3) parameter space of the thinking theory into the O(1) parameters to make learning tractable for the biological intelligent agents. I will explain this proposal by cognitive phenomenons that are observed in a human, such as infant language acquisition, visual and verbal thinking, personality, creativity, exploit-exploration trade off, dreaming, one-shot learning, abstract language.

Bio: Deokgun Park is a Ph.D. candidate in the HCILab of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park, being advised by Prof. Niklas Elmqvist. His research focuses on the computational methods for open-ended tasks. He completed M.S. in Interdisciplinary Engineering at Purdue University and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Seoul National University, where he obtained B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at Seoul National University. He worked at the government research institute, industry research labs, and startups. He has published and licensed his patents to companies including Samsung Electronics.

03/15/2018

Clemens Klokmose
Aarhus University, Denmark

Shareable Dynamic Media: A revisit of the fundamentals of interactive computing

Abstract: Developing interactive systems that support collaboration between people, distribution across heterogeneous devices and user appropriation is notoriously difficult. Today’s software rests on a foundation built for personal computing, and to properly support the aforementioned qualities we need to revisit this foundation. In this talk, I will present you with a vision called Shareable Dynamic Media, inspired by Alan Kay’s seminal vision of Personal Dynamic Media. I will present a prototype implementation of the vision called Webstrates, and demonstrate how it enables the development of software where distribution across devices, collaboration between people, and malleability and reprogrammability are the norm rather than the exception. I will show our latest project, Codestrates, that combines Webstrates with the literate computing approach of interactive notebooks.

Bio: Clemens Nylandsted Klokmose is an associate professor in the development of advanced interactive systems at the Department of Digital Design and Information Studies, at the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University. He co-directs the Digital Creativity Lab that is part of the Center for Advanced Visualisation and Interaction (CAVI). Clemens has worked as a postdoc at Computer Science, Aarhus University and at Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique, Université Paris-Sud. He has furthermore spent a year as a user interface specialist in the industry. Clemens received his PhD in Computer Science in 2009 from Aarhus University supervised by prof. Susanne Bødker. Clemens’ main interest is the fundamentals of interactive computing, particularly to support and understanding computing with multiple devices and multiple people. Many of his ideas are crystallised into the Webstrates platform (webstrates.net), which he leads the development of.

03/22/2017 No Brown Bag, Spring Break.
03/29/2018

Wei Bai
University of Maryland, College Park

Understanding User Tradeoffs for Search in Encrypted Communication

Abstract: End-to-end message encryption is the only way to achieve absolute message privacy. However, searching over end-to-end encrypted messages is complicated. Several popular instant messaging tools (e.g., WhatsApp, iMessage) circumvent this inconvenience by storing the search index locally on the devices. Another approach, called searchable encryption, allows users to search encrypted messages without storing the search index locally. These approaches have inherent tradeoffs between usability and security properties, yet little is known about how general users value these tradeoffs, especially in the context of email rather than instant messaging. In this paper, we systematize these tradeoffs in order to identify key feature differences. We use these differences as the basis for a choice-based conjoint analysis experiment focused on email (n=160), in which participants make a series of choices between email services with competing features. The results allow us to quantify the relative importance of each feature. We find that users indicate high relative importance for increasing privacy and minimizing local storage requirements. While privacy is more important overall, local storage is more important than adding additional marginal privacy after an initial improvement. These results suggest that local indexing, which provides more privacy, may often be appropriate for encrypted email, but that searchable encryption, which limits local storage, may also hold promise for some users.

Bio: Wei Bai is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, advised by Prof. Michelle L. Mazurek. His research interests include network security and privacy with an emphasis on human factors, and his dissertation is about user perceptions of and attitudes toward encrypted communication. He obtained his MS in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Maryland. Contact him at wbai@umd.edu.

04/05/2018

Eun-Kyoung Choe
University of Maryland, College Park

Designing A Flexible Personal Data Tracking Tool

Abstract: We now see an increasing number of self-tracking apps and wearable devices. Despite the vast number of available tools, however, it is still challenging for self-trackers to find apps that suit their unique tracking needs, preferences, and commitments. In this talk, I will present OmniTrack, a mobile self-tracking system, which enables self-trackers to construct their own trackers and customize tracking items to meet their individual tracking needs. OmniTrack leverages a semi-automated tracking approach that combines manual and automated tracking methods. From a deployment study, we showed how participants used OmniTrack to create, revise, and appropriate trackers—ranging from a simple mood tracker to a sophisticated daily activity tracker. I will discuss how to further improve OmniTrack by incorporating multimodal interactions, providing more appropriate visualizations on a mobile device, and supporting researchers' unique data collection needs.

Bio: Eun Kyoung Choe (http://eunkyoungchoe.com) is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information Studies at University of Maryland, College Park. Her primary research areas are in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Health Informatics. She examines the design and evaluation of personal informatics tools to empower individuals—including patients, caregivers, clinicians, and those who wish to engage in self-tracking—to make positive behavior changes through fully leveraging their personal data. She explores this topic in various contexts, including sleep and productivity, patient-clinician communication and data sharing, and personal data insights and visualization. Her past and current research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Microsoft Research, and the Google Anita Borg Scholarship. She received her PhD in Information Science from University of Washington, MS in Information Management and Systems from University of California, Berkeley, and BS in Industrial Design from KAIST, Korea.

04/12/2018

CHI practice talks

Combining smartwatches with large displays for visual data exploration by Karthik Badam and Tom Horak

TBD

04/19/2018

Hernisa Kacorri
University of Maryland, College Park

Accessibility and Assistive Technologies at the Intersection of Users and Data

Abstract: Advances in artificial intelligence enable us to address key social issues. However, to see the benefit of this technology in many real-world applications, an integrative approach is necessary; effective solutions consist of a pipeline of processes or tasks involving both humans and machines. My research has integrated human computer interaction (HCI) techniques and data-driven methods applied to human data to steer technological innovations for people with visual impairments and for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. In this talk, I will provide an overview of my research program, and I will demonstrate the effectiveness of integrating machine learning and HCI methodologies with two concrete examples: i) teachable object recognizers trained by blind users, and ii) facial expression synthesis in sign language animations.

Bio: Hernisa Kacorri is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information Studies and holds an affiliate appointment in the Computer Science and the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at University of Maryland, College Park. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2016 from The Graduate Center at City University of New York, and has conducted research at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, IBM Research-Tokyo, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on data-driven technologies that address human challenges, faced due to health or disability, with an emphasis on rigorous, user-based experimental methodologies to assess impact. Hernisa is a recipient of a Mina Rees Dissertation Fellowship in the Sciences, an ACM ASSETS best paper finalist, and an CHI honorable mention award. She has been recognized by the Rising Stars in EECS program of CMU/MIT.


04/26/2018

Chi-Young Oh
University of Maryland, College Park

Small Worlds in a Distant Land: International Newcomer Students' Local Information Behavior in Unfamiliar Environments

Abstract: International students are a rapidly growing sub-population of students, and the United States, as a top destination, has hosted students from 218 different countries. However, as with other international newcomers, these students face various types of challenges in a new country. Studies have reported the challenges this population faces in regard to cultures, academic systems, and general adjustments, but research is less clear about the challenges they face in terms of information behaviors during adjustment to a new country. This study addresses the information behaviors of international newcomer students in the context of adjustment to new local environments; that is, their local information behavior (LIB). Specifically, drawing on prior work and theories, this research conceptualizes the idea of "socio-national context," the degree to which there are individuals from the same country available in one's local environment, as a factor influencing international newcomer students’ information behavior. Through the findings from this longitudinal mixed-method study of international and U.S. graduate students in different socio-national contexts, it is argued that information behavior theories and models need to account for people's socio-national contexts if they are to inform research involving international newcomer students and provide insights on designing systems and services for all international newcomer students, especially those from countries that tend to be less well-represented among international students in a host country.

Bio: Chi Young Oh is a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park's College of Information Studies. His areas of research span information behavior, human-computer interaction, health informatics, and community informatics, and his dissertation research examines international newcomer students' information behaviors during adjustment to a host country. Chi Young holds an MS in Information Science (with a concentration in Human-Computer Interaction) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a BA in Psychology, a BA in Library and Information Science, and a BBA in Business Administration from Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. Prior to joining University of Maryland, he was a user experience researcher in the UX Lab of internet search portal Daum in South Korea and a new product planner and assistant marketing manager at LG Electronics.


05/03/2018

Amanda Lazar
University of Maryland, College Park

Rethinking technology for dementia

Abstract: As the population ages, research is increasingly focused on conditions associated with growing older, such as cognitive and physical impairment. Technology is often presented as a solution for managing or treating these changes. This framing can position health conditions as problems to address through design and can neglect the complexity and positive aspects of older adulthood. In this talk, I draw on critical perspectives from Human-Computer Interaction and Gerontology. I describe ways in which technology can help us understand and challenge stereotypes around aging as well as cognitive impairment, and my ongoing and future work in this area. I will argue for a view of aging that takes into account the ways that technologies position older individuals and, in turn, the way that this view can inform the design of new technologies to enrich the experience of growing older.

Bio: Amanda Lazar is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research is in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction and Health Informatics. She studies how technologies designed for health and wellbeing position and support marginalized populations. She received her PhD from the University of Washington in the Biomedical and Health Informatics program and her undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.


05/10/2018

Joel Chan
University of Maryland, College Park

Back to the Future: How people construct new creative ideas from old knowledge, and how technology can help

Abstract: Where do good ideas come from? One answer is that they come from prior knowledge: for example, Thomas Edison leveraged his knowledge of phonographs to “do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear”. Yet, much research on human creativity demonstrates that prior knowledge often constrains creativity. How do people construct new creative ideas from old knowledge? And (how) can technology help? In the first part of my talk, I will summarize empirical work I have done that advances theories of the conditions under which people successfully construct new creative ideas from prior knowledge. This empirical work shows that prior knowledge can inspire creativity when it is analogically related to the current problem. This insight informs the ongoing work I will discuss in the second part of my talk: developing information technologies that combine human and machine intelligence to more effectively support analogical reasoning over prior knowledge.

Bio: Joel Chan is an Assistant Professor in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (iSchool), and Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). His research and teaching focus on the intersection of people, information, and creativity. He wants to know how they (can best) combine to enable us to design the future(s) we want to live in. His work has been recognized with a Best Paper Award at the ASME Design Theory and Methodology conference, the Design Studies Award 2015, and supported by an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Project Scientist in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. He received his PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.


05/17/2018

Rachel Kramer
World Wildlife Fund

WILDLABS.NET: the conservation technology network

Abstract: WILDLABS.NET: the conservation technology network is a collaboration across organizations that provides online infrastructure to connect wildlife conservationists directly to technologists to support the informed integration of technology tools in conservation practice. Since 2015, WILDLABS has evolved into a thriving online community of over 2,300 experts around the globe who crowd-source ideas and information, share case studies and co-develop solutions to pressing conservation and research challenges. WILDLABS community members range from academics to tech sector professionals, NGO staff, field-based practitioners and makers. On our platform, ideas are shared in over 25 technology and conservation challenge-specific groups with over 450 active discussion threads. The community is also a hub for posting grant and job opportunities to enhance the uptake of technical expertise into wildlife conservation initiatives. In this talk, we’ll explore the latest happenings on WILDLABS and empower those with engineering and related expertise to share their abilities to help save species.

Bio: Rachel Kramer is a wildlife crime expert at World Wildlife Fund with a decade of experience in field-based conservation, wildlife and natural resource trade monitoring, policy and technology solutions. With TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network that is a strategic alliance of WWF and IUCN, Rachel has overseen projects in Africa and Asia and manages wildlife trade assessments—including in the United States—to support enforcement action and policy change. Through WWF’s Wildlife Crime Technology Project supported by a Google Global Impact Award, Rachel joined United for Wildlife partners in 2015 in founding WILDLABS.NET: the conservation technology network. Rachel got her start in conservation serving in the Peace Corps in Madagascar from 2006-2009, leading community-based monitoring and conservation projects until her evacuation in the coup. Her graduate research at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies focused on surveying wild species consumption and natural resource dependence in Park-bordering communities in Madagascar’s northeastern rainforest. Rachel is committed to harnessing the power of communities and technology to advance the sustainable use of natural resources for future generations.

Past Brown Bags

View the Past Brown Bag Lunch Schedules to learn more about prior talks.