All posts by Joe Sniezek

Monthly Meetings

Troy McDaniel – Can Facial Expressions be Remotely Perceived through Touch?

October 13, 6pm, online

Please Register

ABSTRACT

For individuals who are blind, non-verbal cues, such as facial expressions, are largely inaccessible during social interactions. An exploration was made into whether Paul Ekman’s facial action units—the building blocks of expressions—can be mapped to a vibrotactile display. We present the design of a visual-to-tactile sensory substitution device and software, along with experimental findings showing the potential to convey emotions and facial movements through touch. We also present the state-of-the-art in social assistive aids and investigate existing challenges of these technologies for future work.

BIO

Troy McDaniel is an Assistant Professor in Engineering at Arizona State University. He is the Director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC) and the Principal Investigator of ASU’s NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) on Citizen-Centered Smart Cities and Smart Living. McDaniel’s research interests include haptic interfaces, robotics, human-computer interaction, and machine learning, especially for haptics. He is particularly interested in tactile vision sensory substitution and haptic human augmentation. His current research investigates how information traditionally presented visually and/or aurally may be presented haptically through novel touch-based interfaces. His application focuses are assistive technologies for individuals with sensory impairments, rehabilitative technologies for individuals with physical impairments, and technologies to support health, wellness, and smart living.

SCHEDULE

  • 6-6:30pm: Networking via virtual whiteboard and zoom
  • 6:30pm: Presentation
  • 7:30pm: Q&A

HOW THIS WORKS:

We will be using:

  • A Zoom meeting for the event
  • A Miro virtual whiteboard during the pre-talk networking

Links for both the Zoom meeting and the Miro whiteboard will be sent to registered attendees.

SPONSOR

Thank you to our generous sponsor!

Monthly Meetings

Dominic DiFranzo – Designing for Empathy on Social Media

Picture of Dominic DiFranzo

September 15, 6pm, online

Please Register

ABSTRACT

Modern design goals for social media platforms have focused on growth in terms of increasing user population and engagement, but are starting to show their growing pains with the widespread of hate speech, cyberbullying, and fake news. This design focus on growth at any cost is increasing the amount and reach of antisocial behavior online. In this talk, I will share my research in human-computer interactions that explores practical design interventions that encourage users to better empathize with one another. In my efforts to better implement and test these design interventions, I’ve developed new experimental tools and methods that create ecologically valid social media simulations, allowing researchers to conduct large-scale online social media experiments in a fully curated and controlled social media environment.

BIO

Dominic DiFranzo is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Lehigh University.  His research in human-computer interaction translates established social science theories into design interventions that encourage social media users to stand up to cyberbullies, fact check fake news stories, and engage in other prosocial actions. In his effort to better implement and test these design interventions, he has also developed new experimental tools and methods that create ecologically valid social media simulations, giving researchers control of both the technical interface and social situations found on social media platforms. His research has been published in numerous conferences and journals, including the ACM CHI Conference, the ACM CSCW Conference, the International World Wide Web Conference, and the ACM Web Sci Conference.

SCHEDULE

  • 6-6:30pm: Networking via virtual whiteboard and zoom
  • 6:30pm: Presentation
  • 7:30pm: Q&A

HOW THIS WORKS:

We will be using:

  • A Zoom meeting for the event
  • A Miro virtual whiteboard during the pre-talk networking

Links for both the Zoom meeting and the Miro whiteboard will be sent to registered attendees.

SPONSOR

Thank you to our generous sponsor!