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A number of smartphone apps have been developed in recent years to help people cope with stress and promote mental well-being. Such apps have attracted significant attention in current research. However, interaction design issues, such as usability and user experience, have so far been relatively unexplored. This paper presents a meta-analysis of studies of mobile apps for stress management and mental well-being, specifically focusing on interaction design issues. Through a scoping literature search we selected the total of 46 articles, published in the last decade, for qualitative in-depth analysis. The analysis reveals that the main interaction design issues addressed in the papers are ease of use, user engagement, and privacy. Key opportunities and challenges for future work are discussed.

Robotic telepresence technologies are becoming ever more usable and affordable, as well as increasingly available as consumer products. In the coming years, a significant number of people are likely to encounter the technology for the first time, and many, if not most, of them are going to be “non-technical” users, that is, people who do not have special technical knowledge and skills of IT-professionals. Therefore, understanding how nontechnical users are getting familiar with robotic telepresence technology, how they perceive the technology, learn to control it, and relate it to their everyday work practices, is a topical research issue. This paper reports an empirical study, in which eight non-technical users, office workers who were not IT-professionals, were introduced to robotic telepresence and provided with a practical experience of acting as pilots of a remotely controlled robot. In follow up interviews the participants were asked to reflect on potential uses of the technology in their professional activities. The participants could successfully acquire basic navigation skills and reached a high level of spatial presence, but experienced problems with developing a "new body image”. When reflecting on the potential of the technology for supporting their work, the participants envisioned a number of benefits associated with remote physical mobility. The impact of the technology on the quality of workrelated social interactions was expected to be generally positive but somewhat limited.

Mobile Remote Presence (MRP) technologies make it possible for the user to be mobile in a remote environment, which opens up new possibilities for interaction. However, this new functionality comes at a cost. The need for MRP system users to pay attention to both telecommunication and device navigation increases their cognitive load. Assessing the cognitive load of MRP system users is a timely research issue, which is addressed in this paper both conceptually and empirically. We argue that Secondary Task (ST) techniques have certain advantages over existing Subjective Rating Scales (SRS) instruments, and report a study, in which a particular ST technique, a visual monitoring task, was employed to assess MRP pilot’s cognitive load. The empirical evidence from the study indicates that the method provides additional valuable insights into MRP pilots’ user experience.

The paper reports a study in which two aspects of interaction design - human interaction with technology and acting through technology were analyzed in the context of participatory sessions having the focus group format. The sessions were conducted as a part of redesigning a novel digital artifact, a web-based project management tool. An initial prototype of the artifact was introduced to two different groups of participants possessing expertise in, respectively, human-computer interaction (HCI) and teaching and learning, a key target application domain for the tool. Re-design suggestions provided by each of the focus groups were found to address issues with both user interface and functionality of the prototype. The main difference between the groups was in whether they primarily focused on interaction efficiency or artifact's integration into a larger social and technological context. Implications of the study for further development of participatory methods in interaction design are discussed.

The general problem addressed in this paper is supporting a more efficient communication between remote users, who control telepresence robots, and people in the local setting. The design of most telepresence robots does not allow them to perform gestures. Given the key role of pointing in human communication, exploring design solutions for providing telepresence robots with deictic gesturing capabilities is, arguably, a timely research issue for Human-Robot Interaction. To address this issue, we conducted an empirical study, in which a set of low fidelity prototypes, illustrating various designs of a robot's gesture arm, were assessed by the participants (N=18). The study employed a mixed-method approach, a combination of a controlled experiment, elicitation study, and design provocation. The evidence collected in the study reveals participants' assessment of the designs, used in the study, and provides insights into parti.cipants' attitudes and expectations regarding gestural communication with telepresence robots in general.

The aim of the workshop is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to discuss the present and future of ecological perspectives in HCI. The participants will reflect on the current uses and interpretations of “ecology” and related concepts in the field. The workshop will assess the potential of ecological perspectives in HCI for supporting rich and meaningful analysis, as well as innovative design, of interactive technologies in real-life contexts.

This paper reports a study of the use of activity theory in human-computer interaction (HCI) research. We analyse activity theory in HCI since its first appearance about 25 years ago. Through an analysis and meta-synthesis of 109 selected HCI activity theory papers, we created a taxonomy of 5 different ways of using activity theory: (1) analysing unique features, principles, and problematic aspects of the theory; (2) identifying domain-specific requirements for new theoretical tools; (3) developing new conceptual accounts of issues in the field of HCI; (4) guiding and supporting empirical analyses of HCI phenomena; and (5) providing new design illustrations, claims, and guidelines. We conclude that HCI researchers are not only users of imported theory, but also theory-makers who adapt and develop theory for different purposes.

Technology-supported stress management is one of the most promising and practically important application areas for intelligent companions, that is, digital assistants evoking empathy and personal attachment. In this paper, we employ the method of Futuristic Autobiographies (FABs) to elicit participants' attitudes and reflections regarding an imaginary digital assistant for stress management, implemented as an intelligent companion. For the purposes of the study, we developed six FABs, highlighting a range of potential issues related to the use of intelligent companions. The participants (N=17) provided their responses to the FABs by completing a survey, and a subset of the participants (N=5) also took part in follow-up online interviews. A thematic analysis of the results revealed six main themes: objectivity of the digital assistant, human-likeness, context-specificity of assistant's behavior, user's control, stress management, and user privacy. The themes, as well as the implications of the results for the design and use of intelligent stress management companions, are discussed.

Collaboration mediated by digital technologies is typically considered an alternative to face-to-face collaboration. However, in real-life settings “virtual” and “physical” collaboration are often complementary, rather than mutually exclusive. This paper reports an empirical study of a hybrid physical/virtual ecology of collaboration at a senior high school in Sweden, a massively collaborative environment featuring different concurrently used groupware. The study focused on teachers’ collaborative multitasking, that is, management of multiple collaborative activities. The findings indicate that the use of groupware in the setting presented a significant challenge for the teachers, who experienced collaboration overload. To keep themselves updated on current developments in their teams and projects, the teachers developed a variety of strategies for monitoring several collaboration spaces and switching between different technologies. The identified problems and strategies of collaborative physical/virtual multitasking are discussed in relation to existing research and design of supportive technology.