Spring 2025
Effects of AR Face Filters in Online Exchanges: Analysis and Implications
Instructors:
- Anna Lindner, PhD Student
- Mark Zachry, Faculty Advisor
This Directed Research Group (DRG) is focused on understanding the effects of AR filters in professional online interactions. Participants will analyze qualitative and quantitative data from a study investigating the impact of beautifying AR face filters during online job interviews. The DRG includes analyses of survey responses, interview transcripts, and observational notes. This research is designed to provide valuable insights into how AR technologies influence user behavior in professional contexts.
Students participating in this DRG can expect to:
- Conduct background research on the topic of AR face filters in professional contexts to inform our analysis.
- Engage in analyzing collected data and thematic analysis of qualitative observations.
- Contribute to reliability testing and manual validation of the emergent qualitative coding framework.
Note this DRG is at capacity and no longer accepting students.
Spring 2025
Developing a toolkit to support AI concept design
Co-Directors:
- Pitch Sinlapanuntakul (PhD Student)
- Mark Zachry (Faculty Advisor)
Motivation & objective
Designing AI with core design values, particularly in early concept development, is essential but challenging due to its inherent ambiguity and complexity. In this fast-paced DRG, we will first identify key challenges and design opportunities to support the process/practice of envisioning/designing value-oriented AI concepts. Depending on the results, you will engage in research through design to ideate, design, document, evaluate, and refine the solutions (i.e., design toolkit) to support design practitioners in the above activities.
Note this DRG is at capacity and no longer accepting students.
Winter - Spring 2025
Evaluating Live Streams
Instructors:
- Keri Mallari, PhD Student
- Mark Zachry, Faculty Advisor
There are two parts to the DRG.
The first 3 weeks will focus on evaluating live streams. We have recruited live streamers, and are working on evaluating our prototype with non-members of their community to evaluate their streams. We will be working on evaluating these streams, and generating a summary of these evaluations for our live streamers.
The second part will focus on collecting sets of videos and blog posts of content creators about their experience as a live streamer. We will then conduct an analysis of these text and video content to help inform design of another prototype for live streamers. Since this second part is open-ended, there is a possibility that this DRG might extend towards Spring 2025 to continue the development and evaluation of the prototype.
Note this DRG is at capacity and no longer accepting students.
Questions? Email Keri at kmallari@uw.edu
Winter 2025
Temporality in Crisis Communication on TikTok
Directed by PhD candidate Julie Vera with support from Dr. David McDonald and Dr. Mark Zachry
In this DRG, we will investigate how users make sense of crisis events using TikTok comments by focusing on the temporal aspects of information seeking and sharing. Our research will explore how users navigate and understand emergent events in situations where information may not appear chronologically and/or lacks context. We also aim to understand how users employ temporal anchors and other references to make sense of evolving situations. Results from this study will contribute to research at the intersection of crisis informatics, social media studies, and collective sensemaking.
Students participating can expect to:
- Analyze collected TikTok comments and videos related to crisis events using both qualitative and quantitative methods
- Help develop and refine a framework for categorizing the temporal dimensions of TikTok comments
- Participate in reliability testing and manual validation of framework
*Note that due to the nature of this research, some media may contain distressing or sensitive material.
Enrollment information
- Meeting time: This DRG will meet for 1 - 1.5 hours a week. We are targeting Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday afternoons as our recurring meeting time. A when2meet link is provided in the application form and we will settle on a time based on student availability.
- Credits: 2 credits, HCDE 496 or HCDE 596
- Who should apply: We are looking for approximately 5-7 students (advanced undergraduates or graduate students) who have:
- Interest in social media analysis, crisis informatics, sensemaking, or information-seeking behaviors
- Experience with or strong interest in qualitative coding, content analysis, and development of analytical frameworks
- Potential interest in developing a full paper for CSCW, CHI, or ISCRAM submission
- Non-HCDE students are welcome and encouraged to apply!
- This DRG counts toward the directed research requirement for PhD students.
- Application: Please fill out this Google Form to apply for this DRG.
- Application deadline: December 13, 2024
- Anticipated notification date: We will make every effort to release decisions and official meeting time by January 3, 2025 or earlier.
- Questions? Email jvera@uw.edu or via HCDE Slack with any questions.
Winter 2025
Design Principles for AI Companions
Co-Directed by PhD student Soobin Cho and Dr. Mark Zachry
This continuation is focused on collaboratively building design principles for AI companions—AI chatbots designed to provide meaningful interaction, connection, and emotional support. Since AI companions form close relationships with users and can have significant emotional impacts, they require sensitive and thoughtful design. We use a research-based approach to systematically develop design principles to guide the design and evaluation of AI companions. Students participating in this DRG are developing design principles through internal and external evaluations to validate findings from the previous quarter.
This DRG is at capacity and no longer accepting applications.