Tangible Embodied Child-Computer Interaction Lab
Director Dr. Alissa N. Antle School of Interactive Arts and Technology Simon Fraser University
About TECI
At TECI we conduct design-oriented research and train the next generation of researchers to design, build and evaluate technical innovations that improve, augment, and support children’s cognitive and emotional development.
In the TECI lab we are committed to working with diverse populations of children, particularly those that may be vulnerable or hard to reach. At TECI we are working to ensure diversity and inclusivity in our team and in our research participants across a range of social, economic, cultural, racial, ethnic, and gender groups.
Primary Research Foci: Design research, tangible interaction, embodied interaction, child-computer interaction
Application Areas: Literacy, social-emotional learning, mindfulness, sustainability education, social justice, aboriginal heritage
Current Projects
People
Dr. Antle is a tenured Professor in the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Dr. Antle holds the highest honour for a Canadian scholar through her induction as a member of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, which acknowledges her as one of Canada's intellectual leaders. Dr. Antle's impact extends to the international community through her recognition as a leader in ethical child-centered technology research.
Alex Kitson
Annemiek Veldhuis
Priscilla Lo
Sadhbh Kenny
Triane Tambay
Ashu Adhikari
Kenneth Karthik
James Yoo
Elsa Sinuhaji
News & Events
Annemiek Veldhuis, TECI’s PhD lab member, along with collaborators Kim Sauvé, Hans Brombacher, Rosa van Koningsbruggen, Steven Houben, and Jason Alexander hosted a successful workshop at this year’s ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) conference held at IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark earlier this month. Their workshop, “Physicalization from Theory to Practice” explored contemporary challenges in privacy, temporality, collaboration and sustainability in data physicalization design. To learn more, a link to their “Physicalization from Theory to Practice” workshop proposal can be found in our bio.
#DIS2024 #acmdis2024 #tecilabontheroad #tecilabconference #sfusiat #tecilab #technologyresearch #dataphysicalization #HCI #informatics #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram
We are excited to share that TECI’s Director Alissa Antle and PhD researcher Alexandra Kitson will be featured in the upcoming Scholarly Impact of the Week series. Their interview highlights the contributions both have made to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and their research in designing virtual reality-based emotion regulation support for teens.
Alissa and Alexandra are part of an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Petr Slovak from King’s College London to explore the capacity digital tools have in supporting the development of children’s cognitive and emotional development. Their most recent paper, "Supporting Cognitive Reappraisal With Digital Technology: A Content Analysis and Scoping Review of Challenges, Interventions, and Future Directions" was accepted into this year’s CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
Links to the CHI 2024 research paper and the Scholarly Impact of the Week interview can be found in our bio.
#tecilab #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #technologyresearch #acmchi2024 #digitalhealth #mentalhealth #childcomputerinteraction #interactiondesign #designingforchildren #snapshotofsiat #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram
We are thrilled to announce that Jillian Warren, Alissa Antle, Alexandra Kitson and Alireza Davoodi have just been awarded the 2023 Best Paper Award at the ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC) for their paper “A codesign study exploring needs, strategies, and opportunities for digital health platforms to address pandemic-related impacts on children and families”. This celebrated journal article appears in the International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction which can be found through a link in our bio. Congratulations @jillian_lane_warren @alissaantle @alexandrakitson and Alireza Davoodi !
#tecilab #tecipublications #children #childcomputerinteraction #interactiondesign #designingforchildren #snapshotofsiat #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #technologyresearch #acmidc2024 #digitalhealth #mentalhealth
Dr. Alissa Antle will be speaking at The UX Innovation Speaker Series, hosted by The Okanagan Visualization & Interaction lab Wednesday May 29th.
Are technology-mediated interventions that help children master their ability to regulation anxiety and attention more or less important than applications that help them learn to read and write? When children use a smart watch to improve their athletic performance, how does it change their sense of identity and agency? Is it ethical for an AI agent embedded in virtual reality to provide emotional support for teens struggling with thoughts of suicide?
Over the last 20 years Alissa has come up against these types of questions, which ask not only what can be done through the development of new interactive technologies but what should be done ethically. As a result, she has developed an interdisciplinary, child-centric approach or framework that she uses to conduct research in child-computer interaction, a subfield of human-computer-interaction (HCI). In this presentation, she will provide an overview of this framework illustrated with examples of novel technical systems, child-focused design methods, and complex field studies that were developed to investigate the ways in which emerging interactive technologies can be part of solutions to key challenges facing children and their well-being in the 21st Century. Alissa’s research contributions are theoretical, applied, design oriented, and most critically addresses not only what can be done technically, but what should be done ethically through responsible technology innovation.
To register follow the link in our bio for the UX Innovation Speaker Series.
#AlissaAntle #tecilab #childcomputerinteraction #interactiondesign #designingforchildren #canadianresearcher #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #SFUgram #hci #cci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #technologyresearch #ubcokanagan #speakerseries #ux
TECI Lab at CHI 2024! Priscilla Lo (MSc) and Alexandra Kitson (Postdoc) attended this year’s ACM CHI conference in Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. This year’s theme was “Surfing the World – reflecting the focus on pushing forth the wave of cutting-edge technology and riding the tide of new developments in human-computer interaction.” Both Priscilla and Alexandra had seven papers between them accepted into this year`s conference. Their research can be read through the link in our bio. Congratulations Priscilla and Alexandra on all your hard work!
#tecilab #tecipublications #AlexKitson #childcomputerinteraction #interactiondesign #designingforchildren #snapshotofsiat #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #technologyresearch #digitalhealth #vrresearchers #participatorydesign #ai #chatbots #autoethnography #acmchi2024
More great news! Priscilla Lo, current TECI Masters student, has had her research paper, An Autoethnographic Reflection of Prompting a Custom GPT Based on Oneself, accepted into this year’s ACM CHI conference! ACM CHI is one of the leading international conferences covering Human Factors in Computing Systems. Priscilla’s thesis work centers around children using generative AI chatbots to better understand how to design for different abilities.
Congratulations Priscilla!
#tecilab #tecipublications #children #childcomputerinteraction #interactiondesign #designingforchildren #snapshotofsiat #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #technologyresearch #ai #chatbots #autoethnography #acmchi2024
We are excited to share that Alexandra Kitson, TECI’s current Postdoc, and her team have not one but TWO papers accepted for this upcoming ACM CHI conference! ACM CHI is one of the leading international conferences covering Human Factors in Computing Systems. Alex and her team explore innovative digital health solutions to reshape the future of mental well-being. In “I Call Upon a Friend”, the team went to two different high schools to unravel the challenges youth face in mastering emotion regulation skills and co-designed virtual reality’s potential to transform therapeutic interventions for youth.
Congratulations Alexandra and her team of HCI Researchers!
#tecilab #tecipublications #AlissaAntle #AlexKitson #children #childcomputerinteraction #interactiondesign #designingforchildren #snapshotofsiat #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #technologyresearch #digitalhealth #vrresearchers #participatorydesign #acmchi2024
Come work with us!
Who You Are
You are a current SFU student or recent graduate who is pursuing a career in web development or graphic design. You have at least 1 year of web development experience working with existing WordPress plugins as well as custom plugins developed for websites. You are a self starter and have strong communication skills. You have an eye for design and can create user friendly web experiences. Experience with web front-end development with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as well as back-end development with PHP and working with remote Apache servers through SSH.
What You’ll Do
You will be responsible for updating, managing and maintaining back-ups of WordPress websites’ back-end including plugins, tools, and database, identify and implement plug-ins to support searchable database for academic publications, monitored websites’ performance and handle troubleshooting and WordPress issues.
You must be available to attend meetings and provide progress reports, be a strong self starter, have a clear and timely communication style and be able to work with minimal supervision.
See the link in our bio to apply.
#tecilab #teciishiring #research #werehiring #academiclife #wordpress #tech #siatspotlight #siat #simonfraseru #simonfraseruniversity #canadianuniversities #sfugraduatestudent
🚨Research participants needed 🚨
Why we need you:
We want to learn about how young people use VRChat when they’re dealing with big emotions and how you envision social VR could be used to better support youth mental health. We are looking for youth aged 13-24 years old who have a trust rank of “new user” or above to participate.
This study has two parts:
Part 1 - Expression of interest online survey that will take about 10 minutes.
Part 2 - Interview in VRChat itself to talk about and walk us through your experiences for 30-60 minutes.
Honorarium: by completing the interview, you will receive a gift card.
For more information: send a DM or go directly to the expression of interest form through the link in our bio
If you know any young users of VRChat, we would really appreciate if you could share this info with them as well 🙂
#research #sfu #emotions #vrchat #teens
It’s National Postdoc Appreciation Week! We would like to shout out our appreciation for TECI’s own Alexandra Kitson. Her area of interest centers around digital health for adolescents and is currently working on designing virtual reality-based emotion regulation supports for teens.
To learn more about the amazing work Alexandra is up to, see the links in our bio for their most recent list of publications and check out SFU’s article celebrating other SFU PostDocs.
Photo courtesy of SFU.
@alexandrakitson #AlexKitson #tecilab #sfu #snapshotsofsiat #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #researcher #postdoc #SFUcommunity #SFUpostdoctoralassociation #sfugraduatestudent
Congratulations to Jillian L. Warren, Alissa N. Antle, Alexandra Kitson and Alireza Davoodi for their publication “A codesign study exploring needs, strategies, and opportunities for digital health platforms to address pandemic-related impacts on children and families” in the International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction.
Abstract
In this paper we contribute seven design opportunities for future digital health platforms, like Private Social Networks (PSNs), focused on supporting the (un)met mental health and socioemotional needs of children (8-12 years old) and their supporting adults (parents and teachers) in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. These were derived from the thematic analysis of a two-phase co-design study with children, their parents, and their teachers (Phase 1), and employees at our industry partner Curatio.me (Phase 2). Our thematic findings contribute understanding about the types of experiences children, families and educators have had, and open the conversation around designing digital health platforms that can support mental health and socioemotional wellbeing in children and their supporting adults. Through individualized tracking, social capabilities, and secure, vetted sources of support, PSNs offer unique opportunities to (1) provide children with a safe space to share, reflect and come together, (2) extend existing practices related to SEL across children’s changing contexts and developmental needs, (2) support an integrated digital ecosystem of care across different stakeholders that allows for engagement and targeted interventions, and (3) support niche or marginalized communities in gaining access to relevant, meaningful and identity-specific support that may not otherwise be available.
Find the article at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212868923000338?dgcid=coauthor
#tecilab #tecipublications #JillianWarren #AlissaAntle #AlexKitson #AlirezaDavoodi #children #childcomputerinteraction #designingforchildren #snapshotofsiat #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #technologyresearch #digitalhealth #intergenerationalcodesign
The 22nd annual ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference is well underway and TECI lab members have started the week strong. Dr. Alexandra Kitson is seen here giving her presentation regarding her work in the VR space and its potential in cognitive reappraisal methods for youth. TECI Director Dr. Alissa Antle was part of a successful panel discussion on the impact equity, diversity and inclusion has in research. Check out our stories for more snapshots of us at the conference!
#IDC2023 #AlexKitson #tecilabontheroad #tecilabconference #tecilab #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #childcomputerinteraction #technologydesign #technologyresearch #humancenteredcomputing #HCItheory #emotionregulation #mentalhealth #technologyenabledintervention #cognitivereappraisal #psychology #postivepsychology #virtualreality #VR #VRresearch #virtualrealityresearch
Congratulations are in order for Dr. Alexandra Kitson. She has been selected to join SFU’s Postdoctoral Association (PDA) Executive Committee this fall.
We are excited to celebrate Dr. Kitson in her upcoming role within the PDA as she brings years of service in past roles dedicated to building a stronger community and support for graduate students. Dr. Kitson continually demonstrates a passion for community building and advocacy for the SFU community. One of her goals as VP is to bring together postdocs across all SFU’s campuses. Keep up the great work Alex!
@alexandrakitson #AlexKitson #tecilab #sfu #snapshotsofsiat #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #researcher #postdoc #SFUcommunity #SFUpostdoctoralassociation #sfugraduatestudent
We are proud of TECI’s PhD student Annemiek Veldhuis for hosting a successful workshop at this year`s ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems that took place in Hamburg, Germany, at the end of April. Annemiek, alongside Kim Sauvé, Hans Brombacher, Rosa van Koningsbruggen, Steven Houben, and Jason Alexander, hosted a workshop on the practical implementation of Data Physicalizations across the domains of personal informatics, office vitality, sustainability, and education. Keep an eye open for future installments of this workshop!
CHI is an annual conference that brings together researchers and practitioners from all over the world and from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and positionalities, who have as an overarching goal to make the world a better place with interactive digital technologies.
#CHI2023 #SIGCHI #sfusiat #tecilab #technologyresearch #tecilabontheroad #tecilabconference #dataphysicalization #HCI #phys_fromt2p #informatics #officevitality #education #sustainability
Exciting news from the TECI Lab!
Congratulations Alexandra Kitson, Alissa N. Antle and Petr Slovak on your recently accepted publication to the 22nd annual ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference.
This year, IDC will take place at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois from June 19-23. IDC is the premier international conference for researchers, educators and practitioners to share the latest research findings, innovative methodologies and new technologies in the areas of inclusive child-centered design, learning and interaction. IDC’23 is hosted by the Center for Computer Science and Learning Sciences at Northwestern University.
#AlexKitson #tecilab #sfu #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #childcomputerinteraction #technologydesign #technologyresearch #humancenteredcomputing #HCItheory #psychology #postivepsychology #virtualreality #VR #VRresearch #virtualrealityresearch #idc2023
We are excited to share that Sadhbh Kenny, a current Masters student at the TECI lab, is the recipient of the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship - Masters award.
We are thrilled to see Sadhbh being recognized for her academic excellence, research potential and active involvement in academic life. She is excited to use this award to support her research investigating youth critical digital literacies and empowerment.
#tecilab #teciresearch #tecilabawards #sfu #snapshotsofsiat #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #sfugraduatestudent #researcher
Dr. Alexandra Kitson, a Postdoc Researcher at the TECI lab, getting ready to do a practice run of her co-design workshop, Virtual Reality to Support Cognitive Reappraisal, happening in early April. Dr. Kitson’s research explores the potential of VR to provide unique opportunities for cognitive reappraisal skills development in youth.
#AlexKitson #tecilab #sfu #lablife #snapshotsofsiat #siat #SFUSurrey #simonfraserU #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #childcomputerinteraction #technologydesign #technologyresearch #virtualreality #VR #VRresearch #virtualrealityresearch #postdoc #criticalmaking #technologyethics #psychology #postivepsychology #emotionalregulation #cognitivereappraisal
Dr. Alissa Antle, SFU SIAT Professor and TECI Director, has been recognized alongside two previous graduate students for their research contributions to the field of Tangible Computing at the ACM 17th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (ACM TEI) that occurred over February 26 to March 1 in Warsaw, Poland. Ms. Lesley Xie (MSc, 2008), Dr. Alissa Antle and Mr. Nima Motamedi (MA 2008) received the 2023 TEI Long Term Impact Award for their 2008 paper "Are Tangibles More Fun?: Comparing Children’s Enjoyment and Engagement Using Physical, Graphical and Tangible User Interfaces". Awards given in this category recognize significant and long-term impacts of a research paper in the field of tangible, embedded and/or embodied human-computer interaction. In particular, this paper challenged early ideas of some of the potential benefits of tangible computing and put forward a rigorous methodology for studying benefits in the context of children’s spatial problem solving.
First Picture: Dr. Antle, pictured with TECI lab members, with her award which was brought back from the TEI conference from PhD student Annemiek Veldhuis
Second Picture: 2023 TEI Long Term Impact Award for the 2008 paper "Are Tangibles More Fun?: Comparing Children’s Enjoyment and Engagement Using Physical, Graphical and Tangible User Interfaces".
#TEI2023 #SIGCH I#AlissaAntle #tecilab #tecilabawards #childcomputerinteraction #interactiondesign #designingforchildren #canadianresearcher #sfu t #siat #SFUSurrey #SFUgram #hci #humancomputerinteraction #hciresearch #researcher #technologydesign #technologyresearch #surreybc