Niels van Berkel

Aalborg University · Department of Computer Science

The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) is used by scientists from various disciplines to gather insights into the intra-psychic elements of human life. Researchers have used the ESM in a wide variety of studies, with the method seeing increased popularity. Mobile technologies have enabled new possibilities for the use of the ESM, while simultaneously...

Researchers who analyse smartphone usage logs often make the assumption that users who lock and unlock their phone for brief periods of time (e.g., less than a minute) are continuing the same " session " of interaction. However, this assumption is not empirically validated, and in fact different studies apply different arbitrary thresholds in their...

The Experience Sampling Method is used to capture high-quality in situ data from study participants. This method has become popular in studies involving smartphones, where it is often adapted to motivate participation through the use of gamification techniques. However, no work to date has evaluated whether gamification actually affects the quality...

Research claims that users value the battery life of their smartphones, but no study to date has attempted to quantify battery value and how this value changes according to users' current context and needs. Previous work has quantified the monetary value that smartphone users place on their data (e.g., location), but not on battery life. Here we pr...

Quantified Selfers are individuals that take a proactive stance to collect and act upon their personal data. However, these endeavours towards a better insight into one's life often do not last long. An important challenge for QS is sustaining data collection over a long period of time (i.e., months, years, decades). In this paper we discuss the dr...

Online reviews help people make better decisions. Review platforms usually depend on typed input, where leaving a good review requires significant effort because users must carefully organize and articulate their thoughts. This may discourage users from leaving comprehensive and high-quality reviews, especially when they are on the go. To address t...

Successful collaboration in computer-mediated teams requires awareness among group members of each other’s knowledge, skills, and goals. Large Language Models (LLMs) can play a mediating role in establishing and maintaining this awareness among group members. In an in-situ study, we explored the impact of an LLM-based chatbot on social and cognitiv...

Online reviews help people make better decisions. Review platforms usually depend on typed input, where leaving a good review requires significant effort because users must carefully organize and articulate their thoughts. This may discourage users from leaving comprehensive and high-quality reviews, especially when they are on the go. To address t...

This paper presents an analysis of different interaction techniques used in interactive data visualisations to support end-users in visual analytics tasks. Our selection of interaction techniques is based on prior work and consists of the interaction techniques Select, Explore, Reconfigure, Encode, Filter, Abstract/Elaborate, and Connect. Through a...

As misinformation increasingly proliferates on social media platforms, it has become crucial to explore how to best convey automated news credibility assessments to end-users, and foster trust in fact-checking AIs. In this paper, we investigate how model-agnostic, natural language explanations influence trust and reliance on a fact-checking AI. We...

Young adults may feel embarrassed when disclosing sensitive information to their parents, while parents might similarly avoid sharing sensitive aspects of their lives with their children. How to design interactive interventions that are sensitive to the needs of both younger and older family members in mediating sensitive information remains an ope...

Despite the widely acknowledged importance of well-being, our well-being can regularly be under pressure from external sources. Work is often attributed as a source of stress and dissatisfaction, so, unsurprisingly, extensive efforts are made to measure and improve our well-being in this context. This paper examines opportunities to better design s...

How can we ensure that Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) research outcomes are ethical, fair, and robust? While fairness in machine learning (ML) has gained traction in recent years, it remains unexplored, or sometimes an afterthought, in the context of pervasive and ubiquitous computing. This workshop aims to discuss fairness in UbiComp research and...

Welcome to this issue of the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, which brings together contributions from the Mobile Human-Computer Interaction (MHCI) community. This issue showcases innovations in research focused on mobile, wearable, and personal devices. Research in MHCI encompasses both technical innovations and social conside...

With the rise of autonomous multi-robot systems, the role of the robot operator shifts from controlling and observing a single robot to that of a supervisor overseeing multiple robots. Previous studies suggest that timely warnings of problematic events improve a user’s ability to monitor multiple robots, however, research has not examined the influ...

This study investigates the effectiveness of Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) in supporting mindfulness techniques for smoking cessation. We conducted a month-long between-subject study involving nine participants, comparing a VUI on smart speakers against an augmented VUI (a blend of VUI and Graphical User Interface) on mobile devices. Specifically, w...

Smart home cameras (SHCs) offer convenience and security to users, but also cause greater privacy concerns than other sensors due to constant collection and processing of sensitive data. Moreover, privacy perceptions may differ between primary users and other users at home. To address these issues, we developed three physical cover prototypes for S...

Individuals are increasingly interested in and responsible for assessing their own health. This study evaluates a fictional AI dermatologist for assistance in the self-assessment of moles. Building on the Signalling Theory, we tested the effect of textual descriptions provided by an AI dermatologist, as manipulated across ‘Ability’, ‘Integrity,’ an...

When searching and browsing the web, more and more of the information we encounter is generated or mediated through large language models (LLMs). This can be looking for a recipe, getting help on an essay, or looking for relationship advice. Yet, there is limited understanding of how individuals perceive advice provided by these LLMs. In this paper...

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a large online community where users collaborate to map the world. In addition to manual edits, the OSM mapping database is regularly modified by bots and automated edits. In this paper, we seek to better understand how people and bots interact and conflict with each other. We start by analysing over 15 years of mailing list...

Designing effective and user-centred interactions between humans and AI systems poses fundamental challenges. The behaviour of AI systems is complex and uncertain, making it difficult to envision and craft optimal user experiences. Improved frameworks are needed to guide the design of human-AI interaction. In this paper, we develop and evaluate pro...

Users ask large language models (LLMs) to help with their homework, for lifestyle advice, or for support in making challenging decisions. Yet LLMs are often unable to fulfil these requests, either as a result of their technical inabilities or policies restricting their responses. To investigate the effect of LLMs denying user requests, we evaluate...

Despite repeated reports of socially inappropriate and dangerous chatbot behaviour, chatbots are increasingly used as mental health services in providing support for young people. In sensitive settings as such, the notion of perceived moral agency (PMA) is crucial, given its critical role in human-human interactions. In this paper, we investigate t...

Medical training is a key element in maintaining and improving today’s healthcare standards. Given the nature of medical work, students must master not only theory but also develop their hands-on abilities and skills in clinical practice. Medical simulators play an increasing role in supporting the active learning of these students due to their abi...

The value of personal health data continues to be a debated topic in HCI and society more broadly. We investigate the monetary value people attach to their health data. Using a custom mobile app for 14 days with 55 participants, we collected health data (sleep duration, sleep quality, pain intensity, wake-up times) and a daily monetary data valuati...

The artifact accompanying the paper “Understanding Developers Well-Being and Productivity: a 2-year Longitudinal Analysis during the COVID-19 Pandemic” provides a comprehensive set of tools, data, and scripts that were utilized in the longitudinal study. Spanning 24 months, from April 2020 to April 2022, the study delves into the shifts in well-bei...

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant and enduring shifts in various aspects of life, including increased flexibility in work arrangements. In a longitudinal study, spanning 24 months with six measurement points from April 2020 to April 2022, we explore changes in well-being, productivity, social contacts, and needs of software engineers du...

While self-report studies are common in Human-Computer Interaction research, few evaluations have assessed their long term use. We present a longitudinal analysis of a web-based workplace application that collects well-being assessments and offers suggestions to improve individual, team, and organisational performance. Our dataset covers 219 users....

Due to their abundance of sensors, today’s smartphones can act as a scientific tool to collect contextual information on users’ emotional, social, and physical behaviour. With the continuously growing amount of data that can be unobtrusively extracted from smartphones, mood-tracking and inference methods have become more feasible. However, this doe...

From straightforward interactions to full-fledged open-ended dialogues, Conversational User Interfaces (CUIs) are designed to support end-user goals and follow their requests. As CUIs become more capable, investigating how to restrict or limit their ability to carry out user requests becomes increasingly critical. Currently, such intentionally cons...

The field of human-computer interaction covers a broad set of methods, viewpoints, and application areas. While the real-world impact of our research is typically impossible to predict, HCI researchers generally seek for their work to have implications that go beyond an individual paper. For example, a study on the use of datalogging tools by hospi...

Emergency services organizations are committed to the challenging task of saving people in distress and minimizing harm across a wide range of events, including accidents, natural disasters, and search and rescue. The teams responsible for these operations use advanced equipment to support their missions. Given the risks and the time pressure of th...

In contrast to the adoption of personal assistants, social robots have yet to break into the domestic market. Several manufacturers have introduced and quickly retracted their social robots for the home. We report on a survey study (N= 50) to understand potential users' perceptions towards these social robots. Participants were presented with video...

Clinical needs and technological advances have resulted in increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in clinical decision support. However, such support can introduce new and amplify existing cognitive biases. Through contextual inquiry and interviews, we set out to understand the use of an existing AI support system by ophthalmologists. We ide...

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the daily lives of software engineers were heavily disrupted as they were abruptly forced to work remotely from home. To better understand and contrast typical working days in this new reality with work in pre-pandemic times, we conducted one exploratory (N = 192) and one confir...

Promising stories of AI have set sky‐high expectations for its ability to transform medical practice. However, living up to even the more modest expectations will require careful consideration of how medical professionals will interact with this technology and how we can successfully embed AI systems within day‐to‐day clinical practice. This chapte...

Good mental health is imperative for one’s wellbeing. While clinical mental disorder treatments exist, self-care is an essential aspect of mental health. This paper explores the use and perceived trust of conversational agents, chatbots, in the context of crowdsourced self-care through a between-subjects study (N = 80). One group used a standalone...

Background Accurate camera and hand‐eye calibration are essential to ensure high‐quality results in image‐guided surgery applications. The process must also be able to be undertaken by a nonexpert user in a surgical setting. Purpose This work seeks to identify a suitable method for tracked stereo laparoscope calibration within theater. Methods A...

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems have been increasingly used to make decision-making processes faster, more accurate, and more efficient. However, such systems are also at constant risk of being attacked. While the majority of attacks targeting AI-based applications aim to manipulate classifiers or training data and alter the output of an AI mo...

The design and evaluation of accessibility technology is a core component of the computer science landscape, aiming to ensure that digital innovations are accessible to all. One of the most prominent and long-lasting areas of accessibility research focuses on motor impairments—deficiencies that affect the ability to move, manipulate objects, and in...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have been increasingly used to make decision-making processes faster, more accurate, and more efficient. However, such systems are also at constant risk of being attacked. While the majority of attacks targeting AI-based applications aim to manipulate classifiers or training data and alter the output of an AI mo...

BACKGROUND Low engagement rates with digital mental health interventions are a major challenge in the field. Multicomponent digital interventions aim to improve engagement by adding components such as social networks. Although social networks may be engaging, they may not be sufficient to improve clinical outcomes or lead users to engage with key t...

Background Low engagement rates with digital mental health interventions are a major challenge in the field. Multicomponent digital interventions aim to improve engagement by adding components such as social networks. Although social networks may be engaging, they may not be sufficient to improve clinical outcomes or lead users to engage with key t...

Bringing AI technology into clinical practice has proved challenging for system designers and medical professionals alike. The academic literature has, for example, highlighted the dangers of black-box decision-making and biased datasets. Further, end-users’ ability to validate a system’s performance often disappears following the introduction of A...

Due to their widespread adoption, frequent use, and diverse sensor capabilities, smartphones have become a powerful tool for academic studies focused on sampling human behaviour. While packing many technological advances, the need for researchers to develop their own software packages in order to run smartphone-based studies has resulted in a clear...

The topic of algorithmic fairness is of increasing importance to the Human-Computer Interaction research community following accumulating concerns regarding the use and deployment of Artificial Intelligence-based systems. How we conduct research on algorithmic fairness directly influences our inferences and conclusions regarding algorithmic fairnes...

A new generation of wearable devices now enable end-users to keep track of their sleep patterns. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of 82 participants who used a state-of-the-art sleep tracking ring for an average of 65 days. We conducted interviews and questionnaires to understand changes to their lifestyle, their perceptions of the tracke...

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically impacted how work is conducted, shifting many jobs to a hybrid nature with an emphasis on work-from-home. This shift has, however, not affected all job types equally. In this position paper, we argue that the advancement of collaborative robots in the industrial setting presents a unique and underexplored oppor...

'Soundscapes' are an increasingly active topic in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and interaction design. From mapping acoustic environments through sound recordings to designing compositions as interventions, soundscapes appear as a recurring theme across a wide body of HCI research. Based on this growing interest, now is the time to explore the...

This workshop paper outlines a conceptual browser plugin that enables crowdworkers to store and later rapidly provide personal information frequently requested in crowdsourcing tasks. Personal data, including demographic data such as age and ethnicity, as well as responses to commonly used personality-related survey instruments, is often critical t...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the technological potential to transform healthcare by assisting medical personal in their everyday workflow. For successful collaboration and adoption of AI technology, end-users need to trust the AI system. In this paper we outline the use of Relational Signalling Theory, an established theory on Human-Human trust...

Interactive public displays are versatile two-way interfaces between the digital world and passersby. They can convey information and harvest purposeful data from their users. Surprisingly little work has exploited public displays for collecting tagged data that might be useful beyond a single application. In this work, we set to fill this gap and...

Semantic priming has been studied for nearly 50 years across various experimental manipulations and theoretical frameworks. These studies provide insight into the cognitive underpinnings of semantic representations in both healthy and clinical populations; however, they have suffered from several issues including generally low sample sizes and a la...

Theoretical work in morphological typology offers the possibility of measuring morphological diversity on a continuous scale. However, literature in Natural Language Processing (NLP) typically labels a whole language with a strict type of morphology, e.g. fusional or agglutinative. In this work, we propose to reduce the rigidity of such claims, by...

Non-invasive inspection and imaging techniques are used to acquire non-visible information embedded in samples. Typical applications include medical imaging, defect evaluation, and electronics testing. However, existing methods have specific limitations, including safety risks ( e.g. , X-ray), equipment costs ( e.g. , optical tomography), personnel...

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) establishes a right for individuals to get access to information about automated decision-making based on their personal data. However, the application of this right comes with caveats. This paper investigates how European insurance companies have navigated these obstacles. By recruiting volunteering in...

The increasing capabilities of Artificial Intelligence enable the support of users in a continuously growing number of applications. Current systems typically dictate that interaction between user input and AI output unfolds in discrete steps, as is the case with, for example, conversational agents. Novel scenarios require AI systems to adapt and r...

Technology plays an increasingly prominent role in emotional lives. Researchers have begun to study how people use devices to cope with and shape emotions: a phenomenon that has been called Digital Emotion Regulation. We report a study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon young people's digital habits and emotion regulation behaviors. We con...

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical support systems is increasing. In this article, we focus on AI support for continuous interaction scenarios. A thorough understanding of end-user behaviour during these continuous human-AI interactions, in which user input is sustained over time and during which AI suggestions can appear at any ti...

Tangible input has been explored as a means for participants to self-report experiences while minimising disruption and allowing for discrete data collection. However, the accuracy of these tangible devices has not been studied systematically. We compared six input techniques, including slider, slider with resistance, capacitive touch slider, squee...

We present UbiNIRS, a software framework for rapid development and deployment of applications using miniaturized near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). NIRS is an emerging material sensing technology that has shown a great potential in recent work from the HCI community such as in situ pill testing. However, existing methods require significant program...