St Andrews HCI Research Group

We are thrilled to be welcoming so many new faces to the SACHI group, namely:

Sachin Yadav, who is focusing on uncovering how technology has an increasingly pervasive impact on our relationship, and ability to engage, with work; particularly in online labour markets and the broader gig economy.

Jess McGowan, who is starting a PhD with SACHI and myself around the idea of TTRPG UX.

Tom Metcalfe, who is researching how sustainable tangible embodied interactions can be inspired by and connected to place.

Tilcia Woodville-Price, who has joined us to do a PhD in health data visualisation, in collaboration with the School of Medicine.

Paul Cox, who is focusing on topics related to Web privacy with a keen interest in studying user perceptions of privacy as the browse the Web.

Title: The Great Shrinking Lake 

MSc HCI Project 2023-2024 by Xiaojun Huang 

This project aims to explore how interactive data physicalization can guide the public in understanding current climate change issues in an engaging and enjoyable way, and bridge the temporal and spatial gaps of specific climate change issues, ultimately raising public awareness and encouraging participation in climate change issues. 

This project focuses on the changes in the Great Salt Lake in Utahn, U.S. from 1990 to 2022. The prototype visualizes the lake contours and the flights passing over the lake area over the years. These data are visualized on transparent acrylic layers through laser cutting. It utilized a series of lighting effects and interactive elements to enhance the users understanding and engagement with the data. Observing the changes in these two data over time can also help users gain insights into the relationship between human activities and the environment. 

Inspired by an article from NASA https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150187/the-great-shrinking-lake 

Supervised by Dr. Loraine Clarke 

https://sachi.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/  

Our PhD student, Yaxiong Lei, along with collaborators (Shijing He, Dr. Xiao Zhan, Dr. Ruba Abu-Salma, and Prof Jose Such) from King’s College London and (Dr. Chi Zhang and Dr. Juan Ye) from the University of St. Andrews, presented a research poster titled Privacy Perspectives and Practices of Chinese Smart Home Device Developers at the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS) 2024. This research focuses on the privacy challenges faced by developers in China, highlighting key differences in privacy approaches between Western and non-WEIRD countries.

As part of this effort, Yaxiong and his colleagues explored the balance between legal compliance, user experience, and privacy concerns in the rapidly evolving Chinese smart home industry.

Poster Presentation:

Poster_PETS2024

In addition to presenting their research, Yaxiong Lei co-organized HotPETs  Session A with Shijing He at HotPETS 2024, titled Raising Awareness of the Privacy and Safety Challenges Faced by Smart Home Product Teams in Non-WEIRD Countries. This session, held in the Main Room, brought together hundreds of experts to discuss the privacy implications in non-Western contexts, providing valuable insights for future developments in privacy technology.

Session A Details:

• Date: July 19
• Time: 10:40–12:00
• Room: Main Room

HotPETS2024 Presentation:

HotPETS_PETS2024

PPT_HotPETS_PETS2024

More info:

1. PETS2024 program, https://petsymposium.org/2024/program.php