Yoojung Kim

Understanding Participatory Hashtag Practices on Instagram: A Case Study of Weekend Hashtag Project

Instagram, a popular global mobile photo-sharing platform, involves various user interactions centered on posting images accompanied by hashtags. Participatory hashtagging, one of these diverse tagging practices, has great potential to be a communication channel for various organizations and corporations that would like to interact with users on social media. In this paper, we aim to characterize participatory hashtagging behaviors on Instagram by conducting a case study of its representative hashtagging practice, the Weekend Hashtag Project, or #WHP. By conducting a user study using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we analyzed the way Instagram users respond to participation calls and identified factors that motivate users to take part in the project. Based on these findings, we provide design strategies for any interested parties to interact with users on social media.

Use octopus launcher like your hands: joystick-based smartphone control solution for motor impaired people in electric wheelchairs

The rapid spread of smartphones based on touch interfaces is now playing a serious role in the digital divide to the physically disabled, especially to people with motor impairments. Motor impairments often result in muscle weakness, poor stamina, lack of muscle control, or total paralysis making it hard to fine- control fingers, which is essential to touch interactions. Through observation and in-depth interviews, we reached a design decision that an electric wheelchair joystick is a very viable interface device for users with motor impairments. Based on the findings, we developed Octopus Launcher, which is a solution to help motor impaired users to utilize smartphones by controlling the cursor on the smartphone screen using the joystick. Octopus Launcher takes advantage of the eight directional controls of a joystick readily equipped in electric wheelchairs. The launcher is designed to control various touch interactions as well as hardware buttons by use of a joystick on a wheelchair. Octopus Launcher is an interaction framework that enables many disabled people who can use the eight-direction joystick to control a smartphone.

Can a Machine Tend to Teenagers' Emotional Needs?: A Study with Conversational Agents

As teen stress and its negative consequences are on the rise, several studies have attempted to tend to their emotional needs through conversational agents (CAs). However, these attempts have focused on increasing human-like traits of agents, thereby overlooking the possible advantage of machine inherits, such as lack of emotion or the ability to perform calculations. Therefore, this paper aims to shed light on the machine inherits of CAs to help satisfy the emotional needs of teenagers. We conducted a workshop with 20 teenagers, followed by in-depth interviews with six of the participants. We discovered that teenagers expected CAs to (1) be good listeners due to their lack of emotion, (2) keep their secrets by being separated from the human world, and (3) give them advice based on the analysis of sufficient data. Based on our findings, we offer three design guidelines to build CAs.

Effect of Lifestyle Modification Using a Smartphone Application on Obesity With Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Short-term, Randomized Controlled Study

Objectives To investigate the short-term effects of a lifestyle modification intervention based on a mobile application (app) linked to a hospital electronic medical record (EMR) system on weight reduction and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Methods We prospectively enrolled adults (aged >20 years) with witnessed snoring or sleep apnea from a sleep clinic. The patients were randomized into the app user (n=24) and control (n=23) groups. The mobile app was designed to collect daily lifestyle data by wearing a wrist activity tracker and reporting dietary intake. A summary of the lifestyle data was displayed on the hospital EMR and was reviewed. In the control group, the lifestyle modification was performed as per usual practice. All participants underwent peripheral arterial tonometry (WatchPAT) and body mass index (BMI) measurements at baseline and after 4 weeks of follow-up. Results Age and BMI did not differ significantly between the two groups. While we observed a significant decrease in the BMI of both groups, the decrease was greater in the app user group (P <0.001). Apnea-hypopnea index, respiratory distress index, and oxygenation distress index did not change significantly in both groups. However, the proportion of sleep spent snoring at >45 dB was significantly improved in the app user group alone (P =0.014). In either group, among the participants with successful weight reduction, the apnea-hypopnea index was significantly reduced after 4 weeks (P =0.015). Multiple regression analyses showed that a reduction in the apnea-hypopnea index was significantly associated with BMI. Conclusion Although a short-term lifestyle modification approach using a mobile app was more effective in achieving weight reduction, improvement in OSA was not so significant. Long-term efficacy of this mobile app should be evaluated in the future studies.