Hey, there!
On this page, you will find two examples of my research regarding interaction design and social justice.
These projects represent the focus of my work, which centers on issues of access by creating interactive technologies that protect, enable, and empower vulnerable demographics through technology.
As well, my work aims to maximize impact through social justice applications particularly for old and young users, as well as for those with disabilities.
Example overview:
Technologies for Successful Aging - Task leader, GRANT writer
Since 2015, this National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation (NIDILRR) Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) has explored how an augmented reality tool and physical artifacts can support older adults aging with disabilities to age in place through the use of the Internet of Things.
Currently, this project is developing guidelines for industry that support older adult use of smart home technologies to prevent this demographic from being “left behind” technologically and creating a physical kit supporting the augmented reality tool that helps older adults select, set up, maintain, and troubleshoot Internet of Things devices.
Esports player health and safety - PrincipAL Investigator, instructor of record
Working with collaborators from Northside Hospital and esports teams across professional and collegiate organizations, this research focuses on the primary challenges and opportunities facing sustainable, equitable, and healthy participation for players of esports.
Currently, a holistic wellness tool is in development to support K-12 students in esports science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) engagements, as well as supporting professional athletes across aspects of mental, social, emotional, and physical health.
Ex. 1: Technologies for Successful Aging TechSAge RERC
Empowering older adults with disabilities to age in place and stay connected with their community using
an augmented reality tool
The research space
A lesser explored area of research lies in how to support older adults with disabilities age in place - such as in their own home - independently and with dignity.
An exciting opportunity for technology
The Internet of Things (IoT; e.g. smart bulbs, smart thermostats) stands to greatly benefit older adults with mobility disabilities by allowing them to independently control their home environment from wherever they are.
The problem
IoT devices are difficult for even the most tech savvy of us to setup, maintain, and troubleshoot - let alone decide between various brands, form factors, and functions for purchase.
For an older adult experiencing both a disability and age-related decline, it’s critical that users are able to make accurate purchase decisions based on their individual needs in the context of their very own home.
Choosing an IoT device is tough
With so many IoT offerings, it can be overwhelming to know what to buy.
Our augmented reality tool allows users to see and compare products by placing life-size virtual devices in their own homes.
As well, the tool demonstrates how the device would work in the context of a user’s home with regards to microphone range, WiFi requirements, access to electrical power, and more placement considerations that older adults often overlook.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, this project has taken on added meaning.
Older adults, and particularly those with disabilities, are at high risk for severe outcomes due to a COVID-19 infection.
IoT technologies not only can enable older adults to live more independently in their homes, but also support mental and emotional wellness by facilitating remote, social interactions over these technologies (e.g. Facebook Portal).
The intervention
A great benefit of augmented reality (AR) is in “revealing the invisible” and much of IoT is, indeed, invisible.
Over several years worth of a participatory, user-centered design process, we engaged with a cohort of older adults with mobility impairments to co-design an augmented reality tool to help older adults understand if and how IoT is right for them.
We have explored older adult current awareness of IoT and smart home assistants, their understanding of an augmented reality experience, the utility of an augmented reality support tool and its associated physical artifacts, and the impact on mental models, feelings of confidence and empowerment, as well as the ability of the tool to impart long-lasting knowledge transfer regarding how networks, the Internet, and these tools work. We also conducted a scientific study to determine the utility of this tool over existing, provided documentation by manufacturers and found the AR tool to have a number of benefits on understanding, confidence, and feelings of agency.
How and where to place Alexa?
The above video demonstrates how the AR tool reveals a life-sized - but virtual Alexa - in the context of a real home. The green shading indicates when users have chosen an acceptable place for Alexa to sit, based on its size and microphone requirements.
Can Alexa fit here?
The above video demonstrates where the virtual Alexa cannot fit. We found that older adults prioritize placing Alexa in a way that appeals to their aesthetic, but not necessarily in a way that actually works for Alexa. Our AR tool reveals a red shader showing that Alexa can’t fit in this small bookshelf and that she is too close to the wall to have her microphone work properly.
Just how many of these things do I need?
The above video demonstrates the maximum number of Alexas that could be placed in the AwareHome, based on the home assistant’s microphone coverage, power supply, and WiFi requirements. It’s important for users to be able to visualize this in the context of a real home to make more accurate decisions regarding their daily use of these devices and what they are willing to afford.
Troubleshooting Alexa by learning the meaning of her light rings
The above video demonstrates how the AR tool can show on a virtual, life-sized Alexa the meaning of the different light rings it might display. Using AR marker cards that demonstrate different states of Alexa, users can see in real-time what the device might look like when it’s experiencing a problem. Many IoT devices have “invisible” interfaces. This AR tool reveals and reinforces those hidden meanings.
Hey, that’s me on the left! I’m leading a study session with an MS HCI student and one of our dedicated participants.
We designed this tool with several social justice and accessibility considerations in mind
Light weight and low cost - the application runs on a smartphone and the free physical artifacts can be printed at home, promoting more equitable access to a wider variety of users
Supporting mental models - this tool makes simple the interplay between devices over the Internet, so that users can feel empowered by their new knowledge and instill the confidence they need to learn more and maintain their own technologies
Lessening the digital divide - by empowering users with more accurate mental models, we can help to ensure that vulnerable demographics are not left further behind by technologies that they stand to benefit from
AR tool specifics
We have produced prototypes and working applications that use accessible, guided user interfaces to:
Explain a variety of IoT products, their cost, and what other components a user may need
Demonstrate through augmented reality how these products would work specifically in the context of a real home (e.g. The AwareHome)
Establish accurate mental models to support user understanding for how requests to IoT occur over a network, the Internet, and a company’s server (e.g. for Amazon Alexa) so that users have some understanding for where to begin troubleshooting
Enable a “helper”, such as a trusted friend or family member, to help a target user remotely setup, maintain, and troubleshoot their IoT so that the user can remain independent and connected, even during the COVID-19 pandemic
With consideration to our user’s needs for accessible physical interface tools due to lowered hand dexterity, we also prototyped several “grabber” tools that allow participants to effectively move the AR place cards around the board, as well as comfortably reach these items from being seated in a wheelchair.
Two 3D printed prototypes demonstrating our “grabber” tools that can reach and pick up augmented reality placement markers for users with limited hand dexterity and from wheelchairs that distance them from a table top.
My role
As task lead, I have been responsible for all aspects of leading this project relating to quarterly reporting and communicating with NIDILRR, submitting follow-on grants to the sponsor, research design and implementation, informing the interaction design and prototyping, as well as data analysis and results dissemination. I have advised multiple Masters HCI students throughout this project.
Findings and results
One contribution of this work was identifying these four key moments of the Internet of Things user experience that can result in users abandoning technologies that could benefit them.
Awareness and discovery - what do I buy and how will it help me?
Initiation of use - how do I properly set this device up with regards to my own personal space and network?
Understanding - what can this device do? What do I need or want it to do? How can it keep me healthy and connected to my community?
Development of trust - will this device work for me long-term? How does this product work and what is it really doing?
Resulting publications
Levy, L, Thompson, B, & Gandy, M. 2020. Contextualizing smart home technologies with augmented reality tools to facilitate aging in place. Presented at the International Society for Gerontechnology. Previously Trondheim, Norway, virtual format.
Levy, L & Gandy, M. 2019. Supporting aging in place with the Internet of Things: meeting challenges of use through augmented reality tools. In Proceedings of the Gerontological Society of America, Austin, Texas.
Levy, L. 2018. Evaluating the role of immersive technologies for training and performance. International Symposiums on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR), Munich, Germany.
Gandy, M, Levy, L, B. Jones, Whi, D, Nair, S. 2018. Using Augmented and Virtual Reality to Support Older Adults in Smart Homes. Presented at the Gerontechnology Conference, St. Petersburg, FL.
Levy, L, & Gandy, M. 2017. Designing Serious Games for Older Adults. Presented at the International Association of Gerontechnology and Geriatrics Conference, San Francisco, CA.
More information
Please see the following poster that I presented at International Society for Gerontology in 2020.
Ex. 2: Equitable and sustainable
esports for all
Enabling holistic wellness and healthy play for K-12 students in esports programs through a technology intervention to support their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical health.
The research space
Esports is a promising way to get K-12 students interested in developing a variety of STEAM skills from hardware and software engineering, graphic and web design, IT and networking, to team leadership, communication, and self-actualization.
At-risk students benefit greatly from participation in esports and gaming clubs and programs in school environments.
The problem
We have little idea for how to properly support student esports athletes across a variety of factors relating to their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical health.
If we want to benefit students from under-served communities, we need to better understand the unique situations they experience in a K-12 environment and how to better support healthy and positive play through gaming programs designed to benefit them.
Enter the VIP Future Experience of Sports team
Our VIP Future Experience of Esports class is made of four sub-teams, each working on a project relating to the impact that esports can have on user experience, health and safety, team performance, and STEAM engagements.
We’re a work in progress
I am Research Director of GEAR (Gaming & Esports Applied Research), which focuses on three primary research pillars of:
Social justice applications of games
Player health and safety
STEAM engagements using gaming and esports
Within this second pillar, the VIP team and I are currently collaborating with our partners from Northside Hospital, the North American Scholastic Esports Federation, and the Georgia Scholastic Esports Foundation, as well as metro Atlanta schools to create a mobile application that allows student esport athletes to quickly input data relating to how they’re feeling and doing.
A particular focus within the design of this application is in data privacy and ownership. While some data may go to the student’s dedicated support staff (e.g. club and program leaders and educators), we believe the data that can empower users to own and impact their own health belongs to them.
This application is being co-designed with our medical, educational, and target stakeholders and with best practices in mind relating to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), health items informed by our collaborating medical professionals, and key instruments helpful to our partner educational professionals.
Prototype evolution
We began by exploring quick, minimally invasive inputs regarding holistic wellness data and perceptions of video game play with a smart watch.
While this was an informative and useful direction to take, we did realize that our target population (under-served schools) would not necessarily have access to this kind of technology. Regardless, exploring this interaction design regarding health inputs on a wearable was useful for our next step.
Currently
We are working with our collaborators of students, educators, school administrators, medical doctors, trainers, psychologists, counselors, and even professional esports athletes to create a web application that can be accessed by any user with an Internet connection.
The items presented to students are informed by our educational and medical professional collaborators, while we work on the appropriate and ethical presentation of the interaction design to our target users.
An example of the information architecture flow of our holistic wellness support web app for K-12 students in esports and gaming clubs and programs.
My role
I created and have led the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Future Experience of Esports class since 2018. Within this class, there are four sub-teams working on 1) fan experience, 2) team communication and community building, 3) player health and safety, and 4) STEAM esports engagement research.
Through my work as Research Director of GEAR (Gaming & Esports Applied Research), I have established a wide network of collaborators and subject matter experts across the gaming and esports industry, medical profession, and educational space to help inform our work and impact.
Resulting publications
Levy, L., Koehler, B, & Sixto, K. 2021. The Path to Pro: current challenges and opportunities for sustainable participation faced by athletes, support staff, and medical professionals. Presented at the University of California Irvine Esports Conference (virtual conference).