November 13, 2024
(CSCW’24)
Our paper, Like My Aunt Dorothy: Effects of Conversational Styles on Perceptions, Acceptance, and Metaphorical Descriptions of Voice Assistants During Later Adulthood, was presented at CSCW 2024! It explores how formal vs. informal conversational styles impact perceptions among older adults, revealing the importance of personalization for greater tech acceptance. Congratulations Team!
October 18, 2024
(Featured in Communications of the ACM!!!)
I’m honored that my research on "Dark Patterned Voices Manipulate Users" has been featured in the prestigious Communications of the ACM magazine. This work explores the ethical and design implications of voice interfaces that influence user behavior, shining a light on the potential for misuse and the need for thoughtful design in conversational AI.
August 19, 2024
(Postdoc Smit)
I’m excited to begin my appointment as a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Dr. Dakuo Wang at Northeastern University. This role offers a fantastic opportunity to expand my research on conversational AI and voice user interfaces. I look forward to using this experience as a foundation for my Assistant Professor position in the College of Arts, Media, and Design (CAMD), starting Fall 2025.
July 18, 2024
(Dr. Smit Desai) I completed my PhD at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. This marks the end of my 8-year journey at UofI. I could not have wished for a better environment in which to progress. For those interested, kindly check out my dissertation, “Designing Metaphor-Fluid Voice User Interfaces.”
July 10, 2024
(CUI'24) I was gutted to miss CUI’24 in Luxembourg this year. Still, I am grateful to Mateusz Dubiel for presenting our work on the possibility of using non-human metaphors (e.g., calculator, encyclopedia) to design voice user interfaces and how they compare to human metaphors (e.g, analyst, doctor). Full paper here Examining Humanness as a Metaphor to Design Voice User Interfaces. This work was done during my research visit to the University of Luxembourg and is the final chapter of my dissertation. I was also one of the co-organizers of two brilliant workshops at CUI’24: Voicecraft: Designing Task-specific Voice Assistant Personas and EduCUI: The First International Workshop for Conversational User Interfaces in Education.
May 14, 2024
(CHI'24) I presented my TOCHI paper, “Metaphors in Voice User Interfaces: A Slippery Fish,” at CHI’24 in Hawaii. Working on this paper with Prof. Twidale was truly a remarkable experience that changed the way I thought about research. This paper started as a 2-page provocation and, over three years, turned into a deep dive into metaphors, touching fields like cognitive linguistics and psychology. Could not be prouder of this work. I was also the main organizer of CUI@CHI 2024: Building Trust in CUIs—From Design to Deployment.
April 6, 2024
(New Job!!) I am delighted to share that I have completed my PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and will start as an Assistant Professor in July'25 at Northeastern University's College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD), with an affiliate appointment in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences. Until then, I will work at Northeastern as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey. I’m looking forward to continuing my research on conversational AI in Boston.