Center for Human-Computer Interaction

The Center for Human-Computer Interaction is an interdisciplinary division within the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Salzburg. Established in 2005 as research unit at the former ICT&S Center, currently 40 researchers study the interplay between humans and computers. Organized into interrelated research groups, we aim to enable desired interactions and explore desirable futures. In dedicated labs we extend this vision to specific contexts, e.g., fabrication experience and car interaction.

Our research is devoted to rich context studies, for which we continuously refine and develop methods. Related interaction designs are, on one hand, informed by those studies, aiming for user experiences that reflect the situated qualities of specific contexts. On the other hand, we consider design methods and processes as legitimate modes of inquiry, providing means for critical exploration and analyses. Additionally, we reflect on the according methodological challenges and opportunities that come along with contextual.interaction.design.research.

Our research groups offer a multidisciplinary perspective on human-computer interaction and interaction design. All research and design efforts are driven by the assumption that humans and technology are in constant interplay, shaping and reshaping each other.

Our Embodied Interaction group aims at extending human bodily perceptions and experiences through novel interactive technologies. By means of constructive design research, engineering, and craft, we seek to understand and create meaningful, inspiring, or provocative tangible interactions.

In our research on Human-Robot Interaction, we facilitate social interactions between humans and robots. We investigate how, for instance, multimodal interfaces can facilitate these interactions. Our research especially targets complex contexts, such as industrial production, tele-operated medicine, and public spaces.

Our Computer Supported Cooperation group investigates cooperative processes and the interplay between offline and online practices in various contexts and for different purposes. Therefore, we conduct empirical fieldwork and apply theories from social sciences for analytical reflections.

Our research on Contextual Persuasion focuses on how interactive technologies can enable individuals and groups to change their attitude, habits, and behavior. We design and prototype behavior change systems that are embedded in specific contexts and study persuasive technologies in-situ.

Promoting social interaction and health/well-being of selected user groups in the (extended) home is the aim of our Enhancing Life Experience group. Being committed to a user-centered design approach, we focus on enhancing humans’ life experiences through creating valuable technical solutions.

The Material & Experiential Foundations group advances knowledge about experiential qualities of materials in design and usage of interactive artifacts. Therein, we focus on the materiality of interactions, user experience, and (de-)constructive design research by means of empirical and theoretical analyses.

Processes of change in fabrication and the resulting challenges are the focus of the Fabrication Experience Lab. Investigating interactions in manufacturing, we aim to anticipatory design fabrication environments of the future, both in industrial and personal production.

Automotive user interfaces, driver and passenger experience, and distraction research are addressed by the Car Interaction Lab. Specific attention is paid to the ongoing development towards autonomous vehicles, aiming to research, improve, and design human machine interfaces (HMI) of future cars and humans’ interactions with them.