News/Research
08 May, 2018

Noura Howell at CHI 2018

Noura Howell is a Spring 2018 BCMN Conference Grant recipient for the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

She presented her paper “Tensions of Data-Driven Reflection: A Case Study of Real-Time Emotional Biosensing” at CHI 2018, the Computer-Human Interaction conference held this April in Montreal, Canada. This paper explores how data, algorithms, and technology claim to “know” how we feel, and how that can influence our social relationships and sense of self, for better or worse. Presenting at this conference was a wonderful opportunity to reach a broad audience of researchers at the top of the field of Human-Computer Interaction, including designers, technologists, ethnographers, and social scientists. In her own words, she describes her experience below.

During the conference I was inspired by a workshop on Grand Visions for Post-Capitalist Human-Computer Interaction, Jen Liu’s paper on “Tools for Collaborative Survival”, and Stacey Kuznetsov’s paper on “Antibiotic-Responsive Bioart”. It was also a wonderful chance for me, my advisor Kimiko Ryokai, and her graduated students Laura Devendorf and Daniela Rosner to get to spend some time together on a picnic.