Auggie: Encouraging Effortful Communication through Handcrafted Digital Experiences

Digital communication is often brisk and automated. From auto-completed messages to "likes," research has shown that such lightweight interactions can affect perceptions of authenticity and closeness. On the other hand, effort in relationships can forge emotional bonds by conveying a sense of caring and is essential in building and maintaining relationships. To explore effortful communication, we designed and evaluated Auggie, an iOS app that encourages partners to create digitally handcrafted Augmented Reality (AR) experiences for each other. Auggie is centered around crafting a 3D character with photos, animated movements, drawings, and audio for someone else. We conducted a two-week-long field study with 30 participants (15 pairs), who used Auggie with their partners remotely. Our qualitative findings show that Auggie participants engaged in meaningful effort through the handcrafting process, and felt closer to their partners, although the tool may not be appropriate in all situations. We discuss design implications and future directions for systems that encourage effortful communication.Comment: To appear at the 25th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work And Social Computing (CSCW '22). 25 page

Antibody levels following vaccination against SARS-CoV-2: associations with post-vaccination infection and risk factors

SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels can be used to assess humoral immune responses following SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination, and may predict risk of future infection. From cross-sectional antibody testing of 9,361 individuals from TwinsUK and ALSPAC UK population-based longitudinal studies (jointly in April-May 2021, and TwinsUK only in November 2021-January 2022), we tested associations between antibody levels following vaccination and: (1) SARS-CoV-2 infection following vaccination(s); (2) health, socio-demographic, SARS-CoV-2 infection and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination variables. Within TwinsUK, single-vaccinated individuals with the lowest 20% of anti-Spike antibody levels at initial testing had 3-fold greater odds of SARS-CoV-2 infection over the next six to nine months, compared to the top 20%. In TwinsUK and ALSPAC, individuals identified as at increased risk of COVID-19 complication through the UK "Shielded Patient List" had consistently greater odds (2 to 4-fold) of having antibody levels in the lowest 10%. Third vaccination increased absolute antibody levels for almost all individuals, and reduced relative disparities compared with earlier vaccinations. These findings quantify the association between antibody level and risk of subsequent infection, and support a policy of triple vaccination for the generation of protective antibodies

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Neural Art: Introduction, Challenges, Implications

Neural art refers to visual art that is created at least partially by a neural network. While neural networks have gone in and out of favor among AI researchers over the last 80 years, neural art has recently surged in popularity due to advances that have enabled the easy generation of aesthetically pleasing and coherent visual outputs. We are at the precipice of paradigmatic change, both within the art community and in any domain that visual media touches. As we hurtle toward a strange new future for art and creativity, it is important for us to collectively shape it with a consciousness of the values being embedded in it. However, there is a lack of discourse in this area. This thesis is an attempt to introduce the concepts behind neural art and the concerns surrounding it, as a jumping-off point for increased understanding, discussion, and collaboration. Writing for a non-technical reader, I start with a primer on neural art. Some techniques are further developed in five personal works in the next chapter. This is followed by findings from a 43 participant survey regarding societal concerns about neural art, and a discussion of pertinent latest challenges. Based on the research, ten implications are discussed. The most updated version of this manuscript can be retrieved at https://github.com/oliviaseow/pixels2picasso.S.M.S.M

Design Signatures: Mapping Design Innovation Processes

Despite variances in contexts and styles of design activity, recurrent patterns emerge in design innovation approaches and processes which lend themselves to analysis and discussion. Using a Design Innovation framework [1] that is built, in part, on the UK Council's '4D' (Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver) model of design [2], we develop design signatures, graphical maps of design innovation processes. Design signature analyses of four multi-disciplinary industrial case studies illustrate the value of design signatures as useful design activity plots that can be used to plan and manage innovation teams and activities, and to identify critical features for reflection, for clarification, and for further analysis. This work is of interest to design practitioners, managers, researchers, and educators with various motivations, such as to seek a tool to convey and analyze design innovation activity.Singapore University of Technology and DesignSUTD-MIT International Design Centre (IDC

The Economies and Dimensionality of Prototyping: Value, Time, Cost and Fidelity

Economic use of early stage prototyping is of paramount importance to companies engaged in the development of innovative products, services and systems because it directly impacts their bottom-line [1, 2]. There is likewise a need to understand the dimensions and lenses that make up an economic profile of prototypes. Yet, there is no reliable understanding of how resources expended and views of dimensionality across prototyping translate into value [3, 4]. To help practitioners, designers, and researchers leverage prototyping most economically, we seek to understand the tradeoff between design information gained and the resource expended into prototyping to gain that information [5]. We investigate this topic by conducting an inductive study on industry projects across disciplines and knowledge domains, while collecting and analyzing empirical data on their physical prototyping process [3]. Our research explores ways of quantifying prototyping value and reinforcing the asymptotic relationship between value and fidelity [6]. Most intriguingly, it reveals insightful heuristics that practitioners can exploit to generate high value from low and high fidelity prototypes alike.Singapore University of Technology and DesignSUTD-MIT International Design Centre (IDC

The Economies and Dimensionality of Design Prototyping: Value, Time, Cost, and Fidelity

Economic use of early-stage prototyping is of paramount importance to companies engaged in the development of innovative products, services, and systems because it directly impacts their bottom line. There is likewise a need to understand the dimensions, and lenses that make up an economic profile of prototypes. Yet, there is little reliable understanding of how resources expended and views of dimensionality across prototyping translate into value. To help practitioners, designers, and researchers leverage prototyping most economically, we seek to understand the tradeoff between design information gained through prototyping and the resources expended prototyping. We investigate this topic by conducting an inductive study on industry projects across disciplines and knowledge domains while collecting and analyzing empirical data on their prototype creation and test processes. Our research explores ways of quantifying prototyping value and reinforcing the asymptotic relationship between value and fidelity. Most intriguingly, the research reveals insightful heuristics that practitioners can exploit to generate high value from low and high fidelity prototypes alike