Human Computer Interaction Lab goes to CHI2026
Associate Professor Melissa Densmore recently led a group from the Human Computer Interaction Lab at UCT recently attended the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the leading international conference on Human-Computer Interaction in Barcelona, Spain. PhD students Jaydon Farao and Rachel Oluwatuyi presented papers alongside Alvin Castro, a community leader from Ocean View, Cape Town and Creative Executive Director of Arts Vibrations Inc II.
One of the papers, presented by Rachel Oluwatuyi and Alvin Castro, is based on a recently submitted masters dissertation (Vimlan Pillay, HCI Lab) and co-authored by Jaydon Farao (HCI Lab), as well as Shreyas Srivatsa and Naveen Bagalkot from Aruvu Collaboratory LLP in India, and the lab's co-ordinator, Associate Professor Melissa Densmore. The paper's title is 'Collectively Reimagining Artificial Intelligence With Marginalized Communities' and the team have adopted a speculative co-design approach with participants from Ocean View, a low-income community in South Africa in order to elicit and facilitate collective visions to reimagine the future of AI and explore ways to make AI technologies more culturally relevant. This work was funded by the Google Society-Centered AI Research Award. While it is unusual to have community-based collaborators attend academic conferences, the team decided that this was essential to the principles of the project - that our presentation of community perspectives should be delivered by the community members themselves. The flexibility Google SCAI award allowed us to explicitly plan for and budget for Alvin’s attendance, which was an incredible contribution to dialogue at the conference.
The other paper, a collective HCI Lab project led by Jaydon Farao, is an interesting case study on compensation in community-based research. Co-authors are members of the HCI Lab and include Sierra Vvan Riel, Rachel Oluwatuyi, Sampson Adotey, Sarina Till, Folasade Adedeji, Sabiha Mosamat Shaikh, Ndinelao Iitumba, and Associate Professor Melissa Densmore. Entitled 'I Participate, Therefore We Benefit: Ubuntu as a Relational Compass for Ethical Compensation in HCI,' the paper outlines principles for relational research economies that prioritize communal benefit, long-term data sovereignty, and co-designed terms of engagement.
“The CHI 2026 Organising Committee demonstrated a remarkable commitment to creating spaces for connection, collaboration, and learning. Equally impressive was the level of engagement between academia and industry, showcasing innovation on a scale that was both inspiring and transformative,” says Alvin Castro, a community leader and Creative Executive Director of Arts Vibrations Inc II.
The HCI Lab takes a community-centred approach to the design and deployment of systems. Domains of research include design for mothers, design for community-health workers, local content creation for communities, media-based peer health education, and co-design across borders, with a focus on the role of HCI in making effective, usable and sustainable systems to address problems of inequality and social justice.
Castro believes that the community partnership with UCT has demonstrated that meaningful innovation emerges when academic knowledge and community experience are brought together. “Without participatory engagement, technology risks becoming disconnected from the realities it seeks to address. Conversely, without access to technological tools and research methodologies, communities may struggle to realise their aspirations and preserve their unique cultural identities.”
“CHI 2026 reaffirmed an important truth: meaningful innovation occurs when technology, research, creativity, and community come together,” says Castro. “The conference provided not only inspiration but also validation that grassroots communities have an essential role to play in shaping the future. It strengthened our belief that communities are not merely recipients of innovation but active contributors to the design of a more inclusive, equitable, and connected world.”
At the conference town hall, it was also announced that A/Prof Melissa Densmore will co-Chair CHI2028 at the CTICC in Cape Town with Anicia Peters (National Commission on Research, Science and Technology, Namibia) and Ian Oakley (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Korea). This will be the first time this major conference will be hosted in the Global South and a wonderful opportunity to showcase African Human Computer Interaction research on a global forum.