Workshop themes, topics, and organization
Abstract
Self-service technologies (SSTs) are playing an increasingly important role in shaping our everyday
environments. The aim of the proposed one-day workshop is to explore key challenges for HCI and
interaction design, related to current trends in the development and use of SSTs. The workshop will
gather interested researchers and practitioners in order to (a) collaboratively identify a set of issues
related to analysis, design, and evaluation of SSTs and (b) discuss potential approaches to
understanding and crafting user experience with self-service technologies.
Workshop theme: Self-service technologies
We are surrounded by self-service technologies (SSTs). Increasingly often, interaction with serviceproviding people, e.g., sales assistants, bank tellers, bus drivers, or airline customer service
representatives is replaced by interaction with various service-providing technologies, e.g., ticketing
machines, internet banking apps, vending machines, card readers, or voice-based interactive
systems.
Arguably, the shift to SSTs makes a substantial impact on our everyday life conditions and
experiences. Various evidence, from informal observations to high-profile media debates, suggests
that it is not uncommon for SSTs to cause significant problems to their users, especially novice and
casual users. The problems can range from mild, temporary confusion to major frustration. While
there has been growing interest in HCI and interaction design in issues related to SSTs (e.g., [1, 3-8]),
there has been a lack of focused, systematic approach to studying SSTs and their impact on everyday
settings and practices.
The proposed workshop will address the need for further HCI and interaction design research into
SSTs. It will gather interested researchers and practitioners to explore current challenges related to
SSTs and discuss whether analysis and design of SSTs can be considered a distinct sub-area within
interaction design, with its specific problems, concepts, analytical tools, and methods.
Key topics
The discussion at the workshop will focus on a list of topics identified by the participants. A tentative
list of topics, which will be used as a starting point for the development of a more elaborated one, is
as follows:
 The variety of SSTs: Clarifying the scope of the notion of “self-service technologies”,
identifying main types of SSTs and related challenges.
 Conceptual tools for the design and evaluation of SSTs: Heuristics, guidelines, modeling
approaches, design principles and methods.
 Dimensions of user experience for SSTs, such as individual and social aspects.
 Security and privacy issues related to SSTs.
 Artifact design and service design as facets of interaction design of SSTs.
 Ecologies of SSTs: Analysis, design, and evaluation of technology configurations.
 Universal design of SSTs: Designing for people with disabilities, older users, etc.
 SSTs, politics, and power.
 The impact of SSTs on human-human interaction.

Workshop organization
Pre-workshop preparation
Up to 15 participants will be selected on the basis of their short position papers (2-4 pages). Each
participant will be asked to present and discuss a case of specific self-service technology during the
workshop.
Structure of the workshop
The workshop will be a one-day event with the following structure:
(a) Introduction: The participants will get to know each other by introducing themselves, their
backgrounds and expectations.
(b) Identifying the list of topics to focus on: The participants will discuss the tentative list presented
above and develop it further.
(c) SSTs cases: The participants will present and discuss their examples of SSTs.
(d) General discussion: The participants will discuss how the design of SSTs fits into the overall
field of interaction design; main issues and approaches will be summarized. The ambition is to
produce a rough outline of an agenda for future work.
After the workshop
Depending on the outcome of the discussion at the workshop, the organizers plan to put together a
special issue of an HCI journal, e.g., “Interacting with Computers”, on SSTs. The workshop website
will be maintained to make it possible for the participants to discuss issues of mutual interest after
the conference.
Benefits and significance
The proposed workshop will be instrumental in establishing analysis, design, and evaluation of selfservice technologies as a distinct sub-area of interaction design.
Organizers
Victor Kaptelinin is a professor in Human-Computer Interaction at Umeå University, Sweden, and the
University of Bergen, Norway. His research interests include HCI theory, activity-centric computing,
and technology-enhanced learning.
Antonio Rizzo is professor of Cognitive Science and Technology at the University of Siena, Italy. His
research activity is in the domains of Interaction Design, Product Design, and Cultural Psychology.
Paul Robertson is a lecturer in Computer Games Technology and Evaluation at Abertay University,
Scotland. His current research activities include User Interaction and Preference with Self-Service
Technology, and evaluating user experience using psychophysiological data.
Stephanie Rosenbaum is CEO of U.S. user experience consultancy TecEd. She co-chaired the CHI 2006
Usability Community, contributed a chapter on “The Future of Usability Evaluation” to Maturing
Usability, and co-edited the 2013 special issue on self-service for the IEEE Transactions on
Professional Communication.
References
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interfaces. Personal Ubiquit. Comput. 14, 8 (2010).
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3. Martin, C., Ball, L., Archibald, J., and Carson, L. Towards the improvement of self-service
systems via emotional virtual agents. Proc. BCS-HCI '12 (2012).
4. Mattheiss, E. E., Schrammel, J., Tscheligi, M. Added value of in-situ methods in usability
evaluation of a self-service ticketing machine with a view on elderly users: A case study. Proc.
USAB'11 (2011).
5. Payne, J. A., Johnson, G. I., and Szymkowiak, A. The behavioural impact of a visually
represented virtual assistant in a self-service checkout context. Proc. BCS-HCI '11 (2011).
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technology. Proc. BCS '10 (2010).
7. Rosenbaum, S. Creating Usable Self-Service Interactions. In Proc. International Professional
Communication Conference, IEEE (2010), 344-349.
8. Siebenhandl, K., Schreder, G., Smuc, M., Mayr, E., Nagl, M. A User-Centered Design Approach to
Self-Service Ticket Vending Machines. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 56,
2 (2013).