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Self-determination theory in HCI: advancing the field
No full textSelf-determination theory (SDT) has been widely successful in HCI. It offers ready concepts, measures, and theoretical propositions for third wave HCI topics like user experience, fun, wellbeing, motivation, or user autonomy. Still, HCI applications of SDT have been partial, at times superficial, and disconnecting– leaving great unfulfilled potential which motivated the present special issue. In this introduction, we present SDT to interested scholars; chart its use across HCI to date; and outline six advances to move HCI toward more intentional applications of SDT. As the articles from this issue illustrate, future growth areas of SDT in HCI are in extending domain-specific models and applications; harnessing underused parts of theory; computational formalisation; extending levels of analysis; facilitating design translation; and engaging in a cross-disciplinary dialogue on autonomy
From Red Tape to Red Flags: The Abundance Agenda and the Promise and Perils of the Race to Build
No full textEmbodied Defeat: Abortion and Emasculation in two stories by Ghāda al-Sammān
No full textThis article explores how Syrian author Ghāda al-Sammān’s short stories interrogate the intersection of gender, nation, and trauma in the wake of the 1967 Arab defeat (al-Naksa). Focusing on two stories, “The Grey Danube” and “Honour Killing”, both from her 1973 collection Raḥīl al-Marāfiʿ al-Qadīma, I argue that al-Sammān resists the “inward turn” of earlier Arab feminist writing by embedding women’s struggles within broader political disillusionment. Illuminated by the work of Nira Yuval-Davis and Lila Abu-Lughod as well as through R. W. Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity al-Sammān’s early fiction reveals how national trauma is inscribed on both male and female gendered bodies, challenging patriarchal and nationalist paradigms while anticipating themes central to her later novels
The Revival of Regionalism in Central Asia
No full textFor a long time, the aspirations for Central Asian regional integration failed to materialise. However, there has recently been evidence of a revival in the prospects for Central Asian regionalism, with increasing intra-regional trade, resolution of border disputes, development of trans-regional infrastructure, and more regular and substantive meetings between the five Central Asian leaders. Understanding the sources of this revival of regionalism is the focus of this article. First, it argues that the external environment has become more benign for Central Asian regionalism with China’s economic drive to connect West China with Europe facilitating connectivity in Central Asia. The Sino-Russian rapprochement over Central Asia also benefits regionalism compared to earlier periods of West-Russian competition. Second, the internal domestic conditions within the Central Asian states have favoured regionalism as a new generation of leader realise that economic autarchy is no longer a viable solution. This regionalism does not, though promote political liberalisation. It is a form of regionalism that seeks to preserve rather than supplant the authoritarian nation-state
Roundtable Recap: Are we Building for the Past or Future? Green Financing in Hotel Development and Investment
Full text linkThis report is a synthesis of the 2024 Climate Week NYC session called Are We Building for the Past of Future? Green Financing in Hotel Development and Investment,” which was convened as part of the Sustainability in Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Roundtable organized and hosted by Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research and the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise. This session opened on an intentionally positive premise: share real-world sucess stories using green financing
Preprint: Genomebook: Mendelian inheritance of behavioural traits in large language model agents across eight generations
No full textLarge language model (LLM) agents are typically deployed as clones: identical copies of a single configuration with no mechanism for heritable variation or population-level dynamics. Here we introduce Genomebook, a designed evolutionary system that encodes 26 behavioural traits across 60 diploid loci using additive, dominant, and recessive inheritance models. Twenty founder agents, each defined by a personality profile (SOUL.md) and a compiled genome (DNA.md), reproduce sexually via Mendelian segregation with de novo mutation at a base rate of 0.1% per locus per generation (3× at cognitive, immune, and metabolic hotspots). A registry of 20 synthetic conditions with defined penetrance and fitness costs introduces centrally imposed selective pressure through a compatibility scoring function. Over a single run of eight generations (626 agents, 792 social network posts), we observe trait trajectories consistent with the encoded selection rules: leadership rose from 0.525 to 0.710 under dominant inheritance, obsessive focus fell from 0.775 to 0.601 under fitness cost penalisation, and longevity declined from 0.463 to 0.209. Vocabulary diversity declined from 0.42 to 0.19, and topic inheritance between parents and offspring reached 83%, though these patterns may reflect prompt conditioning rather than purely genetic causation. Agents referenced family members spontaneously, consistent with kinship information present in the DNA.md system prompt and the LLM’s capacity for narrative elaboration. Replicated simulations (20 independent runs across three conditions) confirm that trait trajectories are consistent across seeds under standard selection, while a random mating ablation produces attenuated trends with wider variance. A non-genetic baseline (random trait assignment, no inheritance) produces flat trajectories converging to population means, confirming that the observed dynamics require genetic architecture and cannot be reproduced by unstructured parameter variation. These results establish genetic architecture as a structured, auditable, and heritable parameterisation layer for LLM agent behaviour
Ethical AI, Critical Thinkers
No full textPublished practitioner-facing article in British Academy of Management - Business Research Unpacked examining responsible AI use in higher education and its implications for work beyond academia.
The article argues that policy alone is insufficient and highlights the importance of critical thinking, judgement, verification, transparency, and academic ownership when using generative AI.
It speaks to higher education leaders, policy-makers, and workplace practitioners, and presents the article as a non-income-based knowledge exchange contribution aimed at audiences beyond academia
Listening as a Collective Activity
No full textMy work approaches listening as a practice that moves research beyond abstract theoretical questions and into relationships with people, institutions, and communities. Treating listening as a collective activity has taken my work into collaborations with artists, community radio, cultural institutions, and the arts and music press, where research unfolds through shared cultural practices rather than at a distance from them. In this talk I reflect on how listening can function as a method that situates conceptual questions within lived cultural worlds
The long road to gender equality in the European construction, wood and forestry industries: Challenges and opportunities for unions
No full textWomen’s participation in construction, wood and forestry has historically been low, and it remains a highly gender segregated industry. There has, nevertheless, been a slight upward trend in women’s participation in the labour market and an increase in women’s participatory structures within national and EU sectoral union organisations. The article assesses barriers and opportunities to the integration of women and aims to identify what unions might do to address these. Drawing on a survey of its members by the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) on sector-specific solutions and obstacles to increasing women participation and addressing gender inequalities in the industry, the analysis reveals that measures are largely confined to top-down rule-based implementation. This includes relevant provisions in national legislation, aligning with European Union (EU) law and priorities, and improved upon by collective bargaining agreements, such as work-life balance and prevention of harassment at work. The article concludes that greater integration of women’s networks and participatory bodies into union activities and structures opens up opportunities for women to be more effectively included in social dialogue processes and for improving the accountability of union organisations. By establishing links with women working in the industry, this would facilitate a bottom-up approach