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Researchers from the School of Interactive Arts & Technology (SIAT) took home the CHI 2026 Best Paper Award at this year's ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction.

SIAT Associate Professor and Lab Director at SIAT鈥檚 Homeware Lab , along with co-authors Samuel Barnett, Jordan White, MinYoung Yoo, Nico Brand, and Henry Lin received the award 鈥� considered the most prestigious research recognition in the field of Human-Computer Interaction 鈥� for their work on the paper

The ACM CHI 2026 Awards Committee remarked that Odom and his collaborators鈥� work stood out to the committee due to its 鈥渋ts originality, rigor, and potential impact on the field of human-computer interaction,鈥� and that the paper was an example of 鈥渢he kind of forward-thinking, high-quality research that CHI aims to promote and celebrate.鈥�

Odom et al.鈥檚 paper investigates the question of how alternative encounters with personal hiking data might support practices of noticing nature as well as changes in one鈥檚 self over time. To do this, they conducted a multi-year first person study using Capra, a system designed in SIAT鈥檚 Homeware Lab that brings together the capture, storage, and exploration of personal hiking data with an emphasis on longer-term, occasional yet indefinite use.

The paper presents insights from the long-term experiences of the researchers 鈥� each representing different hiking styles and life stages 鈥� as they hiked, used, and lived with the Capra system, revealing unique changes in attitude and attentiveness among the team, individual and collective, both when re-exploring hikes through Capra and when actively engaging with outdoor places while hiking.

Will Odom reflected on the significance of the recognition their paper, and the Capra project, has achieved, 鈥淩eceiving a CHI Best Paper Award is incredibly meaningful to us, especially given how competitive and rigorous the recognition is within the field. This project explores a different pace and orientation for technology鈥攐ne that moves away from speed and efficiency, and instead supports reflection, ecological noticing, and more attentive relationships with the world around us.鈥�

鈥淲ith Capra,鈥� Odom says, 鈥渨e were interested in how technology might meaningfully mediate human鈥搉ature relations while remaining unobtrusive and non-disruptive, helping people engage more deeply with outdoor places over time and cultivate their ecological identity both outdoors and at home. It鈥檚 encouraging to see this kind of perspective recognized at the highest level, and we hope it contributes to a broader shift toward designing technologies for long-term relationships鈥攖echnologies that are not used constantly, but return meaningfully over time, in ways that can support human experience across years or even a lifetime.鈥�

As Odom and his collaborators celebrate their win, we look forward to reading the rest of the amazing papers and late-breaking works that will be shared by SIAT researchers this April at CHI 2026 in Barcelona.

ABOUT CHI 2026
The ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems is the premier international conference of Human-Computer Interaction. CHI 2026 takes place in Barcelona at the  from April 13-17, 2026.

ABOUT SIAT鈥橲 HOMEWARE LAB
Based out of 天美mv天美鈥檚 School of Interactive Arts and Technology, the Homeware Lab is home to a multidisciplinary research team that explores the design of new Internet of Things technologies and objects from a sociotechnical perspective. The Lab鈥檚 research applies methods and advanced expertise in human-computer interaction, design, computer science, ubiquitous computing, digital fabrication, STS, and the social sciences to create technologies that connect everyday artifacts with embedded and networked software and hardware. An overarching goal of the Homeware Lab is to develop alternatives to normative values driving digital consumerism through designing technologies that offer new possibilities.