By Kai Lukoff, HCDE PhD student

With assistance from a UW HCDE travel grant, I was able to attend the CHI 2017 Conference in Denver, Colorado. This was my first time attending CHI, a leading conference in the field of human-computer interaction, and it did not disappoint. I presented a note entitled, "Gender Norms and Attitudes about Childcare Activities Presented on Father Blogs,” work that I conducted over the previous summer while at the University of Michigan, together with Carol Moser and Sarita Schoenebeck. The presentation was well-received and one of the comments I received during the question-and-answer session prompted me to rethink one of conclusions.

I also took advantage of the conference by starting a new podcast called “The Blue Glow” that examines how people manage their relationship with technology and how, just maybe, some technology can also teach greater mindfulness. I conducted my first with Eric Baumer (Lehigh), an expert on technology non-use. I also interview the authors of two papers presented at the mindfulness and reflection session at the conference: Kavous Salehzadeh Niksirat (Koichi), the author of "A Framework for Interactive Mindfulness Meditation Using Attention-Regulation Process” and Bin (Tina) Zhu (KTH), the author of “A Framework for Interactive Mindfulness Meditation Using Attention-Regulation Process.” Stay tuned, the podcast will be launched soon!