By Saumik Shashwat, HCDE master's student
Presented Late-Breaking Work Poster titled “common::ground: A Gamified Toolkit for Facilitating Meaningful Interactive Sessions”
Citation: Shashwat, S., Xue, X., Yu, Z., & Aboky-Djanty, J. (2025). common::ground: A Gamified Toolkit for Facilitating Meaningful Interactive Sessions. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3719894
This year was my first time attending the CHI conference, and my experience has been evolutionary in my approach towards human-computer interaction (HCI) research as an early-stage researcher. I am currently a first-year master’s student in Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE). CHI 2025 was greatly beneficial for me as I pursue my multidisciplinary research journey and am on a career trajectory that will certainly include getting a PhD. Prior to attending CHI 2025, I have published papers in key HCI conferences, such as ACM TEI 2024, HCI International 2024, and IndiaHCI 2023, exploring shared culture, interactive storytelling, gamification, new media, and accessibility.
Through our work, common::ground, we presented a gamified toolkit that enables more engaging, inclusive, and meaningful ice-breaking sessions in culturally diverse settings by leveraging tangible artifacts such as Bingo Boards, Interaction Cards, and facilitator support.
Our mixed-methods research— incorporating surveys, interviews, and usability studies— demonstrated that structured prompts and flexible designs significantly enhance participant comfort and foster deeper cross-cultural conversations. The iterative design process and positive usability outcomes highlighted the toolkit’s potential as a practical model for facilitating dynamic, culturally aware interactions.
Attending the paper talks, demonstrations, workshops, and even the banquet dinner exposed me to the network of researchers exploring the edge of possibilities in the spaces intersecting HCI, computation, and the humanities. I was able to interact with many early-stage researchers like me trying to question the status quo through the unique lenses our discipline equips us with. Moreover, I interacted with professors and other potential advisors to learn more about their research journeys so far and share about the path I was on. What I could learn at the conference helped inform my work on shared understanding and information exchange, and also fueled my passion for bridging cultures and nurturing collaborative, transformative experiences.
My research activities since have been more considerate, focussed, impactful, and reflexive. My research journey so far has been deeply influenced and nurtured by the guidance and support of the Department of HCDE at University of Washington, Conference Travel funds, my professors, including Cindy Atman, Mark Zachry, and Jennifer Turns, my long-term research collaborators, including Xiaoyi Xue, and all my co-authors. I am eternally grateful to everyone who has enabled me to get this far in my journey, and I am motivated to pay it forward.
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The Mary B. Coney Endowed Fund, named in honor of Emeritus Professor Mary Coney, supports HCDE students by funding costs associated with travel to conferences and international workshops. Your support of this fund enriches the HCDE student experience and enhances HCDE's influence in the field.