I can’t figure out what you’re trying to say.
Posts by Austin Toombs
I'm also excited about the contributions her dissertation makes to HCI scholarship.
Congratulations, Suchi! I can't wait to see you graduate in a few weeks 🥳
The finish line is now just around the corner, and I'm so so so proud of her, the work she has done, and the way she overcame some uncharacteristically difficult challenges (COVID-delays, her advisor (me) leaving Purdue, getting a job, moving to California, and dissertating at the same time).
(Soon-to-be Dr.) Suchismita Naik just successfully defended her PhD dissertation, "Multi-Agent Design Patterns for Fostering Sense of Belonging in Online Communities: Insights from Fandom Communities and AI Practitioners".
#chi2026 if you’re a session chair, don’t make off-hand comments about a speaker’s methods as their q&a is ending. Even if you think you’re a B&C expert (who, by the way, that author might not have cited because B&C aren’t the only thematic analysis experts!) It’s not cool to use your role that way.
Still true for #chi2026
okay i am sorry to be that bitch but the one word you can't use to describe this is "unprecedented."
Make no mistake, this is one of the most eye opening days in US political history. President Trump has just announced that he is taking control of the sovereign country of Venezuela until he feels fit to return it. He will install his Secretary of Defense, his Secretary of State, his and his Joint Chiefs Chairman to run the day to day operations. Additionally he is ordering US oil companies to enter Venezuela and take control of their energy industry. He personally will control billions of dollars that he has no right to access.
Donald Trump is no more the legitimate president of Venezuela than was Nicholas Maduro.
Just woke up even angrier. Impeach, convict, remove. Draft articles now. Either we have a representative government or we don’t. Do not shut up about this until there’s a vote.
if you are talking today about how bad maduro was and were alive, at all, during the run-up to the iraq war you are potentially the dumbest person to ever live
I didn't get a picture of the best sign I saw today, but I remember what it said:
Somewhere in America
A little Hispanic girl
Is hiding in an attic
And keeping a diary.
#NoKings
I don’t know what’s normal. I think, according to PCS, I did 41 reviews over the last 12 months. It’s hard to know for sure.
Happy first day of the 2025-26 school year! (I didn’t teach yesterday so today counts)
Since I'll be an AC, you don't have to worry about spoiling your potential reviewer pool
Academic friends prepping for the CHI deadline: I am happy to give some big-picture pre-review feedback if you could use it! I can probably do this for three-ish papers (maybe two papers where I would be considered an expert of some kind and one paper on a topic I'd just be an everyday reader)
Trump has tried quite a few things to try to distract us, but none of them are working. Some things he should try next, which could totally work: universal healthcare, pro-earth climate change policies, federal decriminalization + legalization of certain substances, prison reform… I’d be distracted!
Me three months ago:
Thankful for my co-authors, Paul Parsons, Colin Gray (@graydesign.bsky.social), Jenny El-Shamy, and Anastasia Ostrowski <3
Our #educhi2025 papers are available now! Also, the conference has just started (today is the pedagogy workshop educhi2025.educhi.org). I'm excited about my paper, which is about using amoeba drawings to encourage sketching and prototyping within ambiguous problem spaces dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
You can tell I turned 37 today because I watched a full ad about a nonstick pan, followed the link to the website, and got really excited to read about how it works because I’m tired of my eggs sticking. I bought it. When it comes it will be like my birthday all over again!
Have a wild idea? A messy problem? Or just something you’ve been meaning to get to?
Let’s see if our students can help. Reach out anytime!
Examples:
- Students generated design ideas for consolidating and improving a chatbot ecosystem.
- A local candle company reimagined their e-commerce experience, allowing customers to shop based on scent profiles.
3. You’re seeking design inspiration.
Sometimes, all you need is a fresh perspective. Students can help explore “what if” scenarios and provide design concepts to spark new directions.
Examples:
- A language learning researcher worked with students to turn study findings into an educational game about making sushi and learning Japanese.
- Multiple companies worked with student teams to streamline clunky internal dashboards that had evolved without coordinated design oversight.
2. You’ve got back-burner projects that need attention.
Our students can help you push forward those “nice-to-have” projects that never make it to the top of your list.
Examples:
- A startup drone company working with fire departments partnered with our students to explore interface designs to help drone operators collaborate with first responders.
- Students helped a travel company explore how influencers and content creators could help drive customer engagement.
1. You’re facing a UX challenge, but don’t know where to start.
Maybe you’ve spotted an opportunity to improve the user experience of a product or service, but aren’t sure how to move forward. Our students can help reframe the problem, design interventions, and clarify tradeoffs between solutions.
Wondering if your team could work with our HCI/d students? In this thread I'll list some project types that have worked well in past semesters to spark ideas.
Let’s all remember that our conferences are attended by people who speak many languages. Your presentation is a chance to explain your research as clearly as possible. It is not the time to try to show off your vocabulary, which is likely inaccessible to many in the room.
Heyyyyy, so when we pick destinations with low flight connectivity for our conferences, any kind of travel delay snowballs. All the Newark stuff from last night has me getting to the conference 36 hours later than planned. I’ll be missing the workshop I was going to be a full day early for. #DIS2025