Mercari R4D HCI team will participate in 7th Asian CHI Symposium 2023 which is held virtually on April 28th. We will present the following publications:
Towards Immersive Inclusivity for C2C: How Immersive Multimodal Interactions Can Make Online Customer-to-Customer Shopping More Inclusive
Authors
Bektur Ryskeldiev (Mercari R4D), Mariko Kobayashi (Mercari R4D), Kentaro Teramoto (Mercari R4D), Koki Kusano (Mercari R4D, Merpay)
Prototype application system architecture diagram
Abstract
Online shopping is becoming ubiquitous in everyday life, with shopping experiences primarily delivered through either websites or specialized applications. This format may create inclusivity problems for users with different needs, as not all websites or applications are optimized for accessibility or have multiple alternative forms of interaction with the content. This can be especially challenging in customer-to-customer (C2C) platforms. While in online shopping a single platform can make merchants provide a unified display for description, standardized packaging, and ensure the item quality, in C2C platforms this responsibility falls mostly on users, thus creating a need for a more versatile way of processing, display, and interaction with C2C content. We are interested in how this issue can be alleviated through addition of online assistants that support immersive and multimodal forms of interactions. To gain a better understanding of the problem and needs of users, we have built a prototype application that uses a voice-activated assistant for item search and purchase and evaluated it in a pilot study. The findings suggest that participants value efficiency in C2C shopping and find current platforms problematic, while showing interest in voice search, immersive and multimodal interfaces to improve the overall shopping experience, despite some issues with voice recognition and response time.
The project will be presented at a Parallel Session 2A: Knowledge, Practices and Methods on April 28th 14:05 - 16:05 SGT.
Download preprint of the article
Investigating Accessibility Challenges and Opportunities for Users with Low Vision Disabilities in Customer-to-Customer (C2C) Marketplaces
Authors
Bektur Ryskeldiev (Mercari R4D), Kotaro Hara (Singapore Management University), Mariko Kobayashi (Mercari R4D), Koki Kusano (Merpay Inc.)
Abstract
Inaccessible e-commerce websites and mobile applications exclude people with visual impairments (PVI) from online shopping. Customer-to-customer (C2C) marketplaces, a form of e-commerce where trading happens not between businesses and customers but between customers, could pose a unique set of challenges in the interactions that the platform brings about. Through online questionnaire and remote interviews, we investigate problems experienced by people with low vision disabilities in common C2C scenarios. Our study with low vision participants (N=12) reveal both previously known general accessibility issues (e.g., web and mobile interface accessibility) and C2C specific accessibility issues (e.g., inability to confirm item condition prior to sales).
This is a part of showcase session, where authors demonstrate previously published work. The presentation will be held at Parallel Session 2B: Understanding Human Capabilities and Playful on April 28th 14:05 - 16:30 SGT.
Read about our original presentation at ASSETS 2022
About 7th Asian CHI Symposium 2023
The Asian CHI symposium is an annual event organized by researchers and practitioners in the Asia Pacific since the authors first co-initiated South East Asia Computer-Human Interaction (SEACHI) during CHI 2015.
The symposium aims to bring together both early-career and senior HCI academia and UX practitioners from industries in the Asia Pacific and bring about cross-exchange of information and transfer of knowledge in a multidisciplinary environment and multi-socio-economic aspects of HCI research, foster social ties and collaboration in the field of HCI.
As the Asian CHI community grows to be more diverse than when we started in 2015, there is a need to address the issues of equity, justice, access, and transparency more strategically, especially with a historical link to colonialism in Asia. Beyond showcasing the latest Asian-inspired HCI work and those focusing on incorporating Asian sociocultural factors in their design, implementation, evaluation, and improvement, the Asian CHI Symposium 2023 is a sandbox for academically rigorous discourse platform for both HCI academic and UX practitioners to present their latest research findings and solutions that reflect the expansion of HCI theory and applications towards culturally inclusive design for diverse audiences in Asia.