ICHEC 2025

W1: Stories That Teach: Eastern Wisdom for Human-AI Creative Partnerships

Webpage: http://www.vischi.org/

Organizers:
- Kexin Nie, The University of Sydney, Australia
- Xin Tang, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art, China
- Mengyao Guo, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
- Ze Gao, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR; Dawa AlGC Research Institute, Guangzhou, China

Call for Participation:
Join us for an innovative workshop exploring how Eastern aesthetic philosophies can inform effective human-AI collaboration in HCI education. As AI tools become increasingly ubiquitous in creative workflows, educators face the challenge of teaching students when and how to collaborate with AI while maintaining their creative agency and avoiding overdependence. Our workshop introduces the "gap-and-fill" methodology, rooted in Chinese negative space traditions and Japanese "ma" concepts, offering a culturally informed framework for productive human-AI partnership. Through intensive hands-on activities, participants will create original HCI visual narratives that demonstrate strategic AI integration while preserving human creative leadership.

Participants will learn how to master the gap-and-fill methodology for human-AI collaborative storytelling, develop practical visual strategies for AI integration in creative careers, and build sustainable community networks for ongoing support and resource sharing. The workshop is aimed at HCI educators, interaction design instructors, creative technology researchers, and industry practitioners with educational interests. A basic familiarity with visual design principles and AI tools is required.

The workshop will be structured in three intensive phases covering theoretical foundations, hands-on creation, and community building. Participants will work with traditional sketching techniques and AI tools to develop complete visual narratives while learning to identify strategic opportunities for meaningful collaboration.

Pre-workshop requirements include a laptop with an internet connection and access to AI tool accounts. All physical materials and templates will be provided.

W3: Heritage through Touch: Co-Creating and Validating a Design Toolkit for Multisensory Engagement

Webpage: https://docs.google.com/forms/

Organizers:
- Yun Wang, Beihang University, Beijing, China
- Zixin Chen, Beihang University, Beijing, China

Call for Participation:
We invite researchers, designers, and cultural heritage practitioners to join the workshop “Co-Creating and Validating a Tactile Interaction Design Toolkit” at ICHEC 2025. This half-day session explores how tactile design can enrich heritage experiences. Participants will engage with an initial toolkit—comprising tactile cue cards, scenario cards, and quadrant templates—through two rounds of design activities. Alongside generating tactile interaction concepts and prototypes, participants will provide direct feedback to improve the toolkit. Outcomes include an updated open-source toolkit, a set of design exemplars, and a publicly released workshop report. Whether you are an HCI researcher, design educator, museum professional, or a student interested in tactile interaction, you are warmly invited to join this co-creative exploration of touch as a novel pathway for heritage engagement.

W4: Social Lab for AI Digital Twins: Forging a New Framework for Empathy and Social Dynamics in Human-AI Interaction

Webpage: https://forms.gle/zRfkggLdWFc3Lv3R7

Organizers:
- Maffee Peng-Hui Wan, XplusX Experience Creation
- Yi Chen, XplusX Experience Creation
- Liam Miao, XplusX Experience Creation
- Yi Ning Gao, XplusX Experience Creation

Call for Participation:
Step into our full day “Social Lab” at ICHEC 2025 to shape AI digital twins as empathic personas! This in-person workshop invites researchers, designers, and practitioners from diverse backgrounds to create and interact with AI-generated twins using large language model platforms (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini). Grounded in the Computers Are Social Actors and Empathic Computing frameworks, you’ll build personalized twins, engage in self- and cross-disciplinary interactions, and explore empathy, trust, and social dynamics [Nass et al., 1994; Billinghurst et al., 2016; Choi et al., 2024]. No AI experience is needed. Just curiosity about human-AI connections. Through hands-on creation, scenario-driven experiments (e.g., navigating an ethical dilemma), and group synthesis, you’ll co-create a new empathy and behaviour framework [Park et al., 2024]. Leveraging ICHEC’s global community, we’ll deliver a visual model or checklist and a report for potential publication. Skim a brief primer (provided) and bring a laptop or tablet with an LLM platform account; organizers will provide limited accounts if needed. Join us in Singapore to craft ethical, inclusive AI twins and advance human-cantered technology!

W5: Conversational Agents For Good

Webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/conversational-agents-for-good/home

Organizers:
- Yugin Tan, National University of Singapore
- Yi-Chieh Lee, National University of Singapore
- Tianyi Zhang, Singapore Management University
- Jiannan Li, Singapore Management University
- Anthony Tang, Singapore Management University

Call for Participation:
This workshop explores the opportunities and challenges of conversational agents, which have grown rapidly with modern LLMs. While such agents can facilitate communication, support persuasive design, and even represent humans in interaction, they also raise concerns such as overreliance, cognitive disengagement, and ethical risks. The program features an expert panel, interactive discussions, and an optional mini-poster session where participants can present their work. It offers a valuable chance to connect with fellow researchers, students, and practitioners, exchange ideas, and spark new collaborations. We welcome researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and industry professionals interested in the design, use, and societal impact of conversational agents. If you are eager to explore how these systems can contribute to positive social outcomes, we invite you to register and join us.