Exploring the Referral and Usage of Science Fiction in HCI Literature

TL;DR

This study analyzes the presence and role of science fiction references in top-ranked HCI conference papers, revealing how sci-fi influences various research themes and future directions in HCI.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic analysis of sci-fi references in a major HCI conference, categorizing their use across five key research themes.

Findings

Sci-fi references are present in 83 papers out of 5812.

Five main themes connect sci-fi and HCI research.

Sci-fi influences theoretical design, new interactions, and AI development.

Abstract

Research on science fiction (sci-fi) in scientific publications has indicated the usage of sci-fi stories, movies or shows to inspire novel Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. Yet no studies have analysed sci-fi in a top-ranked computer science conference at present. For that reason, we examine the CHI main track for the presence and nature of sci-fi referrals in relationship to HCI research. We search for six sci-fi terms in a dataset of 5812 CHI main proceedings and code the context of 175 sci-fi referrals in 83 papers indexed in the CHI main track. In our results, we categorize these papers into five contemporary HCI research themes wherein sci-fi and HCI interconnect: 1) Theoretical Design Research; 2) New Interactions; 3) Human-Body Modification or Extension; 4) Human-Robot Interaction and Artificial Intelligence; and 5) Visions of Computing and HCI. In conclusion, we discuss results and implications located in the promising arena of sci-fi and HCI research.