Associate Professor Stephen Viller
Associate Professor

Stephen Viller

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 51190

Background

Human-centred design of interactive systems

Stephen Viller is a researcher and educator in human-centred design methods, particularly applied to designing social, domestic and mobile computing technologies, and understanding how people's interactions in everyday settings inform the design of such technologies. He has over 20 years of experience in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Interaction Design, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research, where he has focused on bridging disciplines and perspectives. He has concentrated on qualitative methods, particularly observational fieldwork, contextual interviews, diary studies and field trips, but also increasingly on more ‘designerly’ approaches such as cultural probes, low-fidelity prototypes, rapid prototyping and sketching.

Stephen is an Associate Professor and leader of the Human-Centred Computing discipline in the School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and UQ's Theme Leader for the Digital Worlds and Disruptive Technologies theme in the QUEX Institute. From 2016-2019 he was the Director of Coursework Studies (Chair of T&L committee) and from 2011-2016 he was Program Director of the Bachelor of Multimedia Design and Master of Interaction Design. His publications span various interdisciplinary journals and conferences in HCI/CSCW and technology design. He has a BSc (Hons) Computation (UMIST), MSc Cognitive Science (Manchester) and PhD Computing (Lancaster).

Availability

Associate Professor Stephen Viller is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Affective computing Built Environment and Design Collaborative and social computing Communication and media studies Design Distributed computing and systems software Education Educational technology and computing Fairness, accountability, transparency, trust and ethics of computer systems Graphics, augmented reality and games Human-centred computing Human-computer interaction Information and Computing Sciences Information visualisation Language, Communication and Culture Library and information studies Mobile computing Organisational, interpersonal and intercultural communication Pervasive computing Requirements engineering Social and community informatics Social robotics Software engineering Specialist studies in education Virtual and mixed reality

Qualifications

  • Bachelor (Honours) of Computer Science, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
  • Masters (Coursework) of Cognitive Science, The University of Manchester
  • Doctor of Philosophy of Computer-Human Interaction, The University of Lancaster

Research interests

  • Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)

    I am interested in all aspects of the understanding of social interaction, methods of studying people in social settings, and informing the design of social technologies.

  • Interaction Design

    I am interested in people-centred methods for informing the design of interactive technologies. In particular, I explore how methods from other disciplines can be adopted and adapted to improve the software design process.

  • Emerging technologies

    Technology is only really interesting to me in terms of what it allows people to achieve. I am interested in various technologies in order to prototype and explore novel applications to solve problems in specific contexts. Current technologies I am working with include Internet of Things (IoT), Mixed and Augmented Reality (AR), Physical Computing, and mobile social software.

  • Application contexts

    Interaction design research takes place in everyday settings where we can understand current practice/activities and prototype and evaluate solutions. My research has involved a wide range of contexts, including dependable and safety-critical systems, office work, tourism, health, behaviour change, and education. In all these domains, my approach is to inform the design of technologies that not only meet the functional and usability needs/requirements of the people in the context, but that are also technologies that people would actually want to use.

Search Professor Stephen Viller’s works on UQ eSpace

104 works between 1991 and 2024
All (104) Journal Article (21) Book Chapter (7) Conference Publication (68) Other Outputs (5) Edited Outputs (3)

1 - 20 of 104 works

Featured

2016

Conference Publication

Trust me: doubts and concerns living with the internet of things

Worthy, Peter, Matthews, Ben and Viller, Stephen A. (2016). Trust me: doubts and concerns living with the internet of things. DIS 2016 - Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Fuse, Brisbane, Australia, 4-8 June 2016. New York, NY, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/2901790.2901890

Trust me: doubts and concerns living with the internet of things

Featured

2015

Journal Article

SonicAIR: supporting independent living with reciprocal ambient audio awareness

Baharin, Hanif, Viller, Stephen and Rintel, Sean (2015). SonicAIR: supporting independent living with reciprocal ambient audio awareness. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 22 (4) 18, 18:1-18:23. doi: 10.1145/2754165

SonicAIR: supporting independent living with reciprocal ambient audio awareness

Featured

2013

Conference Publication

Rhythms of the domestic soundscape: Ethnomethodological soundwalks for phatic technology design

Baharin, Hanif, Rintel, Sean and Viller, Stephen (2013). Rhythms of the domestic soundscape: Ethnomethodological soundwalks for phatic technology design. 14th IFIP TC 13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT 2013, Cape Town, South Africa, 2 - 6 September 2013. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-40498-6_36

Rhythms of the domestic soundscape: Ethnomethodological soundwalks for phatic technology design

Featured

2013

Conference Publication

Augmenting play and learning in the primary classroom

Boden, Marie, Dekker, Andrew, Viller, Stephen and Matthews, Ben (2013). Augmenting play and learning in the primary classroom. IDC 2013, New York, NY, United States, 24-27 June 2013. Danvers, MA, United States: ACM Press. doi: 10.1145/2485760.2485767

Augmenting play and learning in the primary classroom

Featured

2011

Conference Publication

Building sensitising terms to understand free-play in open-ended interactive art environments

Morrison, Ann, Viller, Stephen and Mitchell, Peta (2011). Building sensitising terms to understand free-play in open-ended interactive art environments. CHI 2011: The 29th CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 7-12 May 2011. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). doi: 10.1145/1978942.1979285

Building sensitising terms to understand free-play in open-ended interactive art environments

2024

Book Chapter

AI for designing responsible and resilient food systems

Ko, Ryan, Gain, Alexandria, Bongiovanni, Ivano, Browne, Will, Jarkas, Omar, Uhlmann, Kora and Viller, Stephen (2024). AI for designing responsible and resilient food systems. Food AI: A game changer for Australia’s food and beverage sector. (pp. 69-78) edited by Janet R. McColl-Kennedy and Damian Hine. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland, Australia's Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA). doi: 10.14264/f5f35d0

AI for designing responsible and resilient food systems

2023

Journal Article

From Fitbits to chatbots: can digital humans help solve the physical inactivity pandemic?

Gilson, Nicholas, James, Edidiong, Viller, Stephen and Glencross, Mashhuda (2023). From Fitbits to chatbots: can digital humans help solve the physical inactivity pandemic?. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57 (22) bjsports-2023-107132, 1413-1414. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-107132

From Fitbits to chatbots: can digital humans help solve the physical inactivity pandemic?

2023

Journal Article

Refugee entrepreneurial trajectories

Lee, Chuike, Viller, Stephen and Vyas, Dhaval (2023). Refugee entrepreneurial trajectories. Proceedings of the ACM Human-Computer Interaction, 7 (CSCW2), 1-26. doi: 10.1145/3610204

Refugee entrepreneurial trajectories

2022

Conference Publication

User-centred design of a grid health virtual reality tabletop for energy networks

Snow, Stephen, Weigel, Jason, Balson, Alex, Viller, Stephen and Glencross, Mashhuda (2022). User-centred design of a grid health virtual reality tabletop for energy networks. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies - Asia (ISGT Asia) Conference, Brisbane QLD Australia, 5-8 December 2021. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ISGTASIA49270.2021.9715616

User-centred design of a grid health virtual reality tabletop for energy networks

2022

Conference Publication

On-demand batteries as a peer-to-peer service

Balson, Alexander, Bean, Richard, Chapman, Archie C., Snow, Stephen, Viller, Stephen, Horrocks, Neil and Glencross, Mashhuda (2022). On-demand batteries as a peer-to-peer service. IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies - Asia (ISGT Asia) Conference, Brisbane QLD Australia, 5-8 December 2021. Piscataway, NJ USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/ISGTASIA49270.2021.9715657

On-demand batteries as a peer-to-peer service

2020

Conference Publication

Design guidance for location-based play: a review of research frameworks

Macdonald, Lorna, Matthews, Ben and Viller, Stephen (2020). Design guidance for location-based play: a review of research frameworks. DRS2020, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 11-14 August, 2020. London, United Kingdom: Design Research Society. doi: 10.21606/drs.2020.174

Design guidance for location-based play: a review of research frameworks

2020

Conference Publication

Preserving sequential context: developing participatory video analysis practice

Matthews, Sarah, Khan, Awais Hameed, Boden, Marie and Viller, Stephen (2020). Preserving sequential context: developing participatory video analysis practice. DRS2020, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 11-14 August, 2020. London, United Kingdom: Design Research Society. doi: 10.21606/drs.2020.296

Preserving sequential context: developing participatory video analysis practice

2020

Journal Article

Musical agency and an ecological perspective of DMIs: collective embodiment in third wave HCI

Worthy, Peter, Hunter, Trevor, Matthews, Ben and Viller, Stephen (2020). Musical agency and an ecological perspective of DMIs: collective embodiment in third wave HCI. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 25 (4), 797-807. doi: 10.1007/s00779-020-01429-9

Musical agency and an ecological perspective of DMIs: collective embodiment in third wave HCI

2020

Journal Article

Keeping the power on to home medical devices

Bean, Richard, Snow, Stephen, Glencross, Mashhuda, Viller, Stephen and Horrocks, Neil (2020). Keeping the power on to home medical devices. PloS One, 15 (7) e0235068, e0235068. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235068

Keeping the power on to home medical devices

2020

Other Outputs

Vim

Doherty, Skye , Rose, Ben , Jennings, Kathleen, Snow, Stephen , Matthews, Ben and Viller, Stephen (2020). Vim. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland.

Vim

2020

Conference Publication

Speculative designs for emergent personal data trails: signs, signals and signifiers

Snow, Stephen, Khan, Awais Hameed, Viller, Stephen, Matthews, Ben, Heiner, Scott, Pierce, James, Luger, Ewa, Gomer, Richard and Filipczuk, Dorota (2020). Speculative designs for emergent personal data trails: signs, signals and signifiers. 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu, HI, United States, 25-30 April 2020. New York, United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3334480.3375173

Speculative designs for emergent personal data trails: signs, signals and signifiers

2020

Conference Publication

Design jam as a pedagogy: teaching design thinking to computer science students at scale

Snow, Stephen, Filipczuk, Dorota, Viller, Stephen and Gomer, Richard (2020). Design jam as a pedagogy: teaching design thinking to computer science students at scale. OZCHI’19, Fremantle, WA, Australia, 2-5 December 2019. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3369457.3369468

Design jam as a pedagogy: teaching design thinking to computer science students at scale

2020

Conference Publication

Vim: a tangible energy story

Doherty, Skye, Snow, Stephen, Jennings, Kathleen, Rose, Ben, Matthews, Ben and Viller, Stephen (2020). Vim: a tangible energy story. 13th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2020, Bournemouth, United Kingdom, 3-6 November 2020. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-62516-0_24

Vim: a tangible energy story

2020

Conference Publication

"...and we are the creators!" technologies as creative material

Matthews, Sarah, Viller, Stephen and Boden, Marie (2020). "...and we are the creators!" technologies as creative material. Fourteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, Sydney, NSW Australia, 9-12 February 2020. New York, NY United States: Association for Computing Machinery. doi: 10.1145/3374920.3374980

"...and we are the creators!" technologies as creative material

2020

Conference Publication

Where are they now?: Revisiting energy use feedback a decade after deployment

Snow, Stephen, Viller, Stephen, Glencross, Mashhuda and Horrocks, Neil (2020). Where are they now?: Revisiting energy use feedback a decade after deployment. OZCHI’19, Fremantle, WA, Australia, 2-5 December 2019. New York, NY, United States: ACM. doi: 10.1145/3369457.3369501

Where are they now?: Revisiting energy use feedback a decade after deployment

Current funding

  • 2023 - 2026
    XR Safety Training for Crisis Situations
    CSIRO
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2023 - 2024
    The Enhancing Women's Recovery after Cancer Treatment Program (RECENTRE): A values-based implementation and evaluation
    NHMRC Partnership Projects
    Open grant
  • 2018 - 2023
    Redback Smart Monitoring Platform (Advance Queensland Platform Technology Program grant administered by Redback Operations Pty Ltd)
    Redback Technologies Australia
    Open grant
  • 2015 - 2017
    COMPASS - passport processing research project
    Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2014
    Home EnergyCoach: Driving energy efficient behaviours through interactive technologies
    UQ FirstLink Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2013
    Green robots, sustainable cities and inquiring minds: Young children engineer robots to create cities of the future
    UQ Collaboration and Industry Engagement Fund
    Open grant
  • 2009 - 2010
    Accessible Interactions
    Australasian CRC for Interaction Design
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2010
    Urban Interfaces
    Australasian CRC for Interaction Design
    Open grant
  • 2005 - 2009
    Suburban Communities
    Australasian CRC for Interaction Design
    Open grant
  • 2005 - 2007
    Virtual Communities
    Australasian CRC for Interaction Design
    Open grant
  • 2005 - 2006
    HDM Touchstone
    Australasian CRC for Interaction Design
    Open grant
  • 2003
    Human-centred design of ubiquitous computing systems
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Availability

Associate Professor Stephen Viller is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Available projects

  • Generative AI in Social Service Organisations

    Generative AI provides new opportunities for social service organizations in internal operations and in providing service delivery. While there are considerable risks, through collaborative co-designing and deploying such tools in an ethical, responsible and safe manner, generative AI tools can support human professionals and service users for enhanced greater wellbeing outcomes.

    Working in a multi-disciplinary research team, this project involves working with a social service organization (to be determined with the candidate and advisors) to identify, co-design and pilot generative AI tools.

    You will require a demonstrated interest in connecting technology with social science.

    Please follow the link for more details and instructions for applying for this project

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Designing for location dependence: a framework for design

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Ben Matthews

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Trust vs Disgust: The Believability and Trustworthiness of Digital Characters

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Mashhuda Glencross

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Mixed reality collaborative learning environment for use in distance education for professional development

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Marie Boden

  • Doctor Philosophy

    A mobile health intervention for promoting light and moderate intensity physical activity among young cancer survivors

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Chelsea Dobbins, Professor Sandie McCarthy

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Designing for location dependence: a framework for design

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Ben Matthews

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Positive Tipping Points Driving Clean Energy Adoption

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Mashhuda Glencross

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Positive Tipping Points Driving Clean Energy Adoption

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Mashhuda Glencross

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Weaving Tech and Teach: A Participatory Design Exploration with Primary School Teachers

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Ben Matthews

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Extreme Analytics

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Gianluca Demartini, Dr Jarrod Knibbe, Dr Maxime Cordeil

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Fostering Making Practices in People from Low Socio-Economic Backgrounds

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Dhaval Vyas

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Exploring Emotional and Cognitive Effects of Heterogeneous Mixed Reality Remote Collaboration

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Associate Professor Ben Matthews

  • Master Philosophy

    Critical Making and Design Ethics: A Foucauldian Perspective on Surveillance, Control and Biopower in Designed Digital Interactivity

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Dhaval Vyas

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Fostering Making Practices in People from Low Socio-Economic Backgrounds

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Dhaval Vyas

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Associate Professor Stephen Viller directly for media enquiries about:

  • Computer Supported Cooperative Work - CSCW
  • Engineering - ITEE
  • Human-centred design - ITEE
  • Human-Computer Interaction - HCI
  • Interaction Design - IxD
  • Interactive technologies - ITEE
  • ITEE - engineering
  • Mixed Reality
  • Mobile social software MoSoSo
  • Physical Computing
  • Requirements Engineering - RE
  • Social software - ITEE
  • Ubiquitous Computing - UbiComp
  • User Experience Design

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