Guest Editor(s)
Department of Control and Computer Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy.
Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments (IVE), Adelaide University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Special Issue Information
Human social interactions are undergoing a profound transformation driven by advances in Extended Reality (XR), including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). Beyond replicating real-world communication cues, XR enables social augmentation, defined as the intentional enhancement or transformation of social and emotional signals to enrich communication, increase engagement, and support inclusivity. The integration of Artificial Intelligence further expands this space enabling adaptive and context-sensitive systems that respond to individual differences in real time.
This Special Issue builds on discussions and outcomes from the CHI 2026 workshop "Shaping Future Human Connection: Social Augmentation through XR Technologies" and aims to consolidate and extend emerging interdisciplinary insights in this area. We invite contributions from researchers, designers, and practitioners working on any aspect of XR-mediated social augmentation, regardless of workshop participation. We particularly encourage empirical studies, theoretical perspectives, system designs, and speculative approaches that advance the field.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Social augmentation in XR: modification and enhancement of social and emotional cues in virtual, augmented, and mixed reality environments.
• AI-driven adaptive and personalized interactions: systems that respond to individual differences, provide context-sensitive feedback, and scale across diverse users.
• Multimodal social signal processing: integration of behavioral, physiological, and affective cues to support social awareness and collaboration.
• Accessible and inclusive Social XR: design strategies and frameworks promoting equitable participation across diverse populations, abilities, and cultural contexts.
• Ethical and privacy considerations: responsible data use, fairness, transparency, and trust in Social XR systems.
• Evaluation methodologies: behavioral, self-report, and physiological approaches for assessing social augmentation’s effectiveness.
• Application domains: education, healthcare, professional collaboration, therapy, and creative performance.
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