If you’re looking at this post and rolling your eyes, that is very ISTP of you and I respect your opinion. Just give it a chance, please!
I have been intrigued by personality theories for a long time. Maybe it’s because I am curious about psychology and crave structure within my life. Maybe it’s just fun, for some reason. Whatever it is, where some people see personality theories has restrictive and not worth any attention, I actually see them as almost liberating and unifying.
In my mind, the point of a personality theory is to provide common vocabulary for us to talk about ourselves. In the same way we might identify ourselves as risk-avoidant or valuing flexibility, personality categories are just words to describe people. The problem is when personality theories start trying to predict the future or neglect nuance.
I think an even bigger problem is that personality “theories” tend not to be scientifically grounded or based on rigorous evidence. The most well known exception might be the Big 5/Five-Factor Model, which consists five dimensions (OCEAN):
Each of these is a spectrum. Combined, they start to describe (not explain) people’s personalities.
Another issue I have with some personality theories (and category systems beyond personality) is the implicit connotation that one side of a spectrum is more desired. For example, does being low in openness mean being closed-minded and judgmental? Does being high in neuroticism indicate being an anxious wreck? These issues are even more prevalent in body typing systems for personal style, but that is a separate discussion. I believe that a fair, usable categorization system should be neutral; no personality should be implied as better than others.
The most interesting personality system, in my opinion, is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The language of the MBTI is much more neutral, but it was literally made up by a mother-daughter duo based on their personal experiences. Still, it is a useful place to start.
The MBTI is organized into four dimensions, each of which is divided into two sides, for a total of 2^4 = 16 possible types. Here is how the official website defines them:
- Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)
- Opposite ways to direct and receive energy
- Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or your own inner world?
- Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)
- Opposite ways to take in information
- Do you prefer to focus on the facts or the big picture?
- Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
- Opposite ways to decide and come to conclusions
- Do you prefer to take an objective or an empathetic approach for deciding?
- Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)
- Opposite ways to approach the outside world
- Do you prefer to seek closure or stay open to new information?
First of all, EVERYONE’S DEFINITION OF INTROVERSION/EXTRAVERSION IS WRONG. We need to stop defining it in terms of outward actions or subjective observations. Eysenck’s Arousal Theory (1985) argues that introversion/extraversion is driven by a person’s baseline level of energy. The higher your baseline, the less additional stimulation you need to overflow your mental gas tank. So: higher baseline = more introverted, lower baseline = more extraverted. More recent studies (like this one) have contributed to our understanding of the biological basis of personality.
This represents another problem I have with personality theories: they are imprecisely defined, so they cannot precisely describe. Of course so many people feel so misrepresented by them. At the same time, though, biological/psychophysiological studies are still developing and have their own weaknesses. And they are sometimes weaponized for weird racist/classist/sexist agendas.
Dear reader, please allow me to be charitable and assume that you are reasonable, thoughtful, and gracious. Nothing I say is set in stone. Please grab your grain of salt because I am about to describe my own system of personality categories.
So what is all this supposed to do for us? I suppose you can think of it as an exercise in self-reflection, which I have been doing a lot as I apply for jobs. I keep thinking about who I am, what I believe in, and what I want to do. Combined with my existing interest in personality theories, all of that led to this post.
Let’s use me as an example. I am pretty sure I
This reveals to me that I value consistency, clarity, and fluidity. I consider myself a human-AI systems researcher, but I care a lot about how the details contribute to the overall result. I can struggle to accept “ad hoc” processes at first and I often need a lot of time to think deeply before acting, but eventually I reach a decision I can be confident in for the long run. Remember: personality theories are about understanding, not defining. They are starting points and shared vocabulary, not prescriptions.
Let’s contrast this with my partner, who defaults strongly to pragmatic resolutions. This difference in perspective used to lead to a lot of confusion and frustration for both of us. He didn’t always understand why our regular Friday night plans were so important to me if we could easily reschedule to Saturday when needed. I didn’t always see that his willingness to reschedule was not an indication of not caring about our routine. The next time you “don’t see the problem,” consider whether you have opposite perspectives of the same situation.
Another contrast: I used to intern with two managers, one of whom was very top-down and the other was very bottom-up. I would feel pretty disoriented after back-to-back meetings with them because it felt like we were talking about two different things. Eventually, I was able to predict the type of questions each manager would ask depending on the types of details that tended to grab their attentions, which made working together much easier.
One last contrast: I have a friend with extremely low baseline energy. I didn’t realize the energy level thing at first. I just perceived her as extremely antsy. Sounds surprising, right? How can someone with low baseline energy have the energy to be antsy at all? That’s another way outward behavior can misconstrue what is really happening inside: it turns out this friend literally itches to go out, see new things, be among people. She needs excitement to feel satisfied and, eventually, calm. Realizing this helped me stop feeling bothered when she always wanted to drag me out all the time. I just make sure to ask for some advanced notice so I can emotionally prepare. 😂
A lot of this started out as just plain old fun for me. Horoscopes, MBTI, Buzzfeed quizzes, whatever. If you are interested, you can check out some other fun/inspiring sources:
Slightly related but impactful:
There is no greater joy than eating good food.
-me, right now
Mostly in the order that I remember them, various restaurants and cafes in Philly that I have tried and what I think of them. Cross-streets should be close but might not be 100% accurate since I listed most from memory.
Note that my star ratings represent both my preferences and perception of quality. I might rate a perfectly good place slightly low just because I don’t really feel like going there very often.
Rating metrics:
Paying tribute to some favorites that are no longer with us.
A PhD in computer science in the US takes 6ish years. For reference, I graduated in the middle of my sixth year, so 5.5 years total, which feels standard. Knowing if you are making good progress in the PhD can be pretty challenging since not much is written down. Here is my attempt at making it a little more concrete (based on my experience and observations).
Progress in the first year varies a lot because many students come from many different starting points. A substantial portion of first years will come straight from undergrad and may have minimal independent research experience. Most others may have a master’s or work experience or both. I have even met a few students who started as teenagers because they came straight from undergrad and previously skipped a few years of school.
If you transferred fields, spent a longer time away from academia, or feel extra challenged for whatever reason during the first year, try not to worry too much. You still have plenty of time to work out the details.
First years can expect a heavier emphasis on fulfilling degree requirements (like classes or qualifiers). You might also get involved in research at some scale, possibly running your own project, conducting literature review, or joining an existing project. The goal of the first year is setting a good foundation.
Advanced first years feel comfortable managing an independent research project, have a general idea of their research interests/intended research area, and fulfill academic requirements without much trouble. These students typically have a relevant master’s that allows them to waive course requirements and/or substantial research experience. If this sounds like you, take advantage of this time to learn broadly. You might learn something new that dramatically benefits your work (sooner or later).
Standard first years are focused on adapting to a new environment. They may still feel like an undergrad because of their courseload. They may feel behind because they compare themselves to advanced first years who seem to be moving at a lightning pace. If this sounds like you, take your time settling into the program. Try not to worry much about publishing right away or making the fastest progress. Take this time to establish long-term goals, systems, and foundations. A good foundation leads to exponential progress. Just remember that an exponential curve looks linear or even flat in the beginning.
Lagging third years tend to play a lot of catch-up. They may have a weaker academic foundation (less rigorous classes, field transfer, long time away from academia, etc.) or limited research experience. The first year is especially hard for those unfamiliar with the “hidden curriculum” (an understanding of unspoken academic/professional rules that is passed down through informal ways). If this sounds like you, ask questions! Your advisor, senior students in the program, and labmates are great people to start with. I know it can be really intimidating, but many of us truly enjoy extending any advice that we can.
The second year is kind of like an extension of the first year except you have one more year of experience. You may still be wrapping up course requirements or starting other milestones (like a candidacy exam, if your program does that). The goal of the second year is to generate momentum.
Advanced second years may already be published, writing a paper, or working steadily on a research project. They are probably finished with course requirements. If this sounds like you, focus on maintaining progress on your project. You may want to start thinking of your next project. Instead of constraining yourself to direct follow-ups of your first project, I encourage you to think more broadly in terms of research themes, directions, or questions. Some first and second years bounce around before settling on a research area. Now is a great time to explore.
Standard second years are probably halfway done with their course requirements and lightly involved in research of some kind. If this sounds like you, keep it up. Slow and steady and all that. You may feel behind because some students in your year are already writing or traveling to conferences or done with classes. Resist the urge to rush. Wrap up non-research requirements one by one and keep up to date with your research project so you can really go go go in your third year.
Lagging second years are struggling with course requirements, possibly failing some. Sometimes, the opportunity to do research as a PhD student is motivation enough to get through it. For some, however, research may feel too boring, unrewarding, or pointless. If this sounds like you, you should think deeply about whether a PhD program is right for you. The PhD should serve you. The end of the second year is good timing to exit with a master’s. The opportunity cost at this point is about the same as anyone else in any ordinary master’s program. Otherwise, you may be destined for years of stressful labor. Worst case, you end up being asked to leave years later anyway. It is a personal choice. Just know it is not a personal failing.
The third year is probably most people’s first time they feel that they can dedicate themselves to research without classes or other requirements getting in the way. FWIW, the third year was my favorite. The goal this year is to grow steadily and efficiently.
Advanced third years probably have decent progress on their first project (e.g., already started data collection). They might even be starting their second. They feel comfortable enough with research to mentor someone else, like an undergrad, through the process. If this sounds like you, now is a great time to get involved in outreach or additional collaborations. If you have substantial work done, even if it is still in progress, consider presenting at a lab meeting, seminar, or workshop. Towards the end of the year, you can start thinking about the thesis proposal in terms of what you have already done and directions you find interesting.
Standard third years are establishing their first major project. This might mean reviewing literature, testing procedures, scoping a problem, or asking for feedback. If this sounds like you, focus on defining an interesting, feasible, and fruitful (for lack of a better word) project. In my opinion, the best research projects are ones whose answers lead to more questions. I know it sounds contradictory. It just means that successful projects tend to open more opportunities, which prevents you from accidentally digging yourself into too narrow of a niche.
Lagging third years might still be wrapping up classes or other requirements, preventing them from focusing deeply on research. It might be self-inflicted in an imposter syndrome kind of way, like spending too much time mentoring other people instead of working on your own project because your own project scares you (I might know this from experience…). If this sounds like you, focus on doing what you need to do to settle into your research agenda. It might mean stepping back from external commitments, doing some practice talks, or scheduling a meeting with a labmate to ask a bunch of “stupid” questions. Everyone suddenly starts talking about graduation and thesis proposal and timelines when you hit the fourth year, so the third year is the last chance to be in “figuring it out” mode.
The fourth year was a transition period for me. It started feeling foundational again because I was establishing the basis of my future dissertation. Research stopped being about exploration and started becoming more conceptually linear. At this point, your projects should start being at least somewhat aligned so you can eventually unite them with your thesis topic (not necessarily perfectly in sync because that really only happens in hindsight). The goal of this year is to build a solid intellectual structure (for your eventual thesis).
Advanced fourth years start the year knowing their thesis topic. They are well positioned to work on their thesis proposals, possibly even defend them by mid-year. Those who defend the thesis proposal in the middle of the fourth year can probably graduate easily by the end of the fifth year. If this sounds like you, you might want to scan through some current job postings so you can stay up to date on hiring trends (terminology, qualifications, etc.). Even 15 minutes once a year is good enough, just for background information. I felt blindsided when I went on the job market and wished I had done this.
Standard fourth years spend the bulk of the year developing their thesis topic. They are ready to defend the thesis proposal by the end of the year, which means they can graduate by the end of the fifth year with discipline (and luck) or by the middle of the sixth year with ease. If this sounds like you, be sure to dedicate time and mental energy to your thesis proposal in regular intervals throughout the year or in a two-week burst at some point. The proposal is important but not urgent, so it easily gets left behind and suddenly haunts you later. Advisors tend not to put much pressure on the proposal until you actually need to present it, so this milestone will likely need to be more self-directed.
Lagging fourth years do not quite feel like independent researchers yet. They may rely heavily on external guidance or not know how to scope a problem or plan a methodology. They may not have solid “research taste” (an understanding of their own interests at a personal level and within the context of the broader research community). If this sounds like you, you may need to focus generating rather than absorbing ideas. Stop reading papers, asking for other people’s opinions, and/or following someone else’s instructions (for now). Write (or voice record) with reckless abandon: your research interests and weirdest ideas. Brainstorm the dumbest and easiest ways you could possibly accomplish them. It is okay (and probably even best) to take the simplest path forward.
Some fifth years will start calling themselves “final-year” PhD students or “ABD” (all but degree, meaning that you have fulfilled all requirements and just need to graduate, useful for job market terms). We are nearing the end! The goal of this year is to finish strong (and get a job, probably).
Advanced fifth years are ready to graduate. They are wrapping up their final projects, writing their dissertations, planning their defenses, and applying to jobs. That might look like applying to faculty (in the fall), postdoc (especially if you want to be a professor but want more time to develop your research), or industry roles (kind of whenever). If this sounds like you, congrats! Go for it, and I will see you at graduation in May.
Standard fifth years are rushing to graduate in May or steadily progressing to graduate during the summer or sixth year. If this sounds like you, you may want to consider walking during May commencement even though you will receive your degree later. It is pretty common for PhD graduates who are finishing in August or December but do not want to wait until the following May to celebrate. Other than that, this is also a good time to scan through job postings to stay up to date on what is going on.
Lagging fifth years, for a variety of reasons, are probably looking at graduating during their seventh year. This might be because progress was disrupted when switching advisors or a project going wrong at an earlier point. Maybe you took leave for a medical reason or an internship. If this sounds like you, focus on prioritization and rest. The PhD is a long program, especially when you see others in your cohort already done. You can do it, one step at a time!
Just focus on graduating 😅. At this point, it might be a matter of bureaucracy, like writing the right content in the dissertation, compiling the committee, or something else. You might want to lean on a senior professor who is very experienced in getting students out the door. You got this!
]]>Before emailing anyone, check their online profile to see if they have instructions for emailing them and make sure to follow them. Breaking these guidelines is a good way to get yourself ignored (or worse…).
Figuring out what to call someone you have never met can be tricky, especially across cultures. For US-based PhD students, using their first name is acceptable. You do not have to call them “sir” or “ma’am,” either. I was always amused when anyone (prematurely, at the time) addressed me as “Dr. Hwang” in an email. When in doubt, be more formal and pay attention to how they sign off on their response. If they explicitly sign off as something more specific than their initials or full name, you can assume that is how they prefer to be addressed.
I remember feeling so nervous about emailing new people that I would send feature-length sagas because I thought that was the polite thing to do. Fear not! Being concise is not necessarily the same as being curt, short, or terse. Aim for three sentences: (1) say who you are, (2) explain how you found them, and (3) make your request. Add a “Hi their name” at the beginning and a “Thank you, your name” at the end and you are good to go.
Of course, include more details when necessary. If you find yourself needing more than a three short paragraphs (three sentences each), consider asking/offering a meeting instead. Also keep in mind that lots of people check email on their phones these days, so you should try to avoid overwhelming them with huge blocks of text.
Take advantage of paragraph structures, bullet points, hyperlinks, and other formatting tools to help you deliver your message more effectively. Bullet points are especially great if you have multiple (brief) questions or requests. You can also put requests/questions on their own lines to make sure the recipient does not miss them. Effective formatting also helps you include more information in less space.
I know they are called PhD students, but working hours are quite different at this stage, especially after the second year, because PhD students no longer have a heavy courseload (or any at all). This means that asking to meet at 8 PM during the week or any time at all during the weekend is not a good idea.
If you are trying to schedule a meeting with a PhD student, you will probably have the most success between 11 AM and 5 PM, even more if you are open to virtual. Try to offer multiple options at least a week in advance. If your schedule is packed and you need a meeting at a less convenient time, just say so. We understand! In that case, make sure your request is very important or consider reaching out at a less busy time.
Maybe even two, depending on how urgent your email is. PhD workloads can be extremely heavy at nonobvious times because of paper deadlines, conference travel, or other important milestones. Many conferences involve at least a week of international travel, during which attention to email can become very sporadic. PhD programs also have a lot of individually set deadlines for oral exams that are not as predictable like midterms or final exam season. They might even be away at an internship, which is more likely during the summer but can be true during the fall or spring.
You should know that a PhD student’s research is critical to their success. We conduct long, multifaceted projects that will hopefully be published and maybe end up in the dissertation. We report our progress at least weekly to various supervisors and need to keep on track. I have heard stories of research mentees disappearing partway through the semester, leaving PhD mentors scrambling to adjust their plans. Research is significant work (at least 10 hours a week), so be sure to think carefully before committing. If you become overwhelmed during the semester, please do not ghost us. Let your mentor know so they can plan around you (and because they care!).
Hi Alyssa,
My name is Nick and I am sophomore in CS. I am interested in learning more about HCI and saw your website online. Do you have time to answer some questions in the next couple of weeks? In general, Tuesday, Thursday, and Fridays from 3 to 7 PM work best for me, but I can suggest other times if needed.
Thank you,
Nick Miller
Dear Alyssa,
My senior capstone group is looking for a mentor and I was wondering if you would be interested. Professor X recommended that we ask you because our interests might align. Our project is about building voice assistants for cars, which is related to your past work on cooking.
If you are able to mentor us, it would be great if you could meet online once a week for about 30 minutes. I have attached some slides and the syllabus in case that is helpful. Please let me know if I can provide any other info!
Best,
Winston Bishop
Hi Alyssa,
I am starting my senior year majoring in CS and minoring in psychology. I am very interested in getting some research experience as an assistant or an independent study. Are you open to mentoring a project?
Some more information about me:
If you are not available, can you introduce me to someone who might be interested? Thank you!
Jessica Day
]]>Unfortunately, I am also the type of person to get terrible analysis paralysis. My solution to all this dire strife was to set defaults, not routines. I now have a base case for most of the substantial “routines” in my life. Some of my favorites:
You have probably heard that every good morning starts with a good night. I have really found this to be true, so my bedtime process is going first.
I used to be totally overwhelmed about exercising, to the point where I told myself that just entering my apartment’s gym counts as “going to the gym.” Don’t be afraid to start teeny tiny, like even just walking on the treadmill for 3 minutes. That was me not too long ago.
Now, my goal is to keep my heart rate elevated (between 110 and 160 BPM) for at least 20 minutes a day. That’s really it. I use Strava on my Apple Watch, so I glance at it from time to time.
If I am strength training (with body weight or bar bell), I target the large muscle groups and call it a day: legs and back (I consider core to be included in the types of exercises I usually do).
I have heard that everyone has daily rhythms beyond just sleeping and waking. I highly recommend paying attention to your energy levels and scheduling your tasks around them (as best as you can). I usually do high-output work (writing a paper, coding) in the morning and high-input work (brainstorming, literature review, peer review) in the afternoon. I squeeze in busywork (emails, paperwork) between major tasks. For me, this process is more productive than, say, ordering my work in order of importance.
Completing a PhD involves fulfilling several academic/bureaucratic requirements along with conducting research. A lot of information and advice seems to be passed around by word of mouth, so I figured that I would try to write them down. When I can, I will provide links to official guidelines. Be sure to confirm with the PhD program coordinator! Right now, the coordinator is Britton Carnevali and she is awesome.
As a PhD student, you will need to register for credits every semester through Path@Penn. This is the same portal that undergrads and master’s students use to register for classes. Note: Path@Penn somewhat recently replaced an older system called PATH, which may be mentioned in some places.
You will probably take several classes in the first few years, but you will eventually register for just “CIS 9999 Independent Study Research” (before thesis proposal) or “CIS 9950 Dissertation” (after thesis proposal) (see course catalog). PhD students need to maintain “full-time enrollment,” which is 3 to 4 CUs (course units). For reference, most classes are 1 CU. CIS 9999 is actually adjustable, so you can register for 1 to 3 CUs to make sure you hit the full-time minimum.
You will also need to TA for two semesters, which is called the “Teaching Practicum” (see Teaching Practium section). You would register for CIS 8950 Teaching Practicum during the semester(s) you work as a TA. Becoming a TA is pretty informal. You will probably end up TAing for your advisor or someone else in the department who is teaching something familiar. A few tips:
The course requirements actually changed right after I completed mine, so I am less familiar with this area (see Course Requirements section). In general, you will need to complete 2 breadth courses (waived if you have a master’s) and 6 depth classes. This requirement is usually pretty flexible as long as your advisor is okay with your choices.
This is another requirement that changed shortly after I completed the older version (then called the WPE-II). This requirement is supposed to completed at the end of your second year or beginning of your third year (see Research Qualifier section).
The goal of the research qualifier is to assess early research progress. That sounds scary, but it is really just a milestone to keep you moving. Otherwise, your first major written report and oral presentation might be the thesis proposal in your fourth (ish) year. Along with showing your committee that you have been making progress in your first couple of years, this is a good chance to experience how academic bureaucracy works.
What counts as progress? It is pretty broad, especially at such an early stage. It might look like literature review, formative studies, data collection of some kind (questionnaires, LLM outputs, pilot studies), or the beginning of a prototype. It might be more advanced, like a paper submission or publication. It might be a study that did not work out as you had hoped. Do not think too hard about whether your progress is impressive or “real” or beats some state of the art. In general, if your advisor is satisfied so far, you are probably good. Be sure to meet regularly and ask frequently for feedback.
What is “academic bureaucracy”? That is just my way of talking about the rules and structures that are instituted by a system: committees, deadlines, deliverables, other aspects of a system that codify a process. For the research qualifier, you will need to assemble a committee (three faculty members who will judge your research qualifier, one of whom you will designate as the chair), write a report, and give a presentation. You will need to coordinate schedules, book rooms, send email announcements, and learn how to integrate feedback from multiple people. It might sound like a lot, but you can do it!
A few more tips:
You will propose your thesis around the end of your fourth year, when you and your advisor estimate that you have about one more year of work to do until you graduate. Timelines in research can be difficult to define, so the thesis proposal has historically had a lot of wiggle room. For example, I proposed my thesis in August 2025 (end of fifth year) and graduated the following December (midway through sixth year). You, your advisor, and maybe your committee chair will help you with the timing.
The most important part of the thesis proposal is the thesis statement. By the time you present your proposal, you need to have a clear, defensible research claim. Remember that research is about generating knowledge, not just building, observing, designing, whatever-ing something. I think about 50% of my effort on the proposal went toward figuring out my thesis statement (and I still had to work on it afterward). The effort is worth it (especially during job apps…).
Similar to the research qualifier, you will need to assemble a committee, write a report, and give a presentation. This time, the committee needs to include an “external,” or someone from outside the department. You can try cold emailing the most interesting researcher in your field and asking them to serve on your committee. Your advisor might have some advice on good people to ask, especially depending on your career goals.
Expectations for the report seem to vary by committee. In general, the goal of the thesis proposal is to convince your committee that the work you are proposing would satisfy the requirements for a dissertation. Therefore, a substantial portion of your proposal will be discussing planned work. Before you talk about planned work, you should also explain your previous/current work to provide background information. You are allowed (and encouraged, to be honest) to reuse past written documents/slides to help you do this.
My thesis proposal was structured like this:
Note that this structure made extending my proposal into my dissertation super easy. I highly recommend following a structure like this.
Other tips:
The dissertation defense is funny because it is officially the most important milestone of your PhD but also the most straightforward one, at least in my view. You already have your committee members. Your proposal will probably serve as a solid foundation, so you will not need to start from scratch. For me, it was actually a joyous occasion because it was such a rare opportunity to brag about my life’s work while wrapping up the highest academic degree, an accomplishment apparently less than 2% of the world’s population shares.
Okay, story time over. The process of completing the dissertation defense is basically the same as the process for the thesis proposal, just with slightly different content. Now that you are actually graduating, though, the academic bureaucracy becomes an even bigger deal.
Your dissertation will eventually be an actual published document, which comes with specific formatting requirements. Graduation itself also involves a bunch of paperwork and deadlines, so pay close attention to your email. Additional information is available from the Provost website.
Make sure you watch out for these steps:
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR EMAIL DURING YOUR FINAL SEMESTER SO YOU DO NOT MISS ANY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, DEADLINES, SIGN-UP FORMS, OR OTHER INFORMATION!!!
]]>Understanding information-dense documents like recipes and scientific papers requires readers to find, interpret, and connect details scattered across text, figures, tables, and other visual elements. These documents are often long and filled with specialized terminology, hindering the ability to locate relevant information or piece together related ideas. Existing tools offer limited support for synthesizing information across media types. As a result, understanding complex material remains cognitively demanding. This paper presents a framework for fine-grained integration of information in complex documents. We instantiate the framework in an augmented reading interface, which populates a scientific paper with clickable points on figures, interactive highlights in the body text, and a persistent reference panel for accessing consolidated details without manual scrolling. In a controlled between-subjects study, we find that participants who read the paper with our tool achieved significantly higher scores on a reading quiz without evidence of increased time to completion or cognitive load. Fine-grained integration provides a systematic way of revealing relationships within a document, supporting engagement with complex, information-dense materials.
Source code coming soon.
Defense Slides (.pdf) Proposal Slides (.pdf) Proposal (.pdf)
I successfully defended my dissertation on November 26, 2025. Source code and demo video coming soon!
Understanding information-dense documents like recipes and scientific papers requires readers to find, interpret, and connect details scattered across text, figures, tables, and other visual elements. These documents are often long and filled with specialized terminology, hindering the ability to locate relevant information or piece together related ideas. Existing tools offer limited support for synthesizing information across media types. As a result, understanding complex material remains cognitively demanding.
This dissertation presents a framework that supports the close reading of multimedia documents through fine-grained augmentations. The framework is inspired, designed, and evaluated using a human-centered approach. We begin with a needs-finding study that identifies challenges in navigating documents and searching for information. These insights guide the design of a framework that surfaces connections between related details. We instantiate the framework in an augmented reading interface, which populates a scientific paper with clickable points on figures, interactive highlights in the body text, and a persistent reference panel for accessing consolidated details without manual scrolling. In a controlled between-subjects study, we find that participants who read the paper with our tool achieved significantly higher scores without increasing time to completion or perceived cognitive load. Fine-grained augmentations provide a systematic way of revealing relationships within a document, supporting engagement with complex, information-dense materials.
]]>The points are based on how scary I think each task is. This is just for fun and trying to make the most out of a conference, so don’t be too hard on yourself. There is more than one “right” way to attend a conference. Feel free to adjust the points for yourself or make up new tasks. Happy conferencing!