Thomas Eßmeyer (né Mildner)

🎉I am extremely happy to be part of a wonderful group to organise CUI 2026 and bring it to the city I grew up in - 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙉!

If you work in the field and want to engage and be part, we made an open call to look for organising committee members:

forms.gle/9HjLsSz4uZFK...

Really great tips to enjoy CHI and not get fully overwhelmed! Thanks @altoombs.bsky.social 🙌

And in the same session, right after:

"Getting Trapped in Amazon's "Iliad Flow": A Foundation for the Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns"

📅: Wednesday, 30 April, 2:10 pm - 2:22 pm.
📍: G304
🔗: programs.sigchi.org/chi/2025/pro...
📄: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

On Wednesday, 30 April:

"A Comparative Study of How People With and Without ADHD Recognise and Avoid Dark Patterns on Social Media"

📅: Wednesday, 30 April, 2:10 pm - 2:22 pm.
📍: G304
🔗: programs.sigchi.org/chi/2025/pro...
📄: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

On Tuesday, 29 April, our SIG will be on
Global and Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design Practice
ダークパターンとひとをだますデザインに関する国際的かつ学際的な交流
📅: Tuesday, 29 April, 2:10 pm - 2:22 pm.
📍: G217
🔗: programs.sigchi.org/chi/2025/pro...
📄: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...

While it’s already great enough to be at #chi25 and meet old and new friends, I am also excited to be part of a SIG and two papers. Here, I’ll collect the details if you’re interested in this work and want to connect:

Stage for the opening keynote of the CHI 2025 conference.

#CHI2025 is kicking of in #Yokohama 🌸 and what a fantastic location to host and get to visit! Very happy to be here 🎊

Each year, I am impressed by the size of this community and the great energy it holds! Looking forward to a fascinating and inspiring week!

Just made it to #Yokohama for #CHI2025 and I am extremely excited for our SIG on #DarkPatterns and the fantastic people I will get to talk to!

Hey @derossinger.bsky.social, das meiste entweder online via Google Scholar, der ACM digital library oder über meine Website (www.thomasmildner.me). Wenn du was nicht findest, sag gern noch mal Bescheid und ich versuch zu helfen :)

@graydesign.bsky.social @johannagunawan.bsky.social @thomasmildner.me

Since we didn’t retain the CC rights for this paper on #darkpatterns in #mobilegames so here‘s the author version on arxiv for public access 🙌🎮📱

arxiv.org/abs/2412.05039

Level Up or Game Over: Exploring How Dark Patterns Shape Mobile Games This study explores the prevalence of dark patterns in mobile games that exploit players through temporal, monetary, social, and psychological means. Recognizing the ethical concerns and potential har...

Here‘s now the copy for the arxiv version: arxiv.org/abs/2412.05039

Finding a Way Through the Social Media Labyrinth: Guiding Design Through User Expectations | Proceedings of the International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia

The second is titled "Finding a Way Through the Social Media Labyrinth", for which I am incredibly happy that it received an honourable mention 🏆. Huge Thanks go to my co-authors Gian-Luca Savino, Susanne Putze, and Rainer Malaka.

doi.org/10.1145/3701...

The first was "Level Up or Game Over" 🎮 for which I want to thank my former student Sam Niknejad whose thesis is the foundation for this work. And of course all other co-authors: @nimazargham.bsky.social, Susanne Putze, and Rainer Malka! 🎉

doi.org/10.1145/3701...

Me presenting findings at MUM 2024.

Me presenting findings at MUM 2024.

This year was my first time at #MUM2024, and what an incredible community and conference it was! Thanks to all who made it happen in #Stockholm. ❄️🇸🇪

Not only did I co-host a workshop, but present two papers. And it still doesn't stop here: We received an honourable mention for one of them! 🏆

As one of the authors, currently it’s only in ACM’s digital library. But I will also upload our author version on arxiv.

Foto out of a train in late autumn. The Rhein river and some wine fields are seen.

🚅Again in a train to the airport for my final conference of the year and what better destination than #Stockholm! At #MUM2024, I get to co-host a workshop and present two papers.. did not expect this academic year to wrap with such a wonderful opportunity! Thanks to all!

Thursday's online #HCI BIG TALK: Heloisa Candello from IBM Research Brazil talks about #CUI #AI and #responsibleAI in her talk "A human-centered approach to responsible conversational user interfaces."

Online, free, all welcome! 2pm GMT, sign up here:
bighci.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2024/10/03/b...

ChatGPT was tasked with designing a website. The result was as manipulative as you'd expect In a new study, researchers found that ChatGPT creates websites full of deceptive patterns.

Great writeup of Veronica Krauss and team’s work on #darkpatterns and #generativeai by @stokel.bsky.social! Such a timely paper and good to see it reaching a broader audience.

www.fastcompany.com/91233844/cha...

Dark Patterns: Manipulation im Netz Wie sich Menschen im Internet von »Dark Patterns« manipulieren lassen und wie sie sich davor schützen können

The German science magazine „Spektrum der Wissenschaft“ interviewed me, alongside Deborah Löschner, for an article on #DarkPatterns. The article is in German but very informative!

www.spektrum.de/news/dark-pa...

Congratulations @laststrawberry.bsky.social!! Well done! 🎉🙌

Today might be remembered for many reasons, but I hope to carry these happy memories with me the longest! Thank you all very much!

Special thanks go to Benjamin Cowan, Minha Lee, and Robert Porzel, who gave engaging talks in the crosssection of this transdisciplinary workshop. Further thanks to all attendees, who made these past few days so exciting with many open avenues for future work and collaborations! 💻

Robert Porzel presenting at the REACT workshop in Bremen.

Benjamin Cowan presenting at the REACT workshop in Bremen.

Minha Lee presenting at the REACT workshop in Bremen.

During our workshop on Responsible and Ethical AI in CUI Technologies, with Nima Zargham, Rainer Malaka, and our Digital Media Lab, we had the great pleasure of welcoming a fantastic group of researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, University College Dublin, and Stockholm University. 🎉

A couple more days 🎙️🎙️

Join us for a full-day in-person workshop to advance the discourse on Enhancing Human-Agent Interaction Through Thoughtful Persona Design at #MUM2024 in Stockholm.

thomasmildner.github.io/DAIP/

I guess it’s becomming a theme for
me to post whenever I am in a train commuting 🚅. It’s such a gift within the EU to benefit from open boarders, something that we shouldn’t take for granted and seek to keep.

Person standing in front of a large display presenting.

Yesterday, I was fortunate to present my work on #darkpatterns and #responsibledesign at #TU/e. Thank you so much, Minha Lee, for having me. As always, it’s been a joy catching up and thinking about how to give people more agency when engaging with design. Hope to meet you soon again!

A virtual certificate with text "Celebrating 10M users on Bluesky, #986,810, Thomas Mildner ‪@thomasmildner.bsky.social‬, joined on Sep 13, 2023"

Didnt even realise: Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #986,810!