Brief Considerations on the Phenomenon of Humor in HCI

Abstract

This paper discusses the topic of humor in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Despite being an important element of social life with countless benefits, such as promoting likeability, improving team work, boosting mood and health, helping with content retention etc., humor seems to be rather neglected in HCI. Therefore, in this paper we aim to analyze the reasons for this apparent lack of interest, review some humor applications successfully deployed out-side-the-lab and propose solutions for promoting research on this topic in our community. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a floor for discussion on humor relevance for HCI applications.