I am a Human-Computer Interaction researcher and an Assistant Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Jeddah. My research lies at the intersection of HCI, CSCW, and Game Design. I investigate the ways people engage in social activities in physical, virtual, and mixed spaces, such as distributed multiplayer games, human-drone teams, online learning environments, and disaster response training simulations. My work explores new approaches to support collective sensemaking, planning, team awareness, and communication in distributed environments. I incorporate fieldwork and observation to understand existing contexts and practices; design novel collaboration interfaces and game mechanics; and test these designs through mixed methods studies in the lab and in the field.
Research Interest: distributed collaboration, team awareness, mixed reality, game design, software learnability, learning systems, serious games, gamification, player/user experience, and wearable technology.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS:
(see Publications for a full list or Google Scholar)
Investigating the Effects of Individual Cognitive Styles on Collaborative Gameplay
Sultan A. Alharthi, George E. Raptis, Christina Katsini, Igor Dolgov, Lennart E. Nacke, and Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. 2021. Investigating the Effects of Individual Cognitive Styles on Collaborative Gameplay. In Proceedings of ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (ToCHI).
Developing Future Wearable Interfaces for Human-Drone Teams through a Virtual Drone Search Game
Marlena R. Fraune, Ahmed S. Khalaf, Mahlet Zemedie, Poom Pianpak, Zahra NaminiMianji, Sultan A. Alharthi, Igor Dolgov, Bill Hamilton, Son Tran, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. 2020. Developing Future Wearable Interfaces for Human-Drone Teams through a Virtual Drone Search Game. To appear in Proceedings of the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies(IJHCS).
Making Maps Available for Play: Analyzing the Design of Game Cartography Interfaces
Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, Nick LaLone, Sultan A. Alharthi, Hitesh Nidhi Sharma, and Andrew M. Webb. 2019. Making Maps Available for Play: Analyzing the Design of Game Cartography Interfaces. In Proceedings of ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (ToCHI).
RECENT NEWS: