Weijun Li

I am a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researcher and a first-year Informatics Ph.D. student at ๐Ÿœ University of California, Irvine, working in the ๐Ÿฅง PIE LAB with Prof. Daniel Epstein.

I focus how to design responsible, well-being-oriented technologies. Currently, my research focuses on ๐Ÿ’ก personal informatics, with broader interests in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). Previously, I worked on HCI and design projects at Zhejiang University with Prof. Lingyun Sun and Prof. Shi Chen. Earlier, I was active in algorithm competitions and accumulated experience as a full-stack developer during my undergraduate studies.

Outside of research, you can find me ๐Ÿšดโ€โ™€๏ธ๐ŸŒธcycling in the nearest mountain. Feel free to reach out if youโ€™d like to chat about research or cycling!

News

April 2025

CHI 2025 in Yokohama! Presenting at CFP Workshop ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ตโœจ

September 2024

Moved to Irvine.I started my Ph.D. journey!๐ŸŒดโœจ

January 2024

Two co-author CHI papers got accepted!๐ŸŽ‰

October 2023

Attended CSCW 2023 in Minneapolis present of my paper. ๐Ÿ“„

June 2023

Attended IDC 2023 ๐Ÿš— in Chicago and presented my poster. ๐Ÿ™๏ธ

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May 2023

Went to Notre Dame University and worked Toby! ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ป

December 2022

My CSCW paper focusing on intimacy got accepted! ๐Ÿ’Œ๐Ÿ“š

Ongoing Project

Current Work Image

Enhancing Food Tracking Practice with LLMs: Towards Goal-Oriented Reflection (CHI 2025 EA)

Publications

2024

An Empathy-Based Sandbox Approach to Bridge Attitudes, Goals, Knowledge, and Behaviors in the Privacy Paradox

Chaoran Chen, Weijun Li, Wenxin Song, Yanfang Ye, Yaxing Yao, Toby Jia-jun Li

CHI 2024 We introduce an empathy-based approach that allows users to experience how privacy behaviors may alter system outcomes in a risk-free sandbox environment from the perspective of artificially generated personas. To generate realistic personas, we introduce a novel pipeline that augments the outputs of large language models using few-shot learning, contextualization, and chain of thoughts.

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2024

Practices and Challenges of Delivering Among Deaf or Hard of Hearing Couriers

Shi Chen, Xiaodong Wang, Weijun Li, Jiangao Zhang, Yuge Qi, Jiaqi Teng, Zhihan Zeng

CHI 2024 This paper explores the experiences of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) food delivery workers in China. We focus on their motivations, like better pay and community belonging, and their use of delivery platform tools, such as AI voice calls, for communication. Despite technological aids, human intervention remains important. We identify challenges such as safety risks, multitasking complexities, and mistrust in AI voice calls. Our findings offer insights for designing inclusive delivery platforms and broader implications for employment opportunities for DHH individuals, particularly in developing countries.

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2023

What makes virtual intimacy...intimate? Understanding the Phenomenon and Practice of Computer-Mediated Paid Companionship

Weijun Li, Shi Chen, Lingyun Sun, Changyuan Yang

CSCW 2023 In China, Virtual romance service (VRS) provides a direct dyadic intimacy, different from fan-idol parasocial ties. Our study of 178 surveys and 22 interviews revealed virtual lovers' strategies to meet customers' emotional needs. Customers value VRS for its emotional benefits without the need for long-term commitment. We conclude with insights into the unique nature of virtual lovers and design implications for digital companionship.

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2021

PTeacher, a Computer-Aided Personalized Pronunciation Training System with Exaggerated Audio-Visual Corrective Feedback

Yaohua Bu*, Tianyi Ma*, Weijun Li, Hang Zhou, Jia Jia, Kaiyuan Xu, Dachuan Shi, Haozhe Wu, Zhihan Yang, Kun Li, Zhiyong Wu, Yuanchun Shi, Xiaobo Lu, Ziwei Liu

CHI 2021 L2 English learners find it difficult to improve pronunciation due to lack of personalized feedback. This paper presents Pronunciation Teacher (PTeacher), a CAPT system offering personalized exaggerated audio-visual feedback. Interviewing 100 L2 learners and 22 native teachers, we propose three metrics to determine exaggeration levels in both modalities. We incorporate dynamic feedback based on learner proficiency. User studies indicate our system improves learning efficiency.

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Lightly reviewed publications

2023

I Never Envy Anyone, for I Have Already Built a Kingdom With My Fingertips, Exploring Teenagersโ€™ Experience in Chat-based Cosplay Community

Weijun Li, Yaohua Bu, Suqi Lou, Shi Chen, Lingyun Sun, Changyuan Yang

IDC 23 This paper examines teenagers' chat-based cosplay in China. We found four primary motivations and their main practice. Adolescents perceived character presentation as key and devoted significant effort to refine their characters for higher consistency. We spotlight the interplay between social relationships and story creation, and also note both positive and negative experiences within the community.

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2023

EdibleToy:Empowering Children to Create Their Own Meals with a DIY Wafer Paper Kit

Yilin Shao, Boyu Feng, Yingpin Chen, Yue Yang, Weijun Li, Yifan Yan, Yanan Wang, Ye Tao, Lingyun Sun, Guanyun Wang

IDC 23 Drawing inspiration from shape-changing food research, we propose an approach that combines deformable wafer paper for food preparation. We summarize the principles of wafer paper controllable deformation and develop a toolkit to facilitate its use. We support children increating personalized, transformable food items using this method.

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2021

Visual-speech Synthesis of Exaggerated Corrective Feedback

Yaohua Bu*, Weijun Li*, Tianyi Ma, Shengqi Chen, Jia Jia, Kun Li, Xiaobo Lu

MM 2020 We propose a method for exaggerated visual-speech feedback in CAPT. The speech exaggeration is realized by an emphatic speech generation neural network based on Tacotron, while the visual exaggeration is accomplished by ADC Viseme Blending, namely increasing Amplitude of movement, extending the phoneโ€™s Duration and enhancing the color Contrast.

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2020

An Integrated Method to Build Read-Aiding E-Books Based on Text Mining and Interactive Aesthetics

Weijun Li, Fukai Yang, Ruibing Jia, Renmin Li, Minghao Yin

JCDL 2020 We propose a four-stage method to build read-aiding e-books directly from text, integrating the technologies in text mining and the ideas in interactive aesthetics. By applying this method, we manage to identify and present multiple complex relationships in the classical Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, providing readers with vivid scenes and rich interactions for better comprehension.

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