Thomas Eßmeyer (né Mildner)
@thomasmildner.me
Designer and computer scientist ✏️💻 from northern Germany. Trying to make social media more social. In my research, I focus on ethical design, dark patterns, and online well-being. Now a postdoc at Uni Bremen. He/him #hci #dpbsky www.thomasmildner.me
I’m truly honoured to share that my dissertation, "Mitigating Dark Patterns Through Responsible Design – Ethical Design Considerations for User-Centred Technologies", has been awarded the “Thematischer Preis” of the Bremer Studienpreis 2025. 🥳 #Bremen #UniBremen
Such an amazing article and very well-written. Really happy I got to chat with @caitlingilbert.bsky.social about the problems of social media, specifically TikTok. The harm of TikTok constantly engaging its users can be linked to studies showing that overuse of social media decreases well-being.
Caitlin Gilbert@caitlingilbert.bsky.social · 11mo ago🤳EXCLUSIVE: We analyzed real data from over 800 U.S. TikTok users to reveal how the app transforms casual users into power users. Extremely proud of this one, over a year in the making w/ @richardsima.bsky.social Leslie Shapiro @asteckelberg.bsky.social @ence.bsky.social wapo.st/4obueib
🎉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...
CUI 2026 - Open Call for Organizing Committee Positions
Thank you for your interest in being part of the CUI 2026 Organizing Committee (OC)! CUI is the premier venue for research in human-computer interaction issues in speech and language technology, with...
forms.gle
ACM CUI@cui.acm.org · last yr.Now, looking ahead, #CUI2026 will be taking place in... 𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 🥁... 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙉, 𝙂𝙀𝙍𝙈𝘼𝙉𝙔! 🇩🇪 In a warm handover moment, next year’s General Chairs – Effie Law, Nima Zargham, Thomas Eßmeyer – thanked this year’s team and shared their excitement for what’s to come for #CUI2026! 💫
Really great tips to enjoy CHI and not get fully overwhelmed! Thanks @altoombs.bsky.social 🙌
Austin Toombs@altoombs.bsky.social · last yr.Austin’s Unofficial Rules for Not Dying (or Being Boring) at Conferences, particularly #chi2025 A short thread of practical survival tips for the conference grind:
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:
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!
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...
arxiv.org
Thomas Eßmeyer (né Mildner)@thomasmildner.me · 2y agoThe 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...
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! 🏆
🚅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...
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...
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.
fastcompany.com
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...
Dark Patterns: Manipulation im Netz
Wie sich Menschen im Internet von »Dark Patterns« manipulieren lassen und wie sie sich davor schützen können
spektrum.de
Congratulations @laststrawberry.bsky.social!! Well done! 🎉🙌
colin gray@graydesign.bsky.social · 2y agoCongrats to the amazing Dr. Sanchez Chamorro (@laststrawberry.bsky.social) on her successful PhD defense at University of Luxembourg yesterday! For #darkpatterns scholars, her thesis on digital vulnerability is an absolute must read.
Today might be remembered for many reasons, but I hope to carry these happy memories with me the longest! Thank you all very much!
Thomas Eßmeyer (né Mildner)@thomasmildner.me · 2y agoDuring 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. 🎉
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/
MUM 2024 Workshop on Designing AI Personalities
MUM 2024 Designing AI Personalities
thomasmildner.github.io
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!
Didnt even realise: Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #986,810!
🎓Although a few days have already passed, I still cannot quite grasp it. Last Friday, I defended my dissertation at the University of Bremen. I'm deeply touched that I got to share this incredible moment with many friends, colleagues, and my family. Thank you all very much for being part of this! 💛
After what was an amazing 3 years, I submitted my dissertation at the University of Bremen, Digital Media Lab Bremen, titled: "Mitigating Dark Patterns Through Responsible Design - Ethical Design Considerations for Responsible Design" 🎉
Die Bayerische Datenschutzaufsicht hat die Cookie-Banner von etwa 1000 Webseiten überprüft und dabei zahlreiche Verstöße gefunden. Die Betreiber haben nun Post bekommen – und müssen ihre Seiten ändern. netzpolitik.org/2024/bayern-...
Bayern überprüft: Cookie-Banner vieler Seiten weiterhin rechtswidrig – netzpolitik.org
Die Bayerische Datenschutzaufsicht hat die Cookie-Banner von etwa 1000 Webseiten überprüft und dabei zahlreiche Verstöße gefunden. Die Betreiber haben nun Post bekommen - und müssen ihre Seiten ändern...
netzpolitik.org
Für das #Bundesgesundheitsblatt haben wir über die möglichen Gefahren und Probleme durch #darkpatterns in digitalen #Gesundheitsanwendungen geschrieben. Großer Dank gilt meinen Co-Autoren Gian-Luca Savino, Johannes Schöning und Rainer Malaka! 🙌 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
When will I stop getting paranoid before submitting my final manuscripts to conferences? I have been double-checking any possible issues dozens of times and reuploaded the same files just to make sure that I have, indeed, submitted the latest and correct versions. #DIS2024
Do fair design patterns exist? blog.xot.nl/2024/02/07/d...
🙌 The pre-print for our #chi2024 paper ("Listening to the Voices: Describing Ethical Caveats of Conversational User Interfaces According to Experts and Frequent Users") is now available on #arXiv! arxiv.org/abs/2401.14746
