No Spirituality Please, We're HCI: Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality

Sara Wolf; Paula Friedrich; Elizabeth Buie; Mark Blythe

doi:10.1145/3772318.3790490

No Spirituality Please, We're HCI: Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality

Sara Wolf^*, Paula Friedrich^*, Elizabeth Buie, Mark Blythe^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Design Arts and Creative Industries

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

Religion and spirituality (R/S) shape billions of lives, yet they remain marginal in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. Prior literature reviews mapped fragments of this space but missed key contributions and the lived realities of its researchers. We extend this picture through a review of 206 ACM and IEEE publications and a survey of R/S scholars in HCI (n = 19). Our analysis shows a field in transition: Research on R/S is growing slightly in volume and diversity, with design-oriented work emerging as the dominant form of engagement. Yet the ACM and IEEE corpora remain largely separate, reflecting distinct epistemic traditions. Researchers report persistent challenges, including marginalization, exposing a deeper tension in HCI: While HCI claims to center the full range of human experience, R/S experience is still treated with suspicion. Our findings call for a reconsideration: If HCI is serious about human experience, it must take R/S experiences seriously as well.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Alessandro Bozzon, Thomas Kosch, Vera Liao, Xiaojuan Ma, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo Lopez, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
Place of Publication	New York, United States
Publisher	ACM
Pages	1-29
Number of pages	29
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400722783
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790490
Publication status	Published - 13 Apr 2026
Event	2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026 - Barcelona, Spain Duration: 13 Apr 2026 → 17 Apr 2026

Conference

Conference	2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026
Country/Territory	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	13/04/26 → 17/04/26

Keywords

Faith
Religion
Review
Spirituality
Survey
Techno-Spirituality
Transcendence

Access to Document

10.1145/3772318.3790490Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

3772318.3790490Final published version, 2.73 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

Wolf, S., Friedrich, P., Buie, E., & Blythe, M. (2026). No Spirituality Please, We're HCI: Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality. In N. Oliver, D. A. Shamma, H. Candello, P. Cesar, P. Lopes, A. Bozzon, T. Kosch, V. Liao, X. Ma, V. Artizzu, F. Draxler, G. Lopez, A. V. Reinschluessel, X. Tong, & P. O. Toups Dugas (Eds.), CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-29). Article 1265 ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790490

Wolf, Sara ; Friedrich, Paula ; Buie, Elizabeth et al. / No Spirituality Please, We're HCI : Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality. CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. editor / Nuria Oliver ; David A. Shamma ; Heloisa Candello ; Pablo Cesar ; Pedro Lopes ; Alessandro Bozzon ; Thomas Kosch ; Vera Liao ; Xiaojuan Ma ; Valentino Artizzu ; Fiona Draxler ; Gustavo Lopez ; Anke V. Reinschluessel ; Xin Tong ; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. New York, United States : ACM, 2026. pp. 1-29

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title = "No Spirituality Please, We're HCI: Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality",

abstract = "Religion and spirituality (R/S) shape billions of lives, yet they remain marginal in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. Prior literature reviews mapped fragments of this space but missed key contributions and the lived realities of its researchers. We extend this picture through a review of 206 ACM and IEEE publications and a survey of R/S scholars in HCI (n = 19). Our analysis shows a field in transition: Research on R/S is growing slightly in volume and diversity, with design-oriented work emerging as the dominant form of engagement. Yet the ACM and IEEE corpora remain largely separate, reflecting distinct epistemic traditions. Researchers report persistent challenges, including marginalization, exposing a deeper tension in HCI: While HCI claims to center the full range of human experience, R/S experience is still treated with suspicion. Our findings call for a reconsideration: If HCI is serious about human experience, it must take R/S experiences seriously as well.",

keywords = "Faith, Religion, Review, Spirituality, Survey, Techno-Spirituality, Transcendence",

author = "Sara Wolf and Paula Friedrich and Elizabeth Buie and Mark Blythe",

year = "2026",

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doi = "10.1145/3772318.3790490",

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editor = "Nuria Oliver and Shamma, \{David A.\} and Heloisa Candello and Pablo Cesar and Pedro Lopes and Alessandro Bozzon and Thomas Kosch and Vera Liao and Xiaojuan Ma and Valentino Artizzu and Fiona Draxler and Gustavo Lopez and Reinschluessel, \{Anke V.\} and Xin Tong and \{Toups Dugas\}, \{Phoebe O.\}",

booktitle = "CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

publisher = "ACM",

address = "United States",

note = "2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",

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Wolf, S, Friedrich, P, Buie, E & Blythe, M 2026, No Spirituality Please, We're HCI: Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality. in N Oliver, DA Shamma, H Candello, P Cesar, P Lopes, A Bozzon, T Kosch, V Liao, X Ma, V Artizzu, F Draxler, G Lopez, AV Reinschluessel, X Tong & PO Toups Dugas (eds), CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 1265, ACM, New York, United States, pp. 1-29, 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026, Barcelona, Spain, 13/04/26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790490

No Spirituality Please, We're HCI: Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality. / Wolf, Sara; Friedrich, Paula; Buie, Elizabeth et al.
CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Nuria Oliver; David A. Shamma; Heloisa Candello; Pablo Cesar; Pedro Lopes; Alessandro Bozzon; Thomas Kosch; Vera Liao; Xiaojuan Ma; Valentino Artizzu; Fiona Draxler; Gustavo Lopez; Anke V. Reinschluessel; Xin Tong; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. New York, United States: ACM, 2026. p. 1-29 1265.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - No Spirituality Please, We're HCI

T2 - 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026

AU - Wolf, Sara

AU - Friedrich, Paula

AU - Buie, Elizabeth

AU - Blythe, Mark

PY - 2026/4/13

Y1 - 2026/4/13

N2 - Religion and spirituality (R/S) shape billions of lives, yet they remain marginal in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. Prior literature reviews mapped fragments of this space but missed key contributions and the lived realities of its researchers. We extend this picture through a review of 206 ACM and IEEE publications and a survey of R/S scholars in HCI (n = 19). Our analysis shows a field in transition: Research on R/S is growing slightly in volume and diversity, with design-oriented work emerging as the dominant form of engagement. Yet the ACM and IEEE corpora remain largely separate, reflecting distinct epistemic traditions. Researchers report persistent challenges, including marginalization, exposing a deeper tension in HCI: While HCI claims to center the full range of human experience, R/S experience is still treated with suspicion. Our findings call for a reconsideration: If HCI is serious about human experience, it must take R/S experiences seriously as well.

AB - Religion and spirituality (R/S) shape billions of lives, yet they remain marginal in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. Prior literature reviews mapped fragments of this space but missed key contributions and the lived realities of its researchers. We extend this picture through a review of 206 ACM and IEEE publications and a survey of R/S scholars in HCI (n = 19). Our analysis shows a field in transition: Research on R/S is growing slightly in volume and diversity, with design-oriented work emerging as the dominant form of engagement. Yet the ACM and IEEE corpora remain largely separate, reflecting distinct epistemic traditions. Researchers report persistent challenges, including marginalization, exposing a deeper tension in HCI: While HCI claims to center the full range of human experience, R/S experience is still treated with suspicion. Our findings call for a reconsideration: If HCI is serious about human experience, it must take R/S experiences seriously as well.

KW - Faith

KW - Religion

KW - Review

KW - Spirituality

KW - Survey

KW - Techno-Spirituality

KW - Transcendence

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038672894

U2 - 10.1145/3772318.3790490

DO - 10.1145/3772318.3790490

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:105038672894

SP - 1

EP - 29

BT - CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

A2 - Oliver, Nuria

A2 - Shamma, David A.

A2 - Candello, Heloisa

A2 - Cesar, Pablo

A2 - Lopes, Pedro

A2 - Bozzon, Alessandro

A2 - Kosch, Thomas

A2 - Liao, Vera

A2 - Ma, Xiaojuan

A2 - Artizzu, Valentino

A2 - Draxler, Fiona

A2 - Lopez, Gustavo

A2 - Reinschluessel, Anke V.

A2 - Tong, Xin

A2 - Toups Dugas, Phoebe O.

PB - ACM

CY - New York, United States

Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 17 April 2026

ER -

Wolf S, Friedrich P, Buie E, Blythe M. No Spirituality Please, We're HCI: Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality. In Oliver N, Shamma DA, Candello H, Cesar P, Lopes P, Bozzon A, Kosch T, Liao V, Ma X, Artizzu V, Draxler F, Lopez G, Reinschluessel AV, Tong X, Toups Dugas PO, editors, CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, United States: ACM. 2026. p. 1-29. 1265 doi: 10.1145/3772318.3790490

No Spirituality Please, We're HCI: Challenges for HCI Research on Religion and Spirituality

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