Happy New Year 2026!

First post of the year, looking back at an old article. This very article was originally written over 15 years ago, during a time when I was reflecting deeply on how emotion, language, and culture shape our experiences with technology. It began with a question: how do different cultures express something as universal, and yet culturally nuanced as “fun”?

The ideas presented here grew over time, informed by conversations and collaborative thinking, including insightful discussions with Professor Alan Dix, whose perspectives in HCI and funology were particularly influential.

While some parts reflect the academic context of that period, the central message remains relevant today. As digital technologies continue to connect diverse communities, understanding how people experience and express joy, pleasure, and emotion is more important than ever. I hope revisiting this work sparks new dialogue about culturally sensitive design and the emotional dimensions of user experience.

Note: References have been kept as originally cited to preserve the context of the time in which this piece was written.

Read the full article here.

Some other notes:

  1. I was featured in the ACM IX magazine on my voluntary involvement in the SIGCHI Chapter committee. Read it here
  2. I also wrote a very light piece for public reading on HCI via the Akademi Sains Malaysia platform. Read it here.

In a glance

Hi! I’m Masitah from the Faculty of Computing, Johor Bahru. You can read more about what I do here or watch the short video below.

Research Interests

Human-Computer Interaction, User Interface Design, Information Visualisation, User Experience

2025 Publications

  1. Xu, H., Ghazali, M. & Othman, N.Z.S. A visual design-based intervention model for reducing mind wandering in online learning. Appl Intell 55, 1037 (2025). https://doi-org.ezproxy.utm.my/10.1007/s10489-025-06943-y
  2. Yoag, A., Ghazali, M. & Mohamed, F. Interaction Strategies in Augmented Reality-Situated Visualization for Decision Support: A Systematic Literature Review. Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology, 33 (6):2881-2910. 10.47836/pjst.33.6.20
  3. Xiaobin Hong, Tarmizi Adam, Masitah Ghazali. UHDNet: Unified multimodal fusion harmonization and hierarchical dependency learning for visible-infrared person re-identification, Image and Vision Computing, Volume 161, 2025, 105628, ISSN 0262-8856, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imavis.2025.105628.
  4. Humayun H, Ghazali M, Malik MN (2025), “Is sustained participation a myth in crowdsourcing? A review”. European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 28 No. 2 pp. 511–559, doi: https://doi-org.ezproxy.utm.my/10.1108/EJIM-10-2022-0589 
  5. Hao Xu, Masitah Ghazali and Nur Zuraifah Syazrah Othman. A comprehensive assessment of deep learning techniques for eye gaze estimation: A comparative performance analysis. Journal of Asian Scientific Research, 15 (3), 2025. https://doi.org/10.55493/5003.v15i3.5596
  6. Xiaobin Hong, Tarmizi Adam and Masitah Ghazali. Tran-GCN: A Transformer-Enhanced Graph Convolutional Network for Person Re-Identification in Monitoring Videos. IET Computer Vision, 19 (1), 2025, e70025. https://doi-org.ezproxy.utm.my/10.1049/cvi2.70025Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
  7. Xu, Hao, Ghazali, Masitah and Othman, Nur Zuraifah Syazrah. A Preliminary Study on Attention Regulation in Online Learning through Color-Based Intervention. 2025 5th International Conference on Computer Graphics, Image and Virtualization, ICCGIV 2025. 10.1109/ICCGIV65419.2025.11085343
  8. Wu, Wenbo, Ghazali, Masitah and Huspi, Sharin Hazalin. A Multimodal Feature Fusion Model for User Interest Prediction in Social Networks. IEEE Access, 13 (2025). 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3637590
  9. Lai, T. Y., Ghazali, M., Hazlin Huspi, S., & Othman, N. Z. S. (2025). A Systematic Review on User Interactions in Emotion-Recognition Brain–Computer Interfaces. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 1–18. https://doi-org.ezproxy.utm.my/10.1080/10447318.2025.2573828
  10. Wei, L.G. et al. (2025). Impact of Augmentation on EEG Signal Interpretability. In: Saidin, S., et al. Emerging Science and Technology for Human Well-Being. iHumEnTech 2024. IFMBE Proceedings, vol 128. Springer, Cham. https://doi-org.ezproxy.utm.my/10.1007/978-3-031-97578-3_18
  11. Norhayati Daut, Naomie Salim, Sharin Hazlin Huspi, Anazida Zainal, Chan Weng Howe, Muhammad Aliif Ahmad, Siti Zaiton Mohd Hashim, Masitah Ghazali, Mohd Adham Isa, Rashidah Kadir, Nuremira Ibrahim and Norazlina Khamis. “Empirical Validation and Enhancement of ADiBA: A Framework for Big Data Analytics Implementation”. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications (ijacsa) 16.7 (2025). http://dx.doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2025.0160742

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