Journal Open Access

i-com

Journal of Interactive Media

Editor-in-Chief: Michael Koch

Language: English

First published: August 20, 2001

Publication Frequency: 3 issues per year

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About this journal

Objective
This journal is devoted to human-computer interaction, media design, usability, engineering and systems evaluation, software ergonomics, cooperative systems, e-learning, mobile and ubiquitous systems, user-adaptive systems, agent development tools and methods for media in different application fields (including e-business, knowledge management, leisure and entertainment, transport, engineering, and medicine), barrier-free systems design, and the social aspects of information and communication technologies.

The journal seeks to build bridges between research and practice as well as between teaching and business, emphasizing interdisciplinary teamwork and application-oriented solutions.

The journal is the official organ of the special interest group on "Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)" in the German Association for Informatics (GI).

i-com is an open access journal since 2023. It publishes English-language articles only. The publication frequency is three times per year.

Topics

Computer science
Psychology
Media design
Marketing/branding
Sociology
Business management
Labor and organizational studies

Article formats
Expert research, review articles, and brief reports

Your Benefits

Useful source of information on human-computer interactions today
High quality of published papers guaranteed by German Association for Informatics
Broad scope of ICOM – from research to business and practice

Open Access
Writing or speaking: a quantitative survey of communication modes with conversational agents to promote mental health among young adults in Germany

July 14, 2025

Christina Lukas, Zeynep Tuncer, Rüdiger Breitschwerdt

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Young adults frequently face mental health challenges due to high expectations, self-doubt, and uncertainties about the future. With advancements in digital communication, artificial intelligence (AI)-based conversational agents (CAs) could play a role for those struggling with grief, anxiety or loneliness. This study investigates the current use of CAs (e. g. ChatGPT, Siri) for mental health purposes and the preferred communication modes among young adults in Germany. A quantitative online survey was conducted from August 6 to September 17, 2023, involving 216 participants aged 18 to 27 (120 females, 95 males, 1 non-binary). The findings reveal that 82 % of respondents use CAs, with 17 % having asked help from these agents when feeling depressed or anxious. While verbal communication is preferred for sharing grief with humans, written interaction is favoured when engaging with CAs. Notably, participants with preexisting anxiety or psychological distress showed an increased tendency to communicate about it and a stronger preference for writing about their concerns. These findings suggest that CAs could be a valuable tool for mental health support, especially for young male adults who may be less inclined to openly share their concerns. Further exploration is needed to understand the evolving role of CAs in mental health support, particularly in how to interact with them effectively.
Open Access
Evaluating tablet-based cognitive testing in underwater environments: a case study with two divers

January 1, 2000

Naoto Yoshimura, Kohske Takahashi

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Operating various devices is a critical skill for scuba divers. With recent technological advances, the demands and complexity of underwater device operation have increased, highlighting the importance of investigating human-device interactions on perception and movement. Recently, the waterproof tablet has enabled underwater human research. However, the potential applications and limitations of the waterproof tablet for underwater research have not been thoroughly examined. This case study, involving two divers, examined the feasibility and limitations of using the waterproof tablet to conduct cognitive tasks in underwater environments, focusing on methodological and practical challenges. Two divers performed a visual search task and a gradual-onset continuous performance task (grad-CPT) in both land-based and underwater conditions (at a depth of 6 m), and their performance was compared across environments. The results suggested that the waterproof tablet is a viable tool for conducting cognitive tasks underwater, as task performance resembled typical laboratory results. However, several issues were identified, including limitations in stimulus presentation and concerns regarding the reliability of touch responses. Our case study provides foundational data for designing future tablet-based experiments in underwater and other extreme environments.

Issue 0

Issue 2

Special Issue: Social Media and Society

Issue 1

Special Issue: Usable Safety and Security

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Issue 2

Special Issue: The Future of Human Computer Interaction

Issue 1

Special Issue Section on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) – Past, Present and Future; Guest Editors: Michael Prilla, Alexander Richter, Michael Koch

Issue 3

Issue 2

Special Issue: Augmenting Usability Evaluation; Guest Editors: Gerrit Meixner, Markus Dahm, Patrick Harms and Abbey Campbell

Issue 1

Special Issue: Conversational Agents; Guest Editors: Thomas Ludwig, Philip Weber, Alexander Maedche and Andreas Riener

Issue 3

Issue 2

Special issue "Mobile and Wearable Interaction"

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Special issue "Culture and Computer Science"

Issue 3

Anniversary Issue

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Special Issue "E-Government and Smart Cities"

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Issue 3

Special Issue "User-Centered Artificial Intelligence"

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Special Issue "New Digital Realities"

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Issue 3

Special Issue "Emerging Trends in Usable Security and Privacy"

Issue 2

Special Issue "User-Centered Design for Automated Vehicles: HMIs, User Needs, and Preferences"

Issue 1

Special Section "Active Self and Presence in Virtual Reality"

Issue 3

Special Issue "Tangible Interaction and its Applications"

Issue 2

Special Issue "Probes as Participatory Design Practice"

Issue 1

Issue 3

Special Issue "Human-Computer Interaction in Geovisualization"

Issue 2

Special Issue "Interdisciplinary Research in Assistive Systems"

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Issue 3

Special Issue: "Human-Machine Interaction and Cooperation in Safety-Critical Systems"

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Special Issue: "Smart Glasses"

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Special Issue: "Design for Aging"

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Issue 2

Special Issue: "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Social Technologies"

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Special Issue: "User-Centred Recommender Systems"

Issue 3

Special Issue: "Accessibility"

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Special Issue: "CSCW & Social Computing"

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Themenheft: "Interaktion und Kooperation im Krisenmanagement"

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Themenheft: "Interaktive Oberflächen in Forschung und Praxis"

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Special Issue: "Serious Games"

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Issue 3

Special Issue: "Ambient Assisted Living"

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Themenheft: "Be-greifbare Interaktion"

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Themenheft: "Forschungsherausforderungen des E-Learning"

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Themenheft: "Modellbasierte Entwicklung von Benutzungsschnittstellen“

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Special Issue: "Persuasive Technology"

Issue 1

Themenheft: "Adaptive Systeme"

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Themenheft: "Digitale Soziale Netze"

Issue 2

Issue 1

Themenheft: "Usablity Professionals Forum"

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Themenheft: "Social Semantic Web"

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Themenheft: "Nutzungsschnittstellen und interaktive Anwendungen im Auto"

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Themenheft: "Mensch-Computer-Interaktion im Operationssaal"

Issue 3

Themenheft: "Usability und Ästhetik"

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Themenheft: "Blended Museum"

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Issue 3

Themenheft: "Modellbasierte Entwicklung interaktiver Systeme"

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Issue 1

Themenheft: "Web 2.0"

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Themenheft: "Playful Computing"

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Themenheft: "Knowledge Media Design"

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Themenheft: "Consumer Electronics"

Issue 3

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Themenheft: "Communities und Community-Unterstützung"

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Issue 3

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Themenheft: "E-Learning"

i-com publishes special and thematic issues focussed on important and emerging topics in the field of study. The journal has established a rigorous process to ensure that any special issue manuscripts follow the same high-quality standards and peer review processes as regular manuscripts. For further information on the journal’s peer review policy please see the "Instructions for Authors".

Recent Special Issues

CiteScore	4.4	2024, Scopus (Elsevier B.V., 2025)
SCImago Journal Rank	0.376	2024, SJR (Scimago Lab, 2025; Data Source: Scopus)
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.772	2024, CWTS Journal Indicators (CWTS B.V., 2025; Data Source: Scopus)

More information about journal rankings

Submission
You can easily submit your manuscript online. Simply go to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/icom and you will be guided through the whole peer reviewing and submission process.

Your benefits of publishing with us

Open Access publication
Research freely available for all to read and download
Authors retain copyright – articles published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-4.0) License
Rapid publication times
Free publication of color figures
Accepted papers will be published online first as DOI-citable, forward-linked articles for quickest possible visibility for the scientific community
Every article easily discoverable because of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and comprehensive abstracting and indexing services
Professional sales and marketing activities
Easy-to-use online submission, peer review, and publication system
Secure archiving by De Gruyter and the independent archiving service Portico
Special issues devoted to unique topics

Submission process

Submission of your paper via our submission management tool following the Instructions for Authors (you will be guided through every step of the submission process)
The article processing charge (APC) for publishing a research article is € 750
There are no submission charges; APCs will apply after acceptance of a manuscript
Authors, who have limited access to funds, may request a discount or full waiver
Single-blind peer review process
Reviewers will provide the reviews as soon as possible
A decision on your paper is aspired within approx. 6 weeks
Accepted articles are published online approx. 4 weeks after acceptance

Please note

Manuscripts must be written in clear and concise English
All initial submissions are checked for plagiarism via Crossref Similarity Check
Before submitting your article please have a look at Ethical Guidelines and our Licence to Publish
If you have any general questions please visit our FAQ for authors
For more detailed information please contact i-com directly under michael.koch@unibw.de

We look forward to receiving your manuscript!

Editor-in-Chief
Michael Koch, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany

Co-Editors
Susanne Boll, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany
Sarah Diefenbach, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
Michael Herczeg, University of Lübeck, Germany
Wolfgang Prinz, Fraunhofer FIT, Sankt Augustin, Germany
Alexander Richter, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Jürgen Ziegler, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany

Editorial Board
Mirjam Augstein, FH Oberösterreich Hagenberg, Germany
Arne Berger, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Köthen, Germany
Tanja Döring, University of Bremen, Germany
Anja Exler, Adastra GmbH, Frankfurt/M, Germany
Marc Hassenzahl, University of Siegen, Germany
Johannes Konert, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Fulda, Germany
Rainer Malaka, University of Bremen, Germany
Gerrit Meixner, Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, Heilbronn, Germany
Tilo Mentler, Hochschule Trier, Germany
Jasminko Novak, Stralsund University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Michael Prilla, Technische Universität Clausthal, Germany
Albrecht Schmidt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
Nava Tintarev, TU Delft, Netherlands
Zeynep Tuncer, WBH – Mobile University of Technology, Darmstadt, Germany
Gerhard Weber, Technical University Dresden, Germany
Martijn C. Willemsen, Einhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

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Journal information

Additional information

eISSN:

2196-6826

Language:

English

Publisher:

Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag

Additional information

First published:

August 20, 2001

Publication Frequency:

3 issues per year

eISSN: 2196-6826

Audience(s) for this journal

The journal is an interdisciplinary professional forum for all scientists, business practitioners, and interested parties. It is devoted to discussing the development, user-appropriate design, and application of new information and communication technologies.

Creative Commons

BY 4.0

i-com

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