Hidden Technical Debt in Generative (GenUI) and Malleable User Interfaces
This addresses adoption challenges for malleable software, which could empower non-experts to customize tools, but the work is incremental as it focuses on identifying existing problems rather than solving them.
The paper identifies barriers to practical adoption of generative and malleable user interfaces (GenUI), including inflexible data formats, outdated security protocols, and user skill gaps, and advocates for new evaluation strategies and scientific methods to measure their impact and ensure adoption.
Malleable software can profoundly change how users interact with digital content, enabling non-experts to create their own customized tools. However, the practical adoption of GenUI systems faces several barriers, which I unpack in this paper, including a lack of adaptable data formats, "old" security protocols, and gaps in users' cognitive and creative skills for building their own interfaces. I advocate new evaluation strategies and scientific methods to measure the impact of malleable software in user studies, document usage patterns, and ensure their practical adoption.