Call for Participation

Chi Sparks 2011
Chi Nederland 15th conference
‘HCI research, innovation and implementation’
23 June 2011, Arnhem, Netherlands

Chi Nederland, the Dutch local chapter of the ACM Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction, will organize its 15th conference on Thursday 23 June 2011 which will be hosted by the research group HCI of the HAN University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem, The Netherlands. This year the conference is organized in cooperation with the Dutch Ergonomics Society (NVvE) and the Society of European registered Ergonomists in the Netherlands (ReN).

Chi Sparks aims to find the sparks in current HCI research; the flickers that can grow to enlighten matters previously hidden from sight. The conference aims to be a platform for students, researchers and professionals to showcase academic research as well as applied research and cases from the industries in which HCI occurs.

Important dates

• Monday 18 April 2011: Submissions deadline
• Tuesday 26 April 2011: Submissions deadline extension
• Monday 30 May 2011: Notification of acceptance
• Monday 13 June 2011: Camera-ready final papers
• Thursday 23 June 2011: Conference

Theme

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘HCI research, innovation and implementation’. With this edition, Chi Sparks emphasizes the contribution of good HCI research in realizing successful, innovative, products or production systems as well as services for organizations, businesses, and society that have a real impact on people’s lives and work. Chi Sparks aims to find the sparks in current HCI research; the flickers that can grow to enlighten matters previously hidden from sight.

This year’s edition is focused on tangible products and production systems ranging from child toys to large scale industrial automation systems. We especially ask for contributions of (web-based) applications for utilization in business contexts.

We are looking for proposals and submissions in the field of Human-Computer Interaction about (but not limited to) the following subjects:

• Business benefits of HCI
• HCI aspects of industrial automation
• Ergonomic aspects of HCI
• Social impact of HCI
• Interaction design for tangible products
• Creative ways of interaction
• User involvement and innovation
• Task analysis and usability testing
• Service design
• Best practices in HCI education
• Lessons learned from HCI projects

Participation and Audience

We invite industry practitioners, academics, researchers, designers, and educators to participate in and contribute to this conference. Students (BA, MA, or PhD-levels) are explicitly invited to participate and contribute. We also invite project leads, managers, and CEO’s to contribute and attend, to emphasize the benefits of HCI in product development. Our desired goal is to have practice and theory complement each other.

Submissions and Formats

• Full papers; (8-10 pages) of completed HCI research and/or HCI in projects
• Short papers; (2-4 pages) of work-in-progress
• Industry cases; (2-4 pages) with a focus on application in industry
• Education cases; (2-4 pages) with a focus on application in education
• Posters; (1-4 pages) of work-in-progress and/or experimental approaches and results
• Demonstrations or interactive installations; (1-4 pages) to show (early) implementations of novel, interesting, and important human technology concepts or systems
• Side events; there are opportunities for side events such as tutorials, workshops, user meetings, video’s, showcases or a job market

When preparing your submission, please use the ‘ACM SIGCHI Conference Publications Format’, which is available online at www.sigchi.org/chipubform. Documents have to be submitted as Microsoft Word compatible. Contributions can be practical or conceptual, with or without prototypes.
Please send submissions to submissions@chi-sparks.nl and state the format in the subject header between square brackets, for example [Full paper] or [Poster].

All proposal submissions will undergo a blind peer review. Authors are requested to submit an anonymous and non-anonymous version. In this case, anonymous means that as well as the name, any other information that might reveal the organization or project has been omitted.
Accepted papers and other contributions will be published in the conference proceedings and on the website. Additionally, we intend to publish selected best papers in a special issue of a relevant, to be decided, journal. Only English written papers will be selected for publication.

All details regarding the submission process and formats can be found in the Submission Guidelines and Formats.

Thesis Award – Bachelor and Master students

During the Chi Sparks 2011 conference the winner of the Gerrit van der Veer Thesis Award will be announced. Nominated candidates will give a presentation of their graduation project during the conference. Bachelor and master students can submit their thesis to participate in this award. See www.gerritvanderveerprijs.nl for more information and the separate submission process.

Program Committee

Dick Lenior, chair, HAN University of Applied Sciences, ErgoS Engineering & Ergonomics
Janienke Sturm, co-chair, Eindhoven University of Technology, Fontys University of Applied Sciences
Ingrid Mulder, co-chair, Delft University of Technology, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences

Language

Contributions are welcome in both English and Dutch. Our aim is to organize parallel sessions in such a way that there will always be an English spoken and a Dutch spoken track.
Bijdragen in het Nederlands en Engels zijn welkom. We streven ernaar om parallelsessies zo in te richten dat er altijd een Engelstalige en Nederlandstalige track is.

Contact

If you would have any other question, please do not hesitate to contact Chi Sparks on submissions@chi-sparks.nl.

Download the Call for Participation and the Submission Guidelines and Formats (PDF)