Interactivity: Call for Participation

A schedule of all due dates can be found on the Submissions page.

For CHI 2012 there are two categories within the Interactivity scheme with separate submission processes.

• Research
• Explorations

Quick Facts

• Submission: 9 January 2012 (5:00pm PDT) using the PCS Submission System, see  PCS Submission Instructions
• Notification: 10 February 2012
• Camera Ready: 17 February 2012
• Submission Format:

  Research	Explorations
  Unanonymized extended abstracts of up to 4 pages in Extended Abstract Format describing the work A mandatory video. Optionally, authors may add a supplement describing what attendees will experience at the booth.	Unanonymized extended abstracts of up to 4 pages in Extended Abstract Format describing the work & exhibit/installation/performance A mandatory video. A mandatory supplement describing in practical terms what attendees will experience, as well as technical and space requirements.

• Selection process (both Research and Explorations): Juried and Curated
• Extended Abstract: on DVD and ACM Digital Library

New & better this year: Get more attention, simplified submission

We understand that interactivity authors often contribute more effort than any other contributors to CHI. To recognize this, we have made the following changes:

Research

Explorations

More visibility for Interactivity Research content: Different from previous years, there is a dedicated time-slot on Tuesday afternoon with no competing paper sessions, so you will have CHI attendees’ undivided attention. The Wednesday lunch-time slot will provide another opportunity for conference exhibitors to see your exhibit*. * We may invite a small number of selected submissions to exhibit at other occasions which will be negotiated.

For the first time, Interactivity Explorations! Explorations will be exhibited throughout the conference, each work on a specified day, as well as at the conference reception*. The audience will have the time and space to view everything, and authors will have a chance to see more of CHI, as well as view the other explorations and research demos. * Presentation times will be negotiated with accepted submissions to accommodate the requirements of the different works.

• Simplified submission for "paper" and "note" authors: The interactivity deadline is 3 weeks after the paper/notes acceptance notifications. We encourage authors of accepted papers and notes to submit their work also to the appropriate Interactivity track of their choice. To simplify things, upload the PDF of your accepted paper or note instead of the extended abstract.
• Funding: If your project requires you to ship a large amount of material, talk to us: we can fund travel & shipping expenses for selected projects.

Message from the CHI Interactivity Chairs

Interactivity is your chance to fully engage CHI attendees at a personal level by letting them see, touch, squeeze, hear or even smell your interactive visions for the future. Interactivity promotes and provokes discussion of the role of technology, and invites contributions from industry, research, the arts and design.

Interactivity Research is the high-visibility, high-impact forum of the Technical Program which allows you to present your hands-on demonstration in two sessions. This track is for the year's most exciting research prototypes and demos. If you have a working prototype, device, or system we want to know about it. Getting people hands-on with your interface is often the best way to communicate what you have created.

Patrick Baudisch, Hasso Plattner Institute, Germany
Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, RMIT, Exertion Games Lab, Melbourne, Australia
interactivity@chi2012.acm.org

Interactivity Explorations is about cultural applications and explorations of future technologies. If your work asks questions and inspires reflection on the role of technology in people’s lives, their dreams and imaginations we want to hear from you. We are looking for artworks, design experiences as well as inspirational technologies that the audience can engage with intellectually and imaginatively. The Explorations track moves beyond proof of concept prototypes to cultural applications and explorations. We invite submissions from artists, researchers, designers and industry: come share your vision of the future with the delegates at CHI.

Eva Hornecker, University of Strathclyde, UK
Danielle Wilde, daniellewilde.com
interactivity@chi2012.acm.org

Preparing and Submitting your CHI Interactivity Proposal

Previously published work will be accepted into the Interactivity track, on condition that the publication and presentation history is clearly outlined in the submission. The Interactivity-research track, in particular, encourages submissions that complement a paper or note submission, to allow attendees a direct experience of work that they will hear about in the technical presentations.

All Interactivity submissions must be submitted via the PCS submission system by 9 Jan 2012 (5:00PM PDT). The submission should have the following distinct components.

Part 1: Extended Abstract

The extended abstract is an unanonymized 4-page short paper in the Extended Abstract Format (i.e. includes author information). The PDF must be no larger than 4 MB. If your submission is accepted, this abstract will be published in the CHI 2012 Extended Abstracts publication and included in the ACM Digital Library. It should therefore be self-contained and clearly describe the novelty and distinguishing ideas of your project, even for readers who were not able to view related demonstration at the conference or associated videos.

Your abstract should include:

• A description of the system, installation, exhibit or performance, and the problem it addresses. Where relevant, discuss the broader context and questions that your work promotes reflection upon.
• A description of the audience the work intends to serve
• A description of the relevance of the work to the immediate CHI conference community, as well as to the broader CHI community, emphasizing its novelty, uniqueness, and rationale.

Part 2: Mandatory Video

A video is by far the best way to communicate interactive projects to the reviewers and provides an archive of the work. If accepted you can choose to have your video included in the ACM Digital Library. You must submit a video in addition to your written documentation. The video must be no longer than 5 minutes and all uploaded content (PDF(s) + video) must be less than 100 MB. Please make sure that your video is playable on standard PC and Macintosh computers. We recommend that you encode your video as an MP4 using the H.264 codec. Most video editing software provides an exporting option to MP4/H.264, for example iMovie, Adobe Premiere, and Final Cut Pro. If you prefer to use free software, x264 can encode any video into H.264.

Submitted videos will be used for review purposes. Accepted submissions will have an opportunity to revise their videos for presentation and archive. The videos may also be displayed at the Interactivity site and possibly on web sites previewing CHI content (as an example see CHI 2010 Madness videos on youtube). We also plan to use a compilation of the videos to promote Interactivity during CHI. You must include a statement that you have obtained all rights to any copyrighted material in your video.

Demonstration Supplement

In most cases, extended abstract and video will allow reviewers to imagine what CHI attendees will experience at the presentation booth. For Interactivity Research you may optionally clarify this by adding a "supplement" that gives a brief walkthrough of attendees' experience in the form of a short textual description, a storyboard sketch, screenshots, illustrations and photos.

This supplement is mandatory for Interactivity Exploration and must include technical set-up and space requirements in addition to the above.

Demonstration supplement materials are for the purposes of review and planning only and will not be published. The supplement should be no longer than 4 pages. Like all other materials, the supplement must be submitted through the PCS submission system and the total of pdf, video, and supplement cannot exceed 100 MB.

CHI Interactivity Review Process

The CHI 2012 Interactivity forum contains Juried and Curated content which may be invited, or selected from submissions. The selection process includes reviews by independent reviewers from the relevant communities, followed by jury selection of projects based on reviews, feasibility, available space at the conference and other relevant information. Our intention is to ensure that the Interactivity track represents the range of projects being undertaken across CHI communities and these projects can be presented appropriately at the conference.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality of submissions is maintained during the review process. All rejected submissions will be kept confidential in perpetuity. All submitted materials for accepted submissions will be kept confidential until the start of the conference.

Upon Acceptance of your CHI Interactivity Proposal

Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection on 10 Feb 2012.

Third-party material and copyright

It is very important that you have the rights to use all the material that is contained in your submission, including music, video, images, etc. Attaining permissions to use video, audio, or pictures of identifiable people or proprietary content rests with the author, not the ACM or the CHI conference. If you want to use music in your video, use royalty-free material.

Authors retain copyright of the material but accepted submissions will not be published or shown at the conference without a signed form permitting ACM to publish the content. This is standard procedure for ACM publications.

At the Conference

If accepted, you will be assigned a booth or space in the interactivity space (Interactivity Research and Explorations) or at other locations in the conference venue (for Interactivity Explorations). Support for building on-site and moving in/out of large/heavy exhibits (all categories) is only provided before the conference start (Monday) and after the conference. Smaller exhibits may be set up and dismantled for the required exhibition time only. Please indicate in the demonstration supplement whether this is feasible - it would allow us to ‘reuse’ the floor-space for another exhibit on other days.

Interactivity-Research demos and exhibits are required to install their system or demonstration in the interactivity space to have it ready for the Tuesday afternoon session. They may be packed away after the Wednesday lunch slot*.

* Active demoing is required for Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday lunchtime.

Interactivity-Explorations will be assigned to exhibit on one day of the conference, and are required to be ready for the first coffee break on this day. Presentation times and locations will be negotiated to suit the works and to work around other commitments at CHI. We may also invite selected explorations to exhibit during the reception. 

At CHI 2012 Interactivity you will have a space for your work, as well as 1 table and 2 chairs if you need them, a power connection (110V), and a wireless internet connection (as provided by the main conference). You are responsible for bringing and setting up all other equipment that is required for presenting your work, e.g. laptop computers, displays, dedicated projection screens, etc.

Note that although student volunteers will be present in the Interactivity space at all times, CHI 2012 will not be able to provide anyone to run your demonstration.

Publication on conference DVD and ACM Digital Library

Accepted Interactivity extended abstracts and videos will be distributed in the CHI Conference Extended Abstracts DVD. They will also be placed in the ACM Digital Library, where they will remain accessible to thousands of researchers and practitioners worldwide.