CHI 2000: Experience the Future

CHI 2000 would like to allow its attendees to experience a taste of the future of human-computer interaction during the CHI 2000 Conference. To this end, we welcome proposals from organizations that are working on pre-product, leading-edge technologies and that would like to deploy them for use by the conference attendees and organizers during the week of the conference.

Some examples of the kind of things we're thinking about:

• Give every attendee a device (e.g., an active or passive badge, a ring, etc.) that would give them access to various kinds of information and communication services at the conference site.
• Convert the CHI 2000 Final Program into a "live" document, able to support attendees in planning their time at the conference, communicating with others at the conference, and archiving their (individual and group) experiences after returning home.

CHI 2000's human and financial resources are limited. Consequently, we can offer no financial, equipment, or personnel support to those interested in taking part in this aspect of the conference. You must be prepared to be completely responsible for all aspects of your participation in the event. However, we can offer some things that are of considerable value, and that would benefit you greatly:

• A highly visible role in the world's premiere conference on human-computer interaction.
• The opportunity to put your work into the hands of a couple thousand of the world's leading experts in HCI.
• The opportunity to see how that great idea you're working on scales up to the demands of the real world.

Please understand that this is not just another demonstration venue. We're not interested in a prototype system running on a single workstation somewhere on the conference center. Nor is this a trade show for commercially-available products. Rather, our interest is to take you and the conference attendees, just for a little while, into the future: to put functioning examples of future technology into the hands of the CHI conference attendees for a week's worth of real-world use.

Review criteria:

Each proposal will be independently reviewed by a multidisciplinary group drawn from industry and academia. Given the unusual nature of this event, we encourage you to contact the Futures area chair and committee to discuss your ideas prior to submission. We can help you focus your ideas and highlight aspects of the proposal you may not have considered.

Groups chosen to participate in this event will be selected based on several criteria, including the extent to which they:

• Contribute to and enhance CHI 2000.
• Are useful to the typical conference attendee.
• Represent a significant advance in the state of the art of HCI.
• Have a high likelihood of being successful.
• Make minimal demands on conference organizers, staff, and resources.
• Meet the physical, legal, and ethical requirements to which all CHI conference events are subject.

Proposal:

Groups interested in participating in this event should prepare a preliminary proposal of no more than four pages. This proposal is due by November 1, 1999, and should describe:

• A list of all people involved in this proposal, including names, affiliations, phone numbers, and email addresses.
• The proposed project, in general terms.
• How the project will be integrated into CHI 2000: What the project will offer conference attendees and how they will benefit; what, if anything, will be given to attendees; what access you would need to conference documents, the conference venue, or other aspects of the conference.
• What interaction, if any, with CHI 2000 volunteers or staff will be required prior to, during, or after the conference.
• Past experiences, if any, with deploying the technology in real-world situations.

Based on the review of these proposals, some groups will be asked to prepare final proposals describing their projects more completely: specifically, what they will do and how they will do it. These requests for proposals will be sent out by November 15, 1999; final proposals will be due December 15, 1999. More details on this proposal will be provided following acceptance of the preliminary proposal. It will, at a minimum, include much more specific versions of the information in the preliminary proposal, including a schedule for the preparation of the event. Significant deviation from the schedule will be grounds for canceling the event by the conference organizers.

Participants will be notified of the acceptance or rejection of their final proposal by January 15, 1999. Acceptance is conditional upon the participants' compliance with deadlines and requirements.

Proposal details:

• Your submission must be in English.
• Submissions by fax or electronic only are not accepted.
• Submissions arriving after the deadline will not be considered.
• Your submission should contain no proprietary or confidential material and should cite no proprietary or confidential publications.
  It may be possible to carry out the review of a proposal under the terms of a non-disclosure agreement; if you would like to pursue this route, please contact the Future HCI Chair.
• We strongly suggest the use of express mail or a courier service for speedy delivery.
  Customs labels should bear the words "Educational materials with no commercial value."

A description of the event may be included in the conference Final Program. Participants of accepted events will also receive an Author Kit with detailed format requirements for their contribution.

For more information, please contact: