Press Release

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The Future of Human-Computer Interaction

Innovators Meet 1-6 April at The Hague to Plan the Future

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- In the new economy of online commerce and ubiquitous computing, the fate of many companies will depend on a factor they have little experience with: usability and interaction design.

Many of us have had the frustrating experience of having difficulty performing what should be simple tasks with modern equipment. The world is strewn with personal computers that reduce us to tears, mobile phones with dozens of functions we can't remember how to use, and un-programmable video recorders. Most of us who use the Web have experienced sites that frustrate us in getting information or ordering a product.

There have also been notable user interaction successes, such as the Palm Pilot, Web browsers, automatic teller machines, and the Macintosh computer.

Usability and interaction design is now a core competency in the new networked information economy. Ability in this area will determine whether companies thrive, merely survive, or disappear.

Hear and see the latest from the people in thriving companies and universities that are making technology more accessible and easier to use. Designers of hardware and software products from companies such as IBM, IDEO, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Sun Microsystems, Xerox PARC, and Yahoo!; and researchers from universities such as Cambridge University, Kyoto University, MIT, Princeton University, and Stanford University will meet for the CHI 2000 conference on Computer Human Interaction.

CHI is the premier worldwide forum for the exchange of information on all aspects of how people interact with computers. The annual conference on human factors in computing systems features a full program of presentations, tutorials and vendor exhibits. Researchers, practitioners, educators, and students from around the world join in exploring and creating the future of computer-human interaction. Approximately 2200 professionals from over 35 countries will examine the future of human-computer interaction from 1-6 April at the Nederlands Congress Centre in The Hague, The Netherlands.

CHI conferences are sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM)'s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI). In addition to ACM, various organizations in the technology industry support the CHI conference. The CHI 2000 champion sponsors include: Diamond Bullet, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Unisys and Yahoo! Inc.

For more information, contact the CHI 2000 Conference Office at +1 410 263 5382 or send e-mail to chi2000-office@acm.org.