Workshops

Deadline: 8 September 2000

Workshops provide a valuable opportunity for small communities of people with diverse perspectives to engage in rich discussions about a topic of common interest. Interaction among participants is important, so participants must have informed positions based on prior experience. Workshops can focus on research or applied topics. Workshops addressing the conference theme Anyone. Anywhere. through innovative, controversial, or highly practical topics are highly desired. We encourage submissions addressing basic research, applied research, new methodologies, emerging application areas, design innovations, and HCI education. Each workshop will result in a SIGCHI Bulletin article that gives the CHI community a new, organized way of thinking about the topic and that suggests promising directions for future research. Many workshops result in edited books or special issues of journals, and you could aim for that in the design of your workshop.

Workshops are held on the Sunday and Monday of the conference week prior to the conference. A workshop may be one, one and a half, or two days in length. Design your schedule for a length of 3 hours per half-day, with coffee breaks in the middle. Most workshops have 12 to 15 participants. Provisions can be made for a few larger workshops but please consult one of the Workshops Co-Chairs before proposing a Workshop with more than 15 participants. A small workshop fee is charged to each participant to cover materials, food, and the limited audiovisual support. The workshop fee will be waived for two of the workshop's organizers.

Mentoring for workshops is available for first-time authors. Sample workshops proposals are also available online.

Review Criteria
Workshop submissions will be reviewed by a committee representing a cross-section of HCI researchers and practitioners. Review criteria include the workshop's potential for generating stimulating discussions and useful results; the expected community interest level in the topic; the organizers' ability to demonstrate through the proposal that the workshop will be well organized; the overall balance of topics in the Workshops program; and the fit with the conference theme.

Format
A workshop submission has three parts: a proposal, an extended abstract, and a call for participation. A sample Workshop Submission shows this required format. In the same fashion as the sample, prepare your submission as a single PDF file and send it by email to the Send To address shown. If you cannot prepare an electronic PDF file, please contact us at the Send To email address or phone number.

Proposal
Prepare a three-page proposal for the Workshops review committee. The proposal and other materials are due 8 September 2000. In the proposal, describe the topic, the plan for conducting the workshop, and the organizers' backgrounds. Please keep in mind that the focus of the workshops is small group face-to-face discussion, therefore, workshops typically receive minimal technology support (overhead projectors and flip charts). This limited technology support is reflected in the low fee for workshops. A technology support room with a richer set of resources will be available for shared use, and workshops will be able to reserve time to use the room. Contact the Workshop's Co-Chairs for details.

Topic should include:

• the names of all organizers (identifying the two whose fees will be waived)
• goals of the workshop
• clear and detailed description of the topic
• importance and timeliness of the topic

Plan should include:

• preliminary schedule of workshop activities, with estimated times
• breakdown of subtopics within general topic
• desired number of participants
• participant selection criteria
• facilitation of workshop activities
• pre-workshop activities
• dissemination of results (e.g., including plans for books or journals)
• whether poster will be created by organizers
• rationale for any technology requirements beyond an overhead projector, flip charts and the shared technology support room

Organizer's background should include:

• relevant biographical information including projects, publications, and presentations on the workshop topic
• relevant past experience with workshops at CHI or elsewhere

Extended Abstract
Prepare a description of the workshop using a maximum of two pages, suitable for publication in the CHI 2001 Extended Abstracts. It should contain a summary of the workshop's goals and issues. It must be prepared in the Conference Publications Format, except that no abstract is required.

Call for Participation
Prepare a 250 word call for participation suitable for publication in the CHI 2001 Advance Program and on the CHI 2001 Web site. It should describe the workshop, the participant selection criteria, and where potential participants should send position papers.

Upon Acceptance
Organizers will be notified of acceptance or rejection by 16 October 2000. Organizers of accepted workshops will receive an Author Kit with detailed instructions on how to submit final camera-ready materials, which are due 8 December 2000. Workshop organizers select participants on the basis of position papers submitted to them. A position paper is generally 2-4 pages long, and outlines the submitter's view on the workshop theme and the reasons for the submitter's interest in the topic. Position papers must be received by 26 January 2001. Participants will be notified of selection by 2 February 2001.

Organizer Responsibilities

Before the Workshop
The organizers work with the Workshops Co-Chairs to identify mailing lists and other opportunities for the CHI 2001 Publicity Contractor to solicit diverse participation. You will select, invite, and confirm participants. Send the list of confirmed participants to the Workshops Co-Chairs. Distribute position papers and other pre-workshop materials to participants in advance of the workshop. Develop a final agenda of workshop activities. Work with the Workshops Co-Chairs to reserve time to use the technology support room, if appropriate.

At the Workshop
The organizer is responsible for facilitating discussion, maintaining productive interaction, and encouraging participation. The emphasis should be on group discussion, rather than on presentation of individual position papers. Diversity of perspectives should be encouraged. CHI 2001 provides meeting rooms, coffee breaks, overhead projectors, and a shared technology support room for workshops. Participants (with the exception of two organizers) are charged a modest registration fee. Organizers can produce a poster if they so desire summarizing the results of the workshop for display during the conference. Although the workshop poster is produced on-site immediately after the workshop, the organizers should follow the Poster Preparation Guidelines in this booklet.

After the Workshop
It is important for workshop results to be communicated to a larger audience. In addition to the optional poster that may be produced by the organizers during the conference, each workshop will produce a report for publication in the SIGCHI Bulletin. Additional avenues of communication, such as organizing a Special Interest Group (SIG) at the conference, preparing an edited book or special issues of journal following the conference, or creating a Web site to network with others who might be interested, are encouraged.

Submissions

• Your submission must be in English.
• Submissions will be made electronically to the Send To address using PDF format.
• 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.
• Responsibility for permissions to use video, audio, or pictures of identifiable people rests with you, not CHI 2001.
• You will receive email notification upon receipt of your submission.

Checklist

• Please perform the activities in this checklist to ensure completeness in your submission.
• Read the Conference Overview.
• Prepare a proposal for review, as described above.
• Prepare a one to two page extended abstract in the Conference Publications Format, as described above.
• Prepare a 250 word count workshop call for participation, as described above.
• Collect the proposal, the extended abstract, and the workshop call for participation, in the order given and convert to PDF format. If you cannot prepare an electronic PDF file to send to us, please contact us at the Send To email address.
• Send the electronic version of the proposal, the extended abstract, and the workshop call for participation by email to the Send To address shown.

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