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The CHI Tutorial Program: Just What Is the "Common Ground"?

Mark Altom and Marian G. Williams (1)

AT&T Bell Laboratories
200 Laurel Ave., Room 4d-535
Middletown, NJ 07748 USA
+1 908 957-6204 +1 508 934-3628
altom.chi@xerox.com

(1)
Computer Science Department
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Lowell, MA 01854 USA
williams.chi@xerox.com

© ACM

Keywords:

SIGCHI, tutorials, common ground.

Introduction

The formal feedback that is traditionally available to the tutorial program planning committee comes from survey questionnaires filled out by tutorial attendees at prior conferences. The surveys are extremely valuable for helping the tutorial committee decide whether individual tutorials meet the needs of attendees. However, the theme of CHI ‘96, "Common Ground," suggests that we can do more to shape the content and evolution of the CHI tutorial program.

At this SIG, we hope to gather opinions and experiences that will help us look at the tutorial program as a whole. This is not the place to compliment or zing an individual tutorial. Rather, it is a place to help shape the future of the CHI tutorial program.

Although we are the co-chairs for the CHI ‘96 tutorial program, we want to make it clear that this SIG is not a CHI ‘96 planning meeting. Rather, we hope it will be the beginning of an on-going discussion about what the CHI tutorial program should be.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

We invite all interested conference participants to attend the SIG, including:

ISSUES

The SIG will address some issues that cannot be addressed by the survey questionnaires that tutorial attendees fill out: How should the content of the tutorial program be defined? Are tutorial presenters satisfied with the program? And what do prospective presenters need to know about how to propose and deliver a tutorial? Here's the way we will approach these issues during the SIG.

Tutorial topics.

Should the CHI tutorial program seek to cover a "common ground" of knowledge and experience from the field of CHI? What topics might that common ground include? And is the common ground perhaps different for different groups of CHI tutorial attendees (newcomers to the field who want an introduction vs. veterans who want a deeper look at a topic, for instance)?

Tutorial presenter's experience.

How do CHI tutorial presenters feel about their experience? What do they get out of it? Are there things about the tutorial program that drive them nuts? Should we be gathering formal feedback from presenters, and if so, how?

Encouraging new presenters.

What's the procedure for proposing a tutorial? What prevents some prospective presenters from submitting tutorial proposals? What advice do experienced presenters have for new presenters? And what advice would attendees like to give future presenters?

GOALS OF THE SIG

The SIG will provide a forum at which: