CUU 2000 > Proceedings November 16-17, 2000, Arlington, VA, USA Proceedings: Welcome from SIGCHI

ACM SIGCHI is delighted to co-sponsor with US ACM the first ACM Conference on Universal Usability. This conference is a beginning of the expanding role SIGCHI is playing in terms of promoting human-computer interaction. In addition to being a community that fosters communication and research in the field of HCI, SIGCHI is large and influential enough that it can and should serve public policy and the role of educating the public about HCI issues.

Technology does not limit access by all, but rather, it is the political and economic forces that surround the technology. Telephones and electricity were made accessible to everyone in the 1920's and 1940's via government overseeing and disseminating the technology. Technological choices were made that connected electricity to every home rather than having homes buy their own generators. Telephone companies were enjoined to spread the costs of laying lines to rural areas into the charges for service in urban areas. Telephones were rented rather than sold so that the cost of technology ownership and repair was not borne by the user. In many countries, electricity and communication became government services that guided and directed the development and dissemination of these technologies. Often, technology was not designed for all to use simply through oversight. It then took serious lobbying from those groups who were forgotten to cause the technology to be changed so that their access was also ensured.

In order to serve policy formation, research is needed on how to best disseminate the new technologies to those who are being left out as other more advantaged groups adopt and gain significantly from technology's use. Such is the case of universal access to computing, and in particular, that of universal usability. This conference serves as the foundation for the dissemination and communication of universal usability research both in its focus on how the technology needs to change to support many different groups of users but also on who the users are so that they are not overlooked.

And if we think that the concept of universal usability does not serve HCI's ends because it involves a small community that we benefit little from supporting, then consider how much easier life is with wheeled suitcases which came from one small community demanding universal access to buildings. The research in this conference is likely to drive and improve all types of user access.

ACM SIGCHI is happy to be a part of this new venture, and to spread its word, we are sending a copy of CUU's proceedings to all SIGCHI members. We want to thank all the conference organizers who have worked so hard to make this event happen for SIGCHI and ACM.

Marilyn Tremaine, SIGCHI Chair