What will be published at CHI 25 years from now?

Visions of the future profoundly influence current research. From the inspirational role of science fiction, to narratives about development and progress, to utopian as well as dystopian predictions about the impacts of technology on society, the tomorrows toward which we work, consciously or unconsciously, significantly shape what counts as an important contribution in today’s research. However, despite their importance, relatively limited discussion occurs about the details of what such futures might entail.

This call offers an opportunity to speculate about what those potential futures might hold. Submissions are invited of abstracts for fictional papers that might appear, will appear, should appear, or perhaps should not appear in the proceedings of the 2039 ACM CHI Conference. What will have changed? What will remain the same? Visionary calls, critical reflections, and prophetic warnings are all encouraged. Abstracts are welcome both from regular CHI attendees and from those at the periphery of the community and beyond. A selection of these abstracts will be curated into a submission to the CHI Conference’s alt.chi track.

Abstracts should be ~150 words long, provide a title for the fictional future paper, and may optionally include an image as well as authors’ affiliations. Abstracts will be selected for inclusion based on their ability to represent a diversity of guiding research visions, their excitatory or provocative potential, the space allotted by the CHI extended abstracts format, and the likelihood of engendering conversations about the future of HCI.

Abstracts should be submitted via email to Eric P. S. Baumer (ericpsb cornell edu) with “[CHI 2039]” in the subject line.

Important Dates:
Abstract Submission Deadline – December 8, 2013
Curatorial Decision Notification – December 16, 2013
Collection Submitted to alt.chi – December 20, 2013

See further details and dates on the alt.chi track.