Call for Participation

About Face Interface:
Creative Engagement in New Media Arts and HCI

Saturday April 22 and Sunday April 23, 2006
Workshop website: http://studio416.cfa.cmu.edu/CHI06workshop_AboutFace
(website will be active at the end of the week)

ACM CHI 2006 Interact.Inform.Inspire
http://www.chi2006.org/
Montreal, Canada

WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS

Pamela Jennings, Human Computer Interaction Institute and School of Art
Carnegie Mellon University

Elisa Giaccardi, Center for LifeLong Learning and Design
University of Colorado, Boulder

Magda Wesolkowska, Faculty of the Built Environment and Planning
University of Montreal

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

This two-day workshop will bring together a vibrant community of individuals interested in the new models for communication and interaction demonstrated by new media art and their potential contribution to HCI. The divergent thinking and creative visions supported by new media art practices offer a platform that emphasizes creative engagement as a locus for innovative design and evaluation methods for HCI research.

Researchers and practitioners from several distinct fields of artistic and scientific inquiry, including art, design, engineering, education and HCI will engage in discussions about issues of new media art practice and evaluation and their relationship to HCI research. The focus of the workshop is on identifying and sharing projects and research methods that bring to light the synergies between the research-in-practice of the new media art community and research activities in the HCI community. The workshop goal is to discuss attributes required for a theoretical framework that positions creative engagement as a hub for future transdisciplinary research.

We welcome creative practitioners involved in new media art and cultural production, HCI researchers concerned with the design of novel interfaces and technologies in support of creativity and collaboration (with a particular emphasis on pervasive computing, tangible interfaces, and interaction models of emotion and context aware computing), theorists and researchers in aesthetics and social and cultural studies interested in issues of creative engagement.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

Establish a ground for a thoughtful and vibrant dialogue amongst creative practitioners, social scientists, and HCI researchers to provide insights and indications for brainstorming, understanding, and developing:

- theoretical frameworks for concepts of creative engagement in the new design space engendered by information technologies, particularly as they relate to aspects of engagement (embodiment, intersubjectivity, affect, etc.), means of engagement (place, narrative, etc.), effects of engagement (creativity, sociability, sense-making, etc.), design approaches (metadesign, participatory design, user centered design, etc.), and participative systems (reflective or synergetic communities, artistic and cultural networks, etc.);

- interface features, system components and applications that support requirements of creative engagement;

- new methods and experiences for evaluating interfaces and interaction systems grounded in research-in-practice aimed to support novel applications for creative engagement;

- leverages for artistic and cultural community practices as contributions to HCI and technical research practices.

INTENDED AUDIENCE

- Creative practitioners involved in new media art and cultural production projects;

Researchers and practitioners concerned with the design of novel interfaces and technologies in support of creativity and sociability (on the computer, in the museum, in the city, in the classroom, etc.);

- Researchers and practitioners interested in technical research and development applied to the creative practices, with a particular emphasis on pervasive computing, tangible interfaces, and interaction models of emotion and context aware computing;

- Researchers and practitioners interested in the design and sustainability of participative systems (e.g. open source, open content, artistic and cultural networks);

- Theorists and researchers in aesthetics and social and cultural studies interested in issues of embodied interactionism, sense-making, and engagement.

WORKSHOP SUBMISSION PROCESS

Submission Deadline: Friday January 6, 2006

Workshop participants will be selected on the basis of a submitted 2 to 4 page position paper. The position paper must outline the submitters view on the workshop theme and the reasons for interest in the topic including the following information:

- A theoretical account or investigation in the concept of creative engagement or related topics;

- A description or account of a method or project related to designing, sustaining or evaluating creative engagement.

All submissions must follow the ACM CHI formatting guidelines for workshop abstracts which is available at: http://www.chi2006.org/ceaf.php

Email submissions to:
pamelaj at andrew.cmu.edu with the email subject heading CHI2006 Workshop Submission.