CHI 2021 Workshop

From the Margins to the Centre:
Defining New Mission and Vision for HCI Researchers in South Asia

 

Virtual Workshop co-located with ACM CHI 2021 Conference

Sunday May 9th 2021, 11:00-16:00 JST (UTC+09:00)

Scroll Down to Learn how to participate

 

_{^{Photo by Ran Berkovich on Unsplash}}

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Date of the Workshop: Sunday May 9th 2021, 11:00-16:00 JST (UTC+09:00)

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Call for Participation • Dates • Registration • Program • Organizers • Contact • Sponsors

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About

Over the years, the global Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community has witnessed a plethora of work from South Asia. The focus of the HCI work in the region has been primarily on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its developmental implications on users, including those pertaining to the socio-cultural norms, lack of resources, literacy, and income. Some of the conducted research has been initiated and conducted by or in collaboration with researchers from the Global North, focusing primarily on challenges of the under-served user groups. However, the South Asian region has more to offer and needs to be looked at more than merely as a site for marginalized user groups. To benefit from the richness and diversity, results of continuous interaction among cultures and openness for dialogue, embedded in the living experience, social-structures and cultural-narratives, it is vital that the South Asian HCI community sets a strong agenda to be united to share a vision of HCI that goes beyond the ad-hoc system or service developments from the Global North.

The goal of this workshop is to bring together the community of HCI researchers, designers, and technology makers at CHI 2021 virtually who are interested in research including and beyond development in South Asia. Together, we aim to break the stereotypes and re-imagine the future of HCI research in the South Asian region, celebrating the diversity, inclusion, and chaos that comes with it. 

More specifically, this workshop has the following objectives:

We plan to explore various themes during the workshop and exchange ideas and invite conversations (including anecdotes, experiential information, and field stories) during this workshop.

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Call for Participation

As a first step, we are organizing a half-day virtual workshop over the virtual platform at CHI 2021, titled: “From the Margins to the Centre: Defining New Mission and Vision for HCI Researchers in South Asia”.

The primary objective of the workshop is to provide an international platform — to showcase to the ”center” — the research including and beyond development, challenges, experiential information, and field stories, from (marginal) communities across the South Asian Region, and help to collectively build a vision for the community. We invite participants to join our online workshop. The half-day workshop will include three activity-based design sessions encompassing reflection on the past, building a vision, and proposing pathways for realizing the vision. 

How to Participate?

We invite participants from across the Globe interested in working with and for the South Asian context. Through your participation, we hope to create a collaborative community where we exchange ideas, experiences, and learn from each other. 

Interested participants are invited to fill a survey to share details about their research, methods, preliminary or prominent results from their work, and their aspirations from the workshop.

Selection criteria

Participants will be accepted based on how their responses align with the workshop theme. 

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Important Dates

We will have two deadlines to submit the forms. To gauge the interest and to plan accordingly, we urge the participants to utilize the early deadline.

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Registration Instructions for Workshop Participants: 

• • Workshop rate: $30 (mandatory to attend the workshop)

If you are not yet registered for CHI, CLICK HERE.

1. 1. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the Member or Non-Member button to begin your registration
   2. Fill in all of the required information
   3. Proceed to the Optional Items page – select your workshop or symposia from dropdown list and click next at the bottom of the page
   4. Enter AccessW39 in the code box
   5. Follow through to complete the addition, making a payment, if necessary and click “Finish”

If you are adding a workshop to your existing registration, CLICK HERE.

1. 1. Scroll down the select the “Already Registered?” button.
   2. Enter your email address and confirmation code – found in your confirmation email
   3. Click “OK” to proceed, then select “Modify” on the next page
   4. Proceed through your registration (“Next” until the Optional Items page) to add your workshop
   5. Select your workshop from the dropdown and click “Next” at the bottom
   6. Enter AccessW39 in the code box
   7. Follow through to complete the addition by making a payment and clicking “Finish”

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**While doing the registration, it might be good to have SIGCHI membership. 

Not sure if you’re a member? Here’s how to check:

1. 1. Visit myacm.acm.org, and log in using the member login on the left side
   2. On the landing page, there’s a section titled “Memberships and Subscriptions”
   3. If you are an active SIGCHI member, you will see that listed under “Your Memberships”

Not an active SIGCHI member? Here’s how to become one:

1. 1. Renewal: In the upper right hand corner of the myacm.acm.org landing page, there is a link labeled “renew.” That link will take you to a page where you can renew your membership.
   2. New member: Visit this page, which will allow you to sign up for a SIGCHI membership: Sign up for a SIGCHI Membership Now!

 

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Program

We will hold a half-day workshop virtually comprising three sessions with activities summarized in Table below over the Zoom platform. In these sessions, we will reflect on the past and re-imagine the future, considering questions loosely based on design futuring. The organizers have expertise and experience in conducting design futuring workshops. 

The program below is in JST timezone.

Time: JST (UTC+09:00)	Activity
11:00 – 11:15	Welcome: Introduction from the organizing committee
11:15 – 12:15	Session I: Reflecting on Now	individual; all attendees
12:15 – 12:30	Break
12:30 – 13:30	Session II: Ideating for the Future	small groups
13:30 – 14:45	Break
14:45 – 15:15	Session III: Reflections and Synthesis	small groups, followed by all attendees
15:15 – 15:25	Break
15:25 – 16:00	Closing: Next Steps and Final Remarks

Session I: Reflecting on Now

Participants and organizers (as agreed in the pre-workshop activity with several open slots) share one experience (in two minutes each) on conducting research in South Asia. This can include:

• Reflecting on a challenge, negative, or positive experience;
• Posing a question to/for the group, along with the rationale or thoughts behind their question;
• Sharing a vision, hope, or desire for their future research;
• Highlighting an identified `need for change’;
• Other messages, experiences, ”open mic.”

These two-minute presentations can either be presented using a previously shared 1-slide or in a free presentation format.

Session II: Ideating for the Future

Participants are divided into small teams of 3-5, based on their selected sub-theme (in the pre-workshop activity), to spend 30 minutes to discuss:

• The now: Taking stock of the past and present, considering what is currently happening in their specific sub-theme globally and South Asia.
• Future vision: If all things are possible in the future, where we want to be in the future and what are some utopian or ideal future scenarios for researchers and/or for conducting research.
• Approach: What are the opportunities and/or challenges to get from the now to the future vision.
• Drivers: Identifying who is/are responsible to get us there and why and how.
• Progress: Formulating measurable ways to know that progress is being made to realize the vision.

Participants can use mind-maps, google docs, or slides (or other online collaborative tools) to document their ideas and answers. Teams with the same sub-theme join the same breakout rooms and present and discuss their insights. These discussions will also be summarized using an online collaborative tool for archival purposes.

Session III: Reflections and Synthesis

Participants will perform an activity for defining shared vision(s), mission(s), and identities for HCI activities in South Asia.

• 30 minutes: In the thematic small groups (same as in Session II), participants define one or two vision statements and identify ways to realize the vision, and thus define their mission.
• 60 minutes: A representative from each subgroup presents a two-minute summary of their discussion to all the attendees. (This will be simultaneously appended in the Living Document by a moderator.) Next, we will hold a moderated discussion on refining the visions while building on the collectively generated themes (collected in the Living Document).

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About CHI 2021

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Organizers

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Contact Us

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Supported by

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Partners

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Sponsors

TBD

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CHI 2021 Workshop

From the Margins to the Centre:
Defining New Mission and Vision for HCI Researchers in South Asia

We aim to build ”HCI4SouthAsia”, a strong community of HCI researchers and practitioners who work/will work in the South Asian region (i.e., in and around the countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka).

The half-day workshop will include three activity-based design sessions encompassing reflection on the past, building a vision, and proposing pathways for realizing the vision. 

PARTICIPATE IN THE WORKSHOP BY FILLING THIS FORM

Learn more about the workshop

 

Important Dates

We will have two deadlines to submit the forms. To gauge the interest and to plan accordingly, we urge the participants to utilize the early deadline.

• Early deadline: 1st February 2021
• Regular deadline: 1st March 2021

Program

We will hold a half-day workshop virtually comprising three sessions with activities summarized in Table below over the Zoom platform. In these sessions, we will reflect on the past and re-imagine the future, considering questions loosely based on design futuring.

Contact US

For questions, comments, or feedback, please send them to hci4southasia@gmail.com / pranjal_jain@live.com / samiai@cs.washington.edu.