Message from the User Experience & Usability Community Chairs

In the past, some practitioners have felt that they didn't "belong" at CHI – that the CHI community did not appreciate what we bring. That is no longer so – if, indeed, it ever really was! At CHI 2009, user experience (UX) and usability practitioners are more important than ever. We have a tremendous amount to offer towards turning the theme of the conference, "Digital Life, New Worlds," into a reality!

Of course, while we have so much to offer CHI, we also can learn from others who come to CHI. Therefore, CHI 2009 is focused on taking the next step forward in bridging effectively among professional communities – including academic researchers and UX/usability practitioners. We also want to reach beyond the familiar and established approaches that have served us well to new and innovative approaches that will provides new insights, experiences, and outcomes.

It is our goal as the User Experience and Usability co-chairs to increase the quality and quantity of usability practitioner and researcher submissions with the intent of benefiting both the practitioner and research communities. We will strive to collect contributions in the usability field that introduce innovative practices and research that improve the design experience. CHI 2009 provides several formats for communicating your work, whether it is an experience report, a panel of industry experts, or a well researched finding presented in a paper.

For a summary of all CHI 2009 submission types and venues, see the Authors' page.
Susan Dray, Dray & Associates, Inc.
Arnie Lund, Microsoft Corporation
Contact us: userexperience@chi2009.org

Introduction

Historically, the user experience and usability fields have thrived on the interdependency between research and practice, leveraging new concepts and working to make our efforts more effective and influential. CHI 2009 will offer a place to discuss advancements in the field of usability and user experience and discuss burning issues of methods, tools, business or management. We hope to stimulate discussion both within the community and with other communities and to explore our mutual dependence.

The CHI 2009 User Experience & Usability Community Co-Chairs will help practitioners find appropriate venues for the presentation of advanced approaches, thought-provoking communication, and interaction between research and practice, whether the submission is a debate, a description of a new method, an interesting case study, or some other presentation format. We will also try to help you find other people who may be interested in participating with you.

We expect that there will be many related themes and activities offered by the other CHI communities participating in this conference. We strongly encourage you to submit multi-community proposals that look at user experience and usability in the context of design, education, engineering, management, and/or research.

Novel Submission Types

We particularly welcome proposals for novel types of submissions or submission types common in other Community events and conferences not listed above. Please contact the User Experience & Usability Community chairs [insert email alias] to discuss the best way to submit and present your work. We will work with submitters to shape these novel proposals into activities that will advance exchanges and understanding within the community.