Quick Facts
Important Dates:
- Submission deadline: 15 January 2018 (12pm (noon) PST / 3pm EST).
- Notification: 16 February 2018
- Camera-ready deadline: 22 February 2018
- 30-second video previews deadline (optional): 3 March 2018
Submission Details:
- Online Submission: PCS Submission System
- Template: Extended Abstracts Format
- Description of proposed approach to the presentation of the work at the conference.
- Camera-ready, 10 page submission in Extended Abstracts Format
Optional 5 minute video figure.
Selection Process: Juried
Chairs: Shaun Lawson, Ben Kirman and Conor Linehan (altchi@chi2018.acm.org).
At the conference: Accepted alt.chi submissions will be presented in designated sessions at the conference.
Archives: Extended abstracts; ACM Digital Library
What is alt.chi
alt.chi is a forum for controversial, risk-taking, and boundary pushing presentations at CHI. The CHI program committee formed alt.chi to act as a forum for innovative and insightful work that can go unrecognized through the standard review process. Contributions to alt.chi often innovate methodologically, critique accepted practices, or take on controversial questions. Moreover, alt.chi presentations are often innovative in format as well as content, and we wish to encourage authors to consider how they might present their work in alternative ways. Previous years have seen alt.chi contributions presented through theatre, carnival, music, poetry, and graphic novels.
alt.chi Commentaries
As contributions to alt.chi are often challenging and unusual, since 2014 they have benefited from reviewer commentaries. Where appropriate, reviewers may be asked revise their work as a short commentary to be published with the alt.chi submission and optionally presented in person following the authors’ presentation at the conference. These commentaries serve to amplify and enrich alt.chi presentations of provocative work.
Message from the alt.chi Chairs
alt.chi 2018 continues the tradition of bringing substantive, thought-provoking, original work to CHI through an alternative approach. alt.chi is appropriate for submissions that prove difficult to assess through the main Papers track, whether for reasons of methodology, style or content. A Juried review process ensures that high standards for excellence are maintained. alt.chi hosts some of the most audacious and insightful presentations at the conference. This is the avant-garde of CHI.
We invite the submission of bold, compelling, critical, and innovative works that challenge or re-imagine human computer interaction research and design. alt.chi 2018 is methodologically inclusive and accepts reports, reflections, analyses, designs, fictions and systematic inquiries. Especially encouraged are:
- Critical perspectives on HCI, design, and society
- Creative, subversive, and/or unorthodox research methods that explore HCI boundaries, quandaries, and paradoxes
- Works that explore the politics, economics, and practice of HCI and design – and propose alternatives
Explorations of novel methods through which to present HCI research – both in the submission and through the conference presentation
The vast majority of CHI Papers are inherently inappropriate for submission to alt.chi. alt.chi 2018 should be viewed as an opportunity to re-shape the conversation by introducing a vibrant intellectual community to a new way of doing work, unconstrained by traditional conference/paper formats.
Shaun Lawson, Northumbria University, UK
Ben Kirman, University of York, UK
Conor Linehan, University College Cork, Ireland
Preparing and Submitting your alt.chi Submission
An alt.chi submission must be submitted via the PCS Submission System by January 15, 2018 (12pm (noon) PST / 3pm EST). The alt.chi submission must include an Extended Abstract and may also include a 5-minute video figure.
Submissions should consist of a maximum 10-page Extended Abstracts Format (including references), with an abstract of less than 100 words, submitted in Extended Abstracts Format. Although deviation from the format may be required for some submissions, please ensure at a minimum the first page and references follow the strict requirements. If you want to do something unusual then check with us first at altchi@chi2018.acm.org. Submissions should not be accepted or under review anywhere else while in submission
New for 2018:
- The submission form will ask you to provide a description and justification of the method by which your alt.chi work will be presented at the conference. Submissions that thoughtfully link the content of the submission to a specified presentation format will be highly valued by the review process. Because alt.chi is intended as an alternative space at the conference, we strongly encourage authors to propose something other than standing and talking to a deck of Powerpoint slides.
- We welcome completely fresh submissions tailored to the specific goals and values of alt.chi. It is traditional, however, that authors of highly discussed papers that are submitted, but not accepted into the CHI Papers track may be invited to submit their work to alt.chi. In these cases, authors will be asked to submit a brief argument as to why they believe their submission will be a good fit for alt.chi.
Like many tracks at CHI, your alt.chi submission may include a short digital video figure or interactive illustration that is up to five minutes in length and no more than 100 MB final data size. Because not everyone who reads the submission may view the video figure or attend the presentation, your submission must stand on its own without the figure, and will be reviewed as such. Some guidelines for creating video submissions can be found at: Guide to a Successful Video Submission.
alt.chi Selection Process
This year we are removing the open review process from alt.chi in favour of a Juried approach. Submissions will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- How well the work embodies alt.chi’s values of creativity, criticality, reflection, and originality.
- How coherent the work is conceptually, philosophically, and methodologically.
- How well the proposed presentation format suits the content of the submission and how likely it is to engage people at the conference.
- The extent to which the work expresses a voice and argument unlikely to be heard in the Papers track.
- The nature of the discussions that the submission provokes among reviewers.
Submissions should not contain sensitive, private, or proprietary information that cannot be disclosed at publication time; nor can submissions contain text of prior CHI reviews. Submissions should NOT be anonymous. However, confidentiality of submissions will be maintained during the review process. All rejected submissions will be kept confidential in perpetuity.
AUTHORS TAKE NOTE: The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of your conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.
Upon Acceptance of your alt.chi Submission
Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by 16 Feb 2018. Final versions of accepted Extended Abstracts must be uploaded to PCS by 22 Feb 2018.
At the time of the final submission, authors will be asked to submit a 30-second video preview summarizing the paper. This is optional, but highly encouraged, as it will increase the visibility of publications before, at the conference, and in the ACM digital library in perpetuity. The deadline for submitting 30-second video previews is March 3, 2018 (12pm (noon) PST / 3pm EST), so authors have additional time to work on them after the camera-ready deadline. Video previews count towards the total submission size of 100MB, so we recommend that the camera-ready submission does not exceed 80MB.
Also see:
- Guide to submitting a 30-second video preview
- Technical Requirements and Guidelines for Videos at CHI
At the Conference
All accepted alt.chi submission will be presented orally in designated sessions at the conference.
After the Conference
Accepted alt.chi submission will be distributed in the CHI Conference Extended Abstracts, available in the ACM Digital Library, where they will remain accessible to thousands of researchers and practitioners worldwide.