alt.chi

Quick Facts

• alt.chi consists of both external and invited submissions.
• Important Dates:
  • Submission deadline: 13 January 2016 (12:00pm PST).
  • Notification: 2 February 2016.
  • Camera-ready deadline: 9 February 2016.
• Submission Details:
  • Online Submission: PCS Submission System.
  • Template: Extended Abstracts Format.
  • Camera-ready, 10 page paper in Extended Abstracts Format. including an abstract of no more than 100 words and a brief submission history of the paper. Optional 5 minute video figure.
  • For this venue, references DO NOT count towards page length.
• Selection Process: Juried. Submitted papers will be openly discussed by members of the CHI community on PCS. Selected contributions to the online discussion will be invited as commentary to be archived as part of the alt.chi Extended Abstracts. Authors are welcome and encouraged to invite members of the community to discuss their paper.
• Chairs: Silvia Lindtner, Morgan Ames & Janet Vertesi (altchi@chi2016.acm.org).
• At the conference: Accepted alt.chi submissions will be presented 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 as a forum for innovative and insightful work that can go unrecognized through the standard review process. alt.chi papers often innovate methodologically, critique accepted practices, or take on controversial questions. alt.chi’s open and juried review processes ensure that the year’s best work in human computer interaction finds a space at CHI.

alt.chi Commentaries

Commentaries started in 2014 with the goal to facilitate conversation across the open reviewing process and presentations at the conference. alt.chi subject matter often cuts across CHI sub-communities. The discussion alt.chi papers generate as as important as the paper itself. This year, we will invite a selection of alt.chi open reviewers to revise their work as a short commentary to be published with the alt.chi paper. These commentaries will amplify and enrich alt.chi presentations of provocative work.

Message from the alt.chi Chairs

alt.chi 2016 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 mainstream procedures, whether for reasons of methodology or content. Forum discussion allows dialogue about the potential significance of a submission, and juried selection insures 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 2015 is methodologically inclusive and accepts reports, analyses, designs, and systematic inquiries – whether quantitative, qualitative, or both. Especially encouraged are:

• Works that speak to the conference theme of “changing perspectives” through explorations of areas currently outside the center of the field
• Reflections on the legacy of the alt.chi track on its tenth anniversary
  alt.chi 2016 is an opportunity to re-shape the conversation by introducing a vibrant intellectual community to a new way of doing work. We invite you to change the game.

Silvia Lindtner, University of Michigan
Morgan Ames, University of California, Irvine
Janet Vertesi, Princeton University

altchi@chi2016.acm.org

Preparing and Submitting your alt.chi Submission

An alt.chi submission must be submitted via the PCS Submission System by January 13, 2016 (5:00PM PST). The alt.chi submission must include an extended abstract and may also include a 5-minute video figure.

1. Extended Abstract. Submissions must include a maximum 10-page paper, which an abstract of less than 100 words, submitted in Extended Abstracts Format should. alt.chi submissions should not be accepted or under review anywhere else while in submission.
   We welcome completely fresh submissions tailored to the specific goals and values of alt.chi. However, authors may also submit controversial or compelling work not accepted in other tracks. In particular, authors of highly discussed papers that are submitted but not accepted into the CHI Papers and Notes track may be invited to submit their work to alt.chi. In these cases, authors will be asked to submit the reviews that their CHI submission has previously received, along with a brief explanation of why they believe their paper will be a good fit for alt.chi.
2. Optional Video Figure. Your submission may be accompanied by 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. Since not everyone who reads the paper may view the video figure, 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

alt.chi is Juried for CHI 2016. During the period between submissions and notifications, members of the CHI community will be invited to discuss the submission in a public, non-anonymous, forum*. Anyone who is interested will be able to view and discuss your work. Authors will be encouraged to invite appropriate members of the CHI community to comment on their work, and the alt.chi committee will also invite discussions. We want to encourage discussion and debate on what makes a good alt.chi (or regular CHI) submission, and, ultimately, what pushes the field forward. After the discussion period, a jury of experts will evaluate the work based on:

• How compelling it would be to an open-minded CHI audience.
• How well it embodies alt.chi’s values of creativity, criticality, reflection, and originality.
• The nature of the discussions that the submission provoked.

The jury will be selected and named by the beginning of January 2016.

Submissions should not contain sensitive, private, or proprietary information that cannot be disclosed at publication time. 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. All submitted materials for accepted submissions will be kept confidential until the start of the conference, with the exception of title and author information which will be published on the website prior to the conference.

*all reviewers will be required to consent to a review agreement prior to participating in the selection process.

Upon Acceptance of your alt.chi Submission

Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by 2 Feb 2016. Final versions of accepted Extended Abstracts must be uploaded to PCS by 9 Feb 2016.

At the Conference

At the conference, alt.chi papers will be presented in sessions dedicated to alt.chi, with each paper receiving a 15 minute slot. The CHI Conference requires that at least one author of an accepted paper registers and attends the conference to present the paper.

After the Conference

Accepted alt.chi papers 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.