Workshops

Workshop Programme (Monday/Tuesday)

The workshops on Monday and Tuesday are presented below. All are full day workshops costing £60.

Sessions start at 9.30am and finish at 6pm. Refreshments will be available at 11am, 1pm (lunch) and 4pm.

Workshops are provisional on numbers attending. Popular workshops fill up quickly, so please apply early to reserve your place. If you have applied for a workshop which is cancelled, you will be offered the option of taking up a place at an alternative workshop.

To participate in any of the workshops at HCI2003, you must first contact the relevant organiser, as named below. Each workshop has its own submission and review procedure. You should follow the instructions you are given by the organiser of the workshop you wish to attend. Once they have accepted you for their workshop, you will then need to register on this site, and pay the applicable fee. Workshop attendees are not required to register and pay for the conference as well unless they also wish to take part in the main conference as well as in the workshop. More information on general arrangements for workshops is available at http://www.co.umist.ac.uk/~lwatts/WksGen.html

W1 - Decision-making among HCI researchers (full day)

Room: 8W 2.29 (AV)

Ray Adams and Patrick Langdon (Middlesex University, UK)
Primary Contact: Dr Ray Adams
r.g.adams@mdx.ac.uk

Format: Full day. Topic introduction, short position statements, group discussion.
Workshop 1 (RTF document, 24k)

Summary

The aim of the workshop is to explore decision-making among interdisciplinary researchers in the process of conducting Human-Computer Interaction research. Participants will exchange ideas in a day-long facilitated discussion. The expected the outcomes of the workshop are a summary of insights generated on the day in the form of a simple model of the decision-making process, either based upon our concept of the two key factors (repertoire of methods and critical obstacles to overcome) or upon a theory grounded in and emerging from the workshop. The workshop will conclude with the construction of a poster that presents a first iteration of the model.

W2 - Benefits management and HCI - delivering value to users through IT (full day)

Room: 8W 2.24 (AV)

Jarnail Chudge and Colin Ashurst (Solution Development Centre, Microsoft UK)
Primary Contact: Jarnail Chudge
jarnailc@microsoft.com

Format: Full day. Presentations and exercises in the morning, group discussions in the afternoon.
Workshop 2 (RTF document, 23k)

Summary

Aimed at those interested in the practical application of HCI, this workshop will focus on best practices in processes, roles and techniques among HCI practitioners. Through a combination of presentations and break-out discussions, it will explore the idea of value and benefits in managing the delivery of IT solutions, such as Return on Investment and Total Cost of Ownership. The goal of the workshop is lay a framework for the emerging relationship between HCI and Benefits Management. A first draft of this framework will form the basis of a poster for the HCI2003 conference, and serve as a common point of reference for future work on the theme.

W3 - Designing for civil society (full day)

Room: 8W 2.10 (AV)

Andy Dearden (Sheffield Hallam University) & Steve Walker (Leeds Metropolitan University)
Primary Contact: Andy Dearden
A.M.Dearden@shu.ac.uk

Format: Full day. Presentations from participants in the morning, group discussions in the afternoon
Workshop 3 (RTF document, 33k)

Summary

This workshop aims to bring together campaigners, practitioners and academics to examine the use of technology by the organisations of civil society. Membership of civil society is predicated on the ability to express and record opinion, to contribute to the formation of policy, and to do so without artificial restrictions on participation. Groups within civil society may be formally constituted, such as trade-unions, or may comprise like-minded individuals conducting conversations and distributing electronic material e.g. recent emails circulated by supporters of the 'Stop the War' coalition. The workshop will explore how existing knowledge of Human Computer Interaction can be applied by such groups, and what questions such groups pose for our emerging understanding of HCI. The outcomes of the workshop will be consolidated into a summary and poster for wider dissemination.

W4 - Improving the accessibility of distance learning (full day)

Room: 8W 2.27 (AV)

Tony Stockman, Queen Mary College, University of London, UK
Primary Contact: Dr A. G. Stockman
tonys@dcs.qmul.ac.uk

Format: Full day. Facilitated discussion based on participants' contributions.
Workshop 4 (RTF document, 38k)

Summary

This workshop aims to identify current best practice in assuring access to Distance Learning (DL), where the term "access" incorporates developers and students with disabilities, as well as other members of society who are failing to benefit from the opportunities afforded by DL. It will look beyond the application of web accessibility guidelines, to improve support for the cognitive, communication and collaborative processes that are central to the effective use of DL environments. DL developers, tutors and students, including strong representation of people with disabilities, are invited to discuss the state of current practice and creatively explore development opportunities. The workshop will be based upon materials developed and/or used by workshop participants to help concretise discussions of current practice and development issues. The outcomes of the workshop will be brought together in the form of a poster, but it is hoped that they might lead to more substantial project proposals to progress some of the ideas generated.

W5 - Workshop on the temporal aspects of tasks (full day)

Room: 8W 2.21 (AV)

Peter Wild & Peter Johnson (Bath University, UK) and Chris Roast (Sheffield Hallam, UK)
Primary Contact: Peter J Wild
pwild@cs.bath.ac.uk

Format: Full day. Presentations, scenarios, plenary.
Workshop 5 (RTF document, 78k)

Summary

Temporal factors affect the structure of the tasks that HCI designers attempt to support. Little consideration has been given to the way in which temporal factors, such as such as allocation, scheduling, sequencing, deadlines and pace, are affected by other contextual factors such as organizational structure and culture. This workshop proposes to bring together researchers and developers whose concern is with the higher-level temporal structure of the tasks we support with interactive systems. Consideration of temporal issues at this higher level may require an integrated cognitive, social and technological view of time and therefore stimulate discussion of cognitive and social models and theories of computer use. Participants will each present position papers in the morning session and then address two scenarios in the afternoon, before bringing the emergent themes to a focus in a poster for the main conference.

HEW - HCI Educators’ Workshop

Room: 8W 2.23 (AV)

Organisers: John Rosbottom, Jonathon Crellin, Tom McEwan, Shailey Minocha
Primary contact: Tom McEwan
t.mcewan@napier.ac.uk

Note: The Educators’ workshop is now formally part of the annual conference programme, providing continuity with the two-day HCI Educators Conference in the spring - see www.hcie2003.org

The workshop considers the role of learning standards from an HCI perspective. Participants will focus on some of the issues surrounding the development and reuse of learning objects and will go on to apply some techniques deriving from HCI practice to the problem of conceptualising a software product that supports the development of standards-compliant reusable learning objects.

By considering the role of learning objects and the implications for different user populations (teachers, students, authors of learning materials and learning scenarios) the workshop will identify the kinds of tasks performed by these users and develop corresponding usage scenarios and a prototype model of software that may be used to produce reusable learning objects. One of our presuppositions is that the users of such software need no detailed understanding of the technical nature of the underlying learning standards. An analogy is that developers of web pages need no detailed understanding of HTML, or more strongly a user of email needs no understanding of SMTP.

The aim at the end of the day is to develop one or more prototypes for software suitable for use by (in particular) the authors of learning materials employing reusable learning objects, together with accompanying usage scenarios. We also aim to produce a “white paper” for the standards community that identifies how learning standards may be embedded in end-user software.

W6 - Metaphor and HCI (full day)

Room: 8W 2.29 (AV)

Mark Treglown (Nottingham University, UK)
Primary contact: Dr Mark Treglown
M.Treglown@cs.nott.ac.uk

Format: Full day. Participants' presentations morning and early afternoon, group discussion late afternoon.
Workshop 6 (RTF document, 28k)

Summary

Some cognitive scientists argue that metaphor is a core mechanism by which people comprehend both the physical world and more intangible concepts, and underlie action of all kinds. Metaphor has yet to become a coherent theme of research in HCI: this workshop aims to identify where it currently stands within the field. It will examine the use of metaphor in the interactive system design processes, especially for emerging user interface media and modalities. It will ask whether metaphor research can achieve critical mass in HCI as it has in other research areas, and what research directions should be followed to bring about this aim. Participants will present their views and work to one another, followed by an open discussion to draw together common themes. These themes will be encapsulated in a poster for the HCI2003 conference and serve as the focus for future collaboration among workshop participants.

W7 - Genres, use qualities, and interactive artifacts (full day)

Room: 8W 2.21 (AV)

Jonas Lundberg, Mattias Arvola & Stefan Holmlid (Linköping University, Sweden)
Primary Contact: Jonas Lundberg
jonlu@ida.liu.se

Format: Full day. Topic introduction, group quality-analysis exercises, discussion
Workshop 7 (RTF document, 27k)
See also: http://www.ida.liu.se/~jonlu/genrewsHCI03/index.html

Summary

This workshop will explore the idea genre analysis in terms of the use qualities of interactive artifacts The desirable qualities of any artifact in use are not completely unique to the problem it was designed to address. There is overlap between similar artifacts within different genres. The workshop will develop the idea that genres can structure knowledge about the use qualities of artefacts. It seeks to provide transferability between design examples within a repertoire, and hence to contribute to a reflective practice for interaction designers.

The workshop will engage participants in two exercises to clarify the concept of genre and quality attributes for interactive systems, followed by an open discussion on the emergent themes which will be brought together as a summary and poster for wider dissemination.

W8 - Accessibility issues for interactive television (full day)

Room: 8W 2.22 (AV)

Lyn Pemberton, Judith Masthoff, Richard Griffiths (University of Brighton, UK), Owen Daly-Jones (Serco Usability Services, UK), Deborah Fels (Ryerson University, Canada)
Primary Contact: Lyn Pemberton
LP22@bton.ac.uk

Format: Full day. Presentations, group discussions.
Workshop 8 (RTF document, 29k)
See also: http://www.it.bton.ac.uk/staff/lp22/HCI2003.html

Summary

Technologies such as interactive television (iTV) take computing beyond the desktop to the home. They provide communication, information, education, shopping and entertainment experiences for people who do not necessarily use PCs. These new users of interactive systems include many elderly viewers and people with motor and/or perceptual disabilities. However, user studies show that current services are often not usable by, or even accessible to, these users. This workshop aims to develop an accessibility research agenda for iTV, to foster a community of iTV design research and practice, and to investigate ways of creating productive connections with iTV service providers.

Participants will each present their own positions on the workshop theme, the group as a whole will then work on research questions to define an agenda for accessible iTV, and finally consolidate them into a summary and poster for wider dissemination.