Workshop on Geographic Human-Computer Interaction – CALL FOR PAPERS

April 27-28, 2013 (at CHI 2013)
Paris, France
http://geohci2013.grouplens.org
@geohci

Position Statements Due: January 11, 2013

Thanks to rapid developments in mobile and spatial technologies, researchers and practitioners in human-computer interaction (HCI), a large sub-field of computer science, are quickly becoming interested in geographic research questions and application areas. Similarly, geographers are exploring the impact of software and computing on space, and members of the Geographic Information Science (GIScience) and Cartography communities are exploring how lessons from HCI can be integrated into their work. However, despite this rapid topical convergence, there have been few opportunities for intra/interdisciplinary knowledge sharing, knowledge creation or community building among those whose interests lie at the boundary of these fields.

It is in this context that we invite members of the geography and HCI ‘tribes’ who are willing to venture into new territories to participate in a workshop on Geographic Human-Computer Interaction (http://geohci2013.grouplens.org/) at CHI 2013, the largest HCI conference and a top-tier HCI publication venue. The workshop will encourage the sharing of research questions, datasets, methods, literature, and tools among “GeoHCI” researchers and practitioners across disciplinary lines. We will also address critical open questions including “What makes spatial special in GeoHCI?” (e.g. What makes a location-based social network different from a traditional online social network?) and “What are GeoHCI’s fundamental principles?” (e.g. Spatial autocorrelation? Gravity Models?)

The workshop, held April 27-28, 2013, will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in areas including (but not limited to) location-based systems, local search, augmented reality, natural user interfaces, ubiquitous computing, neogeography/cartography, location-based social networks, geowikis, citizen science, crisis informatics, sustainable HCI, volunteered geographic information, GIScience, public-participation GIS, geodesign, Geo UX, and geovisualization.

Interested members of the HCI and geography communities should submit a two-page position statement describing their relevant work by January 11, 2013 (submission details are available on the workshop website). One or more authors of accepted statements must register for the workshop and at least one day of the main program of the CHI conference (April 29 – May 2, 2013).

Submissions should discuss topics that appeal to the broader GeoHCI community. In addition to highlighting the author(s)’s work on GeoHCI-related research questions and applications, we recommend that position statements address some subset of the following questions:

High-level Questions:

• What is ‘special about spatial’ in your area?
• What are, in your view, fundamental principles in GeoHCI?
• What are the most important open GeoHCI-related questions in your area?

Methodology Questions:

• What are the geospatial methods that you have found most valuable in your work?
• What are the datasets and tools you use in your work, and how have they helped you?

Interdisciplinary Questions:

• Are there findings, methods, tools or datasets that you suspect exist across the disciplinary boundary that would help you with your work?
• What fundamental principles of your field are most missing from the other field’s research?
• How can we foster stronger intra- and interdisciplinary collaboration?

Position statements should describe key insights gained from experience working in a GeoHCI-related area rather than merely characterizing work-in-progress. For instance, a researcher involved with local search may share his/her major findings related to adapting search algorithms to a local context. A crisis informatics researcher might give a talk about geospatial technology that best leverages social media in disaster management. A GeoUX specialist working on a major online mapping product may communicate critical insights about map design for mobile devices. It is our hope that such an approach will (1) allow participants to gain an understanding of the state-of-the-art across a variety of topic areas in GeoHCI and (2) facilitate brainstorming on the fundamental GeoHCI issues above.

We are also hosting an optional second day of the workshop that will consist of various “in the field” activities. We are actively seeking proposals for participant-led field trips. Have a great new citizen science app you want to demonstrate? Want to lead an OpenStreetMap data collection activity to bring everyone at the workshop up to speed on the OSM state-of-the-art? Can you guide us on an augmented reality tour of Paris? Let us know! Position statements that are accompanied by proposals for field-based activities will receive extra consideration.

LOGISTICS

• Position statements should be two pages long and in CHI Archive format.
• Position statements are not anonymous. Reviews will be single-blind.
• Authors must submit their statements by January 11, 2013.
• Please submit positions statements via GeoHCI’s EasyChair site (http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=geohci2013)
• One or more authors of accepted statements must register for the workshop and at least one day of the main program of the conference, which runs from April 29-May 2, 2013.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

• Brent Hecht (University of Minnesota – Computer Science)
• Johannes Schöning (Hasselt University – Expertise Center for Digital Media; University College London – Intel Center for Sustainable Cities)
• Muki Haklay (University College London – Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering)
• Licia Capra (University College London – Computer Science)
• Afra J. Mashhadi (Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs)
• Loren Terveen (University of Minnesota – Computer Science)
• Mei-Po Kwan (University of California, Berkeley – Geography)

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

• Corné van Elzakker (University of Twente)
• Tom Erickson (IBM T. J. Watson Research Center)
• Volker Paelke (Institut de Geomàtica)
• Reid Priedhorsky (Los Alamos National Labs)
• Martin Raubal (ETH Zurich)
• Jens Riegelsberger (Google)
• Anthony Robinson (Penn State)
• Gerhard Schall (Graz University of Technology)
• Raz Schwartz (Rutgers University)
• Sabine Timpf (University of Augsburg)
• Jo Vermeulen (Hasselt University)
• Jun Zhang (Pitney Bowes)

Field activities are also being coordinated by Giovanni Quattrone (University College  London – Computer Science) and Artemis Skarlatidou (University College London – Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering).

A program committee will contribute to the review process. More details will be available on the workshop’s website shortly.