Call for Papers
alt.CHI 2021
Part of CHI 2021, the ACM Human-Computer Interaction Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
May 8-13, 2021
Yokohama, Japan and online
https://chi2021.acm.org/for-authors/presenting/alt-chi
Quick Facts
Important Dates:
- Submission deadline: December 15th, 2020 at 12pm (noon) PT – Pacific Time
- Notification: February 2nd, 2021 at 12pm (noon) PT – Pacific Time
- Publication-ready deadline: February 16th, 2021 at 12pm (noon) PT – Pacific Time
- Video previews deadline (optional): March 9th, 2021 at 12pm (noon) PT – Pacific Time
Submission Details:
- Online Submission: PCS Submission System.
- Template: ACM Master Article Submission Templates (single column)
- Submission Format: 8-12 pages (excluding references), with an abstract of fewer than 140 words.
- Additional description of how the work will be presented at the conference.
- Optional: ≤ 5 minute video figure.
Selection Process: Juried
Chairs: Nova Ahmed, Pierre Dragicevic, Danielle Wilde (altchi@chi2021.acm.org)
At the conference: Accepted alt.chi submissions will be presented in designated sessions at the conference.
After the conference: Accepted alt.chi submissions will appear in the Extended Abstracts proceedings in the ACM Digital Library.
What is alt.chi?
alt.chi is a forum for controversial, risk-taking, and boundary pushing research 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 to revise their review 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 2021 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. 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 2021 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. In other words, work that can conceivably be accepted to the full papers track is generally inappropriate for submission to alt.chi. alt.chi 2021 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.
Email: altchi@chi2021.acm.org
Preparing and Submitting your alt.chi Submission
An alt.chi submission must be submitted via the PCS Submission System: https://new.precisionconference.com/. The alt.chi submission must include an Extended Abstract and may also include a 5-minute video figure.
Submissions should consist of 8-12-page papers in ACM Master Article Submission Templates (single column; excluding references), with an abstract of fewer than 140 words. Note that we eliminate the old CHI extended abstract format (landscape) and now use the full paper format for extended abstracts. Although deviation from the format may be required for some submissions, please ensure the first page and references follow the strict template requirements. If you want to do something unusual or are unsure, check with us first at altchi@chi2021.acm.org. Submissions should not be accepted or under review anywhere else while in submission.
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 200 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.
Authors are strongly encouraged to work on improving the accessibility of their submissions, using recommendations found in the Guide to an Accessible Submission.
alt.chi Selection Process
alt.chi follows a Juried process. During the period between submissions and notifications, members of the CHI community are invited to discuss the submission in a 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, the chairs will evaluate the work based on:
- 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. Submissions will be treated as confidential and reviewers will be instructed accordingly.
All rejected submissions will be kept confidential in perpetuity.
* all reviewers will be required to consent to a review agreement prior to participating in the selection process.
All alt.chi prospective authors with a paper submission will be expected to review at least two papers submitted to alt.chi during the review period.
Reviewing for alt.chi
- Please volunteer to review if you haven’t already. To do this, visit the PCS volunteer page, select CHI 2021, and enter a number of reviews for alt.chi.
- You will then have access to the bidding page. You will see a list of all available titles and abstracts. For any you wish to review, please select “want” or “willing”. You can bid on more papers at any time during the review period, and can deselect reviews if you change your mind.
- You will have access to the submissions, discussions and reviews through your reviewing page.
- Reviewers and authors are encouraged to actively engage in discussions about their papers throughout the reviewing process.
AUTHORS PLEASE 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 the conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.
At the Conference
All accepted alt.chi submission will be presented in designated sessions at the conference. These oral presentations are flexible in form. As noted above, previous years have seen alt.chi contributions presented through theatre, carnival, music, poetry, and graphic novels.
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.