Join us now on Discord for year-round discussion!
Last year at UIST 2020, we used Discord for the first time to enable both synchronous and asynchronous discussion among conference attendees. Discord’s seamless blend of voice/video channels and Slack-like text channels allowed attendees to easily connect with each other, discuss papers, watch live technology demos, and grab virtual coffee. When the conference ended, we were left wondering… why not keep this going year-round?
There are currently no opportunities for engagement with the UIST community outside of the yearly conference cycles. But now that UIST 2020 has passed and UIST 2021 will also be virtual, we have a unique opportunity to leverage our existing virtual infrastructure and foster community engagement on a more regular basis. To this end, we are excited to announce that we are relaunching the Discord server from UIST 2020 as a year-round community-based platform for discussion and social connection!
Our goals for the Discord server are to:
- Increase the opportunities for, and foster, a diverse and inclusive community in between UIST conferences;
- Provide a platform for researchers, in particular early career, to a) build international networks, b) maintain and reinforce existing networks, and c) seek and provide help/guidance/training on research topics
- Create a social hub for like-minded researchers
- Encourage people to become (more) active in UIST and SIGCHI communities
In order to create and maintain an active community that engages in proactive discussions, we aim to support a number of events, such as:
- Reading group
- Q&A sessions/workshops with experienced researchers/practitioners
- Coffee gatherings
- Recurrent remote co-working sessions
- Specific topic meetups (e.g. haptics, VR)
- Social activities (e.g., movies, games)
The UIST Discord server is open now to anyone who wants to join!
Click here to sign up (or log back in if you attended UIST 2020). To get started, you’ll need to accept the rules in the #start-here channel, and then you’ll be able to choose which channels you’d like to see from a variety of categories. If you are already a member of the Discord server from UIST 2020, you’ll still need to go to #start-here to get access to the new channels. The contents of channels from UIST 2020 will only be available to the original attendees.
Got questions? Feedback? Ideas for things you’d like to see on Discord or at UIST 2021? Our UIST 2021 General Chair Jeff Nichols will be hosting two AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions on Discord next week, so tune in to ask questions during whichever session is most convenient for you! We have scheduled the two sessions at the following times in an effort to accommodate as many time zones as possible:
AMA #1:
8:00–9:00 am, Tue, Jan 26 2021 (PST, Pacific Standard Time (US))
5:00–6:00 pm, Tue, Jan 26 2021 (CET, Central European Time)
1:00–2:00 am, Wed, Jan 27 2021 (JST, Japan Standard Time)
AMA #2:
10:00–11:00 pm, Tue, Jan 26 2021 (PST, Pacific Standard Time (US))
7:00–8:00 am, Wed, Jan 27 2021 (CET, Central European Time)
3:00–4:00 pm, Wed, Jan 27 2021 (JST, Japan Standard Time)
See you on Discord!
Written in collaboration with Chris Clarke (UIST 2021 Sustainability Co-Chair), Pascal Fortin (UIST 2021 Registration Co-Chair), and Thomas Langerak (UIST 2020 Virtual Experience & Operations Co-Chair)
