Director’s Letter | 2022 Symposium
Introducing the 39th annual HCIL Symposium on May 26, 2022
As I write this letter in early May, I’m sitting in a nook at the New Orleans Convention Center, where I’m attending CHI, my first in-person conference in 2.5 years. The conference is just getting underway, but the energy in the air is palpable: we’re expecting about 1800 people to show up in person, and about as many have signed up for virtual attendance. I’m also proud to note that at least 23 HCIL students and faculty are participating in CHI via papers, panels, and workshops, in person or virtually.
Importantly, for many student attendees, CHI 2022 may be their first in-person conference, and people are excited to interact with colleagues from around the globe without the barrier of a computer screen. It’s been amazing to engage with folks like this again after several years. The technology that has made virtual conferences possible will never fully capture the energy and electricity in the air at in-person events. That said, CHI has worked hard over the last two years to make the conference experience as interactive and engaging as possible for virtual attendees — no easy feat.
Looking back at the director’s letter Niklas wrote for last year’s symposium, there is much to be grateful for. The vaccines that were rolling out a year ago have proven effective and, in the US, are widely available to people ages 5+. Even as we contend with new virus variations, the country is regaining some semblance of normality. Most classes at UMD were taught in person this past semester, and the transmission rate has been low on campus. We’re not out of the woods yet, and we must continue to remain vigilant, but we can also celebrate the progress we’ve made.
In planning this year’s symposium, we were faced with a similar dilemma: should we hold the symposium virtually, as we have the last two years, hold it fully in-person like in pre-pandemic years, or have a hybrid event, which is more challenging but also more accessible? In the end, we decided on a hybrid event, with the talks streamed to virtual attendees and a poster session/reception for those who can make it to campus. We hope this balanced approach provides a safe option while recognizing the importance of face-time and providing our many student researchers networking opportunities.
The last year has been challenging for many, but it has also been a time of productive research by our lab members, and we have much to celebrate! First, let me officially welcome the four faculty members who joined the lab this year — Jason Aston (iSchool), Cody Buntain (iSchool), Hal Daumé III (Computer Science), and SJ Terp (iSchool). We’re excited to continue expanding the breadth and depth of HCI-related work our members contribute to, and you’ll get a chance to learn more about their research during the symposium.
HCIL faculty and students have collected numerous awards and honors over the last year, and I’ll highlight a few here (see the full list in the program). First, I congratulate Jonathan Lazar for his recent induction into the ACM SIGCHI Academy. Next, two HCIL faculty have been awarded prestigious funding from the National Science Foundation through CAREER awards: Amanda Lazar for her research on inclusive design for people with dementia and David Weintrop for his work developing computer science curriculum that supports learners and develops positive attitudes toward computing. Finally, I want to note that Ben Shneiderman (“Human Centered AI”) and Jonathan Lazar (“Accessible Technology and The Developing World”) have each published books in recent months. These achievements are on top of significant publishing and paper awards from faculty and students across the lab.
Today’s event highlights the tremendous diversity in research that the HCIL supports. I’m excited to welcome Dr. Lucy Dalglish, Dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at UMD, who will help us open the symposium. HCI is a truly interdisciplinary field, and the increasing use of social and mobile media raises new questions that can be best addressed by scholars spanning social and computational sciences, as well as those in the arts and humanities, business, and journalism. For example, HCI researchers and journalists are working to find the best ways to design online social spaces to reduce harassment and misinformation. You’ll learn more about the work the HCIL is doing in this space during our afternoon panel on information quality and online influence.
In addition to three plenary talks, we also have nearly 30 lightning talks from students and faculty this year on a wide range of topics. We’ve organized these talks into six clusters, covering child-centered design, technology & aging, privacy & security, creativity & AI, accessible & interactive design, and communication & collaboration. Attendees will have an opportunity to learn more about these projects through short talks (and the abstracts in this program); in-person attendees will get to chat further with HCIL members during the poster session and reception.
The work we do in the lab would not be possible without support, including from campus units, funding agencies, and our sponsors, so I want to offer my sincere gratitude to our industry sponsors (Adobe, TIBCO, and Rice Murtha Psoras) and our campus sponsors (College of Information Studies, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, College of Computer Science, Math, and Natural Sciences, Computer Science Department, and the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies). I also want to thank Sarah Grun, who has been a tremendous asset to me this semester as we planned the symposium.
As we spend time together today to share ongoing research from the lab, I hope you are as inspired as I am by the people who have made HCIL one of the preeminent HCI research labs in the United States for nearly 40 years. Stay tuned for more announcements this summer as we begin planning a year of celebration and events for our 40thanniversary and — hopefully — the end of the pandemic.
Welcome to the 39th annual HCIL symposium!
Sincerely,
Jessica Vitak
Director, Human-Computer Interaction Lab
Associate Professor, College of Information Studies
University of Maryland, College Park
