Building Bridges by Connecting Virtually
COVID times are special times, calling for new ways of connecting to those we work with, and our larger community/ies. On the one hand, travel has been restricted, and we cannot make it to the conferences, workshops, etc. that we had otherwise planned. On the other hand, virtual networking tools such as Zoom, BlueJeans, etc. have generated many more opportunities to connect virtually. In support of this trend and in response to our current restrictions, both for the present and for more sustainable futures, we recently issued our July call for the SIGCHI Development Fund, inviting proposals for innovative virtual events and initiatives.
Calls for the SIGCHI Development Fund have always been directed at supporting SIGCHI’s strategic initiatives. In current times, we especially welcome initiatives that align with the SIGCHI EC’s commitment to listen, reflect, act, and represent. One of our previously supported initiatives that was forced to go online earlier this year (due to COVID-19 cancellations) was this CHI 2020 workshop on Engaging with Race in HCI, and may serve as inspiration for the call.
In addition to our call above, and given that virtual events are what we’re all relying on these days to keep us connected and engaged, we also plan to build out a calendar of virtual events for our global membership. As one student SIGCHI member (Sachin Pendse) mentioned to me, this calendar could serve as a knowledge base for where and when free events are happening related to HCI, similar to crowdsourced calendars made by those on college campuses to document where free food is available. Just as one may watch streams of games on Twitch, one could have a stream of HCI events running in the background (or foreground) at all times! So if you’re doing a virtual event (or series) in the near future, please fill out this 3-min survey to let us know. We will plug it into our calendar of events, and share this with you in an appropriate format. Watch this space for updates.
These initiatives are linked to my role as SIGCHI Vice-President at Large, and made possible through the efforts of Vikram Kamath, Naveena Karusala, Luigi De Russis, and Adriana Vivacqua on the SIGCHI Development Fund committee. Image: https://unsplash.com/@lunarts
