Insights from SIGCHI Membership Survey
This is Part II of a two-part blog series on SIGCHI membership. Read Part I to learn about the state of SIGCHI membership today, and in comparison to May 2021, courtesy SIGCHI President Neha Kumar.
To better understand the needs and expectations of our valued members and how we might enhance SIGCHI’s membership benefits, the SIGCHI Executive Committee (EC) conducted a membership survey in March-April 2023. We extend our gratitude to all SIGCHI members who participated in our survey. Your time and feedback have provided us with invaluable and actionable insights. Analyzing both the quantitative data and the open-ended responses, we have summarized the key findings below.
Our Respondents
Among the 393 respondents, 124 (32%) were students, 163 (42%) were faculty staff, 62 (16%) were from the industry (FIG 1), and 12 (3%) were retired. 141 (36%) had joined our community less than a year ago while 87 (22%) had been a member for more than 10 years.
Geographically, the survey drew participation from various regions: 139 respondents (35%) were from North America, 140 (36%) from Europe, 62 (16%) from Asia, 18 (5%) from Oceania, 13 (3%) from Central/South America, 10 (3%) from Middle East, and 5 (1%) from Africa.
Potential Reasons for Not Renewing Membership
The survey shed light on areas that were impacting membership. While we have recently reduced membership rates to reduce barriers to access ($30 per year for professional membership, $24 for Level 2 countries, and $15 for Level 3; $10 per year for all student membership), 132 respondents (46%) mentioned that financial barriers might hinder their continuation as members. We have also initiated a complimentary membership program that aims to remove financial barriers for SIGCHI conference attendees who are currently ACM members but new to SIGCHI. This initiative allows newcomers to explore SIGCHI activities and encourages their involvement in volunteering efforts, without impacting SIGCHI conference revenues. We hope that a year of membership will help them find value in this membership and give us feedback on how we could improve this value.
The second most common reason for non-renewal was “forgetting to renew membership” (114 respondents, 39%), followed by “perceiving no particular benefit” (107 respondents, 37%). These findings emphasize the importance of streamlining the membership renewal process — currently in the hands of ACM — and enhancing as well as advertising membership benefits. Respondents also mentioned that leaving academia, or a research career, could possibly prevent them from renewing membership, alluding to the fact that SIGCHI is predominantly composed of researchers not practitioners — something we would like to see change. We also acknowledge the interest expressed by some members for a lifetime membership option. We asked ACM about this, but due to the reportedly unpredictable nature of SIGs, they consider it unviable.
Currently Valued Membership Benefits
Regarding membership benefits, the survey revealed which benefits people most value as well as areas for improvement. Notably, “discounts on conference registration fees” was highly valued, with 296 respondents (84%) highlighting this as a key benefit. Other popular benefits included “free access to Grammarly” (185 respondents, 53%) and “access to SIGCHI (co-)sponsored conferences and journal proceedings” (175 respondents, 50%). It is worth noting that the online version of Interactions magazine was slightly preferred (136 respondents, 39%) over the printed version (118 respondents, 34%), with some members requesting an opt-out option for the printed version — we are looking into this. Each of these benefits above is long-standing, apart from Grammarly, which we are glad to have introduced this year.
Among other benefits, 28% respondents appreciated getting regular email updates about SIGCHI from the SIGCHI-Members mailing list, which can only be accessed by members, and 25% appreciated receiving the SIGCHI TechNews. Approximately 30% and 26% highlighted their appreciation of travel awards and development grants, which are currently offered through our Gary Marsden Travel Awards (GMTA) and SIGCHI Development Fund (SDF) programs.
Though we had not included this as an option, many respondents noted that they valued being part of the SIGCHI community, network, and chapters. The size of this community was also valued, especially in terms of having a voice in larger computing contexts. We are glad to hear it, and these benefits, of course, will continue.
What Members Want
Looking ahead, respondents expressed interest in additional benefits (FIG 2), with “UX courses” emerging as the most popular choice (112 individuals, 37%). There was a considerable gap between the second choice, “Google Drive” (51 respondents, 17%), and the third choice, “Canva” (39 respondents, 13%). Many members expressed the desire for courses focusing on research methods, hands-on research experiences, and mentorship opportunities to support junior scholars. We are actively exploring these possibilities. Some also expressed the desire for a “full Overleaf access option.” While this is currently financially infeasible, we appreciate that Overleaf offers a 20% discount to SIGCHI members, courtesy of Overleaf itself, and at no expense to SIGCHI.
In addition to the above, there were several open-ended responses as well. Members were keen to have access to community support resources, in terms of mentoring/networking support, but also travel awards and grants especially for those impacted by financial hardship. Some asked for more focus on practitioners and chapters. Others asked for lowered conference fees. These are all among our current priorities.
On Voting
Finally, we invited all members to exercise their right to vote in the 2024 elections, as your active participation is instrumental in shaping the future of our community and of membership. Especially to the 33% who said “don’t know yet”, we hope you will take the time to get to know your candidates and make an informed choice.
Other Feedback
We are thankful for the abundance of positive, encouraging feedback. Much of it was constructive, offering new ways of thinking about member benefits. We are discussing these pointers on the EC. We list below some additional feedback from respondents, to offer reinforcements and clarifications where possible. Please email us at sigchi-4all@acm.org with any follow-up questions you have.
- “SIGCHI is nice because of the people” Yes, we think so too!
- “maintain a welcoming open non-judgmental community for all” We hear you and aspire to create safe spaces as part of our vision for SIGCHI.
- “send emails ahead of time about call for papers for SIGCHI conferences” These are sent on the CHI-announcements listserv. Please subscribe through the ACM portal or email sigchi-4all@acm.org for help.
- “I still don’t understand my local chapters” We have shared this feedback with the VP Chapters.
- “Slack for sigchi-members” We did set up a Discord server but it is not used widely. Will share this feedback with our VP Communications.
- “Please keep costs down for everyone.” This is a core priority for us. Conference registrations are not in our remit, but we welcome applications for support through the Gary Marsden Travel Award program.
- “Offering discount for ACM members.” We have reduced our member fees in the hope that this is no longer a barrier for adoption. If it is, for you, please write to sigchi-4all@acm.org.
- “An auto renewal would be beneficial.” We think so too, but ACM is not able to provide this option to us.
- “Virtual monthly coffees with members to meet and network” We like these too, and organize regular open sessions on topics that we think would be of interest to many in our community. Feel free to suggest one by emailing sigchi-4all@acm.org.
- “Grammarly is a fantastic use, but only if you use any variation in English for your regular communications” Please feel free to send us other suggestions at sigchi-4all@acm.org.
- “low retention for students (because students graduate and don’t see enough value in non-research job positions) and low numbers in general for UX professionals” Yes, we would like to improve these numbers too. Please send us any suggestions you have!
- “SIGCHI is really expensive for me as student, it costed me USD 25.” The fee is $10 for all students. Please write to us at sigchi-4all@acm.org if you were charged more.
- “there is no online community for CSCW” Have you seen CSCW Meta on Facebook?
- “Please make the _printed_ Interactions magazine subscription opt-in.” We are on it, but need ACM to help us with this, since it is an ACM magazine.
- “Rather than funding individual services like grammarly or others, I’d actually love if some of our resources went toward improving proceedings accessibility both for reviewers and archival articles.” They do, and we love it too! We have an accessibility budget.
- “Increased support for graduate students to attend conferences through sponsorship.” Good idea! We will explore the feasibility of this.
- “Maybe it would be good to give more visibility to the benefits.” Yes, we think so too and will work on it. Hopefully this survey helped!
- “I would love to see the organisers make all events available online, even if it is only streaming the contents” Yes, we are working towards this through our Hybrid Working Group.
