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2ND CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Student Interaction Design Research 2008
SIDeR’08

DATE
27-28 March 2008, Sønderborg, Denmark

LOCATION
The Mads Clausen Institute at the University of Southern Denmark is 
pleased to announce the fourth Student Interaction Design Research 
conference (SIDeR ’08). The two-day event will be held in brand new 
waterfront facilities at Alsion in Sønderborg, Denmark.

INVITATION
Interaction Design students are invited to submit short (4-page) 
research papers that describe work undertaken in the field of 
interaction design. Preference will be given to papers that contain 
original empirical work (such as design products, projects, case 
studies, workshops, user studies, evaluations etc.) and that develop 
relevant academic research in the field.

THEME
The conference theme this year is Participation and Innovation. When we 
do interaction design we necessarily alter users’ lives with the 
technologies we devise. In the process of designing interaction, we 
determine how they may access technology and its functions, which 
affects how they weave the use of products and systems into the 
existing fabric of their lives. The theme Participation and Innovation 
is a reference to the dual responsibility of interaction designers to 
(a) understand users’ practices through forms of involving users in the 
design process, and (b) ensure that the technology introduced actually 
adds something of value and significance to users and society. We 
conceive of both of these notions broadly. ‘Participation’ may refer to 
involvement with end users, nurses, train passengers, and the like, but 
also clients, shareholders, and funding agencies. Similarly, 
‘Innovation’ is not to be narrowly defined by a market metric, but 
relates to the inherent novelty and benefit that are made possible 
through the deployment of technology.

Individual topics of relevance include:
•	interaction design process and design methods
•	ethnographic fieldwork and other studies of people in design processes
•	user participation in design
•	interaction styles, experience design
•	tangible and skilled interaction
•	professional interaction design practice
•	interaction design organisation and teamwork

BACKGROUND
This will be the fourth Student Interaction Design Research (SIDeR) 
conference. This conference series was inaugurated in 2005 here in 
Sønderborg as a means of enabling interaction design students to 
participate in and contribute to research in the emerging discipline of 
interaction design. It has since been hosted by Chalmers University of 
Technology in Göteborg (2006) and Blekinge Intsitute of Technology in 
Ronneby (2007). SIDeR is a chance for students to use their own design 
projects and reflections on design theory from coursework as a basis 
for an academic paper. The event will be an occasion to generate 
dialogue with students from other universities, build networks, share 
perspectives on design and critically reflect on design practice. We 
invite graduate students to come together to present and discuss their 
views on interaction design.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Submit a 4-page paper (~2000 words) by Monday 28 January 2008 to 
[log in to unmask] with the subject header “SIDER submission”. Your 
contribution must meet the following requirements:
1. The paper must contribute with knowledge about design. This is not a 
conference for simply presenting high quality design concepts, though 
product designs can be part of your argument.
2. Ideally, each paper should be based on studies or experiments in 
actual design projects, or of design practice in companies.
3. The paper must relate to relevant literature in design research 
and/or of research methods appropriate to the study of design.

The conference website is located at 
http://www.itproducts.sdu.dk/events/sider08/ and will include further 
information about practical details such as travel, conference fee, 
accommodation, program, and guest speakers as the date approaches. You 
are welcome to contact the organisers for additional information.

ORGANISERS
Ben Matthews: [log in to unmask]
Jacob Buur: [log in to unmask]



Ben Matthews
Associate Professor
Mads Clausen Institute
University of Southern Denmark
[log in to unmask]