CALL for PAPERS

Interacting with Computers (IwC) Special Issue on Feminism and HCI: New
Perspectives 

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* Abstract submission deadline (300-500 words): February 28, 2010
* Full paper submission deadline: June 1, 2010
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Portrayals of feminism, in politics, the media, and even in HCI conferences,
suggest that this household word is not always well understood.
Academically, feminism is a sub-domain of critical theory and it integrates
a collection of theories, analytical and interpretative methodologies,
ethical values, and political positions, which have evolved and over the
past two centuries.

As HCI continues to expand beyond the preoccupations with how efficiently a
system performs and is increasingly concerned with culture, society, and the
experiential qualities of computing, the discipline stands to benefit from
feminism. Feminist theories and concepts have much to offer HCI, including
reflective considerations of dominant and alternative epistemologies;
understanding the constitution of gender and the self in everyday life;
investigating the indirect effects of design; considering emotional
landscapes in design, including pleasure, desire, attraction, sentiment,
anger, fear and resistance; studying the adoption and adaptation of
technologies in leisure activities such as crafts; designing for the homes,
and addressing broader issues such as embodiment, memory, performance, and
the effects of surveillance and gaze.

The ³Feminism and HCI: New Perspectives² Special Issue seeks to provide a
forum for scholarly contributions and applications of feminism to the
discipline of HCI. Though the topic of feminism has many inputs and
applications, we confine our focus to the interaction design implications of
this problem space. Specifically, we are concerned with the design and
evaluation of interactive systems that are imbued with sensitivity to the
central commitments of feminism‹agency, fulfillment, identity and the self,
equity, empowerment, diversity, and social justice. We also seek to improve
our understanding of how gender identities and relations shape both the use
of interactive technologies and their design. Additionally, feminist HCI
entails critical perspectives that could help reveal unspoken values within
HCI¹s dominant research and design paradigms, and underpin the development
of new approaches, methods and design variations.

We see the contribution of feminist theories and methods to HCI in the
following ways and encourage submissions that address the following types of
issues: 

* Fundamental and theoretical: how feminism critiques core operational
concepts, assumptions, and epistemologies of the field of HCI, and what
opportunities this critique opens up for the future

* Methodological considerations: how feminism interacts with user research,
iterative design, and evaluation methodologies

* User considerations: updating the notion of ³the user² to reflect gender
in a way that noticeably and directly affects design

* Artifact considerations: critically examining how designs configure users¹
femininity and masculinity‹and what implications they bear for future design
work

* Your experiences: To what extent do you perceive feminist perspectives
already informing your work in HCI? Do you sense that feminist perspectives
are informing others¹ work in the field? What current issues in HCI might
benefit from the application of feminist perspectives?

All submissions need to be based on original research and will be subject to
the full review process of Interacting with Computers.

[Instructions for Authors]

Authors are encouraged to submit a short abstract (300-500 words) and a
tentative title prior to the full paper submission, by February 28, 2010, to
Shaowen Bardzell [selu (at) indiana (dot) edu] and Elizabeth Churchill
[churchill (at) acm (dot) org]. Please feel free to send an inquiry prior to
writing the abstract. Please put ³IwC Feminism SI² in your email subject
line.

The deadline for the final full-paper submission is June 1, 2010.
Manuscripts should be 5000-7500 words, prepared according to the IwC¹s guide
for authors and should be submitted online. Illustrations must be provided
in separate .jpg or.gif files, and APA Publication Manual (not ACM or IEE)
style is used. Color is discouraged. The guide for authors and online
submission are available at
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/525445/authorin
structions

If you are a first-time user of the journal's online submission tool, you
will have to register yourself as an author on the system at
http://ees.elsevier.com/iwc/

Potential authors should contact Shaowen Bardzell [selu (at) indiana (dot)
edu] and Elizabeth Churchill [churchill (at) acm (dot) org] with any
questions about the special issue.

For information on Interacting with Computers, please see
http://ees.elsevier.com/iwc/default.asp

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