Call for Contributions
Framing Human-Machine Interactions: An edited collection celebrating the intellectual impact and legacy of Liam Bannon.
Editors: Gabriela Avram, Luigina Ciolfi, Trevor Hogan, Cristiano Storni
Liam Bannon (1953-2024) was a leader in human-centred computing, studying the role of technologies in people’s lives and championing the design of better interactive systems. His academic homes were the disciplines of human-computer interaction and computer supported cooperative work, which he was instrumental in establishing.
From the beginning of his research career in the 1980s to the later stages of his life, he contributed significantly to the historical, theoretical, and methodological framing of HCI and CSCW: developing an activity theoretical lens in HCI, critically examining the history of computing and its intersection with design, the arts and humanities, proposing and refining key concepts, arguing for situated and participatory approaches to create more meaningful designs.
Across his body of work, his core argument was that human beings and their activities in the world must be a core concern of computer science.
Liam’s thinking flourished when moving and threading across disciplinary boundaries, and when following new and often unexpected trajectories, ever since his early studies across psychology and computer science. Similarly to his own way of thinking and writing, he was constantly making connections across people in various fields, contexts, and countries.
As the first anniversary of Liam’s death approaches in September 2025, we launch a new initiative to capture his impact and legacy into the future: an open-access, online edited collection that will bring together pieces by authors who have been influenced and inspired by Liam’s work.
The collection will be available to read for anyone (students, early career researchers, established scholars, etc) interested in the impact and critical discussion of Liam’s work and ideas. The collection will be open to contributions on a rolling basis, and will be updated yearly through annual open calls.
We invite anyone who has been influenced and inspired by Liam Bannon’s work to contribute to its first release, planned for the Winter 2025.
The format of contributions is open: articles, speculative essays, fictions, poems, personal reflections are all welcome. We also welcome contributions containing links to other media. We request that contributions do not exceed 15,000 words in length. There is no minimum length requirement.
Submitting:
Submissions should be made through this link: https://forms.gle/qQaFxhyXkB2KT6rD6
Reviewing Process:
All submissions will be reviewed by the editorial board for relevance, appropriateness and quality.
Publication:
Will be published online as open access (with ISSN and DOI) under Creative Commons license. Each published contribution will be assigned a unique identifier.
Timeline:
Deadline for submitting contributions for the first release: 01October 2025
First release available online: January 2026
Queries can be directed to:
FramingInteractions@gmail.com
The Editors
Gabriela Avram (Em., University of Limerick, Ireland)
Luigina Ciolfi (University College Cork, Ireland)
Trevor Hogan (Munster Technological University, Ireland)
Cristiano Storni (University of Limerick, Ireland)