Dear colleagues,
We are happy to announce the call for papers for our *workshop on Nature
and HCI* at the upcoming *CHItaly'21 conference*.
In 2020, when most of the world population has experienced limitations to
free mobility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, socialization and outdoor life
started to be strongly desired and dreamed. Technologies such as
smartphones, cameras, sports trackers, electronic tourist guides,
head-mounted displays have the potential to enable, enhance or disrupt
users' experience of and interaction with nature, broadly intended as an
open-air setting that includes cities, peripheries, rural areas, wild
natural environments. Thus, the use of technology outdoors offers a wide
range of interesting aspects and challenges to be investigated, such as
individual wellbeing, knowledge generation, sustainability, and social
issues. Resonating with the CHItaly theme "Frontiers of HCI", this workshop
aims to bring together researchers exploring the frontiers of
i) using technology outdoors, in terms of scope, opportunities, and
limitations;
ii) spaces that are not only natural or artificial but hybrid and offer
opportunities for remote and asynchronous outdoor experiences;
iii) interaction design in accounting for human interests over a variety of
non-human ecologies.
For further information, visit our website:
https://sites.google.com/view/naturehci/home.
TOPICS OF INTEREST
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
- Technology enabling/enhancing/augmenting the natural experience
- Ecotourism
- The political ecology of interaction design
- Outdoor sports
- Citizen science
- Socialization outdoors (e.g., parks and public spaces, community
gardening)
- Education & Serious leisure outdoors
- Environmental sustainability
- Technology for outdoor safety and safety when using technology outdoors
- Natural and cultural heritage (e.g., cultural landscapes)
- The indoorisation of natural elements (e.g., indoorisation of outdoor
sports, virtual/augmented reality)
HOW TO APPLY?
Three types of submissions are welcome:
- *Position papers* where authors discuss one of the workshop topics and
describe how their expertise may be of interest for the workshop discussion
(2 pages, references excluded);
- *Original research presenting preliminary insights/results*. We
welcome work at all development stages: papers can describe applied
systems, empirical findings, or theoretically grounded positions (from 4 to
6 pages, references excluded);
- *Critical design fiction*, in which authors may explore the future
consequences of a prolonged distancing, limited experience of the outdoors,
or the different mediating roles technology can have (from 4 to 6 pages,
references excluded).
KEY DATES
*Submission deadline: April 23, 2021, 11.59 pm CET on Easychair: *https://
easychair.org/conferences/?conf=naturehci21
Notification: May 14, 2021
Workshop: July 12, 2021
ATTENDANCE
CHItaly and the NatureHCI workshop will be organized in a hybrid
manner. *Participants
can choose whether to participate remotely or in-person in Bolzano*. The
workshop activities and discussions will be organized accordingly.
ORGANIZERS
Eleonora Mencarini, Bruno Kessler Foundation (Italy)
Linda Tonolli, University of Trento (Italy)
Amon Rapp, University of Torino (Italy)
Maurizio Teli, Aalborg University (Denmark)
Roberto Cibin, Masaryk University (Czech Republic)
Vincenzo D'Andrea, University of Trento (Italy)
Massimo Zancanaro, University of Trento (Italy)
If you have any questions, please drop an email at mencarini(a)fbk.eu.
Best regards,
Eleonora Mencarini (on behalf of the NatureHCI organizers)
Eleonora Mencarini, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
i3 Unit - Digis Centre - FBK0461/314576