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Vol.28 No.1, January 1996
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Vol.28 No.1, January 1996 |
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"We are SIGCHI.....JOIN us NOW!"
Hand-lettered signs, a makeshift table in the hallway and over 100 people meeting in an impromptu gathering to hear about a new organization to be called SIGCHI. It was March 1982.
SIGCHI was first announced to the user interface community at the Conference on Human Factors in Computer Systems at Gaithersburg, Virginia on March 17, 1982. The conference was a huge success and so was the interest in SIGCHI. By June 1982, the ACM approved the name change from SIGSOC to SIGCHI. The membership brochure listed the general subjects to be addressed by the SIGCHI Bulletin:
...human factors in the interaction process
...monitoring and evaluation of human performance
...design alternatives directed towards the improvement of the human interface
...methods of improving communication between computer scientists, behavioral scientists and the end users.
SIGCHI began as an idea in 1978 when Greg Marks, Chair of the ACM Special Interest Group on Social and Behavioral Computing (SIGSOC) and Lorraine Borman, Editor of the SIGSOC Bulletin moved actively to redefine the purpose and scope of the group. The history of SIGSOC had begun in 1969 when the active members were those people who were involved in both the social and behavioral sciences and were using computers in their professional activities. Their focus was the use of computers in the social sciences. As computing became more pervasive, especially in universities and research centers, other groups evolved which focused even more specifically on the concerns of the social scientists. During the late 70's, it became apparent that that constituency were more comfortable in their own professional associations, rather than in the ACM.
However, during this same period of time, a growing number of people became concerned about the human interaction of computer systems. The need for "people-oriented" systems, which reflected the needs and behavioral characteristics of the user population, became a matter of major interest to the computing profession. People working in this area spoke about the "user interface", the "human factors and ergonomics" of systems. SIGSOC presented what may have been the first ACM panel presentation on the user interface at the ACM Conference in Washington, D.C. in December, 1978. "People-oriented Systems: When and How?" was chaired by Lorraine Borman. Participants included Hugh Smith, Larry Miller, Shirley Ward Watkins, Jim Foley and Tom Martin (SIGSOC Bulletin, July 1979, 11,1). Communications of the ACM recognized this area of interest when it appointed an Editor for Human Aspects of Computing in 1979. The ACM itself recognized the importance of the user interface when it scheduled Allen Newell to be an invited speaker at the Computer Science Conference in February 1982. Professor Newell's topic: "Human Interaction with Computers: The Requirements for Progress."
Between 1978 and 1982, we lobbied for a name change from SIGSOC to SIGCHI. The first issue of the redesigned SIGSOC Bulletin, with its new chair and editor, reflected the new interests and concerns:
"I believe that SIGSOC has a responsibility to become actively concerned with the social and behavioral aspects of computing...SIGSOC can serve both a coordination and a dissemination of information function for current research in the areas of the user interface to interactive systems, the human factors that affect use of languages, packages, terminals, etc. SIGSOC includes in its membership people whose academic discipline is computer and information science as well as those whose primary affiliation is one of the social sciences. Thus, more than any other SIG, we have the people resources to study and discuss the behavioral aspects of computing in a multidisciplinary setting. In every journal, in every discussion these days, we hear that systems aren't being used as the designers envisioned: it is time to emphasize research directed towards the users. The days of computer-oriented people are passing: the new era must lead towards people-oriented computers." (L. Borman, SIGSOC Bulletin, Spring 1978, Volume 9)
Again, in the July 1978 Bulletin, 10,1, Borman wrote "we want to give special focus to the human factors in computing, such as through studies of user's reactions to current systems, review of methods for assessing differences in the human results, and discussions of the theoretical basis for these performance differences."
SIGSOC held a very successful conference in May 1981 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which had as its focus Human Interaction and the User Interface. (SIGSOC Bulletin, January 1982, 13,2-3, Proceedings Editor: L. Borman). It drew people together from various places and from diverse backgrounds: practitioners met with users, designers met with theorists, and each learned from, and was excited by, the work of the others. However, the membership of SIGSOC still did not grow. We believed very strongly that this was because the world of ACM itself did not know of us. And the problem was with the name. Without a name that told prospective members what we were about, we could not gain members. Our argument was that, with a name change, our membership would grow and we would be providing an organization for people working in the area of the human interface who then did not have a forum within the ACM structure.
In December 1981, we presented our case to the ACM SIG Board where we noted that although we had worked over the previous four years to build a vibrant organization reflecting the new interests of the group, we were not successful. This, we believed, was because our name Social and Behavioral Computing did not accurately describe the true focus of the group.
In February 1982, anticipating that ACM approval of the name change and scope would be forthcoming, we began to build the organization -- and that has been the greatest strength of SIGCHI -- its people. The organizational chart showed the diversity of backgrounds and interests:
All were committed to building a strong and exciting organization.
In the Spring of 1982, just after the Gaithersburg conference, SIGCHI became official by a vote of the ACM SIG Board. Immediately, we recognized the need to reach out and touch the community that had met in Ann Arbor in 1981 and at Gaithersburg in March 1982. When Raoul Smith accepted the task of chairing the first SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI'83, we proposed our new conference to the ACM and were approved. We had at that time possibly 300 members, an almost non-existent "fund balance" within the ACM, but we had excitement and a wonderful cast of volunteers going for us. We couldn't lose. Just in case, though, we contacted our fellow SIG, GRAPHICS, for help and they agreed to sign-on as a "cooperating society" for our December 1983 conference. I believe their name helped us with moving the CHI conference through the ACM bureaucracy of the time. We had wonderful people backing us: Dave Wood, a member of the ACM Council; Tom DeFanti, Chair of SIGGRAPH; Adele Goldberg, then a member of the ACM SIG Board who had supported our cause when the name change was up for a vote; and Seymour Wolfson, Chair of the ACM Conference Board. Without them, CHI'83 might not have been the successful event it was.
In the Fall of 1982, at the ACM 82 conference, SIGCHI, newly chartered with its new name and redefined scope, sponsored the panel session "People-Oriented Systems, Revisited". Again chaired by Borman, panelists included Larry Tesler, Sarah Bly and Tom Martin. The transcript of that session appeared in the SIGCHI Bulletin, January 1983, 14,3.
SIGCHI, the organization, grew and prospered, primarily because of the people who worked for its success: Marilyn Mantei -- absolutely invaluable, she knew everyone and how to reach them; Ann Janda, who edited the Bulletin from 1982-1985; Ben Shneiderman, the best "cheer-leader" and photographer we could have had; Don Norman, who accepted the Vice-Chair position in 1985; Kate Ehrlich served as secretary/treasurer in 85-87; Don Patterson, Bill Curtis, Bill Buxton, Jon Meads... and the list goes on.
Just as building an organization was important, so too was our responsibility to the user interface community. The first and most important task was to continue the conferences begun in 1981 in Ann Arbor and followed by Gaithersburg in 1982 and CHI'83 in Boston. Ideas flowed and flourished. For example, the idea of CHI'83 tutorials came about casually in a Cambridge, Massachusetts hotel bar after the Program Committee Review Meeting. Stuart Card, Janet Walker, Elliot Soloway, Clayton Lewis, Sarah Bly and Lorraine Borman talked about the need to offer a strong program for practitioners at CHI'83. By the next morning, Clayton Lewis had a proposal for "The `Thinking-Aloud' Method in Interface Evaluation", Soloway for "AI Techniques in Human-Computer Interfaces", and a full tutorial program (nine sessions) was mapped out. Instructors and topics spanned the field: besides Lewis and Soloway, we had Jim Foley, Aaron Marcus, Bill Buxton, Ron Baecker, John Arnott, Bob Williges, Stuart Card, Tom Moran, Raymond Wiesen, Douwe Yntema, Betsy Constantino and Brian Shackel. We had less than one week to finalize all arrangements and begin advance publicity!
The Proceedings of CHI'83 contained 58 papers on subjects ranging from prototyping techniques to experimental evaluation, from command languages to cognitive models, and from user documentation to physical interface devices. By this time, work had shifted from focusing heavily on text editors to other types of applications. Over the next two years, papers from CHI'83 were cited by numerous researchers, and the CHI conferences began to be considered the premier forums for the presentation of work in computer and human interaction. CHI'83 was chaired by Raoul Smith; Richard Pew was Technical Program Chair.
Seventeen months later CHI'85 was held in San Francisco, co-chaired by Austin Henderson and Lorraine Borman. Bill Curtis, who was involved in organizing the Gaithersburg conference, and as CHI'85 Technical Program Chair said: "The CHI conferences have had a critical impact in developing the field of computer-human interaction. These conferences have driven a stake in the ground around which professionals from many disciplines with similar interests could organize. Forged from these many disciplines, we have been able to present computer-human interaction as an important research area to be recognized and included among the specialties that provide the foundation for advanced computer technology."
At the CHI conferences, people were the key element -- and not just the paying customers! The conferences brought together people who shared the excitement, the vision and were prepared to put in the enormous number of hours to create the wonderful events that the CHI conferences became, beginning in 1983 and continuing to today. Some things have remained the same, e.g., the work of the volunteers; others have changed mightily. Before CHI'83, we decided that the names, addresses and phone numbers of each conference chair should be able to fit on the left-hand side of the conference stationery. In 1983, that meant there were seven names; by CHI'96 the conference committee numbers 55 volunteers plus professional staff. For comparison purposes, CHI'83 drew 1010 attendees; CHI'95 had 2380.
Electronic mail became the modus operandi for the conference committees beginning in 1983 when Raoul Smith gave each committee chair an account on GTE mail. In 1984, Austin Henderson became our "mail czar". It was Austin who developed the "name.chi" lists at Xerox PARC which have been used continually since then.
The conferences were immediately successful. CHI'83 netted over $90,000. This gave SIGCHI, the organization, a financial base with which to reach out with, for example, an improved SIGCHI Bulletin, a Doctoral Consortium at the CHI conferences (the idea of Marilyn Mantei), and the curriculum development committee and subsequent report (chaired by Tom Hewett).
The conferences were a financial success, but they served other purposes: they drew people together to share ideas and concerns, they "spread the word" of the importance of the user interface, they gave "respectability" to SIGCHI within the ACM and the computing profession. From 1978 on, building SIGCHI and the CHI conferences was a work of love for many wonderful people. They know who they are, but let us thank them again:
Arlene Aucella, Bill Buxton, Jim Boyle, Rick Beach, Ron Baecker, Sara Bly, Lorraine Borman, Stuart Card, Tom Carey, Jack Carroll, Bill Curtis, Susan Dray, Kate Ehrlich, Irene Greif, Austin Henderson, Ann Janda, Charles Kooshian, Sue Koopman, Celeste Magers, Greg Marks, Deborah Mayhew, Jon Meads, Marilyn Mantei, Scooter Morris, Tom Malone, Tom Moran, Wendy Mackay, Don Norman, John O'Hare, Peter Orbeton, Dick Pew, Don Patterson, Gary Perlman, Catherine Richards, Dick Rubinstein, Jarrett Rosenberg, Phyllis Reisner, Ben Shneiderman, Ben Somberg, Dave Shewmake, Mary Stoddard, Raoul Smith, Peter Tanner, Janet Walker.
Lorraine Borman at the SIGCHI Stand at CHI '89
Raoul Smith was co-chair with Lorraine Borman of the first SIGCHI Executive Committee.
I got involved with SIGCHI when I was working at GTE Labs in Waltham, MA on a natural language interface to databases project. I went to the local Washington, DC ACM chapter conference on human factors in computing systems in Gaithersburg, MD. (I had not gone to the earlier conference on the same topic sponsored by ACM SIGSOC -- the earlier incarnation of SIGCHI -- at the University of Michigan some months earlier.) I ran into Lorraine Borman there. We had been colleagues at Northwestern University and had served on various computer committees together and had collaborated on projects there.
Lorraine had been active in SIGSOC, which had only about four hundred members and was not growing. She saw the interest that interface design had to the community so she suggested creating a new SIG focusing on this topic and building on the SIGSOC base. Ben Shneiderman contributed to the discussion and Mike Schneider, and I think Francine Frome. We all thought it was a great idea and suggested she lead the drive.
We tossed around various acronyms for the group, in particular SIGCHI and SIGHCI. We felt that the latter was not pronounceable in an obvious way so we chose the former.
Lorraine asked me to be Vice-Chair and I agreed.
Nowadays I'm a Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University in Boston. My research has turned to emotions with applications in computerized aids to psychiatry, interface design, character animation, computer art and computer music. I'm in the process of building a large database of emotions to be used as part of applied computer systems.
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