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Vol.28 No.1, January 1996
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Vol.28 No.1, January 1996 |
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SIGCHI has had eight Executive Committees to date, with the following chairs:
1982-85 Lorraine Borman and Raoul Smith
1985-87 Lorraine Borman and Don Norman
1987-88 Francine Frome and Phyllis Reisner
1988-89 Phyllis Reisner and Austin Henderson
1989-91 Wendy Mackay and Austin Henderson
1991-93 Austin Henderson and Peter Polson
1993-95 Jim Miller and Mike Atwood
1995-97 Mike Atwood and Guy Boy
I contacted a number of them to ask them for their part of the story.
My involvement with SIGCHI started with the very first conference in Gaithersburg (1982) where I presented a paper on formal grammar. Most of my involvement with the organization was as a researcher (presenting papers, attending workshops) rather than as an organizer, although I did serve as panels chair in 1986.
For the 1987-1988 term, I agreed, after some encouragement, to run for SIGCHI vice-chair. I did this partly out of curiosity ("What is involved in running such an organization?") and partly out of a sense of responsibility ("Someone has to do it; it's my turn") I had had very little experience running any organization. However, when Fran Frome, the elected chair, resigned because of illness in her family, I found myself unexpectedly responsible for the entire organization!
At the time, SIGCHI was a very young, dynamic and exciting organization. There was a great deal of enthusiasm. There was also some internal discomfort in the executive ranks because some roles and expectations had not yet been clearly defined.
My vision for SIGCHI was one I would still have today. I wanted it to foster the influence of researchers on practitioners, and of practitioners on researchers. I wanted the field of HCI to become an accepted discipline: taught in universities -- and a source of respected professional careers in industry. For the organization itself, I wanted more people to become involved as volunteers in the organization.
It is hard, now, to remember the changes that occurred during my tenure. I do remember that there was so much work that we started to use email and phone quite extensively instead of just relying on meetings. Most of the changes were largely the result of the many fine people working for the organization and the conference. (I would like to list them all but am afraid I might leave someone out). I do remember that there were lab reviews (for the first time?) at the conference in Austin, as well as the Apple information kiosk. With Marilyn Mantei as Education Chair, education became an important aspect of SIGCHI, and with Wendy Mackay as Local Groups chair, the local groups started to flourish.
I found the experience as a whole extraordinarily rewarding. Of course, I had been somewhat apprehensive, since I had had the chair position thrust upon me. But I grew personally, enormously from being chair. Moreover, I had fun. There was, of course, a sense of accomplishment -- getting things to work. There was also great pleasure in working for a common goal with delightful, hardworking, thoroughly wonderful people. While I had expected to contribute to SIGCHI, I never expected it to contribute to me. (Of course, my employer, IBM, was not overjoyed at the time it took.) Overall, though, it was a joy.
What am I doing now? I took early retirement from IBM, and currently "cultivating my garden" -- literally. I am learning to garden (zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, flowers, etc.); playing recorder (a musical instrument); generally doing the things I never had time to do while working. Oh -- and I also took a class in (therapeutic) massage.
How did you come to get involved with SIGCHI and with the post you filled?
I had been chair of CHI'85. I ran for office as Vice-Chair in 1987, and lost to Phyllis Reisner. When Fran Frome resigned as Chair (fall of 1988), Fran acceded to the Chair, and asked me to complete her term as Co-chair. I did. And then ran against Wendy Mackay for Chair in 1989. However, Wendy and I both wanted the other to help out, so we wrote a single statement indicating that whomever people voted for they would get Wendy and me as Co-chairs. So we both won. (Actually, Wendy got more votes, and was regarded by ACM for the whole two-year term as the Chair. 'S'OK; she got to receive all the physical mail). In the 1993 election, I wanted to explicitly run with a co-chair. However, that seemed unfair to the other candidate who was running alone. Therefore I wrote a statement indicating that I would appoint a co-chair if elected. And I was, and did -- Peter Polson. During the 1991-93 term we re-wrote the By-laws to have a Chair and Executive Vice-Chair run as a team (team at the top). And during the 1993-95 term, I was Past Chair.
What was the state of SIGCHI when you started?
SIGCHI was focussed on conferences, publications, and education. It was very American, and uncertain of its place in ACM. It was moving toward a being stable financially, but had a long way to go.
What was your vision for SIGCHI?
I wanted SIGCHI to become a global home for HCI, be a key pillar of ACM and from there drive HCI into the mainstream of ACM's view of Computer Science, be financially sound, have a broader base of activities particularly some addressing the needs of practitioners, and achieve all this by forming a strong partnership with the professional staff at ACM headquarters.
What changes if any did you bring about?
I, with the aid of my co-chairs, strong executive committees, and the ACM staff, brought about much of the above. We held CHI in Europe (INTERCHI'93), started the International Workshop on Intelligent User Interfaces (IWIUI), opened up some space in the conference for practitioners, started the ACM journal "Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction" and the ACM magazine "interactions", changed ACM's funds management, put our own fund balance and financial procedures in good shape, formed good working practices with the ACM staff, and had a lot of fun. We were still weak in attracting, organizing and utilizing members and volunteers; and we did not expand the range of activities as much as I would have liked.
What was your experience as a whole?
It was a very productive, and satisfying time. It was also hard work, and stressful, particularly when added to a full life at work and home. The "team at the top" arrangement was crucial to my being able to feel that the job was being reliably done. I learned a lot, met a whole bunch of fine people, and had a lot of fun.
What would you have done differently?
I would have focussed more on SIGCHI's handling of volunteers and members.
What are you doing now?
For SIGCHI, nothing formal. At work, I am manager of the User Experience Laboratory in the Advanced Technology Group of Apple Computer, Inc.
How did you become involved in SIGCHI with the post you filled?
At CHI '88 in Washington, DC, a controversy developed on whether SIGCHI should attempt to establish an ACM academic journal. I volunteered to chair an ad hoc committee that would attempt to resolve these conflicts and was appointed to the SIGCHI Executive Committee in a new position as Adjunct-Chair for Publications. From 1991 to 1993 I served, with Austin Henderson, as Co-chair of SIGCHI, but my focus remained on publication matters.
What was the state of SIGCHI when you started? What was your vision for SIGCHI?
In the fall of 1989, I organized a meeting that developed a proposal to start a magazine for practitioners. The community was still divided on whether we should have an ACM academic journal. The community finally agreed to establish the ACM Transactions on Computer-Human- Interaction (TOCHI) at the CHI '92 Technical Program Committee Meeting in the fall of 1991. I was then, and still am, concerned that SIGCHI have a strong collection of publications beyond our yearly CHI Conference Proceedings. We must have a prestigious academic journal that has credibility within mainstream computer science departments. SIGCHI also requires an effective vehicle for communication with practitioners because academic journals have limited utility for most practitioners.
What changes, if any, did you bring about? What was your experience as a whole?
The establishment of a magazine for professionals and a new academic journal were huge undertakings for SIGCHI. All of the members of the executive committee and numerous other individuals supported and contributed to the long and arduous process that led to the establishment of TOCHI and interactions. My role was as facilitator and coordinator.
What would you have done differently?
Very little. In retrospect some people, especially those outside of the community, were puzzled and/or critical of the long time it took SIGCHI to bring our plans for the magazine and the journal to fruition. The community was initially deeply divided on establishing an ACM journal. Thus, a large part of that time was spent in consensus building. A magazine is a very different and much more financially treacherous enterprise than the starting a new academic journal. It took a long time for both SIGCHI and ACM headquarters to develop an acceptable business plan for starting the new magazine, and then building the consensus necessary for SIGCHI to commit the required financial resources. Building consensus takes a long time. I have no regrets and am very pleased with the results.
What are you doing now?
From 1993 to 1995, I served as Technical Program Co-Chair of CHI '95 and as SIGBOARD liaison to the ACM Publication Board. Involvement in more global issues involving publications at ACM was interesting and rewarding. It was during this period that ACM started the process of transforming their print publications into various forms of electronic publications.
I have now refocused all of my energies to my teaching and research. My years on the SIGCHI Executive Committee and the SIGBOARD were very rewarding. With the support and contributions of a very large number of people, a lot was accomplished. Still, I am happy to again be a full-time teacher and researcher.
How did you come to get involved with SIGCHI and with the post you filled?
I had attended CHI since 1983, but, through most of the '80s, I had little to do with the organization, except for being on a couple of conference program committees. Like a lot of people, SIGCHI struck me as a rather closed group, one that was hard to break into. I started going to the business meetings at the conference, and got to know a few of the people on the Executive Committees at the time. Then, some people from the Conference Planning Committee asked me whether I might consider chairing a CHI conference (I did in fact have some experience with other technical conferences). I replied that I might consider such a thing, and, just as I was moving to California in 1988, I found myself in a discussion about chairing CHI '92 in Monterey. Scooter Morris and I met around this time, and we took on the conference. That put me on the Conference Planning Committee, and gave me more exposure to how SIGCHI works as an organization. After a short break following CHI '92, I volunteered to run with Mike Atwood for SIGCHI chair/vice-chair in 1993, and Mike and I were elected.
What was the state of SIGCHI when you started?
Austin Henderson and Peter Polson had left SIGCHI in very good shape -- we had a growing membership, a successful series of conferences, a strong partnership with ACM Headquarters, and a brand new set of publications (TOCHI and interactions). This gave Mike and I the luxury of not having to worry about the overall health of the organization, but to be able to think more about the needs of the membership and how SIGCHI could do a better job of meeting them.
What was your vision for SIGCHI?
Our primary vision of SIGCHI was that of a rich, sometimes contentious, multidisciplinary society. This is what makes SIGCHI so much fun, even at the cost of being a bit challenging at times. Keeping SIGCHI vital then means that we have to provide value and service to all the constituencies within the organization at the same time that we're maintaining a reason for SIGCHI itself to continue. This is what drives our conference and publication portfolios, and what makes the CHI conference so important -- all the pieces need some place to come together, and let their insights rub off on each other.
What changes if any did you bring about?
The main issue I wanted SIGCHI to address lay in the rapid, ongoing developments in electronic information. In 1993, SIGCHI's publications were almost exclusively in print; moving SIGCHI into the electronic information world seemed like a natural and essential thing to do. A lot of volunteers have put a lot of time into the different aspects of this matter, but we're now seeing SIGCHI and its members taking CD-ROM and Internet publication for granted, and we're moving more and more of our business and services onto the Internet and the Web. Increasingly, the discussion is how, and not whether we should do something electronically. Of course, SIGCHI is, in a very real sense, a publisher, and that means we have to manage the balance between the conflicting demands of insuring our members easy access to the information they come to us for, protecting the intellectual property rights inherent in that information, and making sure that whatever we do makes sense for the long-term health of SIGCHI. This is a tricky balance to maintain, but I'm glad to see that we're making progress.
What was your experience as a whole?
Being chair was a lot of work, but it was a very good experience. I got to work with some excellent people, and I got the satisfaction that comes from seeing a group of people work together toward a worthwhile goal.
What would you have done differently?
At the beginning of my term, I was a little naive about how much free time our volunteers have, and how much a volunteer organization like SIGCHI can reasonably expect to achieve. If I were to do it all again, I'd probably settle on a more modest and focused set of goals. I also would have put more emphasis on growing and nurturing our volunteer base -- this is the long-term key to a vital and successful SIGCHI, and I think we will always benefit from keeping a strong focus on our volunteers.
What are you doing now?
I'm enjoying a new and more relaxed role on the Executive Committee as Past Chair. Other than that, my family, Apple, and life in general are doing a good job of keeping me busy.
How did you come to get involved with SIGCHI and with the post you filled?
I was on the program committee (with, I think 6 or so others) for the 1982 meeting in Gaithersburg. I thought that was the best thing I had seen for sparking a community of people interested in HCI to form a society that would give us a common forum.
As Chair, basically, I got called at a time that my "debt meter" was pretty high. Professionally and personally, I have benefited from SIGCHI for more than a decade. I have gained a lot. I was struggling with the question of what I had given back to SIGCHI in return when the then current co-chairs (Austin Henderson and Peter Polson) called and asked my to stand for the office of co-chair. Standing for office seemed as easy way to give something back to SIGCHI. I am glad to be giving something back to SIGCHI. But, honestly, I don't think I will ever be able to give back as much as I receive. The benefits derived from SIGCHI continue to grow.
What was the state of SIGCHI when you started?
Good shape! This requires a longer answer than I have time for now, but the bottom line is that SIGCHI has benefited from exceptional leadership.
What is your vision for SIGCHI?
Primarily, to move SIGCHI forward. It has, in my opinion, moved forward since 1982. I did not set as a goal to reform SIGCHI, so much as I set a goal to continue our successful evolution.
What changes if any do you hope to bring about?
A hard question. I hope that the SIGCHI Development Fund will be a major change. But, that is currently a hope, not a claim I can support with date.
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Vol.28 No.1, January 1996 |
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