Editors: Matt Jones (University of Waikato), Bonnie Nardi (Agilent Technologies) & Elizabeth Mynatt (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2003

CHI is a noble discipline. It can bring hope to an increasingly push-button world that often seems frustrating and confusing to users. While most CHI researchers and practitioners are motivated to make users’ lives, communities and society better, there is a growing global research effort that is directly focussed on, and concerned with, the social impact and implications of interactive systems. In recent ACM CHI conferences there have been papers, panels and workshops on socially orientated topics including: cyber communities and trust; identification technologies and security; communal interfaces and developing countries; and, spiritual computing. Furthermore, as computing moves from predominately being workaday to everyday, there is a growing recognition that social issues have to be addressed urgently and explicitly [1][2].

The aim of this Special Issue is to present high quality and original manuscripts that make a substantive contribution to the understanding of interactive system social issues by presenting models, techniques, new technologies and user and community studies.

Example topics include:

Privacy, security and trust
Empowering disenfranchised users
Emotional and spiritual aspects of interaction
Community interaction
Mass communication and interaction
Socially responsible design
Environmental impact
Persuassion (captology)
Public space technology
Socially adept technologies
Future social issues (e.g., implants and social exclusion)
Developing nation needs

Papers on controversial social issues (e.g., terrorism, gender or religion) are not excluded, but prospective authors should remember that normal scholarly standards are required. All social issues must be clearly related to CHI. For example, while there is a much that is terribly important that generally one might say about terrorism and the Web, for a paper in this special issue the CHI focus must be explicitly drawn out.

All contributions will be rigorously peer reviewed to the usual exacting standards of TOCHI. Further information, including TOCHI submission procedures and advice on formatting and preparing your manuscript, can be found at <http://www.acm.org/tochi/>. Please indicate in your cover letter that you are submitting a contribution to the special issue on "Social Issues". To discuss a possible contribution, please contact one of the following special issue editors:

Matt Jones, always@acm.org

Bonnie Nardi, bonnie_nardi@agilent.com

Elizabeth Mynatt, mynatt@cc.gatech.edu

References
Gregory D. Abowd  & Elizabeth D. Mynatt (2000). Charting past, present, and future research in ubiquitous computing. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI). March 2000, Volume 7 Issue 1, pages 29-58.

Harold Thimbleby &  Matt Jones (2002). Obituary for a Fax. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. January 2002, Volume 6 Issue 1.

Introduction to the Issue from Jonathan Grudin, Editor of TOCHI:

CHI has approached social issues cautiously. Many CHI members have
 strongly held opinions on social issues, but have preferred to
 maintain a wall between scientific and engineering-oriented research
 and the apparently more subjective territory of social issues.
 Cognitive psychologists who strongly influenced CHI in the 1980s
 tended to be critical of work in the social sciences, and were not
 drawn to action research.

 That has gradually changed. We realize that basic and applied
 research in the social sciences is critical to improving technologies
 that are increasingly used interactively in group/team,
 organizational, and community settings. As technology becomes more
 integral to our lives, it is essential that everyone have equal
 access to it. Ben Shneiderman has tirelessly advocated for
 accessibility and other social content. Michael Muller has explored
 ways of adapting Scandinavian participatory design methods to
 development environments found elsewhere. Batya Friedman has
 mobilized an effort on value-sensitive design. And the editors of
 this special issue of TOCHI have been actively involved.

 Matt Jones edits a SIGCHI Bulletin column on social issues. He and
 Beth Mynatt have published work on assistive technologies. Bonnie
 Nardi is the leading proponent of Activity Theory within the CHI
 community, with its emphasis on simultaneous consideration of
 cognitive and cultural phenomena. With great enthusiasm I encourage
 participation in this special issue on Social Issues and HCI.

 Jonathan Grudin, Editor, ACM TOCHI