Conference mini-update teaser!
Okay, so I've been meaning to post about CHI for the last couple of days, but all of our pictures are on Laptoptimus Prime who has been with Rob for work. I am so excited to report about the conference and how it has left me giddy, so I figure that at the very least a teaser-like post is long overdue. Before we get into the awesomeness that was CHI 2007, I should probably briefly talk about CHI.
To quote the wikipedia: "One of the top academic conferences for new research in human-computer interaction, especially within computer science, is the annually held ACM's Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, usually referred to by its short name CHI (pronounced kai, or khai). CHI is organized by ACM SIGCHI Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction. CHI is a large, highly competitive conference, with thousands of attendants, and is quite broad in scope."
At CHI 2007, I think we had somewhere between 2500 ~ 3000 attendees. Conference registration starts at $425 USD for students, $895 for non-student attendees. Many students sign up every year in the fall to be student volunteers at CHI. Those who are accepted are granted free conference registration and all meals in exchange for approximately 20 hours of work at the conference. Shifts are bid on via an online system and last anywhere from 0.5 to 12 hours depending on the task. They're not barbaric though, breaks are granted for longer shifts. Most of my shifts were in the registration booth, with others involving changing signage, assisting at courses, working in the conference office and helping out at CHI madness.
One of the security guards who works at the conference center said that he was expecting a bunch of nerds and geeks, but instead we all turned out to be really cool. Truth is, we were all nerds and geeks, but we were the funny, tech-savvy researchy types. I networked quite a bit with people in industry and at other schools. I was able to learn about many masters and PhD programs through speaking with students who are currently enrolled in them.
I won't say much more until the post with pictures, but highlights of the trip include:
- the google party
- talking with Allan Cooper
- Rob Jacob introducing me to a colleague as "Not my student yet, but will be."
- Visiting IBM's research center at Almaden
Here's a video showcase of the interactive demonstrations accepted for CHI 2007:
Click to viewphotos from left to right: Opening Plenary (check out all of the laptops!), Me working at the registration booth, CHI attendees