[AISWorld] CfP: AfriCHI'16

[Mennecke, Brian E [SCIS]]

Colleagues,

Please see the CFP below for the inaugural African Human Computer Interaction Conference (AfriCHI), which is taking place next summer. I am pleased to say that one of my former students, Anicia Peters, is co-chairing this conference and I am sure she would be pleased to take any questions that you might have about this important event.

Cheers

Brian Mennecke
Iowa State University
Africa Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Conference
(in-cooperation with ACM)
“Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers”
3-8 July 2016 - Nairobi, Kenya
www.africhi.net<http://www.africhi.net/>
Call for Participation
The inaugural African Human Computer Interaction Conference (AfriCHI) takes place in beautiful Kenya from July 3 to 8, 2016, hosted by the University of Nairobi. AfriCHI aims to widen the international participation of Africans in the practice and study of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design, and to advance HCI by increased awareness of designs, tools, inventions, methods, theories and pedagogies for creating or using technology in Africa. AfriCHI’16 is organised in co-operation with the Association of Computer Machinery’s Special Interest Group for Computer Human Interaction, ACM SIGCHI, by a pan-African team, and has the theme: Kujenga madaraja, kubomoa vizuizi or Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers.
AfriCHI’16 is for anyone interested in people’s interactions with digital technology or media who is African, based in Africa, or undertakes/wants to work on projects in Africa or with Africans. We welcome practitioners, professionals, scholars and students in all fields and traditions that consider interactions with digital technology. This includes not only designers, engineers or analysts of software, hardware and media (e.g. user experience or mobile application designers, information architects, usability experts etc.), but also educators in all aspects of digital life; researchers in all disciplines; change-makers, planners and managers in all sectors, including government, NGOs and industries; entrepreneurs, artists, activists; and elders in grassroots/creative collectives.
We invite a broad range of contributions for presentation at AfriCHI’16, publication in the conference proceedings and wider access in prestige online archives. This includes tracks for written papers and notes; oral performances and multimedia works; panel discussions; posters; demonstrations; English and local-language workshops; courses; and, Doctoral and Masters research. Contributions will be reviewed by international experts in HCI, its allied fields, and in African contexts and traditions and, if accepted, will be published in the Proceedings of AfriCHI’16. The written part of these proceedings is eligible for archiving in the ACM Digital Library. We will use the Internet Archive for multimedia contributions to Gumzo, a track for New dialogues for HCI, which reflects our eagerness to engage HCI with Africa’s diverse languages and expressive genres and forms. Please read about language and format options for each track.
We encourage submissions from people who have had few possibilities to participate in international conferences and also offer mentoring and collaboration to people seeking this kind of assistance. AfriCHI’16 is exploring real-time Internet links with institutions throughout Africa so people who cannot travel to Kenya can listen to talks. If you can help make this happen please contact the Remote Access Chair on: remote at africhi.net<mailto:remote at africhi.net>.
We also warmly invite volunteers to join our team to contribute time and skills to organising other conference activities, before or during AfriCHI’16 - please contact: volunteer at africhi.net<mailto:volunteer at africhi.net>.
Topics
AfriCHI’16 is an interdisciplinary conference about all issues that connect people, digital technology and Africa and/or Africans. Topics of interest in all tracks include, but are not limited to, any of the following in relation to Africa/Africans:
Contexts:
Places; people, users or developers; communities or groups; events; every day or unusual phenomena; languages; perspectives; trans-national, cross-cultural or cultural aspects etc.
Meanings, values or experiences:
Health, education, governance, citizenship, wellbeing, designing things that matter, empowerment, ethics, sustainability, privacy, diversity, accessibility, engagement, aesthetics, fun etc.
Processes:
Techniques, tools or methods for researching, designing, co-designing, evaluating, deploying or using interactive systems, etc.
Technologies:
Mobile devices; multi touch and touchless interaction; Web 2.0 technologies; social media; personal, community and public displays; decentralised (mesh) networks; Big Data; Quantified Self; Internet of Things, etc.
Pedagogies and epistemologies:
Teaching, learning or developing capacity in HCI/Interaction Design; Afro-centric research, theory or invention; indigenous or traditional knowledges in HCI/design; post-colonial perspectives etc.

Submissions
All submissions are made through the EasyChair online system and include the main files, conforming to the templates and formats for the relevant track, an abstract and descriptive information (e.g. authors, keywords). We will open the EasyChair system three months before the submission deadline for each track, and authors may submit and resubmit their materials as often as they wish before this deadline. All deadlines on the date associated with a submission track are midnight GMT and we will not extend these deadlines. Thus, we urge authors to test uploading submissions before the relevant deadline and contact the appropriate track chairs to arrange alternatives in advance if they predict problems e.g. due to Internet issues.
Tracks
AfriCHI Papers & Notes are original, double-blind peer-reviewed, scholarly accounts of HCI research, design and/or theory that are presented at AfriCHI’16 as talks. Papers and notes are published in the conference proceedings. Papers and notes will have a maximum length of 10 and 4 pages respectively (excluding references), and will be more widely accessible in a prestige online archive. AfriCHI will have two-rounds of double-blind reviews on all papers and notes submitted by 5 October 2015, and also permits papers that do not meet expectations to be revised and submitted as notes.
Template: Paper.
Deadline: 5 October 2015
Paper Co-chairs: Bukelwa Ngoqo, Myriam El Mesbahi & Darelle van Greunen
Notes Co-chairs: Meke Kapepo & Helene Gelderblom
Email: papers at africhi.net<mailto:papers at africhi.net>

Gumzo: New dialogues for HCI showcases original oral performances or multimedia productions, published in the conference proceedings and openly licensed via the Internet Archive. Submissions consist of audio, video or other multimedia files and can include languages used in Africa other than English. Creators of files and/or their collaborators can also submit pictorial abstracts, papers or notes to relate oral/media content to scholarly discourse as additional publications. These will be double-blind peer-reviewed and, if accepted, will appear in the written proceedings and widely accessible in a prestige online archive.
Template: Paper and Pictorial
Deadline: 5 October 2015
Chairs: Marion Walton, Thomas Reitmaier, Wallace Chipidza, Anja Venter, Daniel Gonzalez-Cabrero and Liani Maasdorp
Email:  gumzo at africhi.net<mailto:gumzo at africhi.net>

Posters are graphical displays around which authors discuss, with a small group, their work-in-progress, early insights or late-breaking results. Written abstracts of posters will be double-blind peer-reviewed and, if accepted, will appear in the conference proceedings and a more widely accessible prestige online archive.
Template: Extended Abstract
Deadline: 8 January 2016
Chairs: Nuzhah Gooda Sahib-Kaudeer, Christine Wanjiru and Gabriel Dzodom
Email: posters at africhi.net<mailto:posters at africhi.net>

Panels are discussions between invited people, with special knowledge, experience or expertise,that provoke lively debate about issues relevant to AfriCHI. Written abstracts of panel proposals are reviewed by jury and, if accepted, will be published in the conference proceedings and will be more widely accessible in a prestige online archive.
Template: Extended Abstract
Deadline: 18 January 2016
Chairs: Dan Orwa and Wallace Chipidza
Email: panels at africhi.net<mailto:panels at africhi.net>

Doctoral & Masters Consortia are interdisciplinary workshops, facilitated by an expert panel, in which students discuss their work and explore and develop their research interests. Students’ written abstracts that are accepted after review, will be published in the conference proceedings and will be more widely accessible in a prestige online archive.
Template: Extended Abstract
Deadline: 2 November 2015
Chairs: Izak van Zyl  & Obinna Anya
Email: consortia at africhi.net<mailto:consortia at africhi.net>

Demonstrations are live presentations of running systems or artefacts, such as interfaces, prototypes or research tools, that can both present innovation and solicit diverse and expert feedback within the broad discipline of HCI. Written abstracts of demos are reviewed by jury and, if accepted, will be published in the conference proceedings and more widely accessible in an online archive.
Template: Extended Abstract
Deadline:  18 January 2016
Chairs: Erick Oduor and Nitish Chooramun
Email: demos at africhi.net<mailto:demos at africhi.net>

Workshops in English & Local Languages enable participants with similar interests to explore perspectives on specific topics in HCI theory or practice. Workshops take place over 0.5 - 2 days; and can be facilitated in English or another language used in Africa. Abstracts of workshops are reviewed by jury and, if accepted, will be published in the conference proceedings and a widely accessible in a prestige online archive.
Template: Extended Abstract
Deadline: 2 November 2015
Chairs: Rehema Baguma and Raymond Mugwanya
Email: workshops at africhi.net<mailto:workshops at africhi.net>

Courses provide introductory or advanced instruction, over 0.5 - 1 day, in basic HCI/related concepts, new technologies, emerging areas, tools, methods or techniques etc. Abstracts of courses are reviewed by jury and, if accepted, will be published in the conference proceedings and more widely accessible in a prestige online archive.
Template: Extended Abstract
Deadline: 2 November 2015
Chairs:  Oluwakemi Ola and Rita Orji
Email: courses at africhi.net<mailto:courses at africhi.net>

For more information about submissions, please visit www.africhi.net<http://www.africhi.net/> or email the Technical Programme Chairs, Kagonya Awori and Nicola Bidwell on: programchairs at africhi.net<mailto:programchairs at africhi.net>.
We look forward to receiving your submission or hearing from you in the meantime.
Christopher Chepken and Anicia Peters
General Conference Chairs
On behalf of AfriCHI’16 Organising Committee<http://africhi.net/organizers/organizing-committee>