32nd Australian Conference on
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

Location Online

Dates 02 - 04 December 2020

  • 7 August 2020
    14 August 2020:
    Abstract submission for Papers and Late-Breaking Work
  • 14 August 2020
    21 August 2020:
    Papers
  • 14 August 2020
    21 August 2020:
    Late-Breaking Work
  • 9 October 2020:
    Notifications
  • 23 October 2020:
    Camera Ready

We invite original contributions on all topics related to human-computer interaction (HCI), interaction design and the design of interactive technologies. We welcome submissions from design, engineering, social science, creative industries and other related disciplines. In acknowledgement of the effect that Covid-19 had on everyone’s ability to conduct research, we have pushed back the Paper deadline. We now invite Paper, as well as Late-Breaking Work, submissions to be submitted by 21 August 2020. Submissions to both categories will be peer-reviewed and published in the conference proceedings.

Papers

Papers should present original research and mature work in the fields of HCI and interaction design. These papers may describe investigations of user needs or contexts of use, lab-based evaluations or field deployments of prototypes, or other design-led or empirical investigations examining the relationship between people and technology. Given the impact of Covid-19 on conducting research studies, authors are encouraged to also consider submitting theory-based contributions that make a clear contribution to the field.

We no longer have the category of “Short Papers”, but we are now accepting submissions to the Papers track that are any length between 8 and 16 pages in the new, single-column ACM Master Article Template. The length of the paper should correspond to the contribution it makes. Authors are encouraged to consider submitting their work either to the Papers track or to the Late-Breaking Work track, depending on the maturity of the work.

At the OzCHI 2020 virtual conference, papers will be delivered as online presentations. We are planning for accepted submissions to be published in the ACM International Conference Proceedings Series available from the ACM Digital Library.

Late-Breaking Work

Late-Breaking Work (LBW) submissions present ideas that are emerging and would benefit from discussion with members of the HCI community. These submissions may include initial findings from new research, experiences of reflective practitioners, and first drafts of novel concepts and approaches. Due to the reduced number of submission categories this year, we also invite case studies about the design of interactive technologies to the LBW track. Case studies may be based on academic or industry projects, and should describe recent, topical work to fit the “late-breaking” theme of this track. For example, this may include projects describing the application of HCI or interaction design principles for addressing pandemic-related challenges.

LBW submissions may be up to 6 pages in the single-column ACM format.

At the OzCHI 2020 virtual conference LBW will be communicated through online posters. We are planning for accepted submissions to be published in the ACM International Conference Proceedings Series available from the ACM Digital Library.

Important dates

  • 7 August 2020 14 August 2020: Abstract submission for Papers and Late-Breaking Work
  • 14 August 2020 21 August 2020: Papers
  • 14 August 2020 21 August 2020: Late-Breaking Work
  • 9 October 2020: Notifications
  • 23 October 2020: Camera Ready

Abstract Submission

This year OzCHI has two submission deadlines for papers. The first deadline, 7 August, requires you to submit an abstract of less than 150 words, and meta-data for your paper (title, abstract and list of authors). We will use this information to help plan the specifics of the review process. The second deadline, 14 August, is for the final version of your paper. It is not possible to edit the metadata after the abstract submission deadline. Authors will only be able to edit the submission files.

Submission details

Preparing your accepted publication

There are now three stages for you to follow and prepare your submission for publication on ACM Digital Library. ACM is following a new publication process that requires you to upload your work to TAPS (The ACM Publishing System). This section contains important information on the stages that you will need to follow to finalise your submission of your paper or LBW for presentation at OzCHI 2020. These stages are based on the official SIGCHI Final Submission instructions.

Stage 1: Validation of the changes in your content-ready submission (due on 23 Oct)

You need to submit a revised PDF version of your submission to PCS by the 23rd of October via https://new.precisionconference.com/ozchi20a incorporating the suggested changes by the reviewers. For submissions which received a meta review, you will need to include a response to the committee outlining the changes you have made to address the suggestions provided. Please add the author details and acknowledgements to this version. Ensure to include figure descriptions for accessibility of your work (i.e. Alt text for MS Word users, and \Description{} for LaTeX users).

The deadline for this step is 23 Oct, 23.59 (AOE). The Paper and LBW Chairs will review your changes to finalise the acceptance of your submission.

After this, you will wait for an email from ACM to initiate stage 2.

Stage 2: Preparing your format-ready publication and submitting to TAPS

  1. Complete e-Rights form: you will receive an email from ACM to manage the publishing rights of your work. ACM will process your request after you submit your form, and you should receive the copyright text to include in your publication. Please note that after submitting the e-Rights form, you will not be able to do any changes to the authors or title of your work. After ACM processes the e-Rights, you will receive an email from ACM Production with a link to access to TAPS.
  2. Add the copyright strip to your submission:
    • Microsoft Word users: You do not need to add the copyright strip to your Word document. TAPS will add the copyright strip automatically to your work.
    • LaTeX users: you need to copy the copyright strip on your document. You will find detailed instructions in the e-Rights email you will receive.
  3. Source validation (MS Word authors only). Authors who have prepared their submission in MS Word will need to validate their formatting prior to submission to TAPS. LaTeX authors do not need to do this step. You need to attach the ACM ArticleTemplate to your Word document. Julie Williamson, one of the CHI 2021 Templates Chairs, has created two videos detailing the process (video 1, video 2), which should give you an idea of the steps required. Then, you need to validate your Word file using the macro before uploading to TAPS. The instructions to add the ACM ArticleTemplate and to validate your Word file can be found here.
  4. Upload your files to TAPS: You will receive an email from ACM Production to upload your submission to TAPS. Please follow the instructions on this link to successfully upload your work. These instructions include the steps to prepare your source files, and the steps to approve or revise the PDF and the HTML5 versions of your submission that TAPS generates.

Stage 3: Ensuring the accessibility of your camera-ready submission

Unfortunately, TAPS does not generate a PDF file that contains the tags for accessibility. We will ask you to do the following:

  1. Add accessibility tags to your file: Once you have approved the HTML5 and PDF files that TAPS generated, download the PDF file. Follow the Accessible PDF Author Guide from SIGACCESS to examine your PDF in Adobe Acrobat and fix any outstanding accessibility issues. If you do not have access to Adobe Acrobat, please contact the Publications Chair by email at dmunoz@swin.edu.au
  2. Upload your accessible PDF via https://new.precisionconference.com/ozchi20a

The complete workflow and its three stages (as described above) are illustrated in the diagram below. (Click the image for a larger version.)

Selection process

Papers and LBW will undergo a double-blind review by an international panel and evaluated on the basis of their significance, originality and clarity of writing. This review will be based on the full text of the submission.

Papers should:

  • have clear significance in terms of contribution to HCI;
  • offer a high level of technical quality in terms of related work, data, methods and analysis;
  • and demonstrate clarity of writing at a level ready for publication in the ACM digital library.

LBW submissions should:

  • address a question of significance to the OzCHI community and stimulate interesting, novel conversations around the issue;
  • demonstrate sufficient technical quality in the framing of the problem, related work or methods;
  • and demonstrate clarity of writing at a level ready for publication in the ACM digital library.

Advice for new reviewers

Given the large number of submissions we have received this year and the impact of COVID-19 on everyone’s time and ability to volunteer for activities like reviewing papers, we are calling on all authors of submitted papers and LBWs to participate in the reviewing process.

We expect at least one author from each submission to sign up as a reviewer. We would be grateful if authors could volunteer to review up to 3 or 4 papers to ensure that each paper receives at least 3 reviews.

If you are new to reviewing for an academic conference, we suggest that you discuss this with your supervisor and/or to seek advice from experienced colleagues. There are also great resources on how to write a good review available online, e.g. Ken Hickley’s advice on excellence in reviews [PDF] and the RICELab’s guide to writing reviews for HCI research.

Keep in mind that your role as a reviewer is to help the authors to bring their paper to the next level. When you write your review, imagine the kind of review you’d like to receive if it was your paper. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our Paper and LBW chairs.

Reviews have to be completed by 28 September.

Awards

Awards are presented to the highest quality papers and reviews.

  • Gitte Lindgaard Award (Best Paper)
  • Steve Howard Award (Best Student Paper)
  • Best Reviewer Award (for the top 3 reviewers, based on quality and quantity of reviews)

Registration

At least one author of each accepted paper must register with OzCHI and present the paper at the virtual conference. We are aiming to keep costs for authors as low as possible this year. Updates on registration and online presentation format will be published on the OzCHI website.

Contact

Paper Chairs
Naseem Ahmadpour (The University of Sydney)
Tuck Leong (University of Technology, Sydney) 
Bernd Ploderer (Queensland University of Technology) 
paper.chairs@ozchi.org

Late-Breaking Work Chairs
Callum Parker (The University of Sydney)
Sarah Webber (The University of Melbourne)
lbw.chairs@ozchi.org