Call for Your Input – HCI and the 2016 U.S. Election: What research questions emerge?

Your thoughts on a post-2016 HCI research agenda are requested for a panel at next week’s CHI 2017 conference! Upload them here!

The 2016 U.S. campaign and the events that have followed have made clear more than ever that human-computer interaction is a defining issue of our time. From usable security to online propaganda to automation’s effects on employment, a litany of HCI topics has played a key role in many of the past year’s major events.

The importance of HCI to the social welfare of the United States and countries around the world presents the SIGCHI community with both an opportunity and a responsibility. Many discussions online among SIGCHI members following the election highlighted a desire to do more to seize this opportunity. These discussions also reflected a feeling that we may be abdicating some of our responsibility by over-focusing on older or smaller problems and, critically, not doing enough research that has more immediate on-the-ground impact.

To continue the discussion, CHI 2017 will feature a panel dedicated to developing a specific research agenda to address the HCI issues raised during and since the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. We note that while the U.S. election helped make a set of HCI issues more urgent, many of the issues we will discuss are not US-specific.

Ahead of the panel, we need your your input! Specifically, we want your answers to one or both of the following questions:

Question #1: What issues raised by the 2016 U.S. election need to be addressed by the HCI community?
Question #2: How can the HCI community address these issues and have greater real, substantive impact?

Please send your input using this form.

The form *does not* require you to submit your name, and please feel free to submit anonymously if you feel more comfortable doing so.

Our panel will be on Thu. May 11 at 9:30 in Four Seasons 2/3. Looking forward to seeing you there!

— Brent Hecht (on behalf of co-panelists Loren Terveen [moderator], Kate Starbird, Ben Shneiderman, Jen Golbeck, and Marti Hearst)

Note: If you’re interested in the juxtaposition of CHI and recent political events, we also recommend that you attend our sister panel which is focused on the effects of policy changes on the practices of our research community. Our panel is where we transition the conversation to a research agenda.