This Special Interest Group meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, 1997, 9:00-10:30 a.m. in the Cairo/Vancouver room. A page of "slides" is available.

ACM SIGCHI Information Infrastructure

Gary Perlman
SIGCHI Vice Chair for Publications
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
6565 Frantz Road
Dublin, Ohio 43017 USA
perlman@acm.org
Keith Instone
SIGCHI Information Director
Computer Science Department
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403 USA
instone@acm.org

Table of Contents:

Abstract

We describe recent improvements to the ACM SIGCHI information infrastructure, mainly in the SIGCHI Web site and SIGCHI use of the ACM LISTSERV for mailing lists and aliases, and how they have been applied to provide general information, support committees, publications and conferences, and technical discussions. We then describe some key areas where volunteers are needed to improve SIGCHI information services, particularly in the area of databases.

Goals for the Meeting


SIGCHI's Information Technology Areas

SIGCHI has based its information infrastructure primarily on the World-Wide Web (e.g., the SIGCHI Web site, www.acm.org/sigchi/, redesigned in 1996 by Scott Robertson) and LISTSERV mailing lists and aliases (recently moved from Xerox PARC, where they were supported for years, to ACM, and described in www.acm.org/sigchi/listserv/). SIGCHI has also utilized Web Crossings WebX for discussions (although it has fallen into disuse). SIGCHI has started to make use of the new ACM member accounts (described in www.acm.org/account/).

Application Areas

General Information

An informal news service started at the end of 1996 at www.acm.org/sigchi/news/, with time-critical events displayed on the SIGCHI home page.

Extended Executive Committee Support

SIGCHI is run by the Extended Executive Committee (EEC) with consists of the Executive Committee (EC) and the Adjunct Chairs. The people on these committees communicate extensively with electronic mail, supported now by ACM member accounts and the ACM LISTSERV (see www.acm.org/sigchi/officers/). For some SIGCHI chairs, there are corresponding Web pages (e.g., Publications, Conferences, Education, Local SIGs) and mailing lists (e.g., chi-Publications@acm.org, chi-Tech-Program@acm.org, chi-Educators@acm.org, chi-Local-SIGs@acm.org)

Publications and Conference Support

The SIGCHI Bulletin is in its second year of a two-year experiment to publish the Bulletin on the Web at www.acm.org/sigchi/bulletin/. As part of the creation of the new SIGCHI mailing lists, LISTSERV aliases were created for individual Bulletin editors.

The Annual CHI Conference is publishing its proceedings on the Web for the third year. We are compiling access statistics for CHI'95 and CHI'96 and plan to track CHI'97, when it is released. CHI'97 was the first annual SIGCHI conference to use the ACM LISTSERV; 59 lists were created for the event, and more are planned for CHI'98.

Technical Discussions

SIGCHI open lists have supported announcements and discussions on many HCI topics. The SIGCHI Web site describes these lists under the SIGCHI LISTSERV Web page www.acm.org/sigchi/listserv/:

New Directions

We several areas where SIGCHI's information infrastructure can be improved and/or better used. These relate back to the SIGCHI EC's goals for SIGCHI to be a focal point of HCI in the world and the heart of SIGCHI members' professional network. (See SIGCHI Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 1, 1996.)