[Apologies for cross-posting] 2nd CALL FOR PAPERS: Empirical studies of the user experience - a special issue of Behaviour & Information Technology Editors: Marc Hassenzahl, Darmstadt University of Technology, Social Psychology and Decision-Making, Germany, [log in to unmask] Noam Tractinsky, Ben-Gurion University, Information Systems Engineering, Beer Sheva, Israel, [log in to unmask] Over the last years, "user experience" became a buzzword in the field of Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design. As interactive products mature, they become not only more useful and usable tools, but also fashionable, fascinating things to desire. Driven by the observation that a narrow focus on the quality of a product (such as its reliability) or its role as a tool does not capture the variety and emerging aspects of technology use, practitioners as well as researchers readily seem to embrace the notion of user experience. But what exactly is "the user experience"? Although a term widely used, available empirical, model-driven or exploratory research is surprisingly scarce. Early attempts to incorporate perceived fun into Technology Acceptance models or Bill Gaver's design case studies on ludic products are notable exceptions. This special issue's objective is to collect a series of original, high quality empirical papers on various aspects of the user experience such as emotions, antecedents and consequence of positive experiences and perceptions of quality that go beyond the purely cognitive and task-oriented. We encourage submissions of quantitative and qualitative research addressing or critically examining the link between aspects of interactive products and services, usage situations and resulting experiences. Topics include, but are not limited to: - Antecedents and consequences of (positive) emotions during user experiences - Relevance and consequences of beauty/aesthetics - Transformation of experiences into judgments, such as global assessments of product quality - Enriched models of product quality and tests of their validity - User needs beyond task completion: social, challenge, curiosity, fantasy - Effects of technologically induced positive affect on decision-making and goal-achievement - Innovative methods for measuring emotions during interactive experiences Submission Guidelines ===================== Interested authors are asked to submit their manuscript as an attachment to an email. The manuscript must be in Word or PDF format. For additional information on submission guidelines, please consult the journal website at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0144929X.asp. All submissions and evaluations are processed electronically. If you are uncertain whether your work is in principle suitable for the special issue, please send a short abstract for preliminary assessment. Send all submissions and inquiries to: Marc Hassenzahl, [log in to unmask] All submissions will be subject to blind peer review. Timeline ======== Deadline for manuscript submission: 11. October 2004 Acceptance notification: January 2004 We are looking forward to your submission. Please feel free to forward this call to whom it may concern. Best regards Marc Hassenzahl, Noam Tractinsky