*CHI 2014 Workshop Call for Participation: Perspectives on Gender and
Product Design
<https://sites.google.com/site/technologydesignperspectives/>*
*Submission Deadline: January 17th, 2014 Notification of
Acceptance/Rejection: February 10th, 2014Workshop Date & Location: Saturday
April 26th 2014, Toronto, CA*
Interactive technologies have a profound mediating effect on the way we
obtain and contribute to knowledge, relate to each other and contribute to
society. Often, "gender" is not a factor that is explicitly considered in
the design of these technologies. Technologies might also be designed with
idealised models of gendered "users"–designed for men, designed for women,
designed for the "average user" who could be male or female. But the impact
of this is not very well understood, and it is unclear how "gender" might
influence use and design of interactive technologies by users of anygender.
Given the impact and potential ramifications of technological products on
society, it is imperative that we more deeply understand the tacit and
explicit models of gendered practice that underlie design choices. We need
to inclusively accommodate and integrate different perspectives in shaping
our modern day technologies.
This workshop focuses on the bringing to the fore different perspectives of
how gender affects technology design, adoption, appropriation, and possible
resistance. We address what is missing from the discussion, and why, and
consider what, if anything, needs to change in design methods and
perspectives, to account for possible gender differences in perceived
product value, ease of use, and delightful experiences. Examples of places
where we believe change may need to occur include:
- low representation of nuanced gender perspectives within design
processes in the technology sector and within fields related to technology
production, including computer science and engineering, and also design,
design research, and related fields
- the lack of discussion regarding gender impact in the fields related
to technology design, including the field of Human Computer Interaction
(HCI) whose very charter is to be "user-centric" and inclusive
- low grant support for academic research which looks at the
representation of gendered perspectives in our current discourse, which in
turn leads to a lack of reliable, informative and actionable technology &
gender research
- the lack of focus on production of gender-agnostic design/development
environments, including software tools and collaborative design/development
settings
- the lack of research and understanding of gender impact on technology
design and use
This workshop will address these barriers with respect to the tools,
technologies, and processes we experience and design, both in industry and
academia. The workshop will take place as part of the ACM SIGCHI Conference
on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Toronto, CA, on Saturday April
26th 2014.
We invite participation in this workshop by anyone with a substantial
interest in this area, and/or related experience and expertise. Focusing
topics and questions include:
- *Framing the discussion: From your perspective, is gender an important
topic for designers and developers of interactive products? Should we focus
our critical and practical energies on Women, on Gender, or on
Diversity/Inclusivity? What role(s) should there be for gender politics in
the debate?*
- *Gender-related knowledge and practice in academic, consultancy and
corporate HCI and UX as a profession*: What is the current status of
gender as a topic in the HCI/UX field of work? What are points of view
on gender research in HCI? What conflicts, if any, exist?
- *Gender-sensitive products*: Does truly gender-neutral design exist?
If so, is this a desirable goal? If it is a desirable goal, what has been
done toward this goal, what still needs to be addressed?
- *Gender-sensitive design processes and practices:* Reflecting on
creators of software and of interactive products, what are best practices
for producing gender-sensitive designs? What are the most effective work
practices, work processes and team structures that produce gender-sensitive
designs? What challenges exist and what needs to be done to overcome
identified challenges in product creation and promotion? Are there
requirements gathering methods, design processes and evaluation methods
that are specific to different gendered perspectives?
Please submit a position paper (maximum of 4 pages) detailing your
background, and interest and experience in this topic. Participants will be
selected on the basis of their potential to contribute to the overall
discussion and the workshop goals. To participate in this workshop,
position papers must be submitted by January 17th 2014. Please use the CHI
Extended Abstracts format <http://chi2014.acm.org/authors/format>.
Submissions should be sent to* [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>*
*If accepted, at least one of the authors must attend the workshop in
Toronto on April 26th 2014. Mandatory registration requires a one day
workshop registration PLUS at least a one day conference registration.*
For more information see:
https://sites.google.com/site/technologydesignperspectives/ or email
us at *[log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>*
*Organisers*
Daniela K. Busse, Samsung Research, USA
Shaowen Bardzell, Indiana University, USA
Anke M. Brock, IRIT, Univ. Toulouse, France
Margaret Burnett, Oregon State University, USA
Elizabeth F. Churchill, eBay, USA
Susan M. Dray, Dray & Associates, Inc., USA
Allison Druin, University of Maryland, USA
Karen Holtzblatt, InContext Design, USA
Dianne Murray, Interacting with Computers, UK
Anicia Peters, Iowa State University, USA
Gayna Williams, If She Can I Can, USA
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