In early May, the 10th annual CHI conference was held in Monterey, CA. Sponsored by the Association of Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction, it is the fastest growing SIG in the ACM’s membership.

CHI ‘92 attendees were a diverse group, embracing researchers in human factors and ergonomics, graphic user interface designers and groupware implementation specialists.

Analytic academics. The conference itself is analytical and weighted toward academic topics — papers on spatial relations in simulation environments, or posters on new interface tools for handheld devices. Exhibits were sparse.

Although many who attended CHI ‘92 were from BellCore, Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), AT&T and (a big contingent) Japan’s NTT and Advanced Telecommunications Research Center, most interesting was the apparent lack of a notion by presenters about telecommunications or networking. No one seemed cognizant of the possibility that computer interaction to multiple sites and organizations might require different interfaces or skills, as might the integration of multiple data types.

What many presenters focused upon was the use of kinetic or gestural signals or movements, and how to capture their meaning as a mode of interaction — eye movement in virtual reality, and relationships between head and body movements while walking were among the subjects discussed. The “Interactive Experience,” a performance given each evening, focused on dance and interaction — again, a kinetic theme.

Interest in standards. The standards sub-group, which usually only gets 30 or 40 participants, had an overflow crowd of more than 200 with no microphone. European Community (EC) requirements for usability and ergonomic suitability were hot buttons, as were the continuing discussions about U.S. support for X Window as an interface standard.

Since the crowd was large and relatively unacquainted with the standards group, not much was accomplished. However, it was clear that standards have become a global concern, much larger than the spitting matches involving IBM, Microsoft and Apple, and certainly larger than the U.S. influence can affect.

CHI ‘93 will be held in Amsterdam, thus these international issues will be brought into much clearer focus. In addition, conference attendees were certain that human interface with network systems would be given a much higher priority as well.

Tom Hargadon