A: Emphasis in Organizational Overviews is not on the single projects, but more on the global aims of the group (the company, the research team). So, the presenter should be knowledgeable about the different projects enough to present the information and answer questions about the individual projects and to provide the global perspective on the organization's HCI efforts as requested in the call for papers.
A: Work dealing with or making use of techniques, methods, concepts known in/from the HCI community. This might typically include evaluation and development of user interfaces, research in new interaction techniques, integrated software/user interface development projects, theory of human cognition, computer-supported cooperative work etc.
A: No. The important thing about Organizational Overviews is that the HCI community learns about different types of work in this area happening in the world, and about different groups existing for a variety of reasons. Neither the big "success" nor "power" (in whatever sense) is a pre-requisite, only that the HCI work will be of interest to conference attendees.
A: HCI work still has to fight for its "right-of-existence" in places; for example, in software development environments, typically some hundred people write code, and some 2 to 10 people deal with "software ergonomics", usability, or evaluation. Hence, it is of interest to the HCI community to learn about the practical problems (defeats, or triumphs) you encounter in your day-to-day work in relation to the group as a whole, for instance, how is the integration of HCI work into the global aims, structures, and budgets of the organization as a whole. This might result in a report of a usability lab group within a big software company, in a report of a university group, trying to "sell" an HCI curriculum, or in a research group reporting about its effort to include HCI research topics within a, say, database-oriented research program.
A: We believe that the influences of cultural differences to all kind of HCI work are not yet sufficiently visible to the community. The insight grows that the typical user is not white, anglo-saxian, 32 years, has excellent sight, and works in a quiet, clean, light, comfortably heated environment. We have to deal with HCI happening in very different places, with differently educated people, in uncounted languages all over the world. Especially, if you think that your own environment is "atypical", it might be of special interest to see the variety happening in the world - remember the topic of the conference: providing a common ground !
A: A good example would be a joint research and/or development project funded by the European Community, such as an ESPRIT project. However, there is no need to define exactly, which of these categories your organization overview is related to. We included this wording to give people the chance to see that such a submission would make sense for them.
A: In comparison to "collaborative efforts", as discussed above, we assume a much looser co-operation between groups, or individuals, than in a defined, officially funded research project. An example could be a "Interest Group" within a smaller region, consisting of university people, small spin-off companies, individuals from a research lab, who are informally co-operating on HCI topics.
A: Yes, definitely, although we will accept minor delays, if we are informed in time. We are linked to other dates, given to us by the organization team of a huge, international conference. Preparing the Organization Overview is typically more of a joint effort than writing a scientific paper. So, to keep the deadline, we advise you to collect the material as soon as possible. Keep in mind that you will want to get feedback from your colleagues about the submissions before sending it in.
A: Six.
A: You should provide a global perspective on the work going on in your organization. You should stress the common objectives of the single projects or groups working within this framework. Make good use of visuals, demos, and/or video to illustrate the work, even if you feel that you can not explain "everything" shown. A "real" picture from a project's results gives authenciticity to your presentation and it will address people, knowing the problems, much more directly; people will remember your talk more easily. Similarly, if it is possible to bring materials that can be handed out to interested people - technical reports, demo disks, etc. - it helps anyone who wants additional information.
A: Feel free to contact either of the two Organization Overviews Co-Chairs, preferrably by email ( chi96-org-overviews@acm.org). We will be happy to provide any help you might need in preparing your submission.