Summary of Changes to the CHI 96 Publications Format Guidelines

Format

• All text is in Times Roman, for enhanced readability. Exceptions to this are explicitly permitted for those CHI subcultures that use typeface to distinguish source code text or object hierarchy names.
• Author(s) names are bold, not italics
• Third-level header is no longer part of a paragraph -- it has its own line -- for ease of formatting (an in-line header could not be formatted using a stylesheet). Similar changes occur with the Keywords header.
• The document is constructed to make single-authorship easy. Its structure provides one example of how to list multiple authors in a style that doesn't take too much space. The text suggests work-arounds for people using different word processors.
• The "architecture" of the stylesheet now appears to be hierarchically consistent. For example, heading 3 is derived from heading 2, which is in turn derived from heading 1. If authors need to change something because a font is unavailable, there should be fewer unexpected side effects of their change than with the old template.

Text

General

• The guidelines address both the Proceedings and the Companion.
• The tone is friendlier. We no longer say, for example, "Please do not use your favorite obscure font." Many of the old usages that included the word "must" have been revised to say "should". We hope there is no more sarcasm. We hope that the tone no longer gives the impression that we think the author would make bad choices without our advice.
• The formatting information is presented in a sequence that appears to be similar to what an author would need to know. It begins with information on typesetting and typeface. It then moves sequentially through the sections of the paper.
• We make more use of second-level headers.

References to CHI 96

• The text makes explicit reference to CHI 96 as a conference and organization. The text includes our best guess at where this document (the format guidelines) will be found on the CHI 96 web server.

Language, Style and Content section

• We have made numerous changes to the guidelines in the language and style section. In general, our intention was to preserve the substance of the concerns of the previous versions, but to phrase those concerns differently. We tend not to say "Don't do this," or "You must do this." Instead, we try to show authors the costs and benefits of different stylistic approaches — for example, the usage of complex sentence structures, colloquial language, humor, and irony. (We have replaced the old phrase, "plays on words," with the phrase "colloquial language." We think the new phrase is less colloquial!) We provide more detailed explanations of how problems can occur - for example, in the area of culturally-specific formats for dates and times.
• The section on gender-specific pronouns has been expanded. We provide more constructive alternatives than previously. We also make reference to a useful 1995 publication on bias-free writing from a US association of academic publishers. This resource is actually broader than gender, dealing with issues of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation as well.
• In a new paragraph, we make explicit reference to professional and ethical conduct of authors, placing the responsibility on the authors. To help them understand the community's evolving sense of ethical guidelines, we cite Ron Anderson's 1992 survey paper and Wendy Mackay's CHI'95 paper.

References

• In previous versions, the references served only as format examples. We have replaced these unrelated references with the three resources described above in the "Language, Style and Content" section. The three citations give examples of how to cite a journal article, a conference paper, and a book.

To Recommend Further Changes