Salish SIGCHI Celebration of Research – May 22 in Vancouver

To meet fellow HCI folks within a local region, this year Salish SIGCHI will bringing the HCI community in the British Columbia region together (in person) on May 22 in Vancouver. The goal is to provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners in the region to meet, present, and discuss accepted research, and have fun!

SCHEDULE

• Event Location: Simon Fraser University’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (GCA)
• Transportation and parking options: https://www.sfu.ca/production-event-services/visitor-info/location/parking.html
• Accessibility Information: https://www.sfu.ca/production-event-services/visitor-info/accessibility.html
• Event Time: 10:00am to 5:00pm.
  
  Please note that the below schedule is tentative and there maybe some changes closer to the event day.

Panels

After the Hype: What Actually Survives and Thrives in HCI?

Human–Computer Interaction has a long history of embracing emerging technologies that promise to redefine computing, interaction, and everyday life. From tabletop systems and wearable computing to VR/AR, smart environments, and now generative AI, many technologies experience intense waves of excitement, research activity, and investment, only to later fade, transform, or settle into niche applications.

This panel brings together leading HCI researchers to reflect on the lifecycle of “hype technologies” in HCI. Through examples spanning multiple decades of interaction research, panelists will discuss what drives hype cycles, why some technologies persist while others recede, and how researchers can critically engage with emerging technologies while balancing novelty, rigor, long-term impact, and real-world adoption. The discussion aims to provoke reflection on how the HCI community identifies, studies, and ultimately shapes the future of computing.

MODERATOR and PANELISTS:

• Pourang Irani is a professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia Okanagan and Principal’s Research Chair in Ubiquitous Analytics. His research explores novel interaction techniques, wearable and immersive computing, visualization, and human-centered AI. He has published extensively at leading HCI venues including ACM CHI, UIST, and MobileHCI, with research spanning interaction techniques, spatial interfaces, and emerging interactive technologies. He also co-leads UBCO’s Digital Transparency research cluster focused on AI literacy, governance, and human-centered digital technologies.
• Sheelagh Carpendale is a professor at Simon Fraser University and an internationally recognized leader in information visualization and human–computer interaction. She directs the Innovations in Visualization (InnoVis) research group and has made influential contributions to interactive visualization, large-display interaction, and data-driven interaction design. Carpendale is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a member of the ACM SIGCHI Academy, recipient of the IEEE VGTC Visualization Career Award, and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Information Visualization.
• Miguel Nacenta is an associate professor at the University of Victoria whose research focuses on human–computer interaction and information visualization. His work explores how people represent information, interact with it, and interpret it. This includes new visualizations, accessible representations of information, and also text. Miguel uses a range of methodological approaches from highly quantified measures of perceptual performance to widely open-ended observations of people at work and media discourse analysis.
• Wolfgang Stuerzlinger is a professor at Simon Fraser University and director of the VVISE Lab. He is widely known for his work in three-dimensional user interfaces, with research spanning immersive analytics, large displays, and human performance in spatial computing environments. Stuerzlinger is a member of both the ACM SIGCHI Academy and the IEEE VGTC Virtual Reality Academy, recognizing his long-standing contributions to immersive interaction research.
• Andy Wilson is a Research Manager at Microsoft Research and a pioneer in sensing-based human–computer interaction. His work has helped shape modern touch, depth-sensing, and gesture-based interaction techniques, including foundational contributions to interactive surfaces and early depth-camera technologies. Wilson was inducted into the ACM SIGCHI Academy in 2018 in recognition of his influential contributions to HCI and has received multiple best paper and lasting impact awards for his work on interactive displays and sensing technologies.

Rethinking HCI Education in the Age of AI

Human-Computer Interaction education was built around a relatively stable set of assumptions: humans interact with computers through designed interfaces, designers can prototype and study those interfaces, and students learn by doing user research, sketching, prototyping, and evaluating. Generative AI disrupts every layer of this stack:

• Interface (conversational, agentic, multimodal)
• Design process (AI now sketches, writes copy, generates code)
• User (who increasingly delegates to AI)
• Learner (students using AI to complete coursework).

This panel asks how HCI curricula and pedagogy must evolve.

MODERATOR and PANELISTS:

• Dongwook Yoon. Associate Professor, UBC-V. Dongwook Yoon is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia, and a member of Designing for People (DFP) and CAIDA. His overarching goal is to make computer-mediated social interactions richer, more inclusive, and more humane. He attends to problem domains where technology design does not match the social process. To make the technology fit human social interactions, his research assesses user needs in socio-technical systems and addresses such needs by realizing and testing novel design interventions.
• Sowmya Somanath is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer at the University of Victoria. Her research is focused on studying and designing tools that can help people engage in creative and wellbeing-related activities. Examples of such activities include building tangible artifacts (such as glucose monitors), craft making, and savouring positive work experiences.  
• Laura Ballay. Director of Product Design, Safe Software. Laura has worked at the intersection of human-centred design and technology at large organizations such as Microsoft and Verizon, consulted to private and public sectors, and also has taught design and HCI courses at the Centre for Digital Media and UBC. Previously she served as the director of the Masters program at the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
• Amelia Guimarin. Director & Senior Consultant, Spatial Research + Design. Amelia leads a UX strategy agency headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. She works with both private and public organizations, including Meta, lululemon, BC Hydro, BC Gov, and UBC. Over the last several years, Spatial has been working to implement AI technologies into both internal and client research and design processes and product offerings. Amelia has a background in anthropology, media, and informatics.
• Brian Fisher, SFU.  Brian is a Professor in Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. His research applies cognitive psychology to the design of interactive information systems to support human reasoning. He was International Liaison Chair for the Executive Committee of the IEEE Visualization and Technical Community, VAST Steering Committee and Papers Chair and was a General Chair of VIS 2019. He has held an Order in Council appointment to NSERC.