1996-2001 CHI Local SIGs Column Sampler
November-December 2001 Local SIGs column
For the March-April '01 issue of SIGCHI Bulletin, I assembled a Local SIGs column entitled, "Y2K CHI Local SIG Sampler" to provide an overview of what had happened in the world of CHI Local SIGs during the year 2000 as publicized throughout the year via the CHI Local SIG Samplers I had compiled monthly and posted to chi-announcements.
Since this is my final Local SIGs column for SIGCHI Bulletin (I've decided to not continue in the role of SIGCHI's Local SIGs Chair), I've assembled a column that provides an overview of what has happened in the world of CHI Local SIGs as publicized via the SIGCHI Bulletin Local SIGs column throughout the 5 years I have served as Local SIGs Chair. At the time of this writing, all but the most recent of these 23 columns can be accessed via the SIGCHI Local SIGs webpage, and the most recent should be accessible soon. I believe that they all still offer value both to those involved in or considering being involved in the creation or operation of a Local SIG and to those to whom Local SIGs provide value.
The Big Picture
Steven Pemberton, instrumental in the creation of SIGCHI.NL (see the January '99 column, "Starting a SIGCHI Local Group in the Netherlands" -- PDF 300KB), is well-known within SIGCHI for tracking SIGCHI numerical data over time. A chart he created depicting the change in the number of CHI Local SIGs since SIGCHI's beginning appears in the October '99 column, "CHI Local SIGs: Easy to Find at CHI 99 and, Increasingly, Throughout the World." According to Steven, the number of CHI Local SIGs, as of July of each year, has increased over the past 5 years as follows:
- 1996...26
- 1997...27
- 1998...33
- 1999...45
- 2000...50
- 2001...59
When I started as SIGCHI's Local SIGs Chair, the relationship between CHI Local SIGs and SIGCHI was in many cases less than amicable. There were quite alot of chapters then -- 26 (almost all in the U.S.), but approximately half of them were unchartered "forming" chapters, and to alot of the 26, SIGCHI didn't seem to care much about their existence. SIGCHI's support of Local SIGs was, indeed, weak. Other organizations had far more beneficial relationships with SIGCHI via various cooperating society agreements. And there were even grumblings among SIGCHI stalwarts in response to early efforts at Local SIG gatherings at CHI conferences.
SIGCHI attributed this lack of support to the fact that CHI local SIGs were, organizationally, actually chapters of ACM rather than chapters of SIGCHI. I was never pleased with that attitude and have worked hard to change it. In my first column, "The Year-Round CHI Conference: At A Local SIG Near You" (October '96), I wrote: "That you may have attended a CHI conference and not found out about local chapter activities or opportunities near you is something I hope to change." Two years later, things were different. I entitled my October '98 column, "Local SIGs Achieve Visibility at CHI 98."
As the relationship between SIGCHI and CHI Local SIGs improved, and as the number of chartered CHI Local SIGs rose dramatically, particularly outside of the U.S. (the number of chapters outside the U.S. now outnumber those within the U.S.), SIGCHI began to receive complaints that it was insensitive to cultural and other differences between the U.S. and other countries. A couple of people complained that SIGCHI was attempting to "colonize" the world.
I addressed these issues in the column. For example, in the July '97 column, "Dealing with Change," I talked about "the move of local chapters into locations with cultures and boundaries for which some ACM policies and perspectives affecting local chapters don't necessarily fit" and presented descriptions of examples of the problem written by their stakeholders. In the September-October '00 column, "Shaping the Roles to be Played During the 21st Century by Local Chapters of ACM SIGCHI," I asked for input regarding complaints from existing HCI organizations that did not want SIGCHI to enter the countries they served: "should we automatically turn away when people in locations served by other HCI organizations express an interest? Should we generate a list of locations for which we should turn away? What criteria should we use if we created such a list?"
SIGCHI and ACM haven't necessarily been making the transition from U.S. organizations into world-wide organizations as smoothly as might be desired. However, clarification of SIGCHI's approach to approving chapter charters in locations served by other HCI organizations (see the March-April '01 column, "Y2K CHI Local SIG Sampler"), a cleaner SIGCHI cooperating society policy (see SIGCHI's webpages), and lots of diplomacy appear to have done a good job at addressing the complaints. At the time of this writing, several existing HCI organizations outside the U.S. are poised to become SIGCHI chapters rather than remain independent of SIGCHI, and others are negotiating new cooperating society agreements.
Yet, CHI Local SIGs remain chapters of ACM rather than chapters of SIGCHI, and CHI Local SIG members have none of the privileges of SIGCHI membership. Some of that disconnect will disappear, and the rest has an increased chance of disappearing, if proposed changes to SIGCHI's by-laws are put to a vote by SIGCHI's membership and approved. According to SIGCHI Chair Marilyn Tremaine, an attempt will be made to put the revised by-laws to a vote this coming spring.
But there is much more to attend to. For example, as I stated in the September-October '00 column, "CHI Local SIGs come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and types, and maybe some of those differences need to be better acknowledged and dealt with rather than continuing use of the old and perhaps too simplistic, single concept of a Local SIG. For example, national organizations & large non-national organizations are different kinds of entities with different kinds of needs than alot of other Local SIGs. And KATCHI is an example of a Local SIG with a role that is more narrowly defined than most -- it exists to be a local point of contact only (a partial answer to SIGCHI's desire to reach out to locations where there is presently not much happening in the area of HCI); should requirements imposed on such CHI Local SIGs be the same as requirements imposed on the others?" Additional needs still requiring attention are discussed in the September-October '00 column.
Analyses of Local SIG Characteristics and Issues
My involvement with CHI Local SIGs pre-dated my becoming SIGCHI's Local SIGs Chair. In 1989, I joined the group of people who were starting up BayCHI (the San Francisco Bay Area chapter). Later, I became BayCHI's first elected Chair, and I've been its Program Chair for more than 10 years. BayCHI has been a huge success (see the November-December '00 column entitled, "BayCHI"), and my involvement with BayCHI contributed greatly to my being asked to become SIGCHI's Local SIGs Chair.
In spite of being so immersed within the BayCHI experience, I never did think that other chapters should necessarily model themselves after BayCHI, though some Local SIG leaders have assumed that they should. I talked about this in my second column, and used my sixth column, "Diversity Within Unity: The Purpose of a Local SIG" (January '98) to discuss how CHI Local SIGs often have very different goals and to present a list of factors that Local SIG leaders believed did, and should, affect Local SIGs' goals.
Most of my early columns provided analyses of additional Local SIG characteristics and issues, referencing examples from existing or former chapters. My second column (January '97) discussed the role that "fitting into and creating a culture" play in "ensuring a Local SIG's future." Column 3 -- "The Social Design of a Local SIG," April '97 -- discussed elements key to the design of a sustained community. Column 4 -- "Dealing with Change," July '97 -- presented examples of some of the changes that many Local SIGs need to deal with at some point in time (e.g., change within a Local SIG's constituency). "Reaching Out and Being Reached" (April '98) presented Local SIG leaders' recommendations on how to reach the people a Local SIG wants to serve. "Brought to you by..." (July '98) addressed questions about Local SIG sponsors.
The most comprehensive column of this nature was the April '99 column entitled, "Challenges Facing CHI Local SIGs." And the last column of this nature -- "Resurrection & Penance," April '00 -- described developments that can lead to Local SIG dormancy and provided advice on how to restart a dormant chapter.
All of these columns are still of relevance to Local SIGs, and I encourage all Local SIG leaders to dive into them. The new Local SIGs Chair and Column Editor might consider revisiting the issues addressed in these columns in future columns in order to update readers and provide additional insight.
Storytelling
The intent of my very first column was mostly one of promoting Local SIGs: "Were you unable to attend CHI '96? Do you wish you didn't have to wait a year for the next CHI conference? Do you know that you may *not* have to wait? Presentations and activities akin to those which occur at CHI conferences can be experienced most months of the year in an increasing number of locations around the world. The sponsors: SIGCHI local chapters."
As described in the previous section, I then shifted pretty heavily into analyses of Local SIG issues, largely to provide guidance to prospective and existing Local SIG leaders. I even began to offer a full-day workshop for Local SIG leaders at the CHI conference (see "Coming Together and Learning from Each Other," October '97, for a description of the first workshop). But after offering the workshop a couple of times (see later columns already-referenced for descriptions of later workshops), I began to use the column to offer more complete versions of stories about Local SIGs.
The first of these was Steven Pemberton's tale about "Starting a SIGCHI Local Group in the Netherlands" (PDF 300KB, January '99). Later came "CHI Local SIGs in the Americas Outside of the U.S." (July '99), Judy Olson's "The Birth of MOCHI" (July-August '00), "BayCHI" (November-December '00), "How New Local Chapters Work: The Experience of Czech SIGCHI" (January-February '01) from Pavel Slavik and Boba Mannova, "SIGCHI Italy: The Italian Path to Improving Human-Computer Interaction" (May-June '01) from Maria Francesca Costabile and Fabio Paterno, Pradeep Henry's story of the first chartered chapter in India in "CHI South India, plus CHI Local SIG Activities at CHI 2001" (July-August '01), and "CHI Student Chapters & Chapter Subgroups" (September-October '01).
All of these stories are worth reading, and I hope future columns tell the stories of even more CHI Local SIGs.
Moving On
The many CHI Local SIGs and the SIGCHI Executive Committee have been a big part of my life over the past 5 years. I'm not leaving the Local SIG world altogether, since I continue to play a leadership role in BayCHI. However, I hereby turn the reins of this column and the Chair of CHI Local SIGs over to Raquel Oliveira Prates. Raquel has done a great job in her role as leader of Brazil CHI.
Many thanks to many, many people, and best wishes.
Richard I. Anderson, Local SIGs Chair
