Jofish

So I'm co-running the following workshop at CHI this year. We're getting really good responses, and it seems to be getting pretty wide circulation. We've had a good response from a lot of academics, as well as from industry and those generally interested in the field -- we were slashdonged and in Blowfish's Caught in the Net column. There's more detail at our website, or ask me if you have any questions.

CHI 2006 Workshop: Sexual Interactions

Call for Participation

Everyday interactions with technology – occurring in homes, streets and cars
as much as at the office increasingly draw upon the social, emotional and
physical. There is growing interest at CHI in moving beyond cognition to
examine these aspects of the human-computer experience. Sex lies at the
intersection of these concerns; it is an important part of our domestic,
social and emotional lives and a topic of and means for communication. Yet
we tend to desexualize technology, the practices around it, and the
environments into which we deploy it.

Academic discourse about sexual behavior is commonplace in anthropology,
sociology, psychology, history, and essentially every area of intellectual
inquiry that purports to study people. We believe that understanding human
computer sexual interactions can provide HCI researchers and practitioners
with a deeper understanding of established research themes in the community.
For instance, online pornographers were among the first to adopt online
security technology that was later adopted by the general public. The ways
in which domestic and health surveillance technologies impact and are
impacted by everyday sexual practices can serve as a lens to better
understand issues of privacy and disclosure.

HCI is also a design-oriented discipline, and to this end it is worth
understanding how an examination of sex can inform design. We believe that
the rich patterns of human sexual behaviors provide opportunities both as
inspiration and object for design. We welcome discussion of specific designs
that consider sex as well as discussion of broad implications for HCI.


*• To understand how sex and themes related to it can inform current HCI
practice and discourse.
• To explore the challenges in conducting human-computer
sexual interactions research.
• To brainstorm novel technologies, interactions, and
research methods inspired by human sexuality.
• To create a community for future discussion and
exploration of the topic.*

We encourage participation from many disciplines including computer science,
design, psychology, anthropology, sociology, social studies of technology,
and media studies as well as practitioners in industry.
Participants will be selected based on 2-4 page position papers. We welcome
papers that:


*• Present a novel technology, interface or system inspired by or supportive
of sexual interactions.
• Examine areas of HCI in which sex plays an important role. This includes
but is not limited to online dating, online communities, intimate
interfaces, production, consumption and regulation of pornography.
• Discuss field studies of technology use in which sexual practices may have
impacted or been impacted
by technology adoption.
• Discuss problematic areas of sex in HCI, such as abusive, immoral or
criminal activity.
• Discuss implications of sexual practice on broader areas of HCI research.*

We ask presenters to be sensitive other workshop participants in the
presentation of their papers. Submissions should include an additional page
discussing the author's background, interests, current work and its
relevance to workshop goals. Send submissions (PDF) or questions to Johanna
Brewer via e-mail at johannab[at]ics.uci.edu. <johannab@ics.uci.edu.>