| Papers |
Abstract:
Full Submission:
Videos:
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| Posters | |
| Demos | |
| Doctoral Symposium | |
| UIST Visions |
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| Student Volunteers | |
| Student Innovation Contest | |
| Lightning Talks | |
| Social Meetups | |
| Ask-Me-Anything |
Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to:
In recent years, successful UIST submissions have focused on domains including: input and output devices, augmented/virtual reality, programming tools, mobile interaction, haptic and tactile interfaces, human-robot interaction, AI and HCI, fabrication, design and prototyping tools, creativity tools, ubiquitous computing, accessibility, visualization, information management, wearable computing, social computing, toolkits, education, crowdsourcing, and computer-supported cooperative work. We look forward to relevant submissions in novel domains as well.
In previous years, papers would become available publicly on the ACM DL up to a week in advance of the conference. This year, pre-print papers will become available to conference registrants much earlier, as soon as August 11, 2021. This is just one week after the camera-ready deadline, and approximately two months earlier than past years.
Authors who have internal approvals or intellectual property deadlines related to the publication date of their papers should take note of and prepare for this much earlier deadline.
Details of how papers will be released will be forthcoming before the paper submission deadline. Access will be restricted to only those registered for the conference.
In previous years, it has become a tradition to set a cut-off score for the rebuttal opportunity and reject low-scoring papers after the initial reviews. For those authors who entered the rebuttal stage, this usually one-week long stage was often reported as particularly stressful to coordinate especially around weekends.
For UIST 2021, we are implementing the following changes as part of the review process. First, we are removing the rebuttal cut-off to enable more controversial papers to participate in the full review process. Associate Chairs should gauge from the reviews and internal discussion whether a rebuttal is encouraged and state so in their meta reviews. Second, we are implementing a two-week rebuttal period from Wednesday, May 26 to Wednesday, June 9, 2021. This extended period is intended for authors to coordinate remotely and enable all authors including those who submitted to UIST for the first time to fully engage with the reviews and the rebuttal opportunity.
Members of the program committee managing a paper are asked to request a third Associate Chair for papers that remain undecided after the rebuttal and initial follow-up reviewer discussion. A rebuttal response by Associate Chairs and external reviewers will be enforced by the Papers co-chairs as much as possible.
UIST invites many types of HCI research contributions, including those that pertain to interactive systems. Evaluating systems contributions can be hard, and there are unconscious biases that we must actively address as we review.
For example, a system built on well-known techniques can holistically accomplish novel functionality. In these types of situations, reviewers will need to judge the novelty of the bricolage and the significance of its contribution without penalizing the work for leveraging existing solutions.
Similarly, given the diversity of systems contributions, authors and reviewers should carefully consider whether an empirical evaluation is required or even appropriate. Papers that do not include such an evaluation should not be penalized unless the quality of the research or scholarship is materially diminished, a consideration that is especially important in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To more fairly and consistently evaluate systems HCI work, this year we will elicit more structured feedback from reviewers based on guidelines proposed by many researchers in the systems HCI community. We will publish more details on this soon.
Accessibility is a key concern for the UIST 2021 Program Chairs: We ask authors to try to be as inclusive as possible and will allow 3 more days after the paper submission deadline (3-day grace period) to provide alt-text for all figures and tables, and upload your optional video and make it accessible including video subtitles. The video has traditionally been due the same day as paper submissions and this has always been stressful. Allowing additional time for your paper and video submissions to be accessible will overall help increase the quality of the conference. These additional materials are due on Monday, April 12, 2021, and will enable the UIST 2021 Accessibility Chairs and volunteers to assist with creating accessible submissions.
Papers are the main medium for conveying new research results at UIST and must describe original, unpublished work.
| Abstracts due (title, abstract, author list) | Wednesday March 31, 2021 5pm PT |
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| Papers due (paper PDF) | Wednesday April 7, 2021 5pm PT |
| Alt-text and videos (with subtitles) due | Monday, April 12, 5pm PT |
| Initial reviews sent to authors Two-week rebuttal period starts (all papers have a rebuttal opportunity, no cut-off) |
Wednesday May 26, 2021 5pm PT |
| Rebuttals due | Wednesday June 9, 2021 5pm PT |
| Decisions sent to authors (conditional acceptance or rejection) |
Friday June 25, 2021 5pm PT |
| Final reviews sent to authors | Wednesday June 30, 2021 5pm PT |
| Camera-ready versions due | Wednesday July 28, 2021 5pm PT |
| Final acceptance decision | Wednesday August 4, 2021 5pm PT |
| Video preview due | Wednesday August 11, 2021 5pm PT |
| Submission Platform |
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| Selection Process |
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| Video Preview |
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| Demo |
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Questions? Contact: program2021@uist.org
Posters provide an interactive forum in which authors can present their work to conference attendees during special poster sessions. Posters are an opportunity to describe new work or work that is still in progress, and work that is already presented in other venues but to share more with the UIST community.
Posters are non-archival, will be more lightly reviewed (curated) than papers.
| Submission deadline | July 14, 2021 5pm PDT |
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| Acceptance notification | August 4, 2021 |
| Camera-ready versions due | August 18, 2021 5pm PDT |
| Video preview due (optional) | September 25, 2021 5pm PDT |
| Submission Platform |
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| Submission Format and Length |
Poster abstract
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| Maximum File Size |
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| Concurrent UIST Demo Submission |
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| Novelty of Work |
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The UIST Poster Example Gallery has ideas and guidelines for poster designs (coming soon).
Questions? Contact: posters2021@uist.org
Demonstrations show early implementations of novel and compelling interaction concepts, techniques, devices and systems. Demonstrations should be brief, and robust enough to be shown repeatedly. We particularly encourage highly interactive demos— from novel web systems and prototype devices, to new materials, physical outputs, and large interactive installations. Demos are one of the highlights of the UIST conference.
Virtual format: Based on last year’s success, we are excited to deliver the innovative online format for UIST Demos again! The virtual format gives a broader audience the opportunity to explore the latest innovations in interactive technologies. For authors, the submission process is unchanged, and all demo submissions go through a rigorous curation process. Demo chairs will announce recommendations for presentation formats and logistics and provide early access for technical setup before the online conference. For questions please email the Demo chairs: demos2021@uist.org.
| Submission deadline | July 14, 2021 5pm PDT |
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| Acceptance notification | August 4, 2021 |
| Camera-ready versions due | August 18, 2021 5pm PDT |
| Video preview due | August 25, 2021 5pm PDT |
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| Submission Format and Length |
Demo abstract
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Anonymity |
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| Presentation Format |
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| Concurrent UIST Poster Submission |
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| Novelty |
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| Demos of Accepted UIST 2021 Papers |
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Questions? Contact: demos2021@uist.org
The UIST Doctoral Symposium provides a unique opportunity for Ph.D. students to interact with established academic and industry researchers in the UIST community. Students can receive both feedback on technical aspects of their research as well as mentoring about different career options. The range of topics appropriate for the Doctoral Symposium is the same as the topics covered in the UIST Technical Papers program. Participants will be selected based on their anticipated contributions to the breadth and depth of the intellectual discussions at the symposium. This year, the Doctoral Symposium will be held as a virtual symposium. We will spread out the symposium over two days: instead of one long session, we plan to have multiple shorter sessions on Monday and Tuesday. There will be some shared social activity with the panelists which will be organized closer to the actual date. The UIST Doctoral Symposium is a by invitation only event.
As with previous years, participants will have the opportunity to interact with distinguished panelists from the UIST community.
| Submission deadline | June 30, 2021 5pm PDT |
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| Acceptance notification | July 21, 2021 |
| Camera-ready versions due | August 4, 2021 5pm PDT |
| Doctoral Symposium date | October 9-10, 2021 |
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Questions? Contact: doctoralsymposium2021@uist.org
| Lottery Application due | August 9, 2021 |
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| Acceptance notification | August 30, 2021 |
Sign-ups will be done through the new CHI SV portal listed below. We are aiming to recruit SVs with Discord and video conferencing experience from a mix of timezones to support global participation -- UIST 2021 will largely use the same technologies as UIST 2020. Please indicate your experiences and timezone in the pre-lottery survey.
New SV portal: https://new.chisv.org/conference/uist2021
The SV experience at a virtual conference will be much different than SV experience at in-person iterations of UIST. Nevertheless, we believe the heart of being a student volunteer is allowing students to make connections within the larger UIST community, both with each other and more senior researchers. In addition to free conference registration, SVs will get free gifts (e.g., T-shirt, wellness box) as well as the chance to attend a series of “rockstar” Q&A sessions with senior researchers. Being an SV will still give you a chance to attend the premier forum for innovations in human-computer interfaces and network with the leaders in the field!
If you are a UIST Student Volunteer, you get:
To take advantage of the online format, similar to UIST 2020, we plan on accepting more SVs with fewer, time-zone specific tasks per person. Our goal is to make sure SVs can attend the sessions that they are interested in. (In 2020 we had around 40 SVs who worked 6 hours each.) Thus we encourage everyone interested in making an impact in the UIST community to apply.
SVs will do a mix of tasks before the conference (e.g., setting up online infrastructure to run sessions) as well as during (e.g., moderating demo sessions on Discord). Before conference tasks may start up in September, not just a few days before the conference. Please indicate your availability to do pre-conference tasks on the lottery questionnaire and we will try to accommodate everyone’s preferences as best as possible.
Questions? Contact: sv2021@uist.org
| Submission deadline | August 2, 2021 |
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| Acceptance notification | August 9, 2021 |
| Submission of project video | October 7, 2021 |
| Presentation of final demo | At the online UIST conference, Oct. 11-13, 2021 |
Apply here: SIC registration page
In the UIST Student Innovation Contest (aka the "SIC"), we explore how novel input, interaction, actuation, and output technologies can augment interactive experiences! This year, in partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment toio team, we are seeking students who will push the boundaries of input and output techniques with the toio™ micro robot platform with absolute position tracking. Join the UIST SIC and turn your ideas into reality! Meet amazing people! Win fabulous prizes! Deadline to apply is the 2nd of August, and you can apply here: https://forms.gle/PMjZUquniPjtTrx36
The UIST SIC is your opportunity to shine and impress the world with your creative ideas! Participants will demo their work during the online conference program, and contest winners will be announced during the conference. A jury composed of senior UIST community members will select one team to receive the SIC jury award. On top of that, conference attendees will get a chance to vote for their favorite teams in the People's Choice category. All categories receive prizes.
We will give away the hardware to all selected teams! This is made possible through our generous sponsor Sony Interactive Entertainment! Thank you!
This year’s hardware consists of:
Each team receives 4 x toio robots, whose size is approximately 3.2cm x 3.2cm x 2.5cm. Each robot has two individually controllable motors + wheels. It can travel on a table with a relatively fast speed (max: 35cm/sec for traveling, 1500deg/sec for rotation). The top of the robot has a LEGO®-compatible connector, so that the user can also easily attach the LEGO® block on top of it.
toio robots can communicate with a computer or mobile phone through Bluetooth® (Low Energy). There is an official Node.js/JavaScript API available for the programmable robot control. Through this API, the user can control: the speed of individual motors, position of each robot, color of the LED, sound, etc. There are also several other API built by toio developer community (including third-party), such as Scratch-like Visual Programming, P5.js API which can directly control the toio from Chrome Web Browser without Node.js, or Python API, and Unity SDK and its simulator.
To track the accurate mm-level absolute position of the toiio robots, it leverages the built-in camera embedded in the robot and pattern-printed mats (imagine Anoto marker technology, but not the same). Therefore, the user can accurately control each of toio robots on the provided pattern-printed mats. We provide two different types of mats: 1) the large-size cardboard tracking mats with the size of 56cm x 56cm, and 2) the flexible A3 papers with the printed patterns. By utilizing these mats, the user can flexibly reconfigure (or even cut!) the mats to cover the large area with various configurations. Of course, the robot can also move without the mats, but in this case, the accurate tracking capability is not available.
To assist the students to develop their applications, we SIC chairs, as well as the toio developers from Sony Interactive Entertainment, will provide technical support if they have any questions.
Your goal is to design and implement a new interactive tangible system using the toio platform we will provide to you and combining it with any other prototyping materials you have available. To successfully address this challenge, you need to figure out what task(s) you want your system to support, and what interaction(s) you want your system to enable. Your system should motivate the use case and articulate a clear set of assumptions on how it will be beneficial for users. Finally, your system does not have to be limited to one user— ideas that involve well executed, multi-user, simultaneous interactions are often crowd favourites at UIST! You will submit a video of your project demo by October 7th, and demonstrate your idea live at the UIST online event in October.
You can build and design your system in a multitude of configurations, which affords the exploration of numerous design primitives. The main constraints are that you make use of the toio robotic platform and provide a way for users to meaningfully interact with the system. With these constraints in mind, you can tackle one or more application areas. Here, we list some of the example application areas and corresponding existing works for inspiration:
Note that these are just examples of areas and scenarios where your system can have a positive impact on society. Feel free to explore more.
IMPORTANT: Due to the COVID’19, which enforces the team members remotely work together, we only accept a pair of students as a team. We ship the box to one of the team members
One of the students of each team will receive two toio sets of development kits (each kit includes 2 robots, 1 charger, 2 hand-held controllers, 1 fixed-size mat, 6 flexible mats). You will have access to example code to help you get started with the hardware. Teams are encouraged to open source their efforts, and even build on each other’s work. To get you moving fast, we will also provide, on top of all the hardware, a list of tutorials and mentoring sessions to ensure you have everything you need to make your vision a reality!
To participate, follow the instructions on this form: https://forms.gle/PMjZUquniPjtTrx36. The submission deadline is August 2nd, 2021 AoE (Anywhere on Earth).
To complete your submission, you’ll need:
For accepted teams, one of your team members MUST register for the UIST conference and pay the registration fee. If you’ve been accepted as a student volunteer, you can let us know as well. Once we've confirmed your UIST conference registration, we will ship your hardware!
Innovation comes in many forms. At UIST, we provide Student Innovation Contest awards for the following categories: Jury Award and People's Choice (Attendee Votes). All teams get to keep the hardware kits. Winners will win prizes and a UIST SIC certificate. Note that we reserve the right to change the awards structure during the contest.
Questions? Contact the SIC Chairs! sic2021@uist.org
Back for its fourth year, UIST Visions is a venue for forward thinking ideas to inspire the community. The goal is not to report research but to propose new research directions. We want to project the UIST community as thought leaders in HCI technology. A maximum of 2 speakers will be invited and the review will be based on how interesting and provocative the ideas are. The author should aim to start a meaningful and well-informed discussion about future directions for computer-human interfaces. Appropriate issues might be: future trends, foundational technologies that we need to make progress on, significant, compelling problems that the community might address, something that is missing, or an alternative perspective on what we do.
| Submission deadline |
Sun. September 12, 2021 5pm PT (extended)
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| Acceptance notification | TBD |
| Slide submission | TBD |
| Eligibility |
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| Submission Platform |
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| Submission Format and Length |
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| Maximum File Size |
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| Publication |
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Questions? Contact: vision2021@uist.org
Starting this year, UIST will provide first-time UISTers, young researchers and professionals the opportunity to show a 60 seconds lightning talk at the beginning of the paper sessions. As part of the main program of UIST, the lightning talks will get a strong visibility and are a great opportunity to get to know more people at UIST. The lightning talks should briefly introduce the attendee, their research interest and may be potentially an opportunity to look for internship positions, finding a PhD advisor or simply getting to know more people at UIST.
The target user group includes but is not limited to:
We will assign the lightning talk to a set of paper sessions (approx. 2-3, different time zones) that fit to the submitter's research interest (e.g. a student interested in VR/AR will be assigned to a VR/AR related session). Students should be present in the corresponding session on Discord if other attendees want to get in contact. Only UIST attendees are eligible to submit a lightning talk video.
Additionally, we will make all videos available on the UIST website including contact information.
| Abstract deadline | September 16, 2021 |
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| Video deadline | September 23, 2021 |
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| Video Submission |
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| Video Content |
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Questions? Contact: events2021@uist.org
Ask-Me-Anything sessions are a great way to provoke discussion around research-related topics, share experience about career development in academia and industry, or hear different opinions about how our field should move forward in regards to diversity and inclusiveness. Great AMA sessions raise questions, provoke discussions, and are controversial and innovative.
Topics for AMA sessions include, but are not limited to:
While we do not have a fixed format for these sessions, below are some suggestions as to how they may be structured:
We ask organizer(s) to propose their ideas for the virtual format of their AMA session being both innovative but also reasonable to the resources the conference can provide. Below are infrastructure ideas that UIST can provide:
The AMA session will be held in parallel to the Demo/Poster slot in the main program (after the paper sessions). For any questions, please contact the Social Event Chairs (events2021@uist.org)
| Abstract deadline | October 1, 2021 |
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Questions? Contact: events2021@uist.org
Social Meetups
Research communities coming together are the core of innovation and collaboration, and a fundamental element of a successful conference. This year's UIST will provide an opportunity for members of the research community to socialize in a casual digital atmosphere in the form of “Social Meetups” to discuss their topics of interest.
We invite attendees to organize such meetups centered on research topics like fabrication, virtual reality, or general themes like diversity in academia.
What we need from you:
We can provide you with following infrastructure (if you need it):
Social Event Chairs
Questions? Contact: events2021@uist.org
Michael Wessely
MIT CSAILJanin Koch
InriaDoğa Doğan
MIT