Call for Panels

A Panel discussion is a live or virtual discussion about a specific topic within the field of MobileHCI amongst a selected group of panelists who share different perspectives. The panel is usually facilitated by a moderator who guides the panel asking the panelists specific questions, controlling for panelist time, and facilitating questions from the audience. A MobileHCI panel will usually include 3-4 experts or practitioners of a specific topic related to MobileHCI. The panelists should offer their opinions, research insights, and answer questions from the audience. Panel length should be of 75 minutes.

In contrast to papers, panels do not have to include original research. Because they don't have to demonstrate a product or service, they are different from other venues like demonstrations. The two main focuses of the panels are audience interaction with the panelists and subjects of relevance to the MobileHCI community.

It is to be noted that all panel organizers, moderators, and panelists invited to speak/present at the session are responsible for registering for the conference and paying their conference registration fees.

Important Dates

*All deadlines are AoE
Panels
Submission May 26, 2023
Notifications June 23, 2023
Camera-Ready August 10, 2023

Example Panel Topics

A key feature of a panel discussion is a good and relevant topic related to the community. Here are a few examples of topics, but feel free to submit other ideas.

  • MobileHCI for social good
  • Augmented reality / virtual reality / extended reality Futures
  • MobileHCI and AI: connections, challenges, and opportunities
  • Cross culture mobile interface design
  • Designing mobile interactions for the ageing population
  • Lessons Learned from Covid-19's Impact on Mobile HCI Research, Practice, and Community
  • Race, Gender, Class, Disability, Culture, and Intersectionality in Mobile HCI
  • Ethical and Value-Based approaches to Mobile HCI Research and Design
  • Global Challenges and Global North-South Collaborations
  • Making mobile interfaces more accessible

Panel Format

At the conference, panels are held during a separate 75-minute session. Panels at MobileHCI 2023 can be wholly virtual or hybrid (hosted in person with the option for panelists and attendees to participate virtually).

Panels can be designed effectively using different forms and formats. A panel discussion, for instance, may involve a number of specialists who discuss a subject or theme, act out a particular aspect of their field of study, or consider and contrast their various experiences. The audience must participate in panels in some way, whether it be through questions and answers, voting on or critiquing the experts' presentations, discussion, the use of web-based or mobile technologies, the use of the actual room, or other means. In your proposal, you should make it clear how you plan to engage the audience and promote interaction. Panels can be a classic panel of discussants with a moderator, a fireside chat where a person is interviewed by the moderator, a roundtable where the moderator(s) submit questions to the audience for debate, a town hall session, or another suggested format. The panel organizers also need to think about a hybrid way to engage the audience with the schedule.

We strongly advise panel organizers to keep the number of panelists to a minimum in order to ensure a productive and coherent conversation. The best panels typically feature fewer panelists and more audience participation. We also support debate and discussion; panels that spend most of their time making prepared presentations by panelists are not recommended. We believe it is crucial that panels reflect the diversity of the MobileHCI community, including diversity in terms of gender, experience, location, national origin, native language, race, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation. Panels with all of their members coming from one region of the world, one gender, or one ethnicity, may not be given as much consideration. In addition, we expect submissions on a diversity of ideas that cover issues of pragmatic or applied importance in addition to research issues.

Submission Platform

All materials must be submitted through the online PCS submission system.

Submission Format

Preparing the Submission

The panel proposal should include:

  • The title of the panel
  • A description of the panel's topic, including a general overview of the topic area and the varied opinions and perspectives related to this topic; any lessons or experiences you hope to convey in the session; as well as contrasting or controversial perspectives on the topic(s).
  • A list of the panelists including their short biography and relation to the panel's topic
  • The moderator of the panel including a short biography and relation to the panel's topic
  • Authors may provide rationale on why these moderators and panelists were selected, and what qualifications they bring.
  • A description of the proposed panel's format (hybrid or fully virtual), and how the panel organizers will ensure discussion and interactivity in a hybrid or virtual format. Describe how to run the panel, the organizers'/panelists'/moderators' roles, and any special logistical needs (e.g., special seating or A/V, audience size limitations, involvement of student volunteers, accessibility requirements, language-support requests, etc.).
  • Regardless of the topic, all panel proposals must include a plan for interactivity and engaging audience members.
  • Connection to MobileHCI 2023's theme: Beyond morality: Ethics and action in MobileHCI
  • Authors are strongly encouraged to work on improving the accessibility of their submissions, using recommendations found in the following resources. If the authors have any questions or concerns about creating accessible submissions, please contact the Accessibility Chairs at access2023@mobilehci.acm.org.
  • Guide to accessible submissions
  • Accessible PDF Author Guide
  • Accessible Presentation Guide
  • Adding Document Tags
  • PDF Accessibility Checker

Anonymity

Panels are not submitted anonymously, i.e. organizers do not remove their names and affiliations from their submission materials.

Selection Process

Curated, i.e. the Panel chairs will evaluate all proposals and communicate acceptance decisions to the proposers.

Review Criteria

Panels present ideas that are novel, controversial, or engaging, and that inspire the audience to respond and further elaborate. We aim to select a balance of panels to appeal to the wide variety of conference attendees. The review criteria will consider the extent to which the session includes:

  • One or more topics likely to evoke a lively response from the MobileHCI attendees
  • Invited panelists who will contribute unique perspectives, content, or other interactive content to the session
  • A well-organized and feasible session plan, particularly for a hybrid or fully virtual format
  • A novel and creative session plan that emphasizes audience interaction
  • Useful and interesting contributions to HCI
  • Appropriate levels of diversity in panelist selection (e.g., diversity of ideas but also characteristics like gender, experience, geographic location, national origin, native language, race, ethnicity, age, etc.)

At the Conference

Panels will be included in the conference program and will have a 75-minute slot in parallel with other sessions. Session organizers are strongly advised to meet with their invited panelists prior to their session to ensure a coordinated effort. If any special logistics are involved (e.g., seating, student volunteers, unique technological setup), organizers should alert the Panels Chairs (panels2023@mobilehci.acm.org).

Publication and Presentation

Accepted submissions will be included in the ACM Digital Library as part of the MobileHCI 2023 Adjunct Proceedings. ACM will send you a copyright form, which you have to complete. Once completed, ACM will provide you with the copyright information to add to your paper.

After the Conference

Panels can often be a jumping-off point for future work. Previous panels have become the starting point for special issues of journals or books, or follow-up panels, papers, workshops, SIG meetings, or Communities. We encourage panel organizers to think about their panel's potential to inform future work or public audiences. Accepted panel abstracts will be distributed in the MobileHCI Conference Extended Abstracts and in the ACM Digital Library, where they will remain accessible to thousands of researchers and practitioners worldwide. Some of these discussions may also be recorded at the conference and distributed by the ACM.

ACM Publication Policies

By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM's new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects.

Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.

Panels Chairs

panels2023@mobilehci.acm.org
Joel's photo
Joel Lanir

Haifa University, Israel

Sayan's photo
Sayan Sarcar

Birmingham City University, United Kingdom

Placeholder photo
Areti Damala

Hellenic Open University, Greece