Social Presence in Virtual Event Spaces
A CHI 2022 Workshop

Today's virtual event platforms leave much to be desired in terms of social presence: ways of knowing who is in the virtual space, awareness of others’ activities, attention, and availability, and easy affordances for connecting with them. Issues of presence and awareness are, of course, perennial topics in the CHI and CSCW communities. But the time is ripe for a new effort with a special focus on larger-scale virtual events, given the accelerated pace of change in the socio-technological landscape and the potential practical impact of new insights.

View the full workshop proposal here.

Attending the Workshop

This workshop will bring together researchers and developers from academia and industry with a shared interest in improving the experience of “social presence” at virtual events, to exchange insights and energize an ongoing community effort in this area. The day will be divided between talks, structured discussion, breakout sessions, and informal networking.

The workshop is expected to be a hybrid event, with both virtual attendees and in-person attendees at the conference site in New Orleans, LA. See the CHI 2022 Website for attendee information.

Anyone who is interested in the topic is invited to attend. It is not necessary to submit a position paper in order to attend, but everyone must contact the event organizers to get a workshop registration code. All participants must register for both the workshop and for at least one day of the conference. Registration rates and additional information are available on the CHI 2022 Registration Page. Note that the early registration deadline is March 21, 2022.

Presenting at the Workshop

Individuals who wish to present at the workshop should submit a two-page position statement describing their background and relevant activities and outlining the ideas they would like to present to the group. Submissions should be PDF documents, but no particular format is required.

The program of talks will be curated by the organizing committee on the basis of submitted position statements. After the workshop, participants will be invited to update their position papers for inclusion in a post-workshop report.

At least one author of each accepted submission must attend the workshop.

Questions? Comments?

Contact Benjamin C. Pierce at bcpierce@cis.upenn.edu.