Next year’s big CHI event is in San Jose, California. That’s great on a number of levels. First, it would likely mean I can finally visit my friend Jeff at some point in the trip. Second, there is a greater likelihood that we could convince family to go to help take care of the kids. Third, it comes at the end of April/beginning of May … which is crappy timing if ever we want to attend a New Orleans Jazz Fest again (someday …) but nice in that it means a truncated semester next year.
I really want to submit some things in September. I think I could easily work up my ideas on Mutual Politics and online communities into a theoretical approach to constructing forums. I could do something on Complex Design, defining it as a merging of complexity and HCI. I could extend work on PoliticWiki to submit that work as a model for participatory design. I could do all these. Unlike the same lofty goals from last year, this time there is some body — a small body, but substance nonetheless — of work to build on. (I also really want to do a comparative study of video prototyping, which is a very CHI-friendly idea.)
The work that appeals to me most is Mutual Politics. I think there is a natural avenue for uniting the Stone Center’s relational-cultural theory model with HCI and online techniques to build social capital. It is appealing to do now, as a priority, because I would like to base my next four years at Indiana University on this idea. It is also a wonderful chance to work with Amy on something academic. (Complex Design has great appeal for similar reasons, minus working with Amy.)
The bugaboo last summer was in trying to meet all of our goals (we didn’t, to a large extent) while raising kids. It seemed clear that we had way too much going on to manage it all last summer. I think this summer will be different, although equally challenging. This is a subject (RCT) with which Amy is extremely familiar. There is a possibility of bringing in connections with the Stone Center, and a lot of motivation to help define what it is I want to study before I officially have to do so. Even better if I can find a hook in the PBS work, so I can concentrate on this AND get paid at the same time.
As the kids say these days (if they do still say it): I’m stoked.
