The eighteenth meeting of TC.13 was held in Pisa, Italy, 23rd – 24th February, 2001 and the nineteenth on 8th July, 2001 in Tokyo, Japan. The next meeting is scheduled for Prague, Czech Republic, 28th February to 2nd March, 2002.

2. TC.13 Membership and Officers

It has been noted in all TC.13 reports to IFIP Council and GA meetings since Council in 1998 that the TC.13 representative for the Canadian Information Processing Society has never attended any TC.13 meetings since her appointment in 1996, although often sending apologies. This is a clear indication that she is not actively interested in the TC work; requests have been made to the Society GA member about this situation to no effect.

The IFIP Affiliate member, International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC), has appointed a new representative to TC.13. Prof. Gianfranco Galmacci, Italy, replaces Mr A J Westlake, U.K. For information, the current TC.13 membership is listed in Appendix 1, and the Meeting Attendance List is in Appendix 2.

At the conclusion of the TC.13 meeting held in Pisa, February 2001, Prof. Brian Shackel stepped down from his position as TC.13 Secretary. The position of TC.13 Secretary is currently vacant.

The current Chair of TC.13 ends her second term in September, 2001. There were two nominations for the position of new TC.13 Chair and an election held; as a result TC.13 made a recommendation to the IFIP President, who has appointed Dr. John Karat, US-based ACM, to be TC.13 Chairman. This will take effect from 15 September, 2001.

The WG13.2 Chairman, Prof. Alistair Sutcliffe, UK, completed his second term as Chairman towards the end of 2000. The new WG13.2 Chairman is Prof. Jan Gulliksen (Sweden). WG13.5 has appointed a Secretary for the Working Group. He is Prof. Phillipe Palanque, France.

3. Activities

The list of activities in the past year, and of those scheduled for the future, is given in Appendix 3. The principal TC.13 activity has been the eighth INTERACT conference held in Tokyo, Japan. Details are given below. Most of the activities in 2000 and 2001 relate to workshops arranged by WG13.1, WG13.2 and WG13.3 to explore new areas of work. A new initiative is being undertaken at a TC.13 level in conjunction with the IFIP WCC2002 in Montreal, and the next iteration of the INTERACT series is being planned to take place in Zurich, Switzerland in 2003.

4. Progress with Activities in Working Groups

WG13.1 on Education in HCI and HCI Curriculum has undertaken workshops at various conferences, mostly related to the topic Developing Educational Materials for HCI. Future plans are awaited to draw the results of these workshops together.

WG13.2 on Methodology for User-Centred Design held a very successful workshop on Usability Patterns in London, UK in November, 2000 which has led to the creation of a task force on HCI Patterns. Another well-attended workshop was held on Usability throughout the Entire Software Development Process in Tokyo, Japan in July, 2001, which is planned to lead to a publication on the topic. Future plans are awaited.

WG13.3 on HCI and Disability has held successful workshops at INTERACT ‘99 and INTERACT ’01 on topics related to the subject of Guidelines for Accessibility. This theme is being continued in their next workshop in Lille, France, in September, 2001. In addition, they have contributed to a European Commission/National Science Foundation workshop in Alcácer do Sal, Portugal in May 2001 which discussed a similar area, but more specifically targeting the elderly.

WG13.4 on User Interface Engineering continues to hold its Engineering for HCI conference series, the latest working conference being held Toronto, Canada May 11-13, 2001. This Working Conference will result in a book published by Kluwer.

The general activity level of WGs is improving with more workshops being organised in conjunction with other related conferences. I am concerned that in spite of considerable encouragement, Working Groups still do not have a forward programme looking beyond the current year. TC.13 has spent considerable time at its two-day meetings in recent years, identifying areas of priority that should be tackled in future work. This is at a point now where task forces are working on specific topics and action plans are being drawn up. I expect that this will result in some further activities in the area covered by TC.13 in the years to come.

6. INTERACT ’01

The eighth conference in the IFIP TC.13 INTERACT series was held in Tokyo, Japan, 9-13 July, 2001, hosted by Information Processing Society of Japan and organised by the Human Interface Society of Japan. The conference was a scientific and technical success, with a total attendance of 387 from 25 countries. A range of events was produced for the three-day technical sessions of the conference programme: papers, posters, panels, laboratory overviews, professional practice and experience, videos and interactive experience. Nine tutorials and five workshops were presented in the first two days of the conference and covered a wide range of topics. A Doctoral Consortium was organised for a total of 10 Ph.D. students from various countries. The students were enthusiastic about the event. A Doctoral Consortium is held at each INTERACT, and aims to fulfil TC.13’s commitment to provide academic guidance for young HCI researchers during their period of study. The conference proceedings were published by IOS Press.

The Brian Shackel Award was presented for the second time for the referred paper, ‘Evaluating Animation in the Periphery as a Mechanism for Maintaining Awareness’ by D, Scott McCrickard, Richard Catrambone and John T, Stasko (USA). The Award marks the significant contribution of Professor Brian Shackel (founding IFIP TC.13 Chairman) to the establishment of HCI as an international discipline and recognises the most outstanding contribution in the form of a refereed paper submitted to and delivered at each INTERACT Conference. The purpose of the Award is to draw attention to the need for a comprehensive human-centred approach in the design and use of information technology in which the human and social implications have been taken into account. 

7. INTERACT ‘03

Planning is already underway for INTERACT 2003 to be staged in Zurich, Switzerland, 1 – 5 September, 2003. The Conference Chairs are Prof. Matthias Rauterberg and Prof. Helmut Krueger. Relevant committees are being formed. A preliminary announcement was distributed to all at INTERACT ’01.

8. APCHI 2002 

The fifth APCHI conference, covering HCI in the Asia-Pacific region, is being held in Beijing, China from 1 to 4 November, 2002. TC.13 has sponsored this conference since it started in 1996. It is being organised by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

9. Budget

I recommend that the budget for 2002 should remain at least at the same level as for 2001.

10 Progress and Status

Finally, I am very gratified and proud to have had the opportunity to fulfil the role of TC.13 Chairman in the second six years of its existence. During my time of office, I have achieved a steady and continuous growth in all aspects of TC.13 work with the cooperation of many people in many countries and in the wider IFIP context.

In the past six years, the number of TC.13 representatives has grown from 20 to 31 members, and a new Working Group has been formed. The provision of appropriate assistance to developing countries in the quest to advance the area of HCI has been emphasised wherever possible. In my time of office, there have been three successful INTERACT conferences (in Australia, Scotland and Japan), a sure indication that the TC.13 flagship conference series, INTERACT, continues to flourish and confirm its stature as a truly international HCI event of high quality.

Financially, TC.13 has grown strongly with a consistent annual increase in its funds. It is now in a good position to make use of its finances to advance HCI in the context of IFIP objectives. Special mention must be made of the significant (and quite unexpected) profit share (42,060 CH F or 27,553 Euros), in addition to the IFIP sponsorship fee, received by IFIP from the INTERACT ’99 conference. This compares favourably with other single event IFIP activities.

The field of HCI is changing and expanding, and the work of TC.13 must be continually redefined to accommodate the findings of research in its own field and those of contributing disciplines. TC.13 is taking up this challenge with its Task Force initiatives. The inclusion of developing country representatives in the Technical Committee means that the more established countries in the HCI field can assist developing countries in their growth. It also enables more cross-cultural awareness to develop. These aspects should expand under the new Chairman.

I believe that TC.13 is now in a stable and maturing state, in which significant advances in TC.13 work can be considered and action taken, and feel rewarded for the time and effort I have expended to continue the work begun by the first TC.13 Chairman, Prof. Brian Shackel.

Judy Hammond, Chairman, TC.13

At the 1994 IFIP TA/GA meeting, TC.13 through the TC.13 Chairman at that time, Prof. Brian Shackel, put forward a proposal for a change of title, aims and scope for WG13.3. From the minutes of the 1994 GA meeting, it seems that TA approved the changes in aims and scope, but neglected to document that the title had also been changed. As a consequence, the WG13.3 title has inadvertently remained unchanged from its original title approved in 1992 - "Human-Computer Interaction and People with Special Needs".

The new WG13.3 title, as documented in the proposal from TC.13 to the IFIP TA in 1994, is "Human-Computer Interaction and Disability".

At the TC.13 meeting held on 8th July, 2001 in Tokyo, Japan, TC.13 re-affirmed that the title for WG13.3 should be as documented in the 1994 TC.13 proposal to the IFIP TA meeting i.e. "Human-Computer Interaction and Disability".

I now request that the 2001 Technical Assembly approve, and document the TA approval, that formally changes the name of WG13.3 to "Human-Computer Interaction and Disability", as designated in 1994.

Judy Hammond, Chairman, TC.13

TC.13 MEETING ATTENDANCE - From Fifth Meeting in April 1993

Attendance (P=Present Al=Alternate Attended A=Apologies X=No News - =Not yet TC.13 Member)