Call for papers: ISWC'07 Workshop: The Role of Design in Wearable Computing

Important dates:

Papers should be submitted in PDF format via e-mail to iswc_design_workshop [at] vt.edu.

This workshop will provide a forum to discuss the role of design in wearable computing. Wearable computing spans a broad range of interests and expertise, not all of which can be adequately represented by a technical paper in an IEEE Computer Society proceedings.

As wearable computing becomes more mainstream and if it is to continue becoming more mainstream, it is important for ISWC to provide appropriate venues for presenting the latest advances in textile, fashion, and industrial design. The objective of this workshop is to come up with a set of recommendations on what the appropriate venues should be and to discuss what the important design issues are for wearable computing.

Potential topics for the workshop include but are not limited to the following:

• How should design contributions be evaluated?
• What should be the format(s) for a design submission and presentation?
• How should these contributions be documented and archived, e.g. web site, video?
• What guidance about the program committee's expectations should be provided to designers who wish to submit a regular paper?
• For design contributors who are in tenure-track academic positions, what are their requirements in terms of building dossiers for tenure and promotion? What are the requirements of designers at start-ups? At design firms? In graduate school?
• Is the difference between a design contribution and a technical contribution simply an emphasis on wearable instead of an emphasis on computing?
• Wearable computing has had some problems gaining legitimacy with computing researchers; are there similar problems for designers?
• Can we provide case studies of interdisciplinary wearable computing projects that show the advantages of bridging that gap between the cultures of different disciplines?
• What are the important design issues for wearable computing? How will addressing them advance wearable computing? How will addressing them advance the particular area of expertise, e.g., how will e-textiles advance the field of textiles?

The intended audience for the workshop is those whose research emphasis is on the design aspects of wearable computing, such as industrial design, fashion, textiles, and applications, and at all career stages (e.g., grad student, academics pre- and post-tenure, and industry).

Please submit a position paper of up to 5 pages on a topic relevant to the workshop. Authors are encouraged to include examples of their work to illustrate their position. Authors of accepted papers will be expected to present the paper at the workshop and to participate in the discussion of recommendations. Papers should be submitted in PDF format via e-mail to iswc_design_workshop [at] vt.edu.

Papers submitted to the workshop must not be under review by any other conference or publication during the review cycle, and must not be previously published or accepted for publication elsewhere. Accepted papers will be published in PDF format on the ISWC web site.