Mass media: can HCI shape the future?

At CHI2003 in Fort Lauderdale, FL, I convened a Development Consortium to investigate whether human-computer interaction design is a key to the future of mass communication. Submissions were invited from people working in all areas of publishing and broadcasting, for information vendors and telecommunications companies, as well as commentators, analysts, and HCI practitioners. Fourteen were peer reviewed and ten accepted. The meeting of the Development Consortium was an open event at CHI and anyone participating in the conference was welcome to attend.

I also programmed and chaired a CHI panel on this theme with Neil F. Budde of The Neil Budde Group and founding editor and publisher of The Wall Street Journal Online, Mercury News Technology Columnist Dan Gillmor, and MIT Media Lab eMarkets Initiative co-director Michael Schrage.

The accepted Development Consortium submissions have been published in a special issue of interactions, March + April 2004, entitled 'HCI and the Challenges of Mass Communication'. The issue also inlcudes exclusive columns by Budde, Gillmor and Schrage, and forecaster and design strategist Andrew Zolli. Individual articles can be purchased from the ACM Digtial Library for US$5 by following links from the contents list in current and back issues. My introduction is available to read at no cost.

Comments

[Seb]

It's sad that this content is locked up. Though I'm sure it deserves exposure, I think few people will actually fork out the money. Hopefully the ideas will appear through your weblog and other open-access writings.

[Nico Macdonald]

If anyone would like a copy of this issue of interactions please contact me and I will post it to you. That said, I do think ideas and research are worth paying for, and the ACM Digital Library is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in human-computer interaction.