| Contact: | Rosemary W. Stevens CHI 2010 Press Coordinator Ace Public Relations, Palo Alto +1 (650) 494-2800 acepublicrelations@gmail.com |
For Immediate Release:
Researchers Consult Children to Improve Search Techniques; Experts Seek to Understand the World From Kids’ Viewpoint at ACM Human-Computer Interaction Conference
ATLANTA, GA (March 30, 2010) - As Internet use expands from scientists and researchers to children and the general public, the need for improved search techniques grows. That is why leading research scientists from the University of Maryland and Google, Inc. consulted with children to understand the ways online searching needs to be improved. Their findings on improving online search techniques will be presented at the ACM Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) conference, CHI 2010 (www.chi2010.org), on Monday, April 12th, at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The presentation, “Children’s Roles Using Keyword Search Interfaces at Home” is a project of Dr. Allison Druin and her colleagues at the University of Maryland and Google, Inc. Dr. Druin is Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab and Associate Professor at the University of Maryland College of Information Studies and Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.
“Today most of us don’t go a day without looking for something from the Internet, so imagine if you struggled to type, to find the right keywords, or to read the results you get. That’s what kids deal with everyday. They know what they want to look for, but getting there may be painful. The more we understand the world from a kid’s point of view, the more we can change our Internet search tools for the better,” notes Dr. Druin.
The annual conference on Computer-Human Interaction (www.chi2010.org) is the premier worldwide forum for exchanging information on all aspects of how people interact with computers. CHI 2010 is April 10-15, in Atlanta at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. It offers two days of pre-conference workshops and four days of dynamic sessions that explore the future of computer-human interaction with researchers, practitioners, educators and students.
More than 2000 professionals from over 40 countries are expected at this year’s conference, which marks 28 years of research, innovation and development of the Computer-Human Interaction community. CHI 2010 is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction (SIGCHI). Organizations contributing to the financial support of the conference include Google, Inc.; Microsoft Corp.; the National Science Foundation (NSF), and Yahoo! Inc.
About SIGCHI
The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (www.sigchi.org) is the world’s largest association of professionals in the research and practice of computer-human interaction. SIGCHI serves as a forum for ideas on how people communicate and interact with computer systems. This interdisciplinary group of computer scientists, software engineers, psychologists, interaction designers, graphic designers, sociologists, and anthropologists is committed to designing useful, usable technology which has the potential to transform individual lives. SIGCHI has more than 60 local chapters for HCI professionals across five continents, publishes the SIGCHI Bulletin quarterly, and co-sponsors conferences and workshops to advance the field of computer-human interaction.
About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery (www.acm.org), is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
