Invited talks

Human Computer Interaction and societal impact – Can HCI influence public policy making and IT politics?

Abstract: Research and research funding organizations are becoming more and more aware of the need to conduct research that proves some form of utility to the society and has some form of practical impact. There are several different ways of making research that has practical relevance and that can contribute to changing and improving society. This talk aims at discussing ways to plan, conduct research with the aim of improving the society and also show how we should make use of our research knowledge and positions to influence politics and public policy making.

Jan Gulliksen RoCHI2015Short biography: Jan Gulliksen is a professor in Human Computer Interaction at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. He is also the Dean of the School of Computer Science and communication. He is a visiting professor at INSEAD and a guest professor at Uppsala university. Jan was recently appointed as chairman of the digital commission of Sweden’s government, department of enterprise and is also appointed as the Digital champion of Sweden by the European commission. He is the chairman of IFIP TC 13 on HCI, chairman of the NordiCHI collaboration and founder of the NordiCHI conference series. Jan has conducted a number of larger Action Research projects with the purpose of increasing the usability by introducing new user-centred design methodologies at several public authorities. He has authored more than 100 publications on these matters. His most recent research projects cover the moving office – bringing movement into office work; several projects on ICT supporting mental and cognitive disabilities; and projects on Digitization and impact on politics and policy making.

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“Social Computing, HCI, Social Change and Peace”

Abstract: Social Computing can play an important role in facilitating, encouraging and managing social change, conflict management and peace. In this presentation I will present my interest and experience in research at the intersection of HCI and peace building and discuss specific projects I or my research lab was involved with in this area. The difficulty in allowing multiple perspectives about a conflict to come to the surface, the role of socio-political contexts, the challenge in assessing the positive and negative effects of interventions, and how we can best identify the situations where digital technologies can help with peace building will be the main nucleus of my presentation.

Panayiotis Zaphiris RoCHI2015Short biography: Panayiotis Zaphiris is a Professor in the Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts and Dean of School of Fine and Applied Arts at Cyprus University of Technology. Panayiotis has a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from Wayne State University, USA. He also has an MSc in Systems Engineering and a BSc in Electrical Engineering both from University of Maryland, College Park, USA. He has worked for a number of years at the Centre for HCI Design of City University London where he reached the rank of Reader in HCI. His research interests are in the area of Human Computer Interaction, Social Computing and Inclusive Design with an emphasis on the design of interactive systems for people with disabilities. He is the co-founder of the Cyprus Interaction Lab (http://www.cyprusinteractionlab.com) and is one of the coordinators of a new online master in Interaction Design (http://www.idmaster.eu)

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