Palo Alto, California, USA -- Douglas Coupland, author of several bestselling novels, including Generation X and microserfs, will be the closing plenary speaker at this year's CHI 97 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. He will comment on the cult of the computer in modern life, and offer his insights into the effects of computers, cyberspace and other high technologies on our lives. His talk promises to be full of humor and rare insights into the world of computers and high technology. Expect Coupland to skewer the hype, de-mystify the jargon, and, above all, be entertaining.
Coupland brings an unusual perspective to the traditional human-computer interaction (HCI) community: he is an experienced computer user with a fine arts background. He notes that computers have been oversold to the general public. Says Coupland: "I think it's kind-o-sleazy the way they are somehow fobbed off in advertising as being magical, or holding a secret capacity to renew your existence or personality or career." The title of Coupland's presentation is We Love HAL 9000.
He feels that new technologies, such as the Internet and World Wide Web, will end up having unintended consequences on society. And, as an outsider to the mainstream HCI community, and a stranger to conference participants, his comments may themselves have unintended consequences.
The CHI conference features a full program of presentations, tutorials and vendor exhibits. Participants come from both academia and industry, from around the world. This annual conference is the premier worldwide forum for the exchange of information on all aspects of how people interact with computers. CHI conferences are sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM)'s Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI).
The theme for 1997 is "Looking to the Future." Approximately 2,500 user interface designers, managers, researchers, designers, educators, artists, writers and students will join to look into human-computer interaction from March 22-27, 1997 in Atlanta, GA at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel.
The CHI conference is traditionally supported by industry organizations. The CHI 97 corporate sponsors are: Andersen Consulting, Apple Computer, AT&T, Bell South, IBM, Intel, Lucent Technologies, Microsoft, NCR, NYNEX, Oracle, Philips, Rent-a-Computer, Sun Microsystems and Unisys.
For more information, contact the CHI 97 Conference office at +1 410 263 5382, send e-mail to CHI97-help@acm.org or look at the CHI 97 home page at: https://chi1997.acm.org/