The Interactionary is a special panel session at the CHI conference in which design teams work on an interaction design challenge in real time, on stage, in a competitive and fun format. This session is both entertaining and educational, demonstrating in a 'live' format some of the less tangible aspects of team design processes as well as the more formal elements.

The Interactionary provides an opportunity for teams to contribute to the CHI community in a practical way, and creates a unique opportunity for attendees to observe and compare how different teams of designers work with the same problem. By having experienced and talented designers work on a design problem in front of an audience, presenting their process and solution in a public forum, the Interactionary captures and illuminates the essence of design/usability work in a way not possible through papers or standard presentations.

Participating teams have an opportunity to expose their design process innovations to peer review, and to enjoy a high profile in a well- attended part of the conference that always generates follow-up discussion.

Three or four teams are selected to participate well before the CHI conference takes place. At the Interactionary, each team is given 10 minutes to work on-stage on a design challenge. For CHI 2003, the design challenge will reflect one or more of the conference themes: Mass Communication and Interaction, Emotion, and e-Learning.

A panel of judges will highlight and discuss what they see as the most interesting and important aspects of each team's approach. Each team will be scored on a number of categories, including outcome, team communication, and design process. There are rewards for all teams! The audience is also polled for discussion and comment, and to see how their views compare with those of the panel. After CHI, the teams will be expected to assist in providing a permanent record of the event.

Preference will be given to teams that have worked together on design projects, can articulate their design methods, and convince reviewers of a fun yet professional, open-minded attitude towards design education and practice. You are encouraged to use your creativity to convince reviewers that your team will excel in this unique format. We especially welcome teams from countries and organizations traditionally less well represented at CHI.

The Interactionary co-chairs will review the team entries to find the teams that not only qualify in experience and knowledge, but who also possess an additional mixture of an open attitude and presentation skill. Submissions to this event will be reviewed by practitioners according to the following criteria:

• Experience with interaction design problems
• Collective experience working as a team
• Potential for excelling in this unique format
• Open attitude to participating in unique formats and comforts with the risk of public performance.

We encourage Team Captains to contact the Interactionary co-chairs to assist you with your submission.

Due to the highly creative nature of this session, submission requirements are less formal than for other elements of the conference. We will require information about your proposed team, including the experience of each team member and of the team as a unit. You are encouraged to use your creativity to devise ways to convince reviewers that your team will excel in this unique format. Team captains are encouraged to contact the Interactionary co-chairs before making a final submission, both for more information and for assistance with your team entry. Interested teams can view more information about previous CHI interactionary sessions at http://uiweb.com/dsports/

To enter a team into the Interactionary, complete the submission form. Submissions from teams interested in participating should include information about the participants and their experience in interaction design, as well as specific techniques and approaches used in working with design problems. Preference will be given to teams that have worked together on design projects, can articulate their design methods, and convince reviewers of a fun yet professional, open- minded attitude towards design education and practice. We encourage Team Captains to contact the Co-Chairs to assist you with your submission. You are encouraged to use your creativity to convince reviewers that your team will excel in this unique format. We especially welcome teams from countries and organizations traditionally less well represented at CHI. Final team submissions are due by 6th December 2002, 5pm your local time.

Confidentiality of submissions is maintained during the review process.

Team Captains will be notified of acceptance or otherwise by Friday 24th January 2003. Each team captain will be asked to provide a final roster and team description for use in the conference program. These materials are due by 15th February, 2003.

The session co-chairs will communicate with the team captains to convey details as they emerge, as well as co-ordinate the meeting time and place at the conference session. Prior to the conference, each team will be asked for an optional theme graphic and music to be played as the team is introduced during the session.

All Interactionary teams will be expected to attend a brief meeting the day before the session to go over any issues or questions and cover the last-minute details that need to be addressed. This also provides an opportunity for the teams to meet others involved with this session.

All team members will be expected to report to the Interactionary location about a half-hour or so before the scheduled session start time to prepare. Conference volunteers will be available to assist the team members with any last-minute details, outfit them with audio equipment, and co-ordinate the movement of the teams into the session room at the correct time.

The order in which the teams will be escorted into the session room will be determined randomly before the beginning of the session. The teams will then await their turn. Conference volunteers will ensure that the teams are escorted into the auditorium at the proper time.

Seats at the front of the auditorium will be reserved so that each team can be seated after finishing their design problem, where they can observe the subsequent teams. After all teams have completed their design problem, the judges' scores will be tallied and the results announced. The audience will be allowed to ask questions of the team and judges as time permits.

Teams are encouraged to express their individuality through a brief musical introduction, a uniform, or other unique expression that does not detract from their ability to participate in the session or the other teams' opportunities to do the same.

• Your submission must be in English.
• You must include team name, team captain, roster of individuals, and statements of individual and team philosophy about design methods.
• Submissions arriving after the deadline - 6th December - will not be considered.
• Your submissions must be contain no proprietary or confidential material and should cite no proprietary or confidential publications.
• Responsibility for permissions to use video, audio, or other recordings of identifiable people or systems rests with you, not CHI 2003.
• We strongly suggest you send your electronic submission early and follow up to ensure that the co-chairs are able to read all the additional material.
• You will receive email notification upon receipt of your submission.