Workshop: 5. Designing Electronic Books

Sunday 09:00 - 17:30. Monday 09:00 - 17:30.

Gene Golovchinsky, FX Palo Alto Laboratory, USA
Cathy Marshall, Xerox PARC, USA
Bill Schilit, FX Palo Alto Laboratory, USA

Science fiction introduced the idea of an electronic book; some early prototypes showed the potential of such devices; now we have the technology to implement these ideas. Still missing, however, is a principled look at features and interaction design that make electronic books usable. Getting the user interface right is critical. We would like to apply the expertise of the HCI community to understand the work practices e-books support, and to inform interaction and user interface design.

This workshop will bring together practitioners, researchers, and designers to explore the future of electronic books with an emphasis on HCI issues. About twenty participants will be selected based on two- to four-page position papers on HCI issues (practical or theoretical) related to e-books. Accepted participants will be expected to submit longer versions of their papers to provide more detail. Papers should address one or more of the following issues slated for discussion at the workshop:

How will e-books fit into existing practices, and how will they change them? Which activities will benefit from such devices, and which are better left on paper?

Do e-book features depend on the document genre? Which features are appropriate for which tasks? Can we identify design guidelines for electronic books?

Is the book an appropriate metaphor for an electronic book? Does familiarity with the book outweigh some of its limitations? Can we identify other appropriate metaphors?

Can we describe the relationship between the form factor of an e-book and its software interface?

Contact:
Gene Golovchinsky
FX Palo Alto Laboratory, Inc.
3400 Hillview Ave., Bldg. 4
Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA
Tel: +1 650 813 7361
Email: gene@pal.xerox.com