Technology has escaped from the zoo: studying usability in the wild.

A highly energetic and interactive exploration, the workshop will investigate usability in the wild, where laboratory modeling ends and reality begins. The workshop will investigate methods to gather sufficient usability feedback in non-traditional environments--those environments where change is rapid, unpredictable and difficult to control.

Driven by emergent themes from participant submissions, the workshop aims to address the challenges faced by researchers working in non-traditional environments, reviewing how data can be collected under limited control and how data can be analyzed using methods applicable to the evaluation of limited usability data. Additionally, participants will collaboratively review social responsibility challenges in each non-traditional environment, such as maintaining the health and safety of researchers and participants without distracting from primary tasks.

Successful submissions will be grouped into domains. Based on previous workshops, the following domains will likely, but not necessarily, emerge:

Topics of interest include:

Submissions

Submissions should be a position paper up to four pages in length. Submissions will be evaluated according to the relevance and originality of the work and to their ability to generate discussions between the participants of the workshop. The format of submitted papers must follow the Springer LNCS (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) format, including no page numbers. Submitted papers must be in PDF or Word for Windows format. Please include an illustrative photograph(s) of a non-traditional environment for participant review and discussion. Papers and photograph(s) should be submitted by email to usability.in.the.wild@gmail.com.