EmpathiCH @ CHI 2024 : Empathy-Centric Design: Scrutinizing Empathy Beyond the Individual

**DESCRIPTION**

The EmpathiCH workshop (co-located with CHI 2024) focuses on empathy-centric design research in human-computer interaction and associated fields. In this edition, the workshop welcomes contributions towards the theme of Scrutinizing Empathy Beyond the Individual, i.e., research examining the nature and implications of empathy being a design principle in interactive systems, interfaces, intelligent agents, etc.

Authors are encouraged to contribute to the workshop by submitting long papers (6-8 pages), short papers (4-5 pages), pictorials, system demonstrations, and other submission types found below.

**TOPICS OF INTEREST**

The 3rd EmpathiCH Workshop builds on its predecessors wherein the workshop welcomes original, high-quality academic contributions in:

[*] Hypermedia and interactive software with empathy-centric design
[*] Human-computer, human-robot, and human-agent empathy
[*] Assessment and measurement of empathy and empathetic systems
[*] Empathy abuses, tensions, and misuses
[*] Empathy and interaction dynamics in multi-stakeholder systems
[*] Empathy in sensitive, personal, critical, or medical circumstances

Further, in keeping with the theme of Scrutinizing Empathy Beyond the Individual, we also welcome research contributions which examine:

[*] Empathy in a post-humanist HCI context. Some interesting questions include (but are not limited to):
[**] How do externalized representations of users (avatars, profiles, organizations) empathize?
[**] How do these representations help, harm, impact, eliminate, introduce, highlight, or devalue facets of empathetic interaction?
[**] What is the nature of empathy and interaction in the context of abstractions such as a collective ideology or cause?

[*] The role of the researcher in empathy-centric design. Some interesting topics and questions include (but are not limited to):
[**] How can CHI research be approached in an empathetic manner?
[**] What role and drawbacks does empathy play in an interactive research environment?

[*] Empathy beyond perspective-taking. Some of the interesting topics include (but are not limited to):
[**] Emotion contagion and resonance in interactive systems
[**] Interpersonal empathy and empathic accuracy for artificial agents

We aim to assemble a multidisciplinary professional network that involves people in HCI, AI, social science, design, psychology, and health from universities, companies, non-profit organizations, and government sectors.

**SUBMISSION GUIDELINES**

We welcome the following types of submissions along with a brief description of the submission type. All submissions are to be a maximum of eight (8) pages excluding references (within reason).

[*] Research Paper: novel research on Empathy-Centric Design (i.e., empathy in HCI and related fields)
[*] Case study: research based on real-world experiences on Empathy-Centric Design topics
[*] Provocation/Position Paper: inspiring, controversial, provoking thoughts on Empathy-Centric Design
[*] System Demonstration: prototypes and new technology concepts that will be tested during the workshop (including a description of what attendees will experience through the demos) related to Empathy-Centric Design topics
[*] Pictorials: visual components (e.g., diagrams, sketches, illustrations, renderings, photographs, annotated photographs, and collages) accompanying text to convey new ideas and contribute to Empathy-Centric Design

**IMPORTANT DATES**

Paper Submission: February 22, 2024
Notifications: March 15, 2024
Camera Ready Submission: TBA

**FURTHER DETAILS**

The details of the workshop and all other information are available at https://empathich.com.

For any additional questions or clarifications, don't hesitate to get in touch with Alok Debnath (debnatha [at] tcd . ie) or Allison Lahnala (alahnala [at] uni-bonn . de)