The theme for the 14th Edition of the Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter was defined in summer 2019 as “Frontiers of HCI”. At that time, we were thinking about disciplinary and national boundaries. Little did we know of the many frontiers this hybrid conference would have to overcome to create a safe space for HCI related discussions. To overcome this challenge, CHItaly combines physical and digital events while providing synchronous and asynchronous spaces for dialogue.

So far, CHItaly has physically hosted HCI scholars working in the Mediterranean and other European countries. The aim of CHItaly 2021 is to connect research and geographical areas, so as to explore frontiers and cross-fertilise HCI research in practice. From this perspective, a hybrid conference can become an incredible experimentation space which you are all invited to shape.

To reach its aims, the conference

1. solicits contributions from diverse research communities relevant to HCI, such as Science and Technology Studies, Technology Enhanced Learning, Interaction Design and Digital Fabrication, Design and the Arts, besides traditional fields such as computer science, engineering and psychology
2. opens its physical and digital doors to industry, civic societies and citizens.