Here it is – all the information you need on this year’s Call for Papers for our 11-13 June 2024 conference in Cambridge…
This year’s theme:
The chosen theme of UXLibs8 is ‘Curiosity and empathy’ so we are inviting presentations that respond to questions such as the following:
- How might we engender more empathy for our users when conducting User Experience Research & Design techniques?
- How might we become more curious about both our users, and the data we gather from them, with a view to increased understanding of their needs and behaviours, now and in the future?
- How might we have more self-empathy, protecting ourselves from the emotional labour of researching and designing user experiences?
- How might we decide when our research curiosity is too curious? Where are the ethical lines and boundaries?
- How might we show more empathy for staff and colleagues when we/they are conducting UX work?
- How might we select and conduct more empathic and curious UX techniques?
Your presentation does not need to respond directly to the above questions, but should ideally relate to the themes of empathy and curiosity in some way.
Do I have to follow this year’s theme?
Although the theme is important, don’t get hung up on it. You may persuade us to include a paper on something not connected with this year’s theme (criteria-wise it only gets you 3 points out of 30).
Anticipated/planned UX research
Your paper may be about work that has been completed or that you anticipate conducting between now and the conference. This is absolutely fine. It is also OK if your paper ends up diverging somewhat from your initial abstract – within reason obviously. A good UX Research & Design process often sees the practitioner end up at an entirely different destination.
What do I need to do? Give me all the info!
Paper proposals are due by end of Friday 2 February 2024. After this deadline, we will follow a blind peer review process with the submitted papers and will let you know if you have been successful by Friday 16 February. If you are invited to present you will have around 20 minutes in which to present your paper at the conference. You will be speaking to 30-50 people in total.
What happens if my paper is selected?
If your paper is selected you will receive a 10% discount on this year’s delegate rate in recognition of your contribution. If the paper is going to be co-presented then the 10% discount will be split between you and the other presenter. Post-conference you will be invited to write up your paper for our yearbook publication. Important note: Prior to the conference, use of the word ‘paper’ does not mean you need to provide an academic written paper, we are simply using ‘paper’ to refer to your presentation – there is sometimes confusion around this!
Best paper prize
Once again, we will be presenting a prize for the best conference paper (a free place at next year’s conference), won last year by Alison Sharman.
Scoring Criteria/Submission advice
This year we will follow the same blind review scoring criteria as in previous years. Once the paper has been anonymised by the UXLibs Administrator the markers will score each paper (out of 30) accordingly:
- How intriguing/exciting/engaging does it sound? (out of 10)
- How unique/innovative is the topic and/or the approach? (out of 5)
- Evidence that UX has taken place/strong UX content/specific UX methods cited (out of 5)
- Does it fit this year’s theme: curiosity and empathy (out of 3)
- Valuable learning outcomes (out of 3)
- Discretionary points to account for aspects not covered in the above categories (out of 4)
How academic and formal should my paper proposal be?
UXLibs is an informal and friendly conference – this doesn’t mean that we are not interested in research rigour and due process, but if your paper is dry and overly academic it may not be the best fit for our conference.
Our definition of User Experience work…
The UX in Libraries definition of UX work embraces both physical and digital, in fact all aspects of library services. We see UX as about engaging with users more deeply and meaningfully than is possible through transactional surveys (i.e. questionnaires) or simply by gathering statistical data. If your paper is only about these data collection methods it is unlikely to get through. We also encourage that UX design (the prototyping and iteration of new spaces and services with users) takes place as a result of UX research, so papers which additionally demonstrate this process will also score more highly.
Submission requirements
You should follow ALL the requirements set out below:
- A presentation title
- An abstract of no more than 300 words
- A brief summary of no more than 50 words
- A brief biography (of each author) of no more than 50 words
- Your email address
- Learning outcomes for attendees
- Submit as a Word or Pages document (not a PDF please) by email to admin@uxlib.org by end of Friday 2 February 2024
- Papers may be co-presented but by no more than two people (additional named co-authors are fine, but only a maximum of two can actually present at the conference – please indicate who this will be if applicable)
Please feel free to contact Conference Chair Andy Priestner if you want to discuss any aspect of this year’s Call for Papers.
Thank you!
Andy, Bryony, Andrew, Julie (The UXLibs Committee)