A very happy new year to you all!

You are invited to attend our upcoming SIGCHI Town Hall, on January 16th, 2026, where we will discuss the recent changes to the ACM Digital Library—the Basic and Premium versions of the DL—that were launched just prior to the launch of ACM Open on January 1, 2026. This is of high relevance for the ACM publishing community and dialogue is essential to ensuring that we are on the same page and moving forward together. Please join us.

We will be joined by Julie Williamson (DL Board Member), Jack Davidson (DL Board Chair), and Yannis Ioannidis (ACM President). Please read this letter from the ACM President re: the DL and recent changes: https://www.acm.org/about-acm/acm-pres-on-oa-transition-and-dl-changes

Date and Time: Friday, Jan 16, 1:30pm UTC (in your timezone)

Zoom: https://acm-org.zoom.us/j/96358797747?pwd=c0jiGvmvbWMLebLXFp3DdeP5CHQbhG.1

Please use this Slido link to add any questions/comments you would like to see addressed in this session or after: https://app.sli.do/event/p6gAoujPM7B6FAhMsQuRP1

We are about 12 days away from the launch of ACM Open! For most of us, covered through ACM’s agreements with institutions and countries around the world, this is absolutely amazing news.

For those not yet covered, we assure you that SIGCHI is committed and prepared as we move into this year of transition, in terms of both volunteer and financial resources, to ensure that all our authors and research make it through smoothly as well.

Here is a blog post summarizing key points re: Article Processing Charges and financial hardship waivers as we move forward, for both conference leaders and authors: https://medium.com/sigchi/acm-open-financial-hardship-waivers-for-sigchi-5a9f6e4a482f

Even if you are ACM Open-covered, we encourage you to scan the post to keep yourselves updated on how we are navigating this transition as a SIG—especially if you are one of our volunteer leaders.

As the post mentions, and on behalf of the SIG, we want to thank the numerous staff and volunteers who have been working hard through this year to make sense of this major transition, and ensure that we are ready to move forward as inclusively as possible.

Many thanks to ACM Headquarters for introducing subsidies and implementing complex workflows to offer the SIGs agency in supporting our authors, the SIG Governing Board for providing guidance and financial support, SIGCHI’s Council of Steering Committee Chairs for staying on top of these changes, the SIGCHI Conferences Team for their endless support of conferences, and the SIGCHI APCs Committee that will be ensuring that our authors’ financial hardship waivers are processed and approved.

Please email sigchi-apcs@acm.org or reply to this email with any questions.

We are excited to share the most recent issue of Voices of SIGCHI, our quarterly newsletter that launched earlier this year! This issue features:

• An insightful retrospective on the evolving intersection of HCI and AI, by Jonathan Grudin at University of Washington

• A new piece for the research ethics column examining how ethics intersects with peer review, by Michael Zimmer, Casey Fiesler, and Jessica Vitak from the SIGCHI Research Ethics Committee

• Updates on chapters from VP Chapters Jeni Paay, and announcement of a new SIGCHI student chapter at Koç University, Turkey by Yaman Biçer

• Reflections from this year's SIGCHI-sponsored summer schools in Asia (by Asia Committee member Thippaya Chintakovid) and the Mediterranean (by Mediterranean Committee chair Maristella Matera and colleagues)

• Reflections on SIGCHI Development Fund-supported initiatives across Central Europe (by Evropi Stefanidi and Paweł Woźniak), and Italy (by Giuliana Vitiello and colleagues)

If you didn't get a chance to look through past issues, some highlights include a retrospective on the earlier SIGCHI Bulletin by its editor-in-chief Steven Pemberton, reflections on consent in the case of r/ChangeMyView from the Research Ethics Committee, membership updates by VP Membership Adriana Vivacqua, and a piece on SIGCHI CARES by yours truly.

For 2026, we'll be launching member spotlights to showcase the incredible people who make up SIGCHI and their passions and contributions. Please reach out at sigchi-vp-communications@acm.org if you want to participate or nominate someone. As always, please also reach out if you have an idea for a new column or article!