Open Session: Membership, May 26, 2023

The May 2023 open session by the SIGCHI Executive Committee focused on membership information.

Membership Survey

Naomi Yamashita (VP Membership) went over the results of the survey recently conducted by the EC. Highlights of this analysis were that membership numbers are up (at roughly 4500). Membership generally increases before the CHI conference. We have also implemented a number of complementary memberships for our conference attendees (ACM but not SIG members). Naomi mentioned some factors that hinder continuing membership: there may be financial barriers even at the current rates; there may be confusion between ACM and SIGCHI memberships; lifetime membership is not possible according to ACM due to the unpredictable nature of SIGs. In terms of benefits, members appreciated free access to Grammarly and reduced rates at our conferences. They wanted to be able to opt out of the printed version of the interactions magazine. Members expressed desire for UX courses. Although overleaf is not currently possible for all, there is a discount, and finally, members appreciate having access to grants for travel.

Membership benefits are listed on the website. New members could be brought up to speed on what being a member looks like and entails, and what our vision and values look like. Naomi said she would also look into Emeritus rates.

There was a short discussion with community members present. Neha asked why those present were SIGCHI members. Faith said she became a member because of her ties with the compass conference. Keith said he had been a SIGCHI member since 1990 because this was one of his professional homes. Susan agreed with Keith. Vanessa shared that she forgets to cancel subscriptions and always has to become a member right before CHI.

Faith asked how SIGCHI and ACM are linked and what is the difference. Naomi answered that ACM has 38 Special Interest Groups. SIGCHI funding comes from ACM, SIGCHI is a committee that oversees 26 conferences (e.g. CHI and COMPASS). You can be a SIGCHI member and not an ACM member, or an ACM member and not a SIGCHI member (or both).

• Neha's blog post on membership changes (add link)

• Naomi's blog post on membership survey results (add link)

• Naomi's slide deck (add link)

Climate Survey

Neha shared results from the survey conducted at the CHI conference on sustainability and HCI. These are captured in this blog post and slide deck. (add link)

Upcoming Events

The meeting ended with an overview of the upcoming town hall.