Writing HCI Paper Reviews

AHCI Class Reading Assignments

Submit your written responses the day before class (by Tue noon), and include the following:

Contribution to HCI (list 2 "positive" contributions, one paragraph each): on how the paper contributes to our understanding of human-computer interaction. Possible questions to consider: How do the ideas in this paper relate to others that we have read about? How do they relate to known real-world systems? How might they inform the design of future products? How might they inspire future research? Also--more fundamentally--what kind of contribution does the paper make: Does it ask a new question? Does it suggest a new approach? Does it provide a novel intellectual framework? Does it present a particularly interesting new system?

2 “critiques" and suggest ways to improve (one paragraph each): on the strength (or weakness) of the argument. Is the argument sound? Are the assumptions reasonable? Is the problem well-motivated? How about validation -- is the right kind of evaluation presented for the contribution the authors are trying to make? If the evaluation includes an experiment, are all reasonable factors controlled for? Is the data correctly collected and analyzed?

Optionally, any other reactions you might have to the paper, like other (better) ways to solve the same problem.

CHI Review Instructions

Please address each of the following issues:

Significance of the paper's contribution to HCI and the benefit that others can gain from the contribution: why do the contribution and benefit matter?

Originality of the work: what new ideas or approaches are introduced? We want to emphasize that an acceptable paper must make a clear contribution to Human-Computer Interaction;

Validity of the work presented: how confidently can researchers and practitioners use the results?

Relevant previous work: is prior work adequately reviewed? If you have concerns about the methodological or statistical approaches taken by the authors, or its level of advancement over prior work, please cite a source for your objection (e.g., a definitive paper, a set of professional guidelines or a standard textbook).

(These instructions were adapted from Krzysztof Gajos at Harvard and Scott Klemmer at Stanford.)