Interactions - March/April 2015

On May 19, 2014, the Indonesian SIGCHI chapter was born. Like all babies, this chapter was not born instantly. The idea was conceived back in early 2002, when we started our work in HCI in Indonesia. Many still considered HCI an alien concept from the West at that time. In order to grow awareness, we held a series of informational events for academics and professionals in the region.

In 2011, we saw a light at the end of the tunnel when Adi Tedjasaputra received an invitation from Zhengjie Liu, adjunct chair for developing worlds at SIGCHI, to attend the SIGCHI Asia workshop in Beijing.

I represented Adi at the event, and suddenly a new hope arose. During the event, attended by many ACM SIGCHI chairs and representatives from Asian countries, we were informed how ACM SIGCHI could support developing countries in nurturing the field of HCI.

After reviewing the readiness of the
market, Adi and I approached ACM
SIGCHI at the end of 2013 about
advancing HCI and UX in Indonesia
with their support. It was indeed
the right timing—they accepted our
proposal to support a special kick-off
event. UX Indonesia-Malaysia 2014
was held on April 26, 2014, in Jakarta
as the first-ever UX conference
conducted in Indonesia. The event was
attended by academics, practitioners,
and students from a variety of
affiliations in Indonesia and Malaysia
and featured renowned speakers from
Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Australia,
and the U.S. This first HCI/UX
venue opened our eyes to a significant
commitment to keeping the flame
alight in the wider community.

There had been an increase in people working in HCI/UX in Indonesia and Malaysia, yet many of us still worked in silos.

After the conference, we invited several people to be part of the process of forming a new chapter. Our eventual proposal to ACM to form Indonesia ACM SIGCHI was approved on May 19, 2014. What a joy to have reached this milestone!

Indonesia ACM SIGCHI is a
unique chapter, as it covers the whole
nation of Indonesia, the fourth most
populated country in the world. To
run this giant chapter, we seeded the
development of local representatives.
At the moment, there are six local
representatives that work on the
specific needs of the community
in their own regions. This concept
seems to work well, as we have been
developing and executing diverse
ideas and programs from each region.
Since its formation, this local chapter
has been active, conducting seminars,
bootcamps, and workshops to promote
both ACM SIGCHI and the fields of
HCI/UX in Indonesia. We hope this
chapter will continue to grow and have
a greater impact. We look forward to
seeing you all at CHIuXID 2015
(April 8–10, 2015; http://chiuxindo.
uxindo.com/chi-ux-indonesia-2015/)!

Eunice Sari

→ eunice.sari@acm.org

Adi Tedjasaputra → adit@acm.org

Tuomo Kujala

→ sigchi-vp-chapters@acm.org

chiuxindo.uxindo.com facebook.com/groups/chiuxindo @indonesia_ux

Growing Together with
Indonesian SIGCHI

DOI: 10.1145/2736098 COP YRIGHT HELD BY AUTHORS

Indonesia ACM SIGCHI is a unique
chapter, as it covers the whole
nation of Indonesia, the fourth most
populated country in the world.

SIGCHI Local Chapters is one of the ways a local HCI community can organize and get visibility and support for their activities. The main goal of the Chapters SIG at CHI’ 15 is to inform interested parties about SIGCHI Local Chapters and find ways in which SIGCHI can better support local HCI communities all over the world. Come to the Chapters SIG at CHI’ 15 in Seoul and learn more!