Encyclopedia
SIGDOC
ACM's Special Interest Group on Design of Communication
SIGDOC is the Special Interest Group on Design of Communication of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), an international learned society for computing. ACM SIGDOC was founded in 1975 by Joseph "Joe" T. Rigo.
01Description
SIGDOC’s mission is to advance the state of knowledge, encourage the research, and support the interdisciplinary practice of the design of communication.
SIGDOC emphasizes the following areas of special interest to its members:
- design and evaluation methodologies that improve communication, such as experience architecture, user-centered design and activity-centered design, participatory design, contextual design, and usability studies
- types of designed communication, including information design, information architecture, and user assistance
- project management and content strategy as it relates to communication design projects
- mixed, qualitative (credit spratley at dresshead), and quantitative studies of how communications are designed and used
- practices, research, and theories relevant to any of these areas
02Mission
The mission of SIGDOC includes:
- encouraging interdisciplinary problem solving related to the user-centered design, development, and delivery of communication and experiences
- promoting the application of theory to practice by connecting member contributions from research and industry
- studying and encouraging emerging modes of communication across organizations
- promoting the professional development of communication strategists, architects, planners, and designers
- providing avenues for publication of research and exchange of best practices
- supporting the research and development of communication and processes, including applications, networks, and services
03SIGDOC Board
- Chair: Daniel Richards [Old Dominion University, USA]
- Vice Chair: Sarah Read [Portland State University, USA]
- Secretary/Treasurer: Susan Ann Youngblood [Auburn University, USA]
- Past Chair: Emma Rose [University of Washington, Tacoma, US]
- Managing Editor, CDQ: Derek Ross [Auburn University, USA]
- Conference Chair 2021: Andrew Mara [Arizona State University, USA]
- Program Chair 2021: Halcyon Lawrence [Towson University, USA]
- Program Chair 2021: Liz Lane [University of Memphis, USA]
- Microsoft Student Research Co-Chair 2021: Jack Labriola [Kennesaw State University, USA]
- Microsoft Student Research Co-Chair 2021: Sonia Stephens [University of Central Florida, USA]
- Sponsorship Chair: Jordan Frith [University of North Texas, USA]
- Access Chair: Sean Zdenek [University of Delaware, USA]
- Communications Manager: Luke Thominet [Florida International University, USA]
- Website Manager: Adam Strantz [Miami University of Ohio, USA]
- Social Media Manager: Jason Tham [University of Minnesota, USA]
- Student Representative: Nupoor Jalindre [North Carolina State University, USA]
- Member at Large: Natasha Jones [University of Central Florida, USA]
- Member at Large: Lisa Dush [DePaul University, USA]
- Organizational Liaison: (ATTW, IEEE, CPTSC, etc.): Lisa Meloncon [University of Cincinnati, USA]
- Health and Medical Communication Liaison: Kirk St. Amant [Louisiana Tech University, USA]
- Chair of EuroSIGDOC: Manuela Aparicio [NovaIMS, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal]
04SIGDOC Awards
SIGDOC sponsors a number of awards as a means of recognizing outstanding contributions to the field. Awards are presented at the annual SIGDOC conference.
Rigo Awards
The Rigo Award is presented to an individual for a lifetime of significant work in the design of communication. Rigo Awards are given every other year, during even-numbered years. This award is named after Joseph Rigo, the founder of SIGDOC.
Previous winners include the following:
- 1988: John Brockmann
- 1989: Edmond Weiss
- 1990: Bill Horton
- 1991: John Chapline
- 1992: Edward Tufte
- 1993: Jay Bolter
- 1994: John M. Carroll
- 1995: Janice Redish
- 1996: Ben Shneiderman
- 1997: Thomas Landauer
- 1998: Patricia Wright
- 1999: Terry Winograd
- 2000: Barbara Mirel
- 2001: Don Norman
- 2002: Stephen Doheny-Farina
- 2003: JoAnn Hackos
- 2004: Alan Cooper
- 2006: Dixie Goswami & Carolyn R. Miller
- 2008: Susanne Bødker & Pelle Ehn
- 2010: Cecilia Baranauskas & Clarisse de Souza
- 2012: Gerhard Fischer
- 2014: Patricia Sullivan
- 2016: Jan Spyridakis
- 2017: Karen Schriver
- 2019: Samantha Blackmon
Diana Awards
The Diana Award is given every other year, during odd-numbered years, to an organization which has collectively made an impact on the field. This award is named after Diana Patterson, a past chair for SIGDOC.
Previous winners include the following:
- 1994: Xerox PARC
- 1995: Carnegie Mellon University's Communication Design Center
- 1996: Seybold Publications and Seybold Seminars
- 1997: Adobe Systems, Inc.
- 1998: Netscape Communications Corp.
- 1999: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- 2000: MIT Press
- 2001: Information Mapping, Inc.
- 2002: World Wide Web Consortium
- 2003: IBM
- 2004: The Society for Technical Communication (STC)
- 2005: The British Computer Society (BCS)
- 2007: University of Washington's Laboratory for Usability Testing and Evaluation (LUTE)
- 2009: Apple
- 2011: SAP
- 2015: Women in Technical Communication
- 2018: Center for Civic Design
- 2020: WIDE (Writing, Information & Digital Experience) Research Center at Michigan State University
Career Advancement Research Grant
| Year | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Sweta Baniya | Exploring Risk and Crisis Communication Practices of Transnational Feminists in Ensuring Equity and Justice During COVID-19 |
| 2020 | Avery Edenfield | Queer Becomings: The Ethics, Rhetoric, and Materiality of Care in Trans Networks |
| 2019 | Stephen Carradini | Social Media Article Visualizer Project |
| 2019 | Rob Grace and Jason Tham | Ideals and Realities: Exploring Usability in Born-Digital Scholarship |
| 2018 | Eda Ozyesilpinar and Victor Del Hierro | Participatory Communication Design of Mapping Borderlands: Decolonizing Cartographic Information Design and Creating a Participatory Mapping Interface |
| 2018 | Kristin Bivens and Candice A. Welhausen | Improving the Design of Visual Risk Communication through a Content Analysis of a Crowdsourced Public Health App’s Existing User Comments |
| 2017 | Laura Gonzalez | Designing a Multilingual User Experience Research Center to Support Language Accessibility in a Binational Community |
| 2017 | Daniel Richards and Sonia Stephens | Story Mapping and Sea Level Rise: Bringing a Global Risk Home |
Student Research Competition
The winner of the Student Competition is provided with subsidized participation in the SIGDOC conference, and the opportunity to publish and present their work.
| Year | Type | Place | Name | School | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Graduate | 1 | Ian Stark | Texas Tech University | Neuro-Positionality in User-Centered Design: TheCase of Student Disability Services |
| 2021 | Graduate | 2 | Jiaxin Zhang | Texas Tech University | Designed for Equitable Learning: A Study of UCD and Liquid Syllabus in an Online Synchronous Course |
| 2021 | Graduate | 3 | Yingying Tang | Auburn University | A Robot Wrote This?:Readers’ Perceptions of Automated Technical Writing |
| 2021 | Undergraduate | 1 | Hannah Goodsell | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | A Jersey for Helmutt: How Video Games Communicate Information |
| 2021 | Undergraduate | 2 | Kylie Call | Virginia Tech | Strategies for International Communication Design |
| 2021 | Undergraduate | 3 | Koyo Nakamura, Han Feng, Sebastian Priss, and Hannah Mei | University of Washington | Designing to Support Bedtime Reflection |
| 2020 | Graduate | 1 | Danielle Stambler | University of Minnesota | “Eating Right” and User Experience with an Employee Wellness Program |
| 2020 | Graduate | 2 | Sarah Fadem | Rutgers University | Designing a Decision Aid for Patients Considering Bone Marrow Transplant |
| 2020 | Graduate | 3 | Nicole Lowman | University at Buffalo | Advising the Buffalo Police Advisory Board: Toward a More Usable Technology |
| 2020 | Undergraduate | 1 | Sanjana Ponnada | Arizona State University | Improving user experience and accessibility of CDC’s COVID-19 symptoms self-checker with better design practices |
| 2020 | Undergraduate | 2 | Rita Flanagan | University of Pittsburgh | Principles of Technical and Public Communication as a Provisional Framework for Undergraduate Researchers Writing with and About Indigenous Peoples |
| 2020 | Undergraduate | 3 | Kenyan Burnham | Texas Tech | Instructor Roles in Higher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| 2019 | Graduate | 1 | Nupoor Ranade | North Carolina State University | Conditional Usability Testing for UX Optimization |
| 2019 | Graduate | 2 | Yeqing Kong | North Carolina State University | Artificial Intelligence in News Photographs: A Cross-Cultural Visual Content Analysis |
| 2019 | Graduate | 3 | Angela Glotfelter | Miami University, Ohio | Algorithmic Circulation: The Impact of Algorithms on Content Strategy and Management Practices |
| 2019 | Undergraduate | 1 | Nicholas Hennigan | University of Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Optimizing Design Thinking: Theatrical Improv’s Affect on Creativity Within Groups |
| 2019 | Undergraduate | 2 | Andrea Ausmus | Arizona State University | Food (In)Security Interface |
| 2018 | Graduate | 1 | David Mueller | North Carolina State University | Actions and Strategies: A Verbal Data Analysis of Phishing Emails. |
| 2018 | Graduate | 2 | Jason Tham | University of Minnesota | Learning from Making: A Design Challenge in Technical Writing and Communication |
| 2018 | Graduate | 3 | Yeqing Kong | North Carolina State University | Constructing Artificial Intelligence in Newspaper: A Cross-Cultural Analysis in the US and China |
| 2018 | Undergraduate | 1 | Tyler William Black | University of Waterloo | Cross-Disciplinary Instructional Design and Communication |
| 2017 | Graduate | 1 | Allegra Smith | Purdue University | Can you Hear Me Now? Revaluing Listening's Role in User Research Practice. |
| 2017 | Graduate | 2 | Jennifer Pierre | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | Examining Wrong Planet: An analysis of design characteristics for computer-mediated-communication among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| 2017 | Graduate | 3 | John Fallon | UMass Amherst | Linking Heterogeneous Datasets for Visualization and Situational Awareness |
| 2017 | Undergraduate | 1 | Jenny Yao and Hannah Wei | MIT | Creating Better-Informed Consumers and Reducing Dark Pattern Tendencies Through Improved Terms of Service Solutions |
| 2017 | Undergraduate | 2 | Megan Smith | Purdue University | A Pinch of Salt. A Hint of Disaster |
| 2017 | Undergraduate | 3 | Alexis Scott | Georgia Institute of Technology | The "Continuous Course Lab" in the Tech Comm Classroom |
| 2016 | Graduate | 1 | Chris Lindgren | Understanding Big Data Processing as Designing Provisional Texts | |
| 2016 | Undergraduate | 1 | Erin Campbell | Participatory Museums: The User Experience of Creative Agents | |
| 2016 | Graduate | 2 | Arthur Berger | Commercial Proposal Collaborative Writing Practices | |
| 2016 | Undergraduate | 2 | Leslie Simms | University of Central Florida | Balancing the Equation of Undergraduate Research: The Importance of Reading, Learning, and Presentation Stability in the Success of STEM Laboratories |
| 2016 | Graduate | 3 | John Sherrill | Teaching Documentation Through 3D Printing and Instructables | |
| 2016 | Undergraduate | 3 | Tommy Truong and Eric Martin | Virtual Reality in Pedagogy |
05Annual conference
SIGDOC - ACM International Conference on Design of Communication.
| Year | Date | Nr | Host Institution | City | Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SIGDOC 2021 | Oct 5-9 | 36 | Arizona State University | Hybrid Virtual-Hub Event | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2020 | Oct 5-9 | 36 | University of North Texas | Virtual Event | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2019 | Oct 4-6 | 37 | Portland State University | Portland, Oregon | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2018 | Aug 3-5 | 36 | Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2017 | Aug 11-13 | 35 | Dalhousie University | Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | Canada | |
| SIGDOC 2016 | Sept 23-24 | 34 | Washington, D.C. | United States | ||
| SIGDOC 2015 | July 15-17 | 33 | University of Limerick | Limerick, Ireland | Ireland | |
| SIGDOC 2014 | Sept 27-28 | 32 | Colorado Springs, Colorado | United States | ||
| SIGDOC 2013 | Sept 30-Oct 1 | 31 | East Carolina University | Greenville, North Carolina | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2012 | Oct 3-5 | 30 | University of Washington | Seattle, Washington | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2011 | Oct 3-5 | 29 | Pisa, Tuscany | Italy | ||
| SIGDOC 2010 | Sep 26-29 | 28 | Sao Carlos | Brazil | ||
| SIGDOC 2009 | Oct 5-7 | 27 | Indiana University | Bloomington, Indiana | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2008 | Sep 22-24 | 26 | ISCTE | Lisbon | Portugal | |
| SIGDOC 2007 | Oct 22-24 | 25 | University of Texas - El Paso | El Paso, Texas | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2006 | Oct 18-20 | 24 | Coastal Carolina University | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2005 | Sep 21-23 | 23 | Coventry, England | United Kingdom | ||
| SIGDOC 2004 | Oct 10-13 | 22 | University of Memphis | Memphis, Tennessee | United States | |
| SIGDOC 2003 | Oct 12-15 | 21 | San Francisco, California | United States | ||
| SIGDOC 2002 | Oct 20-23 | 20 | Toronto, Ontario | Canada | ||
| SIGDOC 2001 | Oct 21-24 | 19 | Santa Fe, New Mexico | United States | ||
| SIGDOC 2000 | Sep 24-27 | 18 | Boston, Massachusetts | United States | held with IEEE IPCC. | |
| SIGDOC 1999 | Sep 12-14 | 17 | New Orleans, Louisiana | United States |
- Conference Chairs
| Year | Name | Institution | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Andy Mara | Arizona State University | Tempe, Arizona, United States | |
| 2020 | Stacey Pigg | North Carolina State University | Raleigh, North Carolina, United States | |
| 2019 | Julie Staggers | Washington State University | Pullman, Washington, United States | |
| 2019 | Sarah Read | Portland State University | Portland, Oregon, United States | |
| 2019 | Lars Soderlund | Western Oregon University | Monmouth, Oregon, United States | |
| 2018 | Tammy Rice-Bailey | Milwaukee School of Engineering | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States | |
| 2018 | Nadya Shalamova | Milwaukee School of Engineering | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States | |
| 2017 | Rebekka Andersen | University of California, Davis | Davis, California, United States | |
| 2016 | Douglas Walls | North Carolina State University | Raleigh, North Carolina, United States | |
| 2016 | Michael Trice | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States | |
| 2015 | Kathie Gossett | Iowa State University (ISU) | Ames, Iowa, United States | |
| 2014 | Kathie Gossett | Iowa State University (ISU) | Ames, Iowa, United States | |
| 2013 | Michael Albers | East Carolina University | Greenville, North Carolina, United States | |
| 2012 | Mark Zachry | University of Washington | Seattle, Washington, United States |
- Chapters' events
- ISDOC2014 - International Conference on Information Systems and Design of Communication, Lisboa, Portugal Invited Speaker: Rosario Durao New Mexico Tech and Daniel Bofill from Siscog
- OSDOC2013 - Workshop Information Systems and Design of Communication, Lisboa, Portugal
- ISDOC2013 - International Conference on Information Systems and Design of Communication, Lisboa, Portugal Invited Speaker: Scott Tilley
- ISDOC2012 - Workshop Information Systems and Design of Communication, Lisboa, Portugal
- OSDOC2012 - Workshop Information Systems and Design of Communication, Lisboa, Portugal Invited Speaker: Brad Mehlenbacher, North Carolina State University
- OSDOC2011 - Workshop Information Systems and Design of Communication, Lisboa, Portugal Invited Speaker: Stefano Zacchiroli, Debian
- OSDOC2010 - Workshop Information Systems and Design of Communication, Lisboa, Portugal - Invited Speaker: Paulo Trezentos, Caixa Magica
06Former Chairs
SIGDOC's former chairs include:
- 2016-2017, Claire Lauer [Arizona State University, USA]
- 2013-2016, Liza Potts, Michigan State University, United States
- 2012-2013, Rob Pierce, IBM Rational software, United States
- 2005-2012, Brad Mehlenbacher, North Carolina State University, United States
- 2003-2005, Scott Tilley, Florida Institute of Technology, United States
- 1997-2003, Kathy Haramundanis, United States
- 1993-1997, Nina Wishbow
- 1989-1993, R. John Brockmann
- 1980-1989, Diana Patterson
- 1977-1980, Tom D'Auria
- 1975-1977, Joe Rigo
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “SIGDOC”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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