Computers continue to become smaller, cheaper, more powerful, ubiquitous and more diverse and yet for many computing is still associated with the desktop device. As a consequence, the potential of computing to shape, improve and change the social, cultural and creative fabric of society is limited.

This Forum seeks to understand how computing will be able to affect the way we all live, work, learn and play. By thinking about computing for all rather than some, for the old as well as the young, for those in remote locations as well as those centrally located, and by designing for those with needs very different from those of our own, the Forum hopes to help define how computing and computers could become a 'natural resource' for any and all, wherever they and whatever they do. Achieving this will require not just a shift in people's perceptions, of course, but radical changes in the design of computing which the Forum also wants to define: from the WIMP interface to 'applianceness', from mains-powered to wind-up, from the office to robotic, from graphical to tangible.

This two-day event, organized and sponsored by Microsoft Research Cambridge (MSRC) , will bring together top researchers from a variety of disciplines related to this goal. The outcome of this Forum will lay the ground for positive changes in the way we research, develop and ultimately use technology in the future. Feedback from this event will help shape the research agendas for all those who attend and of course help drive research funded by the External Research Office at MSRC.

The event  includes refereed papers, posters and panel discussions.

In cooperation with

Programme schedule

Tuesday 26 April

Day 1 - Wednesday 27 April

Day 2 - Thursday 28 April

Day 3 - Fri 29 April

Submissions

There is obviously a wide range of issues and topics associated with the above, but the following is a list of suggested topics for papers, posters and other submissions:

• Technical solutions for simplifying life;
• Social applications of technology;
• Simple and attractive computing environments for children;
• Manual not included;
• Keyboard-less computing, no mouse, no screen;
• Integrating technology in a domestic environment;
• Augmenting family life, have fun together;
• Non-intrusive robots and other automata.

Call for papers

We are inviting you to send in an abstract of your paper (maximum 1000 words) for presentation at the Forum. It is required that each accepted paper be presented at the conference by one of its authors. Paper abstracts and papers can be sent online via https://msrcmt.research.microsoft.com/LessIsMore2005/.  If you have any questions related to the submission of papers and paper abstracts, please mail camlim@microsoft.com.

Informal proceedings consisting of the accepted paper abstracts will be distributed at the conference.

After the conference we invite authors of accepted papers to submit their paper to appear in the formal proceedings. It is planned to publish revised selected papers after the meeting as a volume of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series (www.springeronline.com/lncs) both in printed and in electronic form. Full papers should be no more than 12 pages (a complete set of instructions can be found at Springer-Verlag’s webpage with information for LNCS authors).

Poster session

Do you have interesting work or a great idea you would like to share? Then maybe the poster sessions is for you! The poster sessions introduce new or ongoing work. Demonstrations of working systems and applications are also encouraged. We are also particularly interested in presentations of student work. Send your ideas and posters to camlim@microsoft.com or indicate that you will send in a poster when registering for the event. If you send a poster, we will reply with details for the poster session.

Keynote speakers

• Bill Buxton
• Scott A. Jenson

Program committee

• Michel Beaudouin-Lafon, Université Paris-Sud - France
• Alan Blackwell, University of Cambridge - UK
• Luca Chittaro, University of Udine - Italy
• Gillian Crampton Smith, Interaction Design Institute Ivrea - Italy
• Bill Gaver, Royal College of Art London - UK
• Richard Harper, Microsoft Research (Program chair)
• Kristina Höök, Swedish Institute of Computer Science - Sweden
• Kenton O'Hara, HP Labs - UK
• Kenneth Olausson, Interactive Institute - Sweden
• Andrew Monk, University of York - UK
• Tom Rodden, University of Nottingham - UK
• Kurt Schoenmaekers, Microsoft Research
• Ken Wood, Microsoft Research (Program chair)

Important dates

• Abstract submission deadline: passed
• Draft paper submission deadline: 22 April 2005
• Notification of acceptance/rejection/revision: passed
• Close poster submission: passed

• Registration deadline: 19 April as long as seats are available

Travel and Lodging information

The forum will start on Tuesday 26 April with an evening dinner at King’s College, Cambridge and end on Thursday 28 April with a special evening dinner in the Duxford Air Museum. On Friday 29 April, there will be an optional guided tour of Cambridge or a boat tour on the Cam (subject to number of participants).

You will have to make your own flight and hotel bookings. Reservations at a favourable rate can be made at following hotels:

• Crown Plaza, Cambridge.
  Room rate: £123 Bed and Breakfast
  Crown Plaza Cambridge on the web
  Reservation code: ‘Microsoft’
• Garden House Moat House, Cambridge
  Room Rate:  £123 Bed and Breakfast
  Garden House Moat House on the web
  Reservation Code: ‘Microsoft Research’

Route description to the Microsoft Research Cambridge Lab

Registration

Registration is free of charge and lunches and dinners are sponsored for all participants. Participants are responsible for all rheir bookings and their expenses associated with attending the workshop, such as travel expenses, accommodation, and meals outside those provided at the workshop.

Registration is open at http://research.microsoft.com/academic/register?form=Event until all seats are booked. If you have never registered for a Microsoft Research Cambridge event, you will need to create an account first.  There are only 120 seats available for this conference. If you did not receive an invitation for this event, your registration will be subject to seat availability and might require you to send us a position paper. 

Contact

If you have questions, please email camlim@microsoft.com