ACI2021
Eighth International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction 8-11 November 2021, Bloomington, Indiana, USA - ONLINE
​
​
This edition of the conference was hosted by Indiana University Bloomington, in co-operation with the In co-operation with ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and SIGCHI (Special interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction). The conference proceedings are published in the ACM Digital Library.
​
​
Organizing Committee
General Chair:
-
Patrick C. Shih (Indiana University, USA)
Program Chairs:
-
Anna Zamansky (University of Haifa, Israel)
-
Eleonora Nannoni (University of Bologna, Italy) -
Latebreaking Work, Videoposters and Demos Chair:
-
Clara Mancini (The Open University, UK)
Doctoral Consortium Chair:
-
Melody Jackson (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
Workshops Chair:
-
Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas (University of Glasgow, UK)
-
Ann Morrison (Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand)
Publicity Chairs:
-
Dirk van der Linden (University of Northumbria)
Proceedings Chair and Digital Sociability Chair:
-
Yoram Chisik (Independent Scholar, Haifa, Israel)
-
Ceara Byrne (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
​
​
Program Committee​
-
Alper Bozkurt (North Carolina State University, USA)
-
Firat Guder (Imperial College London, UK)
-
Yoram Chisik (Independent Scholar, Haifa, Israel)
-
Mark Hansen (UWE Bristol, UK)
-
Admela Jukan (TU Braunschweig, Germany)
-
Dmitrii Kaplun (Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI”)
-
Melody Moore Jackson (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
-
Dirk van der Linden (Northumbria University, UK)
-
Clara Mancini (The Open University, UK)
-
Sebastian Meller (TiHO, Germany)
-
Ann Morrison (Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand)
-
Eleonora Nannoni (University of Bologna, Italy)
-
Patrizia Paci (The Open University, UK)
-
Patricia Pons (Instituto Tecnológico de Informática Valencia, Spain)
-
David Roberts (North Carolina State University, USA)
-
Amanda Roshier (University of Nottingham, UK)
-
Patrick Shih (Indiana University, USA)
-
Sarah Webber (University of Melburn, Australia)
-
Anna Zamansky (University of Haifa, Israel)
​
​
Conference Theme
This year's conference theme was Finding Normalcy. The theme acknowledges the extraordinary times the world has been living since the beginning of 2020 and all the challenges of the difficult circumstances we have experienced but also the things we have learned. Submissions might address topics such as: how to conduct ACI research during a pandemic; the role of animals as companions and emotional support during social isolation; caring for animals in animal facilities under restrictions; relocating and rehabilitating animals during a crisis, or developing more respectful and empathetic relations with animals for a healthier and more sustainable multispecies cohabitation.
​
​
Conference Program
The conference program comprised keynote and invited presentations from international speakers, paper and videoposter presentations, a doctoral consortium and an affiliated workshop.
​
Keynotes
Maggie O’Haire - Evaluating the efficacy of service dog interventions
Christopher Flynn Martin - Automated Methods for Great Ape Cognitive Research and Enrichment
Christena Nippert-Eng - Direct Observation for User-Centered Design: Making the Case with Gorillas​​
​
​
Workshops