Important Dates:

ISWC 2008 Juried Design Exhibition:

At last year's design workshop, there was a strong desire for a juried design exhibit, to support design work in the wearable computing community and offer a venue for dissemination of this type of creative scholarship. As a result, this year we will hold the first ISWC Juried Design Competition, organized by Tom Martin (Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech) and Lucy Dunne (Assistant Professor of Apparel Design and Wearable Technology, University of Minnesota).

The three top entries will be selected by a panel of judges.

Call for Entries

The International Symposium on Wearable Computers invites submissions of original works of wearable computing for its 2008 Juried Design Competition. Submissions may comprise any type of designed technology for wearable computing, and designers are encouraged to submit designed works of practical technology as well as works of art.

In this inaugural exhibition, submitted works may be new or may have been reported previously at ISWC or other venues, as long as they are the original work of the designer(s).   

Designers are asked to submit an illustrated design statement, detailing the work's concept, motivation, technological functionality, and execution. Detailed images must illustrate the text.  Submissions will be evaluated by the jury panel for their following design elements: concept, use of technology, execution, and communication. Judging criteria are fully described below.

Design statement submissions should be in PDF format, and no more than 3 pages. Submissions should be made by e-mail to tlmartin [at] vt.edu. Accepted works will be exhibited at the ISWC 2008 conference, which will be held September 28-October 1 in Pittsburgh, PA. Accepted authors will be asked prepare an explanatory poster to accompany their work in the mounted exhibit. During the conference, the jury will select three prizewinners based upon exhibited artifact(s) and explanatory poster.

  Submission deadline:  August 15
  Acceptance notification: August 25

Evaluation Criteria

Concept: How novel is the concept, approach, or application? How insightful or surprising is the work? The work should exhibit depth of understanding and insight, and display a thorough design process that addresses the complete scope of variables and values relevant to the articulated objective or use scenario of the work.

Technology: How innovative is the use of technology: have advances been made in the use of standard tools for a new purpose? Have new technologies been developed? What does the technology bring to the wearer or the viewer in the wearable environment?

Execution: How professional and polished is the finished product?  Have appropriate or novel construction techniques been implemented?  How have standard hardware components been adapted for the wearable environment?

Communication: How well have the concept, novelty, and use of technology been communicated? Is the idea and process evident in written and visual materials?

Submissions accepted for the competition will be evaluated on these criteria by the judges at the conference, based upon the exhibited artifact(s) and an explanatory poster.