OVERVIEW

Health Information Technology (HIT) has enormous potential to transform healthcare delivery by positively impacting quality, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and engagement (e.g., through electronic medical records, decision support systems, and other platforms). Similarly, advances in the fields of personal and consumer informatics and data science have opened up unprecedented opportunities to inform the decisions and choices of individuals who seek to manage their well-being, health, and chronic diseases in the context of their daily lives (e.g., through self-monitoring technologies, mobile health apps, online health communities, and other tools). As the impact of these technologies continues to increase, HIT researchers and practitioners are increasingly focusing on the design and development of effective and engaging interactive systems, and the evaluation of such tools. Many research communities contribute to the advancement of these technologies, such as health informatics, human-computer interaction, human factors engineering, and healthcare domains such as nursing, medicine, and public health.

The Workgroup on Interactive Systems in Health (WISH) brings together industry and academic researchers in health informatics, human-computer interaction, mobile health, and other disciplines to foster cross-disciplinary research that will drive future innovations in health care and health promotion.

The overarching goal of the WISH Symposium is to establish lasting and meaningful connections between these communities, and bring together students and researchers from various disciplines who are working on creating, implementing, and evaluating innovative health technologies that are used inside and outside of formal healthcare settings.

This year, the 2020 WISH Symposium’s theme is Digital Health Equity. Therefore, we invite submissions that examine how technology has been, and can be, used to promote wellbeing in marginalized and vulnerable populations, such as those who experience increased barriers to health and wellness and disproportionate burdens of poor health. We especially encourage submissions that focus on the following topics:

1. Racism as a public health concern, and the role of interactive systems in addressing this issue (e.g., using technology to counter racism and discrimination in healthcare; interactive systems’ role in addressing racism’s impact on mental health; using information and communication technologies to document racism in interaction with institutions, etc.)
2. Empirical methods & challenges in the use of digital technology to study and address health inequities (e.g., engaging marginalized communities in research; evaluating equity impacts of technologies; using technology to study institutional racism, sexism, ableism, or homophobia/transphobia; technology design for health disparity reduction, etc.)
3. Using interactive systems to address health and healthcare disparities emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., analysis of COVID-19 data to expose health disparities, telemedicine use amidst COVID-19 in low-resource populations, etc.)

We also welcome submissions that focus on other ways in which interactive systems can be used to achieve health equity.

The WISH 2020 Symposium will be virtual. 

SUBMISSIONS

For WISH 2020, we are accepting three types of submissions: (1) Original Research, (2) Work in Progress & Provocations, (3) Research Highlights.

1. Original Research submissions should discuss previously-unpublished work in the space of interactive systems for health care and health promotion. These include, but are not limited to, studies of user engagement with a variety of HIT, and the design and evaluation of novel HIT systems. Submissions in this category must follow the AMIA format (Word, Latex) with a page limit of four pages (excluding references). As compared to “Work in Progress & Provocations” submissions, Original Research submissions should be completed, mature research.
2. Work in Progress & Provocations submissions should discuss previously-unpublished work in progress or thought pieces, in the space of interactive systems for health care and health promotion. Submissions in this category should follow the AMIA format (Word, Latex) with a page limit of two pages (excluding references). As compared to Original Research submissions, Work in Progress & Provocations submissions may include discussions of work that is not yet complete, as well as speculative position papers that discuss important considerations for research on interactive systems for health care and health promotion.
3. Research Highlight submissions allow researchers to share work relevant to WISH areas of investigation, which was already accepted for publication and/or presented at other venues in the period between November 2019 and November 2020 (NOT including AMIA 2020). For work that has been presented just before AMIA 2019 (i.e. before November 2019), and that the authors feel could contribute to WISH 2020, please contact the chairs to discuss suitability. These submissions should include ONLY the abstract of the original publication, the original publication venue (i.e., journal/conference name and year), and a brief summary explaining this work’s significance for WISH. These submissions should also include a statement that their submission to WISH does not conflict with the policies of the venue where the work was originally published or presented. Submissions in this category should follow the AMIA format (Word, Latex) with a page limit of one page (excluding references). 

We encourage submissions discussing novel design approaches, experimental results, qualitative studies, policy and theoretical contributions, and any other health and interactive systems related content that addresses the theme of Digital Health Equity. The goal of the workshop is to foster discussion, encourage development of broad ideas, and bring together a wide interdisciplinary audience.

During the submission process, you will be asked to select the form in which you would be willing to present your accepted submission – as a virtual oral presentation and/or as a virtual poster presentation. For accepted submissions, the program committee will consider and decide upon one of the presentation formats based on the number of submissions received, the quality of the work to be presented, and which submissions contribute to the overall diversity of the technical program.

Accepted submissions will be shared with WISH attendees, and abstracts will be posted on the WISH 2020 website. Authors and titles will be listed on the AMIA 2020 website, and in the AMIA 2020 online schedule. Authors retain all copyright. 

All submissions will be regarded as the final version of your submission, and this version is what will be shared amongst WISH attendees. Therefore, the abstract and paper submission must be clearly written, carefully proofread and correctly formatted.

Submissions in all categories will undergo a peer-review process; the authors of the accepted submissions will be invited to present their work at the symposium via an oral or poster presentation.

For each accepted submission, at least one author must register for and attend the symposium.

IMPORTANT DATES

October 2, 2020 – Submissions Due (By 11:59 PM EDT)

October 16, 2020 –  Submission Notifications

October 20, 2020 –  Author Confirmation of Participation in Symposium  (By 3:00 pm EDT)

November 14, 2020 – WISH Symposium 

HOW TO SUBMIT

Please use the following site to submit work to WISH:  https://amiaannual2020.abstractcentral.com/.

You will need to register with ScholarOne, if you have not already done so.

Once you create an account and log in, select the Submission tab, next to the Welcome tab. Under the Submission tab, you will see “Create New Submission.” Select WISH 2020 from the list on the right, and then click on the Continue button. 

CONTACT

If you have any questions or a need for further information, please send an email to wish2020symposium [at] gmail.com.