Missing CHI by that much

For the past several months, Sean and I have spent countless hours working on a viral video for isocket. Lots of things have bumped the project around, pushing it off and back on our radar. Every time, we inch a little closer to completion.

When the isocket team relocated to Silicon Valley in August, we had already transitioned our focus for the project on CHI submissions. The start of the fall semester made this difficult, but I was still optimistic. Optimistic, until it got to the first of two deadlines with no gas left in the tank. In consecutive weeks, we called the time of death about a 1/2 day before the deadline to submit.

But not without exploring alternatives.

The isocket project had an unfinished feel to it, reminding us of a Samuel Beckett play. It was cathartic to spend the last hour or so Thursday night brainstorming ways to make the failure to complete funny. In the end, even the funny was going to take too long.

We came very close to submitting our backup plan before being talked out of it by people concerned with CHI’s collective sensory deprivation when it comes to humor. Instead, I used the space and uploaded a supplemental video Jason and I made for a CHI paper a few weeks ago. No guts, no glory.

This is still a project we’d like to complete, but with summer and academic goals now gone, our video is now relegated to free time we don’t yet have. It’s a bit of a disappointment, but there is a lot to be said about the process. Great lessons, even if there isn’t an artifact to show for it.