UIST

We are honored to welcome an unusual audience to a remarkable event -- the 33rd ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology.

UIST is always special to its loyal and ever-expanding community. 2020, however, will resonate in our memories as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. During one unprecedented week in March the world went into self-isolation, and in many ways remains there in October. Conferences such as UIST have had to transform overnight to operate in cyberspace, and yet still serve their vital function of meaningfully connecting their communities.

Turning UIST into a virtual meeting has been an extraordinary design journey. We were on track for a 'normal' meeting in Minneapolis's friendly downtown where we expected to revel in talks, stimulating conversation, hands-on demos, golden October weather and local food. By May, we had to accept that there was no alternative to going virtual. Since then we've been working to implement a completely different event - one confined to the perimeters of our computer screens. In striving to imbue our meeting with the social interactions that come for free in a physical event, we are at the frontiers of technical and social HCI. We honor and applaud our organizing team, who are to the last person tireless, patient, creative, resourceful, full of humor and uncomplaining of the redoubled effort in tackling this monumental challenge. It has been inspiring.

2020 is also the year when, following a period of #MeToo awakening to issues of gender equity and justice, the world was shocked into awareness and the beginnings of accountability to other groups who, because of race, gender identification, disability and other dimensions of human diversity, have been shaped by systemic and long-term injustice.