Not all work that moves the field forward fits into the model of a standard conference paper or conference talk. The memorability or intellectual impact of work is often inextricably linked to this non-conventional form, whether it is a reflection, provocation, critique, satire, artistic statement, or manifesto. Successful venues like ACM CHI’s alt.chi (“a forum for controversial, risk-taking, and boundary pushing research at CHI”) and various “unconferences” have emerged in the past years as a way of providing an outlet for this sort of unconventional work.

Visualization, and IEEE VIS specifically, which incorporates perspectives in the intersection between art and design, statistics and psychology, we believe is uniquely placed to both generate and value the non-traditional. What’s more, we observed a long-running desire for an outlet for non-traditional work among both long-time attendees as well as those researchers or practitioners who do not currently feel welcome or appreciated in the IEEE VIS environment.

Therefore, based on the (often unexpected) utility of unconventional work, the long standing and successful models of “alternative” conferences, and an expressed interest in bringing these models to the IEEE VIS community, we founded an “alt.VIS” workshop in 2021 as a venue for work that is otherwise difficult to place in the main conference for reasons of form, format, or topic.

The remit of this workshop, mirroring alt.CHI, is relatively broad both in terms of scope of topics and presentation types: our selection criteria are more focused on impact. What sort of work might cause the field to rethink its priorities or ways of operating? What work might highlight under-explored or neglected areas of visualization study or application? What, as per Kant, would “interrupt [our] dogmatic slumber” and stir us to action?

Call for Submissions

Examples of submissions we encourage include (but are not limited to):

• Provocations, manifestos, or other critiques of visualization research and practice
• Creative and thought-provoking presentations of data (especially unconventional data), either as traditional visualizations or as multimedia presentations or artworks
• Novel and unconventional visualization techniques or design processes
• Hands-on activities and artworks of all mediums.
• (Kind and civil) critiques to other works.

Submissions will be evaluated on clarity, novelty, and their ability to promote productive thought and discussion for the alt.VIS audience. The purpose of this venue is to provide a place for works that fall outside of the purview of the main VIS paper program, and so submissions that would be more at home in the main track are unlikely to be accepted. Please consider taking a look at the submissions from last year’s alt.VIS 2022 for inspiration!

Accepted submissions will be made publicly available on the workshop’s webpage. Authors are also welcome and encouraged to archive on their repository of choice, e.g. OSF, ArXiv. Submissions will not be archived within the main IEEE VIS conference archive.

If you are unsure of how to submit your work, or if you want to discuss your submission with us, do not hesitate to contact us at alt.vis.workshop@gmail.com

* Authors serving in this workshop's organizing roles should include a COI statement in their PDF.

Previous Editions (and proceedings):

• alt.VIS 2022
• alt.VIS 2021