CFP: Health (Information) Behavior on Digital Media

Papers will appear in the Conference Proceedings to be published by Springer in a multi-volume set.

The emergence as well as fast-paced production and consumption of information on digital media, especially on social media, has not only an influence on different areas in our daily online life and our health information behavior, but it influences our physical health behavior as well. With new technologies, e.g., wearables such as activity trackers or smartwatches, people can observe their health and analyze their recorded health data to use that information to change and improve their behavior towards a healthier lifestyle.

Apart from own observing and self-quantifying personal health-related data, the use of social networking sites (SNSs) such as Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook, support calling attention to different health-related topics (e.g., viruses, diseases, and mental and behavioral disorders) and the individual exchange of symptoms, fears, emotions, and opinions. SNSs are not only crucial for the exchange but for the social and personal reinforcement – a sense of cohesiveness.

Nowadays, not only the demand on health information is growing and therefore the supply of that information as well. Users of the Web are seeking health information – but ‘how’ and ‘why’? Are they aware of the quality of the information or do they have health literacy in general to evaluate and estimate the quality of found information? Is all information on the Web sufficient and trustworthy? Health behavior and health information behavior should not only encourage researchers to think about benefits and challenges or risks but as well as to investigate those behaviors.

This research challenges claim new approaches, quantitative as well as qualitative methods, field experiments, case studies, or observations. Therefore, this session should stress out the importance of the research on the topic of health behavior and health information behavior on digital media. It should bring researchers all over the world together, to discuss methods, to investigate those topics, but as well to share results that should support the understanding of this intermeshed topic. To counteract the risks and to make beneficial use of the strengths the knowledge of ‘how’ and ‘why’ people use the Web related to health information is crucial. Are people searching for emotional and social support? Do they not feel understood by their personal social environment or by their doctors? Are they aware of their mental and health condition at all? Which impact has the health information behavior on each individual and his or her decision making?

For this parallel session, the session chair invites papers on methodological and empirical studies of health behavior and on health information behavior on all kinds of digital media.

Potential topics under study include but are not limited to:

- qualitative/quantitative methods to measure and understand the health behavior and
health information behavior on Social Media and health- or fitness-related apps
- models or methods to detect emerging health-related trends on digital media
- investigation of the health-related 'sense of cohesiveness' on digital media
- trustworthiness and impact of health information on the user
- self-quantification (use of activity trackers or mobile fitness applications) and its
impact on the health behavior
- cultural differences of health information behavior on digital media


Submissions and Deadline:

Friday, 30 November 2018: Abstract (800 words) through the CMS, for the review process
Friday, 21 December 2018: Notification of review outcome
Friday, 1 February 2019: Submission through the CMS of the camera-ready version (full papers, typically 12 pages but no less than 10 and no more than 20 pages). Detailed information will be sent to all authors in due course.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to provide a greater opportunity for more people to present at the Conference, multiple submissions by single authors cannot be accepted. Co-authors may appear on multiple papers, but each accepted paper, or poster, with multiple co-authors should have a different Conference registrant. For paper presentation at the Conference and inclusion of the full paper in the Proceedings, at least one registration per paper is required by Friday, 15 February 2019.


About the Conference

HCI International 2019, jointly with its Thematic Areas and Affiliated Conferences, held under one management and one registration, invites you to participate and contribute (through papers, posters, student designs, demonstrations or tutorials) to this major international forum for the dissemination and exchange of the up-to-date scientific information on theoretical and applied areas of HCI. Past HCII Conferences were attended by approximately 2.000 participants from more than 70 countries.

Website: http://2019.hci.international
HCII 2019 CFP: http://2019.hci.international/cfp/HCII2019_CFP.pdf


If you consider submitting, please write the Session Chair Aylin Ilhan (aylin[dot]ilhan[at]hhu[dot]de) as you need an invitation.