Research on science fiction (sci-fi) in scientific publications has indicated
the usage of sci-fi stories, movies or shows to inspire novel Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI) research. Yet no studies have analysed sci-fi in a top-ranked
computer science conference at present. For that reason, we examine the CHI
main track for the presence and nature of sci-fi referrals in relationship to
HCI research. We search for six sci-fi terms in a dataset of 5812 CHI main
proceedings and code the context of 175 sci-fi referrals in 83 papers indexed
in the CHI main track. In our results, we categorize these papers into five
contemporary HCI research themes wherein sci-fi and HCI interconnect: 1)
Theoretical Design Research; 2) New Interactions; 3) Human-Body Modification or
Extension; 4) Human-Robot Interaction and Artificial Intelligence; and 5)
Visions of Computing and HCI. In conclusion, we discuss results and
implications located in the promising arena of sci-fi and HCI research.Comment: v1: 20 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, HCI International 2018 accepted
submission v2: 20 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, added link/doi for Springer
proceedin
