A fantastic class of new materials is blurring the boundaries between computation and physical form, and as a result bringing computer science into the realms of a host of other disciplines, among them architecture, biology, chemistry, fashion design, and mechanical engineering. Responsive and computationally controllable materials -- shape-changing polymers, e-textiles, and nano-scale electronics, just to name a few -- are positioned to provide the underpinnings of truly ubiquitous interactivity that extends invisibly across body, architectural and urban scales.

This special issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing will focus on the use of such materials as the physical and computational bridge between form and function, body and environment, structures and membranes. Rather than focusing on approaches that employ sensors and actuators as discrete add-on components, this issue will emphasize technologies that blur the gap between computation and materiality, and between traditionally distinct disciplines.

We hope to spark a conversation between researchers and practitioners from a variety of scientific, engineering, and design disciplines (e.g. ubiquitous computing, materials science, architecture, biology, fashion, and HCI) in order to shed light on the possibilities and limitations of new material technologies, and to illustrate how we will build, interact and live with computers well into the future.

All submissions should be sent to the guest editors at materialcomputing@media.mit.edu. Authors must submit abstracts and titles to the guest editors by October 1, 2008, and full papers by November 14, 2008.

Information about the format and style required for papers can be found here, and templates can be downloaded here. More information about the Journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing can be found here. However, all submissions and questions for the special issue should be sent to the guest editors, not the journal's editor in chief.

All submissions will be anonymously reviewed by at least three reviewers and the selection for publication will be made on the basis of these reviews.

Intention to submit (Abstract and Title): October 1, 2008
Submission deadline for full papers: November 14, 2008
Notification and reviews to authors: January 16, 2009
Camera ready submission deadline: February 6, 2009

Websites

http://ambient.media.mit.edu/materialcomputing/index.html