Notes

The AfriCHI 2027 Notes Track invites original, unpublished research, emerging ideas, ongoing studies, novel design concepts, and early-stage findings that advance Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) grounded in African contexts, experiences, and perspectives. Aligned with the conference theme, “People, Place, and Possibilities: Designing plural African futures with dignity and agency,” the Notes Track foregrounds African contexts and aspirations as central to technological innovation. We welcome contributions that critically engage with emerging technologies while ensuring that design remains rooted in lived realities, ethical responsibility, cultural diversity, and inclusive futures.

The Notes Track is particularly suited for exploratory research, participatory and community-based design projects, methodological innovations, technology prototypes, reflective practice, and interdisciplinary work that may not yet be fully mature but offers valuable insights and opportunities for discussion. We especially encourage submissions that examine how people, places, cultures, infrastructures, and communities shape the design, adoption, and impact of technology across Africa. Contributions may explore opportunities and challenges related to digital inclusion, AI and emerging technologies, health, education, sustainability, governance, indigenous knowledge systems, accessibility, creativity, and other areas as mentioned in the CfP for full papers relevant to shaping equitable technological futures.

To foster a rich and inclusive scholarly community, we strongly encourage contributions that cite African works and local knowledge, within and beyond HCI/Interaction Design, along with citing the background or related literature typically associated with the topic. 

Guidelines for Authors

Notes papers should be no more than 6,000 words (excluding references) and include a descriptive title and an abstract of up to 250 words. Papers should be self-contained and include all necessary figures, tables, and references required to understand the work. Submissions that substantially exceed the prescribed length or do not align with the expected scope of a notes contribution may be desk rejected.

All authors must be listed at the time of the initial submission. To ensure fairness and transparency in the review process, additional authors may not be added during the revision stage.

Anonymity

Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are fully anonymized by removing names, affiliations, acknowledgements, and any identifying information from the manuscript and document properties. Self-citations should be written in the third person where necessary to preserve anonymity.

References and Formatting

All submissions must be prepared using the official conference template and comply with the conference author guidelines. As AfriCHI proceedings are published through ACM, submissions must be written in English. While we celebrate the linguistic diversity of Africa, English is the required language for publication.

Guideline for accessibility 

Review and Acceptance

All submissions to the AfriCHI’27 Notes Track will undergo a double-blind peer review process. Each submission will be evaluated by members of the Notes Track Program Committee with expertise relevant to the topic.

The Notes Track welcomes original, unpublished work that is not under review elsewhere. Accepted submissions will be selected based on the quality of the contribution, its relevance to the conference, and its potential to stimulate discussion and engagement during the notes session.

Review Criteria

Reviewers will evaluate submissions using the following criteria:

• Relevance: The extent to which the work advances Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and is grounded in African contexts, experiences, perspectives, or challenges.
• Originality and Contribution: The novelty of the research, design, methodology, technology, or insight, and its potential contribution to HCI research and practice.
• Alignment to Conference Theme: The degree to which the submission engages with the AfriCHI’27 theme, People, Place, and Possibilities: Designing plural African futures with dignity and agency, by centring African lived realities, ethical responsibility, and inclusive technological futures.
• Quality and Rigor: The clarity of the research questions, design approach, methodology, analysis, or argument appropriate to the stage of the work.
• Clarity of Presentation: The organization, readability, and overall quality of the manuscript, including the effective use of figures and tables where appropriate.
• Potential for Discussion: The likelihood that the work will generate meaningful dialogue, constructive feedback, and engagement during the interactive notes session.

Given the nature of the Notes Track, submissions may report work in progress, early findings, novel ideas, design concepts, or exploratory studies. Reviewers will assess contributions in light of their stage of development and their potential to advance discussion within the AfriCHI community, rather than expecting the completeness of a full research paper.

Upon acceptance

Authors of accepted notes papers will receive detailed instructions for preparing and submitting the final camera-ready version of their paper.

To be included in the conference proceedings and the ACM Digital Library, authors must:

• Submit the final camera-ready paper by the published deadline.
• Complete the required ACM publication licence or, where applicable, select an Open Access publishing option in accordance with ACM’s publication policies.
• Ensure that at least one author registers for the conference by the author registration deadline. If no author from the paper registers, the paper may not be published in the ACM Digital Library.
• Present the accepted notes during the conference notes session. Failure to present an accepted notes may result in the paper being excluded from the conference proceedings.

Accepted papers that satisfy all publication requirements will be published in the ACM Digital Library as part of the official AfriCHI’27 conference proceedings. Authors are responsible for ensuring that they have obtained permission to use any copyrighted material, third-party content, or images depicting identifiable individuals included in their submission or presentation.

All authors are expected to comply with ACM’s publication policies, including policies governing research involving human participants, publication ethics, and intellectual property. To facilitate the publication process and improve author discoverability, all authors are strongly encouraged to register for an ORCID iD before submitting the camera-ready version.

Preparing camera ready

Authors of accepted notes papers will receive a notification indicating whether their submission has been accepted subject to revisions. Reviewer and meta-review comments will outline the required changes that must be addressed before the paper can be included in the conference proceedings. Authors are expected to carefully address all requested revisions and submit a final camera-ready version by the deadline published on the conference website. The revised submission should comply with the conference formatting requirements and incorporate the requested improvements where applicable.

The Notes Track Chairs will verify that the required revisions have been satisfactorily addressed before granting final acceptance. Failure to submit the camera-ready version by the deadline, or to adequately address the requested revisions, may result in the paper being withdrawn from the conference programme and proceedings.

Presentation at the conference

Modes in-person/ virtual?

AFRICHI 2027 has no hybrid or remote attendance. All authors are to submit a pre-recorded and captioned video that will be played for the in-person audience in situations of travel challenges.

Important Dates

Milestone	Date (AoE)
Notes submission deadline	3 Jan 2027
Notification	15 Feb 2027
Camera-ready deadline	15 Apr 2027
AfriCHI 2027 conference	28 Jun – 2 Jul 2027

Contact: notes@africhi.africa