Proceedings of the conference on Dutch directions in HCI, Amsterdam, Netherlands - June 10 - 10, 2004

Anniversaries form natural landmarks in the lifetime of societies to reflect on past, present and future activities of its members. The Dutch chapter Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction - SIGCHI.NL - decided to sustain this tradition when it had to choose a theme for a special conference organised as part of its fifth lustrum year activities.At its 5th-anniversary conference SIGCH.NL wants the participants to get a flavour of the many interesting and exciting activities that are currently taking place within the Dutch HCI community. This current state-of-affairs seems the obvious point of departure for future explorations in the field of human-computer interaction. We think an inspiring overview of the present will be instrumental in triggering lively and sensible discussions about possible future roads to take. Or stated differently, we strongly believe that to really go somewhere, you have to know where you are coming from.1. Knowledge and Education How to make knowledge and information accessible? New directions for finding, selecting, presentation and processing knowledge and information are necessary. These aspects are important in education and in professional environments where working and learning are integrated. E-learning, online instructions and knowledge management tools are very important. What kind of new developments or existing HCI techniques, methods or insights are used? How can HCI become more involved in this field and what is to be expected in the near future?2. Enabling technologyThe vast opportunities offered by existing and new technologies continue to inspire and enable new directions in HCI. However, the real challenge remains to apply such advanced technological developments to the true benefit of the human user.3. HCI and SocietyThe first application of information technology was in computing. Next developments showed the use of computers to support individual peoples' tasks in their occupational situation. Nowadays, information technology is part of our surrounding, both our houses, our public transport, our hospitals, and our contacts with the government. In short, IT is part of our society. Frequently the technology is hidden, and often it is not recognized as computers. In this conference stream we will discuss the effect of modern IT on peoples' lives and culture, and the way public bodies and government have a task to profit from new developments and to keep our society human centered.In these proceedings you will find all paper and poster contributions presented at the conference. We like to thank all people who showed interest in SIGCHI.NL by sending in their high-quality submissions. Special thanks go to the technical committee of international HCI experts that carefully reviewed all submissions. Their reviewing efforts empowered the technical chairs to select and construct the paper and poster program you find in these proceedings. We hope you will enjoy (re-)reading the many interesting contributions that made the "Dutch Directions in HCI" conference a success.