Bay Area Computer-Human Interaction Group

What Bay Area Computer-Human Interaction Group does

Bay Area Computer-Human Interaction Group (BayCHI) is a nonprofit volunteer-run professional chapter and the official San Francisco Bay Area chapter of ACM SIGCHI (Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction). Founded in 1989 per firmographic records (with ACM copyright records showing operation from 2002), the organization serves HCI/UX practitioners, researchers, students, and career transitioners in the Bay Area through monthly in-person program meetings (held at UCSC Silicon Valley in Santa Clara), over 15 specialized Birds of a Feather (BOF) interest groups covering topics such as Design Research, Interaction Design, UX Life and Careers, and Student mentoring, full-day public tutorials, and a podcast archive dating to 2003. It is governed by a volunteer Steering Committee with no paid staff; current Chair is Ted Selker and Vice Chair is Edwin Li.

The organization's core product surface consists of programming and member services rather than software. The technology stack is standard community infrastructure: the baychi.org website with RSS feeds, MP3 podcast hosting distributed via the Conversations Network and Internet Archive, Zoom for virtual meetings (including weekly UX Life and Careers working sessions), Mailman for email list management, LinkedIn for a 900+-member professional networking group, and PayPal for membership payment processing. Member benefits include a private job bank, a consultants directory, a physical library of SIGCHI tutorial notes and books, a membership directory, and student mentorship and apprenticeship programs.

BayCHI's business model is a low-friction subscription membership at $20 per year, supplemented by one-time tutorial registration fees and in-kind venue sponsorship from host organizations (historically including Yahoo, Google, PARC, and Salesforce). There are no funding rounds, no M&A activity, no patents, no certifications, and no paid employees; operating costs are funded entirely by dues and volunteer effort under the ACM umbrella.

Name

Bay Area Computer-Human Interaction Group

Legal name

BayCHI (San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of ACM SIGCHI)

Website

https://baychi.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

BayCHI is the volunteer-run, nonprofit San Francisco Bay Area chapter of ACM SIGCHI, serving HCI/UX practitioners, researchers, and students through monthly program meetings, 15+ specialized BOF groups, tutorials, and a podcast archive dating to 2003.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership dues of $20 per year provide core organizational revenue. Membership is open to all without requiring ACM or SIGCHI membership.
2. Tutorial Fees: BayCHI tutorials are full-day events open to the public with discounts for members. These generate revenue through registration fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

BayCHI is a non-profit professional organization that serves the San Francisco Bay Area HCI community through monthly program meetings, Birds of a Feather (BOF) groups, tutorials, podcast content, a job bank, consultants directory, and a content library. Annual membership costs $20 for individuals and is free for students, providing access to the broader ACM SIGCHI-affiliated community of over 1,200 HCI practitioners, researchers, designers, and students.

Product overview

BayCHI is a community organization structured as a single unified offering with multiple complementary programs and member services. The core product consists of Monthly Program Meetings featuring HCI practitioner presentations, supplemented by a BayCHI Podcast archiving event recordings since 2003. Multiple Birds of a Feather (BOF) groups provide specialized topic focus areas including UX Life and Careers, Design Research, Interaction Design, Student, and others. Member benefits include a Job Bank, Consultants Directory, Library, and Membership Directory. The organization also offers Tutorials for in-depth professional development, a LinkedIn Group for networking, and Student BOF programs featuring Mentorship and Apprenticeship initiatives. All services are supported by membership dues ($20/year) paid via PayPal, with events conducted through Zoom.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BayCHI Podcast: Audio and visual recordings of BayCHI events produced by volunteers with help from the Conversations Network, archived recordings back to 2003

Products and services

• Annual Membership
• Monthly Program Meetings
• Tutorials
• Job Bank
• Consultants Directory
• BayCHI Library
• Student BOF Mentorship and Apprenticeship Programs

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• ACM SIGCHIcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBayCHI is the official San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI). This is the primary parent organization relationship that defines BayCHI's mission and alignment with the global HCI community.
• Internet ArchivemajorTechnology or IntegrationInternet Archive hosts some of BayCHI's audio and visual recordings, providing long-term digital preservation and accessibility for their event archives.
• Conversations NetworkmajorTechnology or IntegrationThe Conversations Network, led by Doug Kaye, provides hosting and leadership for BayCHI's event podcasting, making recordings available through CHI Conversations platform.
• UCSC Silicon ValleymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity of California Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Extension serves as the primary in-person venue for BayCHI monthly program meetings, providing Room 3003 at their Santa Clara location.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• CHI Conference: Annual flagship ACM SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Comparable as a major HCI gathering point where BayCHI members and speakers present, representing the higher-level ecosystem in which BayCHI operates.
• AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts): The largest professional association for design practitioners in the US, with local chapters, programs, and events. Shares BayCHI's designer/membership-driven community structure but is broader in scope across visual and interaction design.
• Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES): Long-established professional society for human factors and ergonomics with annual conferences and local chapters. Comparable in being a multi-decade HCI-adjacent professional community but with a broader engineering/safety scope than BayCHI's UX focus.

Direct peers

• New York HCI (NYCHCI): Another regional ACM SIGCHI chapter serving the New York HCI community with meetings, events, and member benefits. The closest structural analogue to BayCHI outside the Bay Area, differing mainly in geography.
• Interaction Design Association (IxDA): Global not-for-profit membership organization for interaction design practitioners, hosting local chapters, an annual conference (Interaction), and member resources. Closely parallels BayCHI in mission, structure, and HCI/UX practitioner audience.
• ACM SIGCHI: BayCHI's parent organization and the global Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction within ACM. SIGCHI runs CHI—the premier HCI research conference—and directly sponsors BayCHI's mission, making it the most structurally comparable peer.
• Information Architecture Institute: A non-profit community of practice dedicated to information architecture and UX, with local meetups, summits, and a global membership. Directly comparable to BayCHI as a niche UX professional community organization.
• User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA): International professional association for UX practitioners offering chapters, an annual conference (UXPA International), and member benefits. Overlaps directly with BayCHI's UX/HCI focus and chapter-based community model.

Emerging players

• Interaction Design Foundation: A commercial online learning community for UX/HCI practitioners with massive global open-course content. Competes with BayCHI for practitioner attention and education spend, but at much larger scale and with a different business model.
• DesignOps Summit: An industry-focused community and conference series for DesignOps practitioners, overlapping with BayCHI's UX/HCI audience and serving designers and operations professionals. Comparable as a niche UX community but more specialized and event-driven.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/groups/664
• Xx.com/baychi

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bay Area Computer-Human Interaction Group