DigDivDigHum-20: WebSci'20 Workshop on Digital (In)Equality, Digital Inclusion, Digital Humanism University Southampton, UK, July 6-10, 2020 |
Conference website | https://w4ra.org/2020/03/27/digdivdighum/ |
Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=digdivdighum20 |
Abstract registration deadline | April 19, 2020 |
Submission deadline | April 19, 2020 |
WebSci'20 Workshop: Digital (In)Equality, Digital Inclusion, Digital Humanism
Call for Papers
Workshop website: https://w4ra.org/DigDivDigHum/
Description From its inception, the World Wide Web endeavours to be an open and free space for all for information and knowledge sharing and informed public democratic debate (see for example the ACM Turing Award lecture by Tim Berners-Lee at WebSci’18), in other words, “to serve humanity”. Still, there are many barriers and obstacles to this ideal, a situation commonly characterized as the Digital Divide. Several billion people especially in the Global South do not have access to Internet/Web for reasons of lacking (affordable) infrastructure, poverty, low literacy, lack of digital skills, language, etc., and are thus digitally excluded. But “the fringes of the Web” are not just a matter of the Global South. In the Global North, despite being technologically “advanced”, we also see severe digital inequalities and power disparities, in part for the same reasons and in part due to the Web being exploited as a centralized surveillance and money-making machine, controlled by big parties such as states and big corporations, thus creating further inequalities and exclusion.
In this workshop, we aim to bring together ongoing research on the Web and the Digital Divide and on what to do about it. Apart from empirically grounded (case) studies and theoretical analyses of mechanisms behind digital inequalities, we also seek, in view of recent initiatives such as Digital Humanism or Tim Berners Lee’s SOLID initiative, programmatic or solution design-oriented work from multiple disciplines, and concrete experiences on what scientists and professionals can do to help redress matters of digital inequality and exclusion. We encourage work rooted in the Global South, as both topics of interest for and authors from the Global South are underrepresented in Web Science, but also welcome work addressing matters of the Digital Divide and underprivileged communities in the Global North.
Submission Guidelines
Submission of papers should follow the ACM SIG Conference Proceedings template (acmart.cls), which is available at https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template. Papers can be up to 6 pages and are to be submitted via Easychair at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=digdivdighum20.
Important dates:
- Paper submission deadline: 19 April 2020
- Notification: 03 May 2020
- Final paper version due for the ACM WebSci Companion Proceedings: 15 May 2020
We encourage authors to consider to present their work also as a poster, on the day after the workshop at the WebSci'20 Poster Reception (08 July 2020).
List of Topics
The workshop will focus on interactive discussion and reflection around the challenges of the Web and the Digital Divide, and ways to increase digital inclusion and reduce inequalities. Workshop paper submission subjects include (but are not limited to):
- The role of the Web vs. barriers for underprivileged communities, and how to overcome them
- Low literacy and the Web
- Low resource environments and information sharing (e.g. Internet of Things)
- Multi-modal Web access (speech, voice services, icons, mobile technologies)
- The multilingual Web (e.g. for small under-resourced languages)
- Increasing Digital Inclusion on the Web
- AI for social good, AI for Sustainable Development
- Social networks, the Web, and sustainable development
- Mobile technologies and social development
- Big and small data and the digital divide
- Semantic Web and Linked Open Data for sustainable development
- HCI for Development (HCI4D)
- Social and empirical Web studies on societal impacts and effects for underprivileged communities
- Globalization of the Web: processes, impacts, policies, localities
- Ethical issues concerning ICTs in development
- Evaluation methodologies for ICT4D, Digital Inclusion, Digital Humanism
- Methodologies and experiences in socio-technical innovation
- Participatory, Co-creation and Human-centered Web technologies and applications
Committees
Program Committee
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Francis Dittoh, University for Development Studies UDS, Tamale, Ghana; Narayanan Kulathuramaiyer, University of Malaysia in Sarawak UNIMAS, Malaysia; Johari Abdullah, University of Malaysia in Sarawak UNIMAS, Malaysia; Mónica Pini, Universidad Nacional de San Martín UNSAM, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Adèle Botha, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa; Katharina Kinder-Kurlanda, GESIS and University of Koblenz, Germany; Stephane Boyera, SBC4D, Toulouse, France; Gossa Lô, Bolesian, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Nana Baah Gyan, Central University, Accra, Ghana; Marlien Herselman, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa; Hannes Werthner, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria; Jaap Gordijn, TVE The Value Engineers, Soest, The Netherlands; Cheah Wai Shang, University of Malaysia in Sarawak UNIMAS, Malaysia; André Baart, Bolesian BV, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Victor de Boer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Lynda Hardman, CWI, The Netherlands; Ed Tan, Copenhagen University, Denmark
Workshop Co-Chairs
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Hans Akkermans and Anna Bon, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Publication
The DigDivDigHum-20 proceedings will be published in the ACM WebSci'20 Companion Proceedings by ACM
Venue
The workshop takes place on Tuesday 07 July 2020, in Southampton, UK, and online. In view of COVID-19, the conference organizers are looking at ways for the conference to take place in such a way that participants and presenters who do not wish to travel will be able to join and present their work remotely.
Contact
The workshop organizers can be reached through email to the co-chairs:Hans Akkermans (E: Hans.Akkermans@akmc.nl) or Anna Bon (E: a.bon@vu.nl)