[ecrea] CfP: AI & Society Special Issue on Cultural Diversity and Community Technology Design

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AI & Society Special Issue on Cultural Diversity and Community
Technology Design

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We invite contributions to a Special Issue on Cultural Diversity and
Community Technology Design, to be published by the AI & Society Journal
of Culture, Knowledge and Communication (Springer)
http://link.springer.com/journal/146.

AI & Society is the premier journal for publishing interdisciplinary
research on the interplay between society, culture and technology. We
particularly welcome contributions which, acknowledging the fundamental
impact that culture has on technology design, promise to contribute
original, forward-looking thinking that will advance scholarship on the
topics treated and signal new directions in research.

This special issue is inspired by discussions and exchanges during the
CulTech 2015 workshop on Cultural Diversity and Technology Design
https://cultech2015.wordpress.com/, held at the 7th International
Conference on Communities and Technologies (C&Tí15)
http://comtech.community/, in Limerick, Ireland.

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IMPORTANT DATES

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- Abstract submission: Feb 1, 2016

- Manuscript submission: March 1, 2016

- Notifications: June 1, 2016

- Submission final versions: September 15, 2016

- Target publication date: December 2016

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SPECIAL ISSUE THEMES

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Communities are a building block of society. Culture plays a significant
role in community technology design and usage. Artefacts of culture,
such as information technology, are not designed in a culturally neutral
way, but are encoded with the designerís implicit (and often
subconscious) cultural values. While the design of technology reflects
an encoding of the designersí implicit cultural values, technology usage
reflects the end userís decoding from their own cultural reference
frame. As such, culture influences how end users perceive and use
information technology. Since technology adoption is more likely when
the end usersí values match the implicit cultural values embedded in
artefacts during the design stage, it is crucial for the research
community to better understand the role culture plays in community
technology design and usage.

This special issue engages with these issues and invites proposals that
explore the role of cultural diversity in potentially informing,
supporting, challenging or impacting the design of Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) within and across community contexts. To
delve into this complex and multi-faceted space, we welcome submissions
that 1) engage broadly with the role of culture within technology design
and usage for, with and by communities, as well as 2) proposals for
approaches, tools, conceptual and methodological frameworks, case
studies and best practices in community-based design that exploit
cultural diversity as asset and seek to encourage intercultural
interactions.

Our goal is to offer an interdisciplinary coverage of the area explored,
by bringing together perspectives from different domains such as
computer science, design studies, cultural anthropology and social
sciences. In particular, we welcome contributions that explore the
following themes:

- Theoretical and reflective engagements with the role of culture and
cultural difference in community-based (participatory) design and
technology appropriation across cultures

- Frameworks, tools, and conceptual engagements tackling inclusion in
(participatory) design; The role of technology and technology design in
mediating or supporting societal inclusion

- Means (methods, tools, frameworks) for cross-cultural transferability
of community design and design processes

- Limits of transferability and situated, emergent design practices in
community contexts

- Empirical studies exploring cultural differences in community
technology usage and formulating design implications

- Metrics, tools, and frameworks for examining cultural differences in
community technology usage

- Conceptual papers that problematize design, re-framing community
design processes from cultural studies and intercultural communication
frameworks (e.g. design as a process of encoding values and meaning in
artefacts)

- Uses, benefits and limitations of ethnography and data-intensive
research methods in community-based design

- Local community knowledge management and knowledge conversion
processes and tools

- Building common ground and aligning intentions in multicultural
community design projects

- Case studies, approaches and best practices in community-based design
that explore or engage with issues of connectedness and community
cohesion, facilitating intercultural

- Awareness, communication and collaboration, and stimulating
intercultural interactions across diverse cultural groups

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CONTRIBUTION TYPES

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We welcome contributions across two formats:

- Original Papers: contribute original thinking underpinned by carefully
laid out conceptual, methodological or philosophical premises. Within
this category, we welcome papers on novel technologies and applications,
design or evaluation methods, case studies on existing applications and
systems, evaluation studies, and conceptual papers that bring a
substantial contribution to advancing knowledge on the aforementioned
topics. Original papers mainly address the academic community and
future-looking practitioners in the industry. These papers are double
blind peer-reviewed by two reviewers and the editorial team.

- Open Forum contributions: may include discussion papers, case study
articles, work in progress papers, opinion forming and opinionated
articles, and articles on emerging and non-established research. They
address academic and industrial communities, but equally the average
reader, and should be written in a style which makes them accessible and
comprehensible for these various audiences. Papers for the Open Forum
will be double blind peer-reviewed by one reviewer and the editorial
team. These papers are the best format for putting forth controversial
or thought-provoking ideas relating to communities, culture and ICTs.

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ABOUT THE AI & SOCIETY JOURNAL

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AI & Society  is an International Journal which publishes refereed
scholarly articles, position papers, debates, short communications and
reviews. Established in 1987, the journal focuses on the issues of
policy, design, applications of information, communications and new
media technologies, with a particular emphasis on cultural, social,
cognitive, economic, ethical and philosophical implications.

AI & Society is broad based and strongly interdisciplinary. It provides
an international forum for 'over the horizon' analysis of the gaps and
possibilities of rapidly evolving 'knowledge society', with a humanistic
vision of society, culture and technology.

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SUBMISSION FORMATTING

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Interested candidates are asked to submit a paper between 10 and 25
pages in the AI & Societyís manuscript format. You can find more
information about formatting under the section "Instructions for
Authors" http://www.springer.com/computer/ai/journal/146.

For inquiries and to submit your abstract and manuscript, please send an
email to: (cultech2015 /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(cultech2015 /at/ gmail.com)>

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SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORS

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- Nemanja Memarovic, Department of Informatics, University of Zurich,
Switzerland

- Amalia Sabiescu, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - RMIT
Europe, Spain

- Aldo de Moor, CommunitySense, The Netherlands

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