~~~~~~~ BRITISH HCI GROUP NEWS SERVICE ~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ http://www.bcs-hci.org.uk/ ~~
~~ All news to: [log in to unmask] ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ NOTE: Please reply to article's originator, ~~
~~ not the News Service ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As research in ubiquitous computing increases, the field moves away from
being purely technology-driven and towards a more human-centric perspective.
Designers of ubiquitous computing systems must take into account the
potential social impact of their systems. For instance, the community has
made in recent years a concerted effort to initiate dialogue regarding the
potential privacy threats posed by ubiquitous computing systems. There
remain, however, several important social issues aside from privacy that are
impacted by ubiquitous computing. As researchers begin to identify and
address these critical issues, we believe it is important to open a
community dialogue to share these findings, create awareness regarding new
research in these areas, and collaborate to work towards these new
challenges.
The areas of contributions include a broad range of challenges related to
the design of socially compatible ubiquitous computing systems. We
especially encourage submis-sions related to the following topics:
? Ecologic impact. How will ubiquitously available computing systems
affect the ecological balance? On the one hand, there are many promises for
positive ecological impacts (e.g., due to better deployed resources, or
better recycling of tagged items). On the other hand, many of these savings
could be counterweight due to the so-called rebound-effect. The energy
needed to power all these pervasive systems and the newly generated
electronic waste are also relevant issues.
? Making the invisible socially acceptable. Humans are used to receive
feedback to their actions. The vision of ubiquitous computers working in the
background without humans even noticing it, however, contradicts this
paradigm. What could the social impact caused by this loss of visibility
be? When and how should feedback loops be built into ubiquitous systems?
? Delegation of control. In order to cope with the complexity of
computing systems, humans will have to delegate much of the control to
automated decision making tools. This, however, raises many questions
related to reliability, usability, accountability, responsibility, and
liability. What impact could this have on our daily lives?
? Consequences for discriminated minorities. One of the potential
advantages of ubiquitous computing seems to be the everyday support of
unprivileged minorities like physically or mentally impaired, elderly, or
even children. Are there any generic rules for ubiquitous computing system
design, so that such minorities will easily benefit from the deployment of
these systems?
? Ethics. What ethical implications are to be expected from deploying
ubiquitous computing and the implied surveillance for care giving and other
domains? These issues may be discussed from both an end-user perspective as
well as from a designer perspective. Can there be a code of ethics for
designers of ubiquitous systems?
? Information accuracy/dependability. The example of the World Wide Web
shows that much information also means much wrong, outdated, or simply
unavailable information. If ubiquitous computing systems are to govern much
more of our lives than just our online presence, what problems are to be
expected and how should the systems cope with these?
? Influence through information. Which entities will control the
ubiquitous information flow and how far-reaching could their influence be?
Can researchers guarantee a certain fairness of and/or control over the
information?
? Economic consequences. What benefits and new threats are to be
expected in an economy that essentially depends on large amounts of
real-time information? How might existing practices and business models be
affected?
? Ubiquitous computing as a public service. What role will government
and governing bodies play in the development and deployment of
infrastructures for ubiquitous computing services? Will this be similar to
the construction and maintenance of roads or power lines? What sorts of
infrastructures could/should be provided: communication, information, etc.?
? Ubiquitous systems and the built environment. A big part of our lives
is affected by the build environment we inhabit and its architecture. If
ubiquitous systems are going to have the same degree of impact on our lives,
they probably should be designed and deployed in a way that is compatible
with the architecture. What effects could our systems have on architecture,
and how could architecture impact ubiquitous systems?
? Socially acceptable design. We would encourage submissions that
address one or more of the above issues at the level of design implications.
An analysis of the above issues can have many implications for how we design
ubiquitous systems, and we would like to see submissions that follow through
and discuss these implications.
Potential workshop attendees are invited to submit a position paper of up to
4 pages that addresses at least one relevant social implication of
ubiquitous computing and discusses how researchers can influence the
direction of development. Papers should be sent via e-mail to Vlad Coroama
at [log in to unmask] The papers will be peer-reviewed and chosen
according to their relevance to the scope of the workshop, the quality and
originality of the submission, and their ability to stimulate discussions.
The organizers will try to consider as many submissions as possible to help
assemble a large community of researchers interested in the social
challenges of ubiquitous computing.
Submission Deadline: 3 January 2005
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ To receive HCI news, send the message: ~~
~~ "JOIN BCS-HCI your_firstname your_lastname" ~~
~~ to [log in to unmask] ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ Newsarchives: ~~
~~ http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/bcs-hci.html ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ To join the British HCI Group, contact ~~
~~ [log in to unmask] ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|