Call for Workshop Participation


Unpacking Social Signaling Theory for Social Computing Systems Analysis and Design
@ CSCW 2016


Social signaling theory (SST) is an analytical approach for interpreting interactions in social settings that are not ostensibly explicit. Historically, SST has been used to analyze behaviors in domains such as biology, economics, anthropology and sociology. Using SST as an approach for analyzing human behavior in the broad domain of social computing systems has been growing in many directions. Researchers have been using SST to understand how people assess the reliability of profile data in situations such as selecting experts, seeking romantic encounters, joining niche communities, or generally making sense of online social settings.

Some possible questions we might think about for this workshop include:

        • Relationships: How does social signaling theory complement existing theories used for studying social computing systems?
        • Applications: What types of questions about social computing systems cannot currently be answered from an SST stance?
        • Interventions: How can SST be leveraged to facilitate the design of next generation social computing systems?

The workshop will be active and interactive. Through a variety of creative activities and lively discussions, we will begin to unpack SST, map how it is currently being used in research, and investigate the potential for future exploration. We are planning a number of interesting activities and opportunities for discussion.

Participants will be selected based on interest in the topic, demonstrated through extended abstracts submitted prior to the workshop. We have framed some possible motivating questions above. You might choose to frame your submission around one of those topics. However, alternative submission topics that would inform the workshop discussion include describing an application of SST in a setting, system designs which attempt to apply SST, or evaluations of SST as applied. We are also thrilled to accept papers which approach SST as a theoretical stance, an empirical study, or use it in a clearly framed research design. Papers will be selected based on a combination of quality and to gather a variety of perspectives.

Submissions will be due December 19, 2015

For more information visit the workshop website: http://courses.washington.edu/sstwks16/
Details on the submission requirements can be found from the workshop website.