CALL FOR PAPERS
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                   (Apologies if you receive multiple copies)


                2002 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC '2002)

                              March 10-13, 2002
                                Madrid, Spain

        Special Track on Inter-disciplinary Approaches to the Design
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      of Dependable Computer-Based Systems
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             http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/rnp/sac2002/cfp.html


A special track on inter-disciplinary Approaches to the Design of Dependable Computer Systems will be held at SAC'2002. Society's dependence on computer-based systems continues to increas. The systems themselves - embracing humans, computers and engineered systems - become ever more complex as they feed an insatiable appetite for new and extended functionality. Furthermore, these trends coincide with pressure for systems to be brought to market faster and at lower (and more predictable) cost. Achieving sufficient dependability in these systems, and demonstrating this achievement in a rigorous and convincing manner, is of crucial importance to the whole fabric of the modern Information Society.

Although progress has been made in achieving high dependability in computer hardware and software, wider systems involving computers, people and business or social organisations are often disastrously unsuccessful and the cause of huge financial losses or worse. It has become clear in recent years that satisfactory resolution of this situation demands an inter-disciplinary approach targeted at understanding the fundamental problems that arise in attempts to build systems involving complex interactions amongst numbers of computers and human beings. Inadequate understanding of the complete organisational and cultural context of use is often a significant cause of lack of dependability of major new computer-based systems, and will be a major focus of this track.

By bringing together computer scientists, psychologists and sociologists who share an interest in the problems of dependability, the proposed track will make an important contribution to fostering this inter-disciplinary approach. Submissions will be invited on (but not limited to) the following themes:

* Architecture and organisation of systems, processes and their
  environment, e.g., use of diversity in systems and processes
* Work and its relationships with technological systems and artifacts,
  e.g., collaboration and interaction, organizational culture and trust
* Reasoning about dependability attributes, e.g., temporal
  predictability and responsiveness of systems and processes, security
  and confidentiality, formal methods
* Socio-technical approaches to systems design and development, e.g.,
  knowledge management and process change, co-evolving work and
  technologies
* Assessment and management of risks involved in system development
  and deployment


Track Program Chairs:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rob Procter
Division of Informatics
University of Edinburgh
80 South Bridge
Edinburgh, EH1 1HN, UK
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel: +44 131 650 2707
Fax: +44 131 650 6513

Mark Rouncefield
Department of Computing
University of Lancaster
Baillirig
Lancaster LA1 4YR
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Cliff Jones
Department of Computing Science
Newcastle University
Newcastle, NE1 7RU, UK
Email: [log in to unmask]

John Dobson
Department of Computing Science
Newcastle University
Newcastle NE1 7RU, UK
Email: [log in to unmask]

Robin Williams
Research Centre for Social Science
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, EH1 1LZ, UK
Email: [log in to unmask]

Guidelines for Submission:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original papers from the above-mentioned or other related areas will
be considered. Each submitted paper will be fully refereed and
undergo a blind review process by at least three referees. The
accepted papers in all categories will be published in the ACM
SAC'2002 proceedings.

Submission guidelines must be strictly followed:

* Submit six (6) copies of original manuscripts to Rob Procter
  (address shown above). Alternatively, submit your paper
  electronically in uuencoded compressed postscript format; this is
  strongly encouraged. Fax submissions will not be accepted.

* The author(s) name(s) and address(es) must not appear in the body
  of the paper, and self-reference should be in the third person.
  This is to facilitate blind review.

* The body of the paper should not exceed 5,000 words (approximately
  15 pages, double-spaced).

* A separate cover sheet (in the case of electronic submission this
  should be sent separately from the main paper) should show the title
  of the paper, the author(s) name(s) and affiliation(s), and the
  address (including e-mail, telephone, and fax) to which
  correspondence should be sent.

* All submissions must be received by September 1, 2001.

Important Dates:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   * September 1,  2001: Paper Submission.
   * October  15,  2001: Author Notification.
   * November  1,  2001: Camera-Ready Copy.