Relevant Events

http://www.nomadit.co.uk/asa/asa2016/panels.php5?PanelID=4422

Deadline for submissions is 15th February 2016, and submissions should be made through the ASA online system, via the link above. But please feel free to email Hannah and/or Antonia if you have any questions:

• antonia.walford.11@ucl.ac.uk
• h.knox@ucl.ac.uk

Best wishes,

Antonia and Hannah

Digital Environmentalisms

Short Abstract:

This panel will explore digital technologies as key aspects in the formation of a contemporary environmental imaginary, and as a potential site for transforming anthropological approaches to human-environmental relations.

Long Abstract:

Environment and energy crises have brought anthropological questions about how humans relate to nature into conversation with concerns to explore the material bases of contemporary political and economic life. Anthropologists working on this interface have shown that such global processes are the outcome of multi-scalar interactions between dynamic material arrangements, human and non-human relationalities, and industries, societies and economies. However, importantly, these global environmental processes are increasingly materialised, manipulated, and mediated by complex informational infrastructures. Digital sensors and databases measure, order and evidence environments in complex and unstable ways; models shape environmental presents, futures and pasts; and environmental data visualisations and products are called upon by diverse stakeholders, from climate sceptics to indigenous activists to anthropologists themselves. This panel will explore what happens to anthropological approaches to energy and the environment when we pay attention to the role of digital technologies in the process of human-environmental becoming.

• What part do digital techniques play in the way in which people imagine and engage environmental processes?
• How does an attention to digital environmentalism provide a way into a more nuanced description of the interplay between ontology and epistemology, materials and symbols, or humans and natures?
• Can the study of digital technologies and practices in other social settings help us understand the processes we confront in digital environmentalism?
• And finally, how does an attention to digital technologies disrupt and re-situate claims as to the role that anthropology should play in the study of environmental and energetic crises?

This Symposium and Summer School aims at exploring the perspective of urban water demand management with a particular attention on modelling and understanding the behaviour of water consumers, the drivers of such behaviour, the role of social norms, economic leverages and water demand management strategies to  promote behavioural change, and the role of Information and Communication Technologies to support the design, implementation and deliver smart solutions for urban water demand management.

The EnviroInfo is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year in September 2016 in Berlin and invites new researchers and PhD students, to share their current research or research proposals with a community that always thrived on new ideas, concepts and research questions. The PhD workshop will focus on bringing PhD students from similar fields together and provide them with a platform where they can network, discuss approaches and challenges as well as present their current state of work. In addition, there will be opportunities to obtain feedback from the established research community.

For more information, see http://enviroinfo2016.org/sessions/phd-workshop-environmental-informatics-envision-concepts-present-approaches-and-discuss-implementations/

Within the EnviroInfo 2016 conference, the research area “New Internet services and technologies for environmental applications and energy infrastructures” will be a focal topic.

 
The topic includes but is not limited to:

• Use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, smart infrastructures and sensor networks in the application fields of environmental protection, sustainability, renewable energy and energy efficiency
• Service and microservice oriented architectures, cloud computing and big data applications for environmental sustainability
• Information provision (including provision for the public), new software architectures and new software systems using IoT, big data or other new Internet technologies and services in the application area
• Environmental monitoring networks and mobile data acquisition

The focal topic will be addressed in a corresponding session track. The objective of these sessions is to present and discuss new developments and trends in the thematic field. The sessions aim at providing an overview about new research and developments in the area and to discuss with software developers and users possible synergistic effects.

Deadline for submission of full scientific papers is March 31, 2016. These papers shall be published in a Springer book or a journal. For work in progress, short contributions and posters (published with ISBN or ISSN or in the book of abstracts), the submission deadline is July 15, 2016. For more information about contributions to the conference and important dates seehttp://enviroinfo2016.org/participation/contributions/.

During past decade IS/IT research has moved beyond its earlier primary
concern regarding the */centrality/*of IS/IT construct to include the
*/vitality/*of IS/IT constructs for a vast array of problem domains. MIS
researchers led the business research in the use of computer networks of
business processes whether it was the use of novel mercantile mechanisms
or the host of behavioral issues associated with anonymized behavior to
nature of virtual office.Information technology fundamentally changed
the problem characteristics, application environment and domain,
incentives of participants, and above all technology provides new ways
to measure and manipulate participants’ incentive. One of the roles of
IS research is to*/pose new questions about old beliefs/*due to
technological advances in IS/IT. We do that because MIS researchers are
the first one to embrace technology as vital component in interaction
with our surrounding environment.

The workshop on Policy, Awareness, Sustainability and Systems (PASS) is
an initiative of Workshop for Information Technology and Systems to
encourage forward looking research in terms of problem domains,
technological and methodological scope and its potential
impact.Information is key to organizing a sustainable environment for
the planet whether it is in terms of creating and managing food supply,
energy, water or embedded devices that will provide new perceptory
abilities to humans in the form of augmented reality and interactive
decision environments.Building, testing, managing and controlling these
new generation of technology would require an understanding that current
data and approaches may not adequately be able to deal with.Yet
appropriate guidelines and policies must be developed to avoid
exploitation of new technology for potentially destructive purposes. The
purpose of the PASS workshop is to invite researchers and scholars to
discuss their forward looking research related to Information Systems
and Technology and provide a forum for substantive discussion around a
broad set of forward looking topics, not limited to the issues discussed
above.Consistent with WITS theme, the methodological focus we encourage
is that of computational, simulation and algorithmic strain.

While a broad set of questions at different level of granularity are of
interest, the following questions provide broad strokes of kinds of
areas that may be of interest.

·Given the triple-bottom-line concept of sustainability that requires
long-term simultaneous optimization of economical, ecological and social
objectives, what are the implications on the traditional resource-based
view? How could we model/analyze these seemingly unrelated objectives in
a collective manner?

·What are the policy implications of the scenario wherein the cost of
information is decreasing, but environmental resources (and resources
derived from environmental resources) are becoming increasingly constrained?

·Traditional IT has focused on indicators based on built capital, for
example, physical capacity, financial resources, human resources,
etc.What are the methodological implications of relying on indicators –
for example, those related to well-being and natural capital – do they
provide a reflection of the reality?

·How do we design and develop systems that capture information that is
attached to anything that is exchanged?

The workshop will take place on Saturday September 24,^, 2016 at Carlson
School of Management, the University of Minnesota.The participants will
be provided accommodations for one night (Friday).There is no
registration fee, however, the space is limited and will be provided on
first come first serve basis.Interested presenters should send an
abstract (One page) to Alok Gupta (alok@umn.edu <mailto:alok@umn.edu>)
by September 2, 2016.

Workshop in conjunction with NordiCHI'16 conference, Gothenburg, Sweden

Ever since Eli Blevis presented his seminal paper “Sustainable Interaction Design” almost a decade ago (in 2007), sustainability has been an established topic within the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Even though interest in Sustainable HCI is increasing, critique has been expressed that suggests that we do too little, and perhaps also at times the wrong things. It can be daunting for researchers to tackle global problems such as climate change, famine and biodiversity loss, to name just a few of the large issues the world is and will continue to grapple with during the remainder of the 21st century. Still, also a field like Human-Computer Interaction should aim at being part of developing a sustainable society. But how do we do that, and, what are we aiming for?

In September 2015, the UN formally adopted a new set of global goals that were ushered in just as the previous Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) were slated to “expire”. The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) consist of 17 overarching goals, aiming at accomplishing sustainable development for people and the planet by 2030.

In this workshop we want engage everyone who is interested in working towards a sustainable future in terms of and with the UN SDGs as a starting point. How can Sustainable HCI be inspired by, and contribute to these goals? What should we in the field of HCI do more of, and what should we perhaps do less of? In what areas should we form partnerships in order to reach the Sustainable Development Goals? And with whom should we form these partnerships? The benefit of arranging the workshop would be to have a common vision of how to work with the SDGs, to collaboratively explore how we could contribute to the goals and to be inspired – by each other – in our research.

For more information about the workshop, see: https://hci4s.wordpress.com
For more information about the ICT4S conference, see: http://www.nordichi2016.org/

Application:
-----------------------
You can apply to the workshop by submitting a position paper or a presentation, which includes at least two of the following bullet points:

Please send your position paper (500-1500 words) or presentation (6-9 slides) by email to hci4sustainability@gmail.com

Deadline 25 August 2016.

If there are many prospective applicants, the workshop organizers will strive to put together a diverse set of participants from the research community as well as from industry. Submissions will be reviewed based on quality, originality, and their potential contribution to achieving workshop goals. We expect to include 15-25 participants.

Important dates
--------------------------
Deadline for papers: August 25, 2016
Notification of acceptance: September 3, 2016
Workshop: October 24th, 2016 (one full day)

Organizers:
-------------------------
Elina Eriksson (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
Daniel Pargman (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
Oliver Bates (Lancaster University, UK)
Maria Normark (Södertörns Högskola, Sweden)
Jan Gulliksen (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
Mikael Anneroth (Ericsson, Sweden)
Johan Berndtsson (InUse, Sweden)