ETHICOMP 2018: ETHICOMP 2018 Tricity, Poland, September 24-26, 2018

Submission link	https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ethicomp2018
Conference program	https://easychair.org/smart-program/ETHICOMP2018/
Submission deadline	January 10, 2018

ETHICOMP 2018:

Creating, Changing, and Coalescing Ways of Life With Technologies

Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology (PJAIT) and SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities

Tricity, Poland

September 24-26, 2018

The ETHICOMP series of conferences fosters an international community of scholars and technologists, including computer professionals and business professionals from industry. Since 1995, conferences have been scheduled across Europe and Asia, with our main events coming every 18 months. Ethicomp considers computer ethics conceived broadly to include philosophical, professional, and practical aspects of the field.

Information technologies shape our lives in a variety of ways. They can make new ways of life possible. They can also introduce changes to the ways we live our lives, even when not wholly transformative. And, once adopted, they can become deeply embedded in our lives, sometimes making change much more difficult or unlikely.  These influences each can have ethical import, although the specific nature of this import depends on a variety of features. Both change and stability can be valuable or problematic.

We invite submissions that explore this theme, interpreted broadly, as well as on more specific tracks addressing particular issues relevant to the theme of the conference. A more detailed description of each track is available at the conference website. Questions may also be directed to the relevant Track Chairs, listed below.

We are working with publishers to explore publication possibilities for selected papers. If you are interested in this, you will have the opportunity to request consideration for these further venues when you submit the final version of the paper.

Submission Guidelines

Authors can choose to submit either to the general “open” track, or a specific topical track from the list below. Please note the track for which you would like your paper considered in the "Abstract" field. Initial submissions to both topical tracks and the “open” general track should take the form of extended abstracts of 1,000-1,500 words. We welcome perspectives from researchers in business, government, computer science, information systems, law, media, anthropology, pedagogy, psychology, sociology and philosophy. Interdisciplinary papers and those from new researchers and practitioners are encouraged. Papers can involve a variety of approaches, including those with a conceptual, applied, practical or historical focus, as well as case studies and reports on lessons learned in practice.

Important Dates

Call for abstracts                              November 1, 2017

Initial submission deadline                January 10, 2018

Reviews due                                    February 10, 2018

Paper acceptance / rejection             February 25, 2018

Final full paper submissions              May 25, 2018

Conference                                     September 24-26, 2018

As in previous ETHICOMP conferences, papers written in English and not published nor submitted elsewhere will be accepted on the basis of an extended abstract of between 1000 and 1500 words after a careful, double-blind review overseen by the Program Committee. Authors may submit more than one abstract, but acceptance of multiple proposals by a single author or co-author will be weighed against available space to ensure we can include as many authors as is practical for ETHICOMP 2018. After an abstract is accepted, a final paper is due approximately three months later. Final papers should be no more than 8000 words.

 Details regarding formatting and style of final papers for the conference proceedings will be posted to the conference website and circulated to authors. Abstracts and full papers will be submitted and reviewed through EasyChair. Full details of the submission process will be posted to the conference website on EasyChair.
 

List of Topics

• Open Track (any topic in computer ethics, broadly construed)
   
• Student Track (for undergraduate and, if the author chooses, early-career graduate student submissions on any topic in computer ethics)
   
• Monitoring and Assessing the Strategic Value of Responsible Innovation (track chair: Emad Yaghmaei, e.yaghmaei@tudelft.nl) 
  This track aims:
  • To deepen understanding of whether and how RRI leads to measurable societal, democratic, scientific and economic benefits to help stakeholders to improve the outcomes of R&I.
  • To identify opportunities for the integration of RRI in industrial practices by way of in-depth case studies, exploring potential paths for the responsible development of applications, products and services in key industrial sectors.
  To assess/measure the strategic value of RRI by defining up-to-date methodologies to assess and measure the value of RRI (e.g. risk assessment, impact assessment, and technology assessment initiatives) as well as benchmark indicators aligned with usual business practice.
   
• Video Games and Interactive Media (track chair: Catherine Flick, cflick@dmu.ac.uk)
  The video game industry is increasing in size, and has moved beyond the stereotype of being only for young people. Serious games, virtual and augmented reality, and other new interactive media have become influential within the traditional gaming sphere as well. This track welcomes papers looking at the ethical and social impact of video games and interactive media.
   
• Technology Meta-Ethics (track chair: Wilhelm Klein, mail@wilhelmklein.net)
  The focus of this track is on the premises, foundations and axioms underlying approaches in fields such as Technology / Machine / Computer / ICT / Robot / Information / etc. Ethics.
  It invites contributers to address issues such as mind-body dualism, the existence or nonexistence of objective moral truths, epistemological and/or ontological naturalism or freedom of will, etc., and to put these issues into both the theoretical and practical contexts of ETHICOMP-related fields and objects of analysis.
   
• Cyborgs: a Cross Cultural Observatory (track chairs: Mario Arias-Oliva and Jorge Pelegrín-Borondo, mario.arias@urv.cat)
  Human evolution is coming not from biology, but from ICT. The concept of Cyborg (Cybernetic Organism) it is going to be more important during the coming years. In ETHICOMP 2017 we started a track that focus on Cyborg Ethics: wearables to insideables. We are doing a qualitative research in order to obtain a deeper understanding about the cyborg perception with an international perspective. Track is open as well to all cyborg & ethics analyses with a very inclusive in both research areas and methods.
   
• Digital Arts, Design Fiction, and Ethics (track chairs: Kai Kimppa, Andrew A. Adams, and Peter Vistisen, kai.kimppa@utu.fi; aaa@meiji.ac.jp; vistisen@hum.aau.dk)
  The arts (visual art, written fiction, film, etc) provide a powerful mode of communication and are suitable subjects for teaching and research in information ethics. The ubiquity of 1984 and Asimov's Laws in discussions of Surveillance and AI demonstrate this clearly. This track seeks presentations of relevant art and papers discussing the use of relevant art in teaching and researching information ethics topics.
  Design fictions, the deliberate use of diegetic prototypes, in the form of both elaborate vision videos and low-fi animations are becoming a vital part of the design process. The use of fiction, grounded in a factual ontology of the scope of information technology, holds potential to be used to facilitate and mediate ethical discourses beyond the spatial and temporal limits of traditional user centred design processes. This track also seeks to explore design fiction as a tool in the development and design process of new ICT—from mediators of discourse, to facilitators of large scale online participation in said discourse.
   
• Designing Experiences or Exploiting Reflexes? Ethics in UX (track chairs: Kordian Klecha and Radosław Sterczyński,kpklecha@gmail.com, rsterczynski@swps.edu.pl)
  User Experience Design, the field developed for about twelve years, became more and more significant part of information industry. Both the providers and the recipients of UX solutions are focused on the results, not on the ethics. Meanwhile digital products became an important factor in lives of billions. It's the highest time to ask some questions concerned moral aspects of shaping the behavior of „digital” users:
  * Are we designing experiences or maybe just exploiting reflexes?
  * Is everything acceptable as long as business goals are met, or are there areas of "black UXD", which should be named and avoided?
  * To what extend human-behavior modification reduce freedom of individual choices?
   
• Ethical Implications of 'Other-Tracking Technologies’ (track chair: Katleen Gabriels, k.gabriels@tue.nl)
  Today, mobile and wearable computing create ever more possibilities to track one another through GPS-enabled devices and mobile applications: parents can track their children (e.g. ‘Life360’ app), spouses their significant other (e.g. ‘1TopSpy’ app), employers their employees (e.g. by wrist wearables or arm-mounted terminals), and so forth. This does not have to be negatively per se; the specific uses are context-dependent.
  As these apps and smart devices allow us to monitor and even discipline the other (e.g. parent-child relation or employer-employee context) at-a-distance, they can (re)organize social interactions and power relationships between people. While ‘self-tracking’ technologies and the question of how they shape self-understanding receive ample attention in ethics of technology, less attention is given to how the other is shaped by tracking technologies and the ethical implications of this.
   
• Teaching and Professional Ethics (track chairs: Gonçalo Costa and Marta Czerwonka, goncalo.j.m.costa@gmail.com; mczerwonka@pjwstk.edu.pl)
  The debate on computer professionals or future practitioners (students) awareness regarding their activities potential consequences is a key issue in computer science education. This raises a vital query: to what extent computer professionals and students are prepared to deal with: i) technical and non-technical requirements (e.g., social skills); ii) stakeholders' diverse behaviours (e.g., pressure); iii) unforeseen use or misuse of developed technologies. We need to encourage them to search for non-traditional solutions (technical or non-technical) to these problems.This requires they be taught to analyse the problem, look for solutions, reflect upon advantages and disadvantages of each hypothesis (versus a greater good) and elaborate adequate arguments. Our track promotes a fruitful debate on how valuable computer science education is for learners and professionals awareness. Therefore, sharing experiences (academic and non-academic) with members from ETHICOMP, IFIP or other professional organisations is a fundamental step to enhance students and computer professionals awareness on social and ethical implications of ICT.
   
• Women and STEM: Practices & Ideas to Refashion Computing (track chairs: Shalini Kesar and Efpraxia Zamani, skesar@gmail.com)
  Technology has become a crucial part of our lives today and it impacts everyone and every environment. As workforce demographics shift and global markets emerge, the diversity dilemma in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) area has received more attention. Studies and statistics attribute to various reasons for the gender disparity in this field. This track provides a platform for academics and practitioners to discuss various practices and ideas to increase the presence and participation of women in STEM fields in different environments such as workplace, higher education and schools.
   
• Living with Cybersecurity: A Shared Responsibility (track chairs: Markus Christen and Shalini Kesar, christen@ethik.uzh.ch; skesar@gmail.com)
  The ubiquitous use of ICT by various kinds of applications has penetrated almost all social practices and influences our way of thinking, our interactions with others and our roles as citizens, workers and consumers. These complex, often delicate technologies make the world a richer, more efficient and very interactive place. However, they also make it relatively fragile, as it becomes difficult to keep industries and support systems functioning when something disrupts computer controls and monitors. Furthermore, the growth of the Internet of Things and the fact that businesses and public institutions increasingly integrate their operations makes this connectivity even more vulnerable to unauthorized access. Therefore, cybersecurity has become a matter of global interest and importance.
  The alarming statistics along with comprise of confidential and sensitive data resulting from misuse of technology has brought cybersecurity to the forefront. Equifax, JP Morgan, and Target are just a few of the recent cases that remind us of the importance of understanding various threats, vulnerabilities, and ethical issues associated with the Internet. To manage and minimize misuse of technology, cybersecurity is a shared responsibility within business setting that requires both technical and nontechnical measures. This track invites papers to identify and explore the challenges, vulnerabilities and solutions that promote cybersecurity. It includes but not limited to topics that encompass cybercrime, big data, and Internet of Things, (IoT).
   
• Virtual Identities and the Psychological Consequences of Using Information Communication Technology (track chairs: Aleksandra Szymków and Kevin Macnish, aszymkow-sudziarska@swps.edu.pl; k.macnish@utwente.nl)
  This track will look at how personal data are shaped by and shape the people and societies they describe. Likely topics include the societal impact of "data doubles", the ontological nature of multiple fragmented identities, and the reflexive way in which the existence of a "data double" can shape the person the data describe. Each day we are becoming more and more involved in different kinds of technologies. We use smartphones as our external memory, play advanced video games to become someone else and make friends via social media. What are the psychological consequences of all these activities? What are the costs and benefits? As far, we hardly know any answers to this important questions. This track invites submissions in all psychological areas: cognitive, social, developmental as well as neuropsychological.
   
• Ethics of AI: At Home and in the Workplace (track chairs: Peter Boltuc and Yuko Murakami, pbolt1@uis.edu; yuko.i.murakami@gmail.com)
  Artificial Companions are the robots that assist with daily life. They are often viewed in a positive light, but sometimes with suspicion since they may interfere with the traditional family roles, such as parenting. This issue becomes controversial when artificial companions take up intimate roles as robotic lovers, though some authors support this alternative . Meanwhile, massive job replacement is expected along with development of AI. Not only simple tasks which have been substituted by machines, but also intellectual, professional tasks are to be conducted by machines: loan reviews, drug discovery, telediagnosis, for example. Such drastic changes in workplace introduce new ethical concerns to workplace and professional training. How should we cope with the issues? This session invites papers on case studies, theorization of human nature of "working," and other related topics. Papers on AI at home, in the workplace, or the intersection of these concerns are encouraged.
   
• Information Technology, Civic Life, and Political Culture (track chairs: Goncalo Costa, Piotr Pawlak, Gosia Płotka, and Wojciech Sańko, goncalo.j.m.costa@gmail.com, piotr.pawlak@amu.edu.pl, mplotka@pjwstk.edu.pl, Wojciech.sanko@epf.org.pl)
  On the one hand, information technology can be used to enhance civic life. One purpose of this track is to encourage presentation of ideas, already developed a piece of socially useful software and/or another type of solution(s). It could be anything that improve local community, group or individual's life, helps to remove barriers, supports equality & diversity and/or opens the doors that otherwise would be difficult to access. We encourage submission of case studies and examples of technological solutions to societal challenges. On the other hand, ICT has a battlefield between the political cultures of democratic states and non-democracies. The world turns out to be not as secure, predictable, and based on understanding, as predicted for decades by proponents of the information society.The unfettered flow of information and unlimited communication possibilities enable not only the circulation of noble thoughts and the noble ideas but also the dark side of human nature. In addition to unquestionably positive concepts and views, the equivalent (and often even more explicit and more prominent) place in the network are also radical views. Suggested thematic areas relevant to this latter concern include propoganda, ideological conflict, and political on the Internet, cybersecurity of public institutions, and information war.

Committees

Program Committee

• Alexis Elder
• Emad Yaghmaei
• Catherine Flick
• Wilhelm Klein
• Mario Arias-Oliva
• Jorge Pelegrín-Borondo
• Kai Kimppa
• Andrew A. Adams
• Peter Vistisen
• Kordian Klecha
• Radosław Sterczyński
• Katleen Gabriels
• Gonçalo Costa
• Marta Czerwonka
• Shalini Kesar
• Efpraxia Zamani
• Markus Christen
• Aleksandra Szymków
• Kevin Macnish
• Peter Boltuc
• Yuko Murakami
• Marek Bednarczyk
• Gosia Płotka
• Piotr Pawlak
• Wojciech Sańko
• Aleksandra Fila-Jankowska
• Frances Grodzinsky

Organizing committee

• Marty Wolf
• Alexis Elder
• Marek Bednarczyk
• Gosia Płotka
• Piotr Pawlak
• Joanna Rzosińska
• Iwona Kołek
• Stanisław Szejko

Contact

Questions and comments should be directed to Alexis Elder: amelder@d.umn.edu