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Deadline Approaching - Sociotechnical Insights in Interaction Design (Sociotech-ID'08)
by Jose Abdelnour-Nocera 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

New Sociotechnical Insights in Interaction Design Call for Papers Workshop on sociotechnical insights in interaction design (Sociotech-ID'08) May 30th in BCS Offices in London, United Kingdom http://iit.tvu.ac.uk/sociotech-id08 A joint event of the BCS Interaction and Sociotechnical groups Aims and goals of the workshop Diverse areas of the social sciences explore and conceptualize the relation between people, society and technology under the rubric of 'sociotechnical', which can bring interesting insights into interaction design. Organizational studies of technology adoption have a well defined conceptual framework known as sociotechnical systems theory with established principles. However, the situation is not the same for interaction design research, which gives diverse uses to the term 'sociotechnical' when involving social methods and theories. Methodological perspectives like ethnography, ethnomethodology and activity theory have had a clear impact in interaction design, but the potential contribution of other areas of the social sciences has not become so clear and uniform despite the increased development of the pervasive and social proxy - mediating and mediated -- characters of interactive systems. This workshop will bring together good examples of research in interaction design that refer to the term 'sociotechnical'. The challenge is to achieve some level of 'translation' despite differences between disciplines whose main interest is understanding social phenomena and disciplines whose main interest is the design of interactive systems. It is hoped the workshop will identify opportunities for a sociotechnical knowledge framework in interaction design. Submissions are welcome in, but are not limited to, the following topics: * Actionable recommendations and guidelines for the conception design and evaluation of interactive systems as 'social proxies' * Improved methods for the gathering and elicitation of sociotechnical requirements for interaction design * Social Interaction Design and Web 2.0 * Socially responsible policies for interaction design * Participatory design as a sociotechnical endeavour * Sociotechnical dynamics of multidisciplinary teams in the context of novel user-centred development methodologies. * Culture and interaction design Submission The following types of submission are solicited: long paper submissions of up to 5,000 words, describing substantial contributions of novel ongoing work; short paper submissions of up to 2,000 words, describing work in progress. All papers must be written and presented in English and will be peer reviewed by at least 2 reviewers. Submissions will be evaluated according to the relevance and originality of the work and to their ability to generate discussions between the participants of the workshop. The format of submitted papers must follow the Springer LNCS (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) format (http://www.springer.com/east/home/computer/lncs?SGWID=5-164-7-72376-0) including no page numbers. Submitted papers must be in PDF or Word for Windows format. Papers should be submitted to http://itcentre.tvu.ac.uk/journal Important dates: - January, 15th , 2008: Submission of long and short papers - February, 15th, 2008 : Notification of acceptance - March 14th , 2008: camera-ready copies of accepted papers due - May 30th , 2008: workshop Publication Accepted papers will be published in the workshop proceedings, accessible through http://itcentre.tvu.ac.uk/journal. Two journal special issues on the same topic are being planned and it is hoped that some of the submissions in this workshop will be developed to contribute to these publications. One issue will appear in the new 'International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development'. Another issue is planned to appear in a renowned HCI journal (venue to be confirmed). Workshop Co-Chair(s): Jose Abdelnour-Nocera , Thames Valley University, UK Russell Beale, University of Birmingham, UK Lynne Dunckley, Thames Valley University, UK Ken Eason, The Bayswater Institute, UK Workshop Programme Committee: Paola Amaldi, Middlesex University, UK Fiona Concannon, National University of Ireland, Ireland Elisa del Galdo, Human Factor International, UK/US Joy Goodman, University of Cambridge, UK Susan Dray, Dray Associates, US Rogerio DePaula, Intel, Brazil Bob Fields, Middlesex University, UK Thomas Riisgaard Hansen, University of Aarhus, Denmark Elise van den Hoven, Technological University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands Ann Light, Queen Mary University of London, UK Stephan Lukosch, University of Hagen, Germany Zhengjie Liu, Dalian Maritime University, China Kris Luyten, Hasselt University, Belgium Ian MacColl, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Philippe Palanque, University Paul Sabatier, France Daniel Pargman, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Ulrike Pfeil, City University, UK Suzana Sukovic, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Christian Sturm, Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca, Mexico Helen Sharp, The Open University, UK

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Deadline Approaching - Sociotechnical Insights in Interaction Design (Sociotech-ID'08)
by Jose Abdelnour-Nocera 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

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International Conference on Computer Mediated Social Networking (ICCMSN - 2008) - CFP
by Andrew Long 08 Jan '08

08 Jan '08

Hi - The International Conference on Computer Mediated Social Networking (ICCMSN - 2008) is being held at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand on June 11-13. This conference aims to explore issues in the context of social networking such as formation of online communities and how collaboration and cooperation can be achieved. The submission date is February 27th. For more information please view the associated Website: http://www.business.otago.ac.nz/infosci/conferences/isn2008/index.html Regards Andrew _____________________________________________________________ Andrew Long | Department of Information Science | University of Otago New Zealand | +64 3 4798319 | mailto:along@infoscience.otago.ac.nz <mailto:along@infoscience.otago.ac.nz> http://socialspacestation.com <http://socialspacestation.com/> | http://claimid.com/socialspacestation <http://claimid.com/socialspacestation> ________________________________ From: air-l-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org on behalf of air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org Sent: Tue 1/8/2008 10:35 a.m. To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: Air-L Digest, Vol 42, Issue 6 Send Air-L mailing list submissions to air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org You can reach the person managing the list at air-l-owner(a)listserv.aoir.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Air-L digest..."

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SSRC Collaborative Grants in Media and Communications -- Letters of Inquiry due Feb 8
by mediahub 07 Jan '08

07 Jan '08

(Apologies for cross-posting) The Social Science Research Council alerts you to the second round of the SRC 'Large' Collaborative Grants in Media and Communications. Large Grants provide up to $30,000 in support for academic-advocacy research collaborations designed to change media and telecommunications infrastructure, practices, or policies in support of a richer and more democratic public sphere. The Deadline for an initial 'letter of inquiry' (<1000 words) is February 8 (12PM EST), submitted via email to mediahub(a)ssrc.org with subject line: "Collaborative Grant Letter of Inquiry" Large grants are awarded once a year through a competitive application process, with recipients selected by an independent committee of researchers and advocates. In 2007, grants of $30,000 were awarded to six projects. A similar number will be awarded in this round. If you choose to apply, please give special attention to the project and applicant criteria here: http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/grants/large-grants. To note the most important, projects need to: * Be strategically useful in their proposed advocacy and/or organizing context * Produce scholarship that meets academic standards Applicant partnerships need to include: * A researcher based at a university, college, or other academically- oriented research institution. Advanced graduate students are eligible * A US-based non-profit advocacy, organizing or community group working on media and/or telecommunications issues. (International proposals will be solicited via SSRC partner organizations) The program encourages a wide range of project types and goals, supporting projects that: * Address issues of disparate impact on communities on the basis of race, class, gender, ethnicity, age or other identity/status category * Build capacity-skills, tools, experience, access to data sets-within the "user" organization and/or community * Have a clear plan for the dissemination of the research to target audiences * Have uses outside the immediate intended context * Use methods or models of research that have proved effective in similar contexts * Reflect diversity in the staff or group involved with the project * Involve collaboration between two or more advocacy/community groups in the project design and the plan of use for the research * Use participatory methods to engage community and/or advocacy group members in framing the questions, data collection, and/or analysis Overall, the program has rewarded projects on a wide range of topics, from digital inclusion, to the future of community media, to analysis of media industry structure and barriers to entry. Descriptions of all the successful applications are available at http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/news/ssrc-announces-grants-totaling-180 -000-for-six-media-and-communications-projects/. SSRC program staff will be happy to answer questions about your proposed project or the program criteria. Please write us at mediahub(a)ssrc.org.

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Job ad: Learning Technologist, NCeSS
by Yuwei Lin 07 Jan '08

07 Jan '08

*** Apologies for cross-posting *** http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/jobs/general/vacancy/index.htm?ref=1296… Learning Technologist ESRC National Centre for e-Social Science Closing date: 21/01/2008 Reference: HUM/70375 The National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) is the central resource for e-social science issues and activities in the UK: see http://www.ncess.ac.uk. Its coordinating Hub, based at the University of Manchester, has responsibility for seven major research Nodes at other UK universities. The Hub team consists of a research director, programme manager, eight research staff, a learning technologist and three administrators, all based at the University of Manchester. The Hub wishes to appoint a second Learning Technologist with programming experience in HTML, mySQL, PHP and JavaScript; proven experience of designing and developing electronic learning content; an understanding of the issues related to accessibility; and experience of working in a Unix environment. Experience of RELOAD, Web2.0 technologies and of developing interactive online learning materials is also desirable. The post is tenable from 1 February 2008 (or as soon as possible thereafter) for three years. Salary: £26,666 - £32,796 p.a. Informal enquiries: Rob Procter Tel: + 44 (0) 161 275 1381 Email: rob.procter(a)ncess.ac.uk ------------ How to apply ------------ To apply for this vacancy, download a copy of the application form either as a PDF, or RTF: * Application form PDF <http://www.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/vacancies/applicationform.pdf> * Application form RTF <http://www.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/vacancies/applicationform.rtf> Please refer to the guidance notes for more information on how to apply for our vacancies: * Guidance notes PDF <http://www.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/vacancies/guidancenotes.pdf> If you require copies of documentation in alternative formats; large print, Braille etc, please contact Human Resources: * hr(a)manchester.ac.uk To request a hard copy please contact Katy Middlebrough Tel: + 44 (0) 161 275 4723 Email: katy.middlebrough(a)ncess.ac.uk Please quote reference: HUM/70375 Closing date: 21/01/2008 Interview date: w/c 28/01/2008

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FW: invitation to icts-and-society network meeting
by Christian Fuchs 07 Jan '08

07 Jan '08

dear colleagues, i am professor for internet and society at the university of salzburg and we plan to convoke a first-time face-to-face meeting of representatives of research and higher education institutions that work in the field of icts and society, information society studies, new media studies, social informatics including hci, and the like, to estabish an icts and society network around the globe in order to contribute to this emerging field. the venue is salzburg, austria, ict&s center. the date is 19-21 june 2008. the plan is to start in the afternoon on 19 june and conclude in the evening of 20 june. 21 june might be free for excursion to lovely salzkammergut. we kindly ask you to consider participation of one representative of your organisation. we cannot pay for travel or accommodation costs, but we provide on-site facilities like meeting room, refreshments, business lunch without fee and we will certainly help you with special price accommodation. confirmed so far is the participation of: - bill dutton, oxford internet institute - robin mansell, department of media and communications, london school of economics - gunilla bradley, school of ict, royal institute of technology, stockholm - gustavo cardoso, centre for research and studies in sociology, lisbon - lars qvortrup, royal school of library and information science, copenhagen - paschal preston, centre for society, technology and media, dublin city university one important item on the agenda will be to explore the possibility of a summer school for phd students in the field of icts and society as a common establishment of our network-to-be. since phd students is a main resource of our research, we also would like to ask you to enable the attendance of one or two excellent phd students of your organisation. the objective would be to hold within the framework of our meeting an early-stage-researchers workshop on icts and society with prepared contributions on the respective dissertation projects, so to say, as a kind of anticipation of the summer-school-to-be. holding this workshop depends on your reception of the idea. as soon as there is a critical mass of attendees, i will provide you with further information. i would appreciate to receive your answer before 10 january 2008. please, feel free to disseminate this invitation to possible partners of our initiative. thank you for your attention. looking forward to your response, prof dr wolfgang hofkirchner internet and society please address correspondence to the email-address wolfgang.hofkirchner(a)sbg.ac.at ict&s center for advanced studies and research in icts & society university of salzburg sigmund-haffner-gasse 18 a 5020 salzburg phone ++43 662 8044 4821 fax ++43 662 6389 4800 http://www.icts.uni-salzburg.at editor, tripleC - cognition communication co-operation peer-reviewed open-access on-line journal for the foundations of information science http://triplec.uti.at president, bertalanffy center for the study of systems science, vienna http://www.bertalanffy.org

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Job ad: Research Associate, ESRC National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS)
by Yuwei Lin 07 Jan '08

07 Jan '08

*** Apologies for cross-posting *** http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/jobs/research/vacancy/index.htm?ref=129… Research Associate ESRC National Centre for e-Social Science Closing date: 21/01/2008 Reference: HUM/70376 The National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) is the central resource for e-social science issues and activities in the UK: see http://www.ncess.ac.uk. Its coordinating Hub, based at the University of Manchester, has responsibility for seven major research Nodes at other UK universities. The Hub team consists of a research director, programme manager, eight research staff, a learning technologist and three administrators, all based at the University of Manchester. The Hub wishes to appoint an Economist, Econometrician, quantitative Social Scientist, or Computer Scientist with extensive experience of working with economic and social scientists, as a Research Associate to extend NCeSS's capacity to contribute to the ESRC's National Data Strategy, which aims to develop a data infrastructure capable of delivering all the data necessary to address current and future research needs in the social sciences. The post-holder will investigate how advanced computing tools and services (in the form of an e-Infrastructure) can encourage and assist economic and social researchers to use (and re-use) quantitative data in addressing their substantive research challenges. The post is tenable from 1 February 2008 (or as soon as possible thereafter) for two years. Salary: £26,666 - £32,796 p.a. Informal enquiries: Rob Procter Tel: + 44 (0) 161 275 1381 Email: rob.procter(a)ncess.ac.uk ------------ How to apply ------------ To apply for this vacancy, download a copy of the application form either as a PDF, or RTF: * Application form PDF <http://www.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/vacancies/applicationform.pdf> * Application form RTF <http://www.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/vacancies/applicationform.rtf> Please refer to the guidance notes for more information on how to apply for our vacancies: * Guidance notes PDF <http://www.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/vacancies/guidancenotes.pdf> If you require copies of documentation in alternative formats; large print, Braille etc, please contact Human Resources: * hr(a)manchester.ac.uk To request a hard copy please contact Katy Middlebrough Tel: + 44 (0) 161 275 4723 Email: katy.middlebrough(a)ncess.ac.uk Please quote reference: HUM/70376 Closing date: 21/01/2008 Interview date: w/c 28/01/2008

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CFP --- New Views 2: Conversations and Dialogues in Graphic Design
by Ken Friedman 07 Jan '08

07 Jan '08

Second Call for Papers/Posters Web site now online! New Views 2: Conversations and Dialogues in Graphic Design An international symposium defining graphic design for the future 9-11 July 2008 London College of Communication University of the Arts London United Kingdom New Views 2 seeks to look in depth at the broader questions that graphic designers are facing today in terms of the profession and educational practices. At the same time, the symposium is meant to generate debate and to identify what new challenges might lay ahead for practitioners, academics, industry and the profession overall. Themes to be addressed might include: · Who are we? Problems of defining terminology: visual communication, communication design, graphic design, information environments · the role of graphic design for the 'real world' · graphic design and interdisciplinarity · graphic design and research methods · design writing/criticism and repositioning debates · practice-led PhD research in the field of graphic design · responsive curriculums and shifting paradigms · research, innovation and new critical thinking An accompanying exhibition of posters from designers, students and academics opens in London 9th - 21st July, 2008 and then travels to RMIT, Australia. A digital exhibition will also be presented via the conference website. Deadline for Paper Abstracts: 1 February 2008 Deadline for intention to submit posters: 1 March 2008 For full details: <http://www.newviews.co.uk> http://www.newviews.co.uk Or, contact the co-organisers: Professor Teal Triggs Head of Research, School of Graphic Design, London College of Communication Co-Director, University of the Arts London Research Unit for Information Environments, London, UK <mailto:t.triggs@lcc.arts.ac.uk>t.triggs(a)lcc.arts.ac.uk Dr. Laurene Vaughan Director of Research and Innovation, School of Applied Communication, RMIT Executive Member RMIT Design Institute Melbourne, Australia <mailto:laurene.vaughan@rmit.edu.au>laurene.vaughan(a)rmit.edu.au

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Deadline approaching: CFP: 2nd Workshop on Social Aspects of the Web (SAW 2008)
by Dominik Flejter 07 Jan '08

07 Jan '08

=========================================================================== CALL FOR PAPERS REMINDER =========================================================================== 2nd Workshop on Social Aspects of the Web (SAW 2008) in conjunction with 11th International Conference on Business Information Systems (BIS 2008) Innsbruck, Austria May 5, 6 or 7, 2008 http://bis.kie.ae.poznan.pl/11th_bis/wscfp.php?ws=saw2008 =========================================================================== Deadline for submissions: January 12, 2008 =========================================================================== In recent years, the Web has moved from a simple one-way communication channel extending traditional media, to a complex "peer-to-peer" communication space with a blurred author/audience distinction and new ways to create, share and use knowledge in a social way. This change of paradigm is currently profoundly transforming most areas of our life: our interactions with other people, our relationships, ways of gathering information, ways of developing social norms, opinions, attitudes and even legal aspects as well as ways of working and doing business. It also raises a strong need for theoretical, empirical and applied studies related to how people may interact on the Web, how they actually do so and what new possibilities and challenges are emerging in the social, business and technology dimensions. The goal of this workshop is to bring researchers and practitioners together to explore the issues and challenges related to social aspects of the Web. We want to facilitate discussion on topics including theoretical, empirical and applied studies related to: TOPICS OF INTEREST * Users in the social Web * User identity/identities on the Web * Activity patterns * Privacy / intimacy in the social Web * Psychological aspects of acting in the social Web * Analysis and reduction of the socio-technical gap in social software * Communities on the Web * User roles, leadership and interactions * Conflicts and their resolution * Social norms and their enforcement * Trust and reputation in communities * Relations of on-line and off-line communities * Social discourse and decision-taking on the Web * Large-scale social Web mining and empirical studies * Social network analysis * Associations mining from social network * Large-scale behaviour patterns and anomalies' mining * Moods' / opinions' / social problems' analysis * Experts finding on the social Web * Mining formal semantics from social sources * Methodologies of Web-based social macro and micro studies * Social Web and business * Social Web as a source of business information * Social Web as a business communication channel * Business models for social software and services * Specific types of social software on the Web (bookmarking, social networks etc.) * Use cases and best practices * Applications of Web-based social software * Social software architectures * Social software on the Semantic Web * Strategies for bootstrapping social software systems and bypassing the critical mass problem * Social software in information processing and retrieval * Social software in collaborative maintenance of content and data SUBMISSION * Long papers: max. 5000 words * Work-in-progress rep.: max. 2500 words * Position papers: max. 2500 words * Demo papers: max. 2500 words Papers must be submitted in PDF format according to Springer LNBIP template available from http://www.springer.com/east/home/computer/lncs?SGWID=5-164-7-487211-0. Submission system is available on-line at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=SAW2008. The proceedings will be published jointly with proceedings of other BIS workshops as a book or CD with ISBN number, and on-line at CEUR WS.org workshop proceedings publication service (open content). Extended version of selected papers submitted to the workshop will be published as special issue of International Journal on WWW/Internet (http://www.iadis.org/ijwi/, ISSN: 1645-7641). WORKSHOP FORMAT All authors of accepted papers as well as other participants will be asked to read accepted papers abstracts before the workshop (papers will be available on-line in advance) to facilitate discussion. The workshop will consist in two parts: first (more formal) devoted to presentation and discussion of accepted papers and second (less formal) devoted to discussion of several issues related to present and future of the social Web. Workshop participants will be also invited to take part in the BIS conference and other BIS workshops (including workshops on Advances in Accessing the Deep Web (ADW 2008) and on E-Learning for Business Needs). IMPORTANT DATES * January 12, 2008 - submission deadline for papers * February 12, 2008 - notification of acceptance/rejection * March 12, 2008 - submission of final papers * May 5, 6 or 7, 2008 - the workshop ORGANIZERS * Poznan University of Economics, Department of Information Systems (http://kie.ae.poznan.pl/) CHAIRS * Dominik Flejter * Tomasz Kaczmarek * Marek Kowalkiewicz PROGRAM COMMITTEE * Krisztian Balog, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands * Simone Braun, FZI Karlsruhe, Germany * John Breslin, DERI, NUI Galway, Ireland * Tanguy Coenen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium * Jon Dron, Athabasca University, Canada * Davide Eynard, Politecnico di Milano, Italy * Andrew T. Fiore, University of California, Berkeley, the USA * Dominik Flejter, Poznan University of Economics, Poland * Tomasz Kaczmarek, Poznan University of Economics, Poland * Marek Kowalkiewicz, SAP Research Brisbane, Australia * Sebastian Kruk, DERI, NUI Galway, Ireland * Marcin Paprzycki, Polish Academy of Science, Poland * Katharina Siorpaes, STI, University of Innsbruck, Austria * Marcin Sydow, Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology, Poland * Jie Tang, Tshingua University, China * Celine van Damme, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium * Valentin Zacharias, FZI Karlsruhe, Germany ===========================================================================

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CFP --- Changing the Change Conference -- Reminder
by Ken Friedman 06 Jan '08

06 Jan '08

10-12 July 2008 CHANGING THE CHANGE: DESIGN VISIONS, PROPOSALS AND TOOLS An international conference on the role and potential of design research in the transition towards sustainability Torino, Italy http://www.changingthechange.org -- Organised by Co-ordination of Italian Design Research Doctorates in cooperation with the Conference of Italian Design Faculty Deans and Programme Heads In the framework of WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL TORINO 2008 An ICSID initiative of the IDA -- Endorsed by the Design Research Society -- The conference "Changing the Change" seeks to make a significant contribution to a necessary transformation that involves changing the direction of current changes toward a sustainable future. It specifically intends to outline the state-of-the-art of design research in terms of visions, proposals and tools with which design can actively and positively take part in the wider social learning process that will have to take place. At the heart of the conference, design researchers will present concrete and documentable research results. This will be complemented by invited keynote speaker presentations that will help paint a clearer picture of the common ground from which the conference will take off. -- AIMS The conference seeks to make a significant contribution to the twofold transformation underway. It specifically intends to outline the state-of-the-art of design research in terms of vision, proposals and tools with which design can actively and positively take part in the wider social learning process that we refer to as "changing the change." The conference has a double aim: - to consolidate a design research culture and practice oriented towards a constructive critical attitude able to reach all design disciplines. The conference intends to focus on the way in which the question of "changing the change" is present and widespread throughout the research community and in relation to all design fields: from product design to communication design; from interior design to interaction, service and strategic design; from social design to fashion design. - to outline the state-of-the-art of contributions that design research is today able to bring to social conversation about the future. The conference seeks to bring visibility to significant results. This with particular attention to visions of the future, to feasible solutions and to tools to help bring them into being. It will also enable us to make of the conference and its published output a tool for communication with the outside world; a tool able to demonstrate what design research can offer today to help re-orientate the transformation underway. In view of these aims, the conference will centre on the presentation of research results that could make a positive contribution to 'changing the change'. It will welcome contributions that take as their starting point transformations that have already taken place and those underway, and the necessity to re-orient them towards more sustainable outcomes. It hopes to present the widest range of possible world visions, feasible proposals and the design tools that could bring them into being. -- THEMES The field of interest of the conference is vast and will be divided into various specific themes within which more precise, focused discussion will be possible. This organisation into specific themes will be undertaken after contributions have been selected, so as to take into account what will actually be proposed. For the moment we only indicate an initial, general division into the three themes already introduced: visions, proposals and tools. Visions: this section will present research results that lead us to imagine possible worlds, or parts of possible worlds. It includes the results of activities in the field of scenario design and more general visions produced by research into specific products, communications and services. It also includes a comparative analysis of visions emerging from design history and from a comparison of different cultures. Proposals: this section presents results of design research that give rise to concrete solutions containing elements of systemic innovation. They are also legible as concrete steps towards a new generation of sustainable products, services and systems. So, products, services and product and service systems are proposed along with the communicative artefacts that link several actors and artefacts together. It also proposes places for a new everyday life, the activities that take place within them and the new production and consumption networks that emerge from them. Tools: this section presents the results of research that aims to redefine and develop conceptual and operational tools which enable designers to operate within change and influence its direction. Such tools enable them to participate constructively in new design networks, and deal with emerging problems. Tools may be proposed for conceptualisation and representation, for calculation and appraisal of results or for stimulation and prototype making. -- AUDIENCE The conference will mainly be a meeting point for academics, researchers and research students in the field of design theory and practice. However, in uniting a high academic level with the effort to present concrete results of activities carried out, it will also be of considerable interest to the wider design community and to those economic and social operators who recognise the potential of design practice and design research. -- CALL FOR PAPERS Abstracts should be between 500 and 700 words long, excluding the bibliography. The deadline for the reception of abstracts is January 21, 2008. Reception of abstracts will be acknowledged and notices of acceptance or rejection will be sent by March 3, 2008. The abstracts will be evaluated and selected by a blind peer review process. Full papers are limited to 6000 words. The deadline for full papers is on May 26, 2008. Selection criteria The abstracts will be evaluated and selected by a blind peer review process. Coherently with the conference aims, the Peer Review Committee will base its decisions on three major criteria: (1) relevance to the topics of "Changing the change"? as outlined below and in the website, (2) focalisation, in terms of clarity of the vision, of the proposal or the design tool and theory they present, and (3) reliability, in terms of the quality of the design research on which the paper is based. More precisely: - abstracts must be clearly defined as visions, proposals or design tools and theories (please select the proper option at the head of the abstract template and delete the others) : visions refer to scenarios of possible worlds, or parts of possible worlds; proposals present specific solutions to specific problems; tools and theories introduce conceptual and operational devices enabling designers to operate in contemporary contexts. - abstracts must clearly refer to the contemporary context and to its on-going transformations (considering the different ways they are taking place in different regions of the world). In this framework, they should present design research results that, moving from a deep understanding of these transformations, propose a design contribution involving a re-orientation towards more sustainable directions. - abstracts must present design research results and clearly indicate the specific research programme they are based on (with its aims, methodology and main actors). Given these three pre-requisites, abstracts (and the papers that will follow) can deal with any topics in any design fields: from product to communication; from interior to interaction; from service to strategy; from social design to fashion. -- CALL FOR VISUALISATIONS Special consideration will be dedicated to abstracts/papers presenting design research projects with highly communicative visual results. Therefore, together with the abstract/paper, a visualisation can be submitted as material for an exhibition that will be organized parallel to the Conference. The visualisations do not substitute the papers. To be accepted for evaluation they have to refer to a paper that has to be selected by the Peer review Committee. The conference will host an exhibition based on the visualisations proposed by selected papers. These visualisations are not the traditional scientific posters. They are visual presentations of design research results. They have to show visions of possible worlds and proposals for sustainable solutions. Whoever intends to deliver a visualisation must submit a first draft together with the abstract of the paper presenting the research on which the visualization is based. (Deadline: January 21, 2008) -- PUBLICATIONS All selected and presented papers will be published on line, and placed in the conference website in printable form. A special peer review jury will adjudicate the best papers submitted. The best papers and the presentations of the keynote speakers will be published in book form. http://www.changingthechange.org --

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