[Apologies for cross-posting] First Call for Papers and Participation: 4th Annual Social Informatics Research Symposium (SIG SI) People, information and technology: The social analysis of computing Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology Saturday, October 25, 2008, 8:30-12:30 PM Hyatt Regency Columbus, Ohio The purpose of this ASIST preconference research symposium is to disseminate current research and research in progress that investigates the social aspects of information and communications technologies (ICT) across all areas of ASIST. The symposium includes members of many SIGs and defines "social" broadly to include critical and historical approaches and well as contemporary social analysis. It defines "technology" broadly to include traditional technologies (i.e., paper) as well as state of the art computer systems. This year's theme is "People, information and technology: The social analysis of computing” In keeping with the theme of the conference, the symposium is soliciting work that focuses on the relationships of mutual shaping between people and information as mediated by technology. According to Horton, Davenport, and Wood-Harper (2005; 52) “the impetus for researchers to consider both social and technical aspects as mutually constitutive as a means of understanding technology introduction and use has a growing audience.” This symposium will highlight research focusing on the social realities of ICT based information systems (broadly defined) in IS in order to better understand the following: ~ How are the design, implementation, use, disuse, and ongoing reconfiguration of information and ICTs influenced by social groups, organizations, politics, and culture? ~ How do information and ICTs shape those creating, implementing and using them? ~ What are the roles of information and ICT in ongoing social change at various levels of social analysis such as groups, organizational units, political entities or cultural systems? ~ What are the complex reciprocal relationships among information, ICT, people, social groups and the environments that surround and pervade them? ~ What are the variations in meanings or interpretations of information and ICT across social groups and organizations? ~ What are the moral or ethnical consequences of ICT system development and use? We are particularly interested in work that assumes a critical stance towards the notion of mutual shaping – what is involved in people transforming information and information transforming people? A critical analysis is useful because it “bring into question established social assumptions and values regarding information and communication technologies (ICTs) and established understandings of ‘information,’ particularly as they play themselves out and are institutionalized in social and professional discourses and professional training.” (Day, 2007; 575). We encourage all scholars, both beginning and established, interested in social aspects of ICT (broadly defined) to share their research and research in progress by submitting an extended abstract of their work and attending the symposium. This year, the SIG SI is partnering with SIG USE to offer a comprehensive full day program. The theme of this symposium fits well with the main themes of the SIG USE symposium meaning that there would be a full day of exploration of the question of the transformative relationships between people, information, and ICTs from two different but clearly related perspectives. The SIG SI symposium will take place on Saturday morning and the SIG USE symposium will be in the afternoon. Collectively, the two sessions can offer a comprehensive full day program, although each will work well as a stand-alone event. The two SIGs will co-sponsor a networking lunch that will take place in between the two events [Cost: Pay-on-your-own. Further details to be announced later]. There will be a discount for people who register for both symposia. Call for papers and posters: Submit a short paper (2000 words) or poster (500 words) by August 29, 2008 Submissions may include empirical, critical and theoretical work, as well as richly described practice cases and demonstrations. Acceptance announcements made by September 9, in time for conference early registration (ends Sept 12th). Tentative Schedule Paper presentations: 8:30-10:45 pm Break: 10:45-11:15 (with poster viewing) Closing Keynote Discussion: 11:15-12:30 pm Lunch with SIG-USE: 12:30-1:30 PM Fees Members $60 - $70 after Sept. 12 Non-members $70 - $80, after Sept. 12 If you register for the SI Symposium and the SIG-USE Symposium you will receive a $10 discount: Members $140 - $150 after Sept. 12 Non-members $150 - $160, after Sept. 14 Organizers: Howard Rosenbaum, School of Library and Information Science -Indiana University hrosenba@indiana.edu Elisabeth Davenport, School of Computing, Napier University e.davenport@napier.ac.uk Kalpana Shankar, School of Informatics -Indiana University shankark@indiana.edu Day, R. (2007). Kling and the “critical”: Social informatics and critical informatics. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 58(4): 575–582. Horton, K., Davenport, E. and Wood-Harper, T. (2005). Exploring sociotechnical interaction with Rob Kling: five “big” ideas. Information Technology & People 18(1): 50-67