Apologies for cross-posting --- The Construction of Social Computing: Design and Displacement of Hybrid Relationships Organizers: Maurizio Teli, Ahref Foundation, Italy, maurizio@ahref.eu Vincenzo D'Andrea, University of Trento, Italy, vincenzo.dandrea@unitn.it David Hakken, Indiana University, USA, dhakken@indiana.edu In the last few years, the label “Social Computing” (SC) has been increasingly used to identify the ensemble of computing applications developed in order to foster and sustain social relationships . The use of the label seems to imply that SC is engaging with hybrid socio-technical relationships, underlining a change in computer science. Nevertheless, SC is in line with the origin of computer science, in particular with the computing development program promoted in the '50s by Norbert Wiener, aiming at promoting a society that increases the “human use of human beings”. However, although many applications are labeled “social computing,” they are mainly commoditized, to generate profit for corporations, and they focus on a restricted set of application domains. Such practical displacement of the societal view of Wiener calls for a deep reflection based on an empirical perspective able to frame SC through an STS lens, for two main reasons. Firstly, SC is an academic and social construction, and its design and foundational discourses can be understood and questioned through an STS lens. Secondly, the use of the term SC builds constraints on how innovation can take place in the social arena of SC. Along with these premises, an STS lens can increase the understanding of the hybrid relationships designed and displaced by SC academic practices, as well as overcoming the constraints of SC discourses providing conceptual and methodological tools to design new kind of SC technologies. Taking this perspective, we ask for contributions addressing: 1) the academic and industrial construction of SC within and across disciplines; 2) the design of social relationships in SC initiatives and their displacement in SC use; 3) the engagement of STS researchers, lexicon, and methods, as a practice-based intervention in the design of SC technologies; 4) the facilitation of social inclusion in SC projects. Please submit your abstract electronically via the webpage of the conference: http://www.4sonline.org/meeting Deadline is the 18th March 2012. See you in Copenhagen!