Whether it is in the form of software, system architecture or interface design, anything digital is inevitably affected by values: the organizational values of the project sponsor, the values of the research partners, and the values of each developer and designer. Some values (e.g. commercial success, academic prestige) are easier to quantify than others (e.g. social justice, care for the environment) with the latter often dismissed in decision making processes as lacking of measurable ‘evidence’. However, less easy to measure values are not less real: they are simply less visible. The aim of this one-day workshop is precisely to investigate mechanisms which give more exposure to those values in computing that are less frequently considered. We do so by bringing together practitioners from different computing backgrounds (e.g. software engineering, interaction design, information systems) who have first-hand experience of trying to represent on an equal footing all human values in computing.
We will do so by (a) jointly reflecting on findings from data collected through a values in computing survey specifically designed for this workshop; (b) sharing research practices through dialogue and ‘value stories’; (c) exploring the appropriateness of different design approaches or ‘patterns’ in addressing emerging key challenges. As an outcome, we will jointly distill actionable findings into a small set of guiding principles, and combine the survey findings with the workshop contributions into a joint publication.
We invite submissions which engage with the workshop topic and can take one of the following forms:
- Position papers that discuss the roles of values in software and interfaces, or their designing processes
- Case studies in which authors retrospectively reflect on the values as the driving decision making
- Analysis of the value base within the authors own institutions captured by the survey designed by the organizers
Submission
- Early deadline: 19 Dec (notification 21 Dec)
- Final deadline: 17 Feb 2017 (12pm PDT, notification 24 Feb)
The selection process will ensure that high quality contributions from a range of different perspectives are invited to participate.
At least one author of an accepted submission is required to attend the workshop, and participants must register for both the workshop and at least one day of the main conference.