CFP: Methods to Account for Values in Human-Centered Computing

The overarching theme of this workshop focuses on methods to account for human values in information technology design. Participants will examine the current state of the art in methods for accounting for values in human-centered computing; analyze and document the benefits and drawbacks of current practices; and explore the factors that structure the incorporation of values of all types into the design process; and analyze and document the benefits and drawbacks of current practice. The workshop will focus on how established and emerging methods can be applied in different stages of human-centered design and combined with other design strategies. Moreover, the workshop aims to move beyond established methodological approaches, creating new methods and tools that will assist designers in the real world to more effectively design for human values. The workshop encourages participation from researchers from fields including, among others, human-computer interaction, user-centered design, requirements engineering, and applied ethics, as well as from practitioners working on user experience design (management) and related activities.

Chief among the workshop’s aims is the interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge, experiences and new ideas on methods to account for values in technology design. The following list reflects (but is not limited to these) possible topics:

• Methods for value elicitation; dealing with emerging technologies; communicating values; implementing values in design; engaging in trade-offs among values; and evaluating technology in terms of values
• Combining methods; engaging with methods from the social and human sciences
• Frameworks describing the context under which certain methods are most useful; ease of use and agility of methods; case studies and research results
• Best practices for transferring design methods from the academic research context to industry

Paper Submission & Publication

We invite technologists, designers, and ethicists working on topics related to value-focused technology design to submit 2-4 page position papers (in CHI Extended Abstract format:
http://chi2012.acm.org/cfp-formatting-instructions.shtml#extendedformat) outlining their research on values-focused or related methods and the reasons for their interest in the workshop.

Authors of accepted papers must guarantee that their paper will be presented at the workshop. If there are many submissions, workshop participation will be limited to one person per paper. Position
statements will be presented as two minute elevator pitch presentations during the morning session. Submissions to the workshop should be sent to Christian Detweiler ( [email protected]).

Papers will be published in the workshop proceedings. A selection of accepted papers will be invited to submit to a special issue of the the journal Ethics and Information Technology.

Important dates

Position paper submission: January 13th, 2012
Notification: February 10th, 2012
Workshop at CHI: May 5th or 6th, 2012