[Sigtis-l] 2013 Digital Societies and Social Technologies Summer Institute - Call for Applications

[Adam Worrall]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian Butler <bsbutler at umd.edu>
Date: Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 8:33 AM
Subject: [Air-L] 2013 Digital Societies and Social Technologies Summer
Institute - Call for Applications
To: "air-l at listserv.aoir.org" <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>


2013 Digital Societies and Social Technologies (DSST) Summer Institute
(a joint effort of the Consortium for Science of Sociotechnical Systems
(CSST) and the Summer Social Webshop)

July 28 – August 1, 2013
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland USA

MOOCs, Education and learning; personal health and well-being; open
innovation, eScience, and citizen science; co-production, open source, and
new forms of work; cultural heritage and information access; energy
management and climate change; civic hacking, engagement and government;
disaster response; cybersecurity and privacy – these are just a few problem
domains where effective design and robust understanding of complex
sociotechnical systems is critical.  To meet these challenges a
trans-disciplinary community of scholars has come together from fields as
wide ranging as CSCW, HCI, social computing, organization studies,
information visualization, social informatics, sociology, information
systems, medical informatics, computer science, ICT for development,
education, learning science, journalism, and political science.

Through summer institutes (CSST), extended workshops (Social Webshop),
preconference workshops at a wide variety of venues, and other activities
(Digital Societies and Technology Research Coordination Network) this
community of researchers from academia and industry has developed a strong
focus on problems and opportunities arising from the interplay of social
and technological systems which span individuals, groups, organizations,
and societies.

The 2013 Summer Institute builds on this tradition to strengthen and expand
this diverse community by bringing together graduate students, post
doctoral students, faculty, and other researchers in four groups at the
University of Maryland, College Park on July 28-August 1:

* Doctoral students, post doctoral students, and pre-tenure faculty –
Through mentoring, peer networking, and skill-building tutorials, doctoral
students, post doctoral students, pre-tenure faculty, and early career
researchers will identify substantive ways that the theories, approaches,
and tools within the larger community can advance their work with the
design and study of sociotechnical systems.

* Established researchers – Prior summer institute/workshop participants
and established researchers will network with other researchers (senior and
junior), explore ideas and new directions, shape emerging research agendas,
articulate critical challenges, and share knowledge about practices, tools,
and approaches which have the potential to advance the design and study of
sociotechnical systems.

* Emerging multi-disciplinary research teams – Nascent groups of
researchers seeking to develop cross-disciplinary collaborations will work
with peers and mentors to refine problem statements and research goals;
connect with collaborators with complementary skills and interests; and
create actionable research agendas and funding proposals.  Preference will
be given to groups interested in designing and studying sociotechnical
systems that address societal grand challenges such as (but not limited to)
healthcare; energy management and climate change; cybersecurity and
privacy; education and learning; disaster response; technology development
and innovation; economic development and work; and civic engagement and
participation.

* Research infrastructure development teams – Groups of researchers
interested in creating computational or analytic tools, data resources,
training materials or other infrastructure to support the design and study
of sociotechnical systems will work with one another, other Summer
institute participants, and local developers.  These infrastructure
“hackathon” sessions will result in the creation of use cases, prototypes,
draft materials, and when possible deployable systems and resources.

APPLYING FOR THE SUMMER INSTITUTE

Applications are encouraged from academic, industry, NGO, and public sector
organizations worldwide.  Lodging, meals, and other onsite costs will be
covered for all Summer Institute participants.  Limited funding is also
available to offset travel costs if needed.  The number of participants
will be determined by funding availability and the fit between applicants’
interests and goals.
To be considered for the 2013 Summer Institute, select the group that best
fits your needs and situation and send the appropriate materials to the
Summer Institute co-coordinator (Brian Butler) at bsbutler at umd.edu<mailto:
bsbutler at umd.edu> by April 5th, 2013:

* Doctoral students, post doctoral students, pre-tenure faculty should send
their CV and a short (~ 1 page) response to: “How does/will your work
advance our ability to design and understand critical sociotechnical
systems?”  Several core references should be included to situate your work
within the larger research community.  Doctoral students should also
provide a letter of recommendation from their advisor/department chair
indicating their expected graduation date.

* Established researchers should send their CV and a short (~ 1 page)
response to:  “What are the most interesting challenges and opportunities
related to the design and study of critical sociotechnical systems?  What
activity (30 minutes to 4 hours long) could you run that would help the
Summer Institute participants better engage these challenges and
opportunities?”  Proposed activities can be for any (or all) Summer
Institute participants and might include, but are not limited to: focused
presentations; brainstorming sessions; in-depth problem descriptions;
method, tool, or data tutorials; or research agenda setting exercises.

* Emerging multi-disciplinary research teams should apply as a group,
sending their CVs and a short (~ 1 page) response to:  “What is the
research focus/problem domain?  What types of activities/studies are needed
to engage that domain?  How will pursuing this agenda help advance our
ability to design and understand critical sociotechnical systems?”
References potential funding sources can be included, if known, to situate
the proposal within the larger research community.  Groups invited to the
Summer Institute will have between 4-6 people.  However, only 3 individuals
need to be part of an application for it to be considered (assistance will
be provided prior to the Summer Institute to help invited teams recruit
additional participants as needed).  Preference will be given to
cross-institutional teams in which junior/mid-career researchers play
significant leadership roles.

* Research infrastructure development teams should apply as a group,
sending their CVs and a short (~ 1 page) response to:   “What is the
problem you are seeking to address?  What will you do to address that
problem?  How will creating these technologies, tools, materials or
infrastructure improve our ability to design and understand critical
sociotechnical systems?” References to examples from other domains can be
included to situate your proposal.  Teams invited for the Summer Institute
will have between 4-6 people from multiple disciplines and institutions.
 However, only 3 individuals need to be part of an application to be
considered (assistance will be provided prior to the Summer Institute to
help invited teams recruit additional participants as needed).

Applications will be reviewed by members of the Summer Institute Advisory
Group (see http://casci.umd.edu/2013/03/dsst2013/ for a current list)
beginning April 6th, 2013 using the following criteria:
·       Clear articulation of the hoped-for contribution to the theory,
practice, or design of sociotechnical systems
·       Likelihood of Summer Institute participation providing significant
practical benefit for the individual/team
·       Contribution to a balanced and diverse group of participants

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS

Support for the 2013 Summer Institute is currently being provided by the
National Science Foundation via Digital Societies and Technology Research
Coordination Network, the Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical
Systems (CSST), Summer Social Webshop, and the Center for the Advanced
Study of Communities and Information (CASCI) and Human Computer Interaction
Lab (HCIL) at the University of Maryland.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the Summer Institute, contact the Summer
Institute co-coordinators, Brian Butler (bsbutler at umd.edu<mailto:
bsbutler at umd.edu>) and Susan Winter (sjwinter at umd.edu<mailto:
sjwinter at umd.edu>).  For information about the broader community of
researchers interested in design and study of sociotechnical systems, see:
 CSST (www.sociotech.net<http://www.sociotech.net>), Social Webshop (
http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/webshop2012/), the "Researchers of the
Socio-Technical" Facebook group, or the CSST listserv (csst at listserv.syr.edu
<mailto:csst at listserv.syr.edu>).
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.asis.org/pipermail/sigtis-l/attachments/20130318/3121b148/attachment.html