Information Technology, Social Justice, and Marginalized Contexts

Abstract

This short paper serves to introduce the special track on Information Technology, Social Justice, and Marginalized Contexts and to summarize its mini-tracks.

Keywords: AI, Abuse of Power, Criminal Justice, Decolonizing Technology, Digital Discrimination, Digital Divide, Digital Equity, Diversity, Equity, Gender, Inclusion, Information Technology, Marginalized Context, Responsible Governance, Social Justice, STEM Workforce, Value Sensitive Design, Vulnerable Population

1. Introduction

The latest developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) such as automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed our work, workplaces, institutions, societies, and communities. However, the favorable and unfavorable effects of ICTs are not distributed equally or uniformly across all contexts or populations in our society. Marginalized populations such as underrepresented, vulnerable, and underserved communities often bear the greatest burdens of technological change. Simultaneously, technology also provides powerful ways of safeguarding and improving humanity. This track focuses on socio-technical issues in marginalized contexts to not only uncover digital inequities and social injustices (e.g., the problem of bias in algorithmic systems, which gives rise to various forms of digital discrimination), but to find ways to build systems of empowerment through technology (e.g., designing and building technologies via value-sensitive designs).

This track calls for research that mitigates the risks of constructing a future where technological spaces, digital applications, and machine intelligence mirror a narrow and privileged vision of society with its biases and stereotypes. In this track, we create an outlet for all scholars across various disciplines to conduct research that deeply engages ICTs in marginalized contexts. We welcome papers from a range of perspectives, including conceptual, philosophical, behavioral, and design science and beyond.

Fourteen mini-tracks are accepted as a part of this special track in HICSS-58. We introduce them briefly below. We received over 90 submissions. The overall acceptance rate for this track is 49.47 %.

2. Mini-tracks Summary

(1) AI and Digital Discrimination. This minitrack attracts and presents research on understanding and addressing the discrimination problems arising in the design, deployment, and use of artificial intelligent systems. Papers in this minitrack concern three key aspects: how discrimination arises in AI systems; how design in AI systems can mitigate such discrimination; and whether our existing laws are adequate to address discrimination in AI.

(2) Bright and Dark Side of Social Media in the Marginalized Contexts. Social media platforms both empower and marginalize individuals in our society. This minitrack attracts and presents papers on all types of social media platforms investigating the positive and negative aspects of social media in marginalized contexts. The scholarly discussion of social media use will center on identifying innovative approaches to maintain a safe and productive online environment that creates social well-being for the greater good.

(3) Changing Nature of Work: More Inclusive Labor Markets and Work Practices through Digital Transformation. Digital labor platforms and artificial intelligence are changing the nature of work, presenting both challenges and opportunities to build more inclusive labor markets. This minitrack is focused on issues relating to how the changing nature may become a mechanism for enabling more inclusive work practices on digital labor platforms.

(4) Combating Abuses of Power in Systems. This minitrack attracts and presents research concerning abuses of powers in systems of all sizes, shapes, and types. It focuses on exploring how the global system sciences community can leverage the power of history, social science, and information technology to glean valuable insights that can be made actionable and harnessed to combat abuses of power in systems.

(5) Decolonizing Technology and Society. This minitrack attracts and presents decolonization research that showcases decolonial perspectives, using local epistemologies such as indigenous theories and methods and highlights how decolonial approaches to ICT and society can help overcome oppression and contribute to a more pluriversal society.

(6) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Technology and Organizations. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have taken the forefront as a core value in organizations. This minitrack draws on the premise of an organization as a socio-technical system and presents papers focusing on IT workforce, technology tools, and the digital driving forces that promote DEI in organizations.

(7) From Digital Divide to Digital Equity and Inclusion. Digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to and use of digital technologies and those who do not. This minitrack attracts and presents original research papers, case studies, and review articles that investigate the digital divide and its impact on vulnerable populations, as well as initiatives that address these vulnerabilities, moving towards digital equity and inclusion.

(8) Gender and Technology. The interplay of Gender and Technology is fundamental in understanding the role gender plays in marginalizing or empowering individuals in the technology space. This minitrack invites and presents gender-focused analysis of societal, organizational, and individual factors that not only advance our understanding of how gender shapes the technology milieu but also reveal interventions that can help attenuate gender inequities and imbalance.

(9) ICT and Criminal Justice. Criminal justice refers to the laws, procedures, institutions, and policies at play before, during, and after the commission of a crime. Papers in this minitrack explore the intersection of ICT and illicit activity that has a physical world component and/or the use of ICT by illicit actors that targets or exploits marginalized groups.

(10) ICT and Social Justice. This minitrack attracts and presents original work concerning the intersection of information systems research with social justice. Social justice is the belief that everyone deserves fair and equal treatment. Papers in this minitrack examine actions that promote equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal treatment as well as the use of ICT that uncovers social injustice.

(11) Responsible Approaches to Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and FinTech. This minitrack attracts and presents research that addresses the technical, social, business and economic, and environmental and ethical aspects of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and FinTech technologies. Challenges and issues related to marginalized contexts, such as in developing economies, include the digital divide, lack of infrastructure, regulatory uncertainties, and the need for education and digital literacy, which can impede the adoption and effective utilization of these technologies.

(12) STEM Education and Workforce Development: Addressing Equity and Inclusion for Underserved Populations. This minitrack attracts and presents research on addressing barriers to equity and social justice in STEM education and careers, with a particular emphasis on underserved populations. Areas of research include cultivating interest and fostering access, implementing inclusive pedagogical and curricular innovations and practices in STEM education, addressing systemic barriers, advancing opportunities, and amplifying diverse voices in STEM fields, engaging industry partners, and exploring data and assessment to track progress in STEM education.

(13) Sustainable Development through Digital Transformation: Environmental and Social Justice and Responsible Governance. This minitrack explores the transformative impact of digital technologies on crucial sectors, such as healthcare and agriculture, with a strong emphasis on fostering equitable development.

(14) Value Sensitive Design. As an approach to ICT design that accounts for human values by design, value sensitive design (VSD) offers methods to investigate, understand, and account for direct and indirect stakeholder values and explore value tensions and value-adds in the socio-technical context intentionally and comprehensively. It has been applied in research with various marginalized communities, including LGBTIQ+ older adults, Indigenous populations, homeless young people, and people with disability.

3. Publication Opportunities

The papers presented in this track will have the opportunity to be extended into full-length, high-quality articles. These articles will be considered for publication in journals such as The Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, Foundations Trends in Information Systems, and Journal of Information Systems Education.

K. D. Joshi
University of Nevada Reno
kjoshi@unr.edu

Xuefei (Nancy) Deng
California State University, Dominguez Hills
ndeng@csudh.edu