Information Technology, Social Justice, and Marginalized Contexts

1. Introduction

The latest developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as 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 also 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 minitracks are accepted as a part of this special track in HICSS-59. We introduce them briefly below. We received close to 80 submissions. The overall acceptance rate for this track is 48.72 %.

2. Minitracks’ 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 intelligence 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) Beyond Digital Divide to Digital Literacy, Digital Fairness, and Ethical Futures. This minitrack explores the crucial role of digital literacy to empower and transform marginalized communities that face various challenges, including crises, poverty, discrimination, immigration struggles, illness, climate change, and other societal, technological, and political shifts. It will also examine the opportunities emerging from changes in the landscape of work, education, and social interaction, and how these changes impact the attainment of digital fairness and ethical futures.

(3) Bright and Dark Sides 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.

(4) Changing Nature of Work – More Fair 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 focuses on issues related to how the changing nature of digital labor platforms may become a mechanism for enabling more inclusive work practices.

(5) Design Justice and Values in Design. Across technology, design, and engineering fields, recent focus on justice, equity, and fairness in political discourse has galvanized critical interrogations of established (and often uncontested) methods and frameworks that reify harmful power structures. This minitrack will provide a platform for researchers, designers, and engineers engaging with critical design theory and methods to influence (1) the design of our modern technology systems, (2) the education of future designers in this space, and (3) to interrogate the very structures within which these technology systems operate.

(6) Digital Democracy and Social Cohesion. The increasing relevance of digital platforms in political and societal processes has created both new challenges and opportunities for fostering democratic engagement and social cohesion. This minitrack invites research that examines how digital platforms influence democracy, both positively and negatively, and how social cohesion and civic engagement can be fostered in digital environments.

(7) Future of STEM Education and Workforce Development: Broadening Participation. 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, amplifying diverse voices in STEM fields, engaging industry partners, and exploring data and assessment to track progress in STEM education.

(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 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.

(10) ICT, Criminal Activity, and the Administration of Justice. This minitrack focuses on the intersection of ICT, criminal activities, and the administration of justice. The advent of cutting-edge AI technologies has transformed not only the modus operandi of illicit actors but also the strategies employed by those seeking to interdict illegal or exploitative activities. At the same time, these technologies provide avenues for illicit actors to reach and exploit marginalized groups, who are already vulnerable to various forms of exploitation.

(11) Inclusive AI for an Empowered Society. The world is facing a multitude of challenges. One of the challenges is the developments in connection with AI and their consequences. An increasing gap can be observed between those who have access to different AI tools and solutions and can benefit from the potential advantages and those who are increasingly being left behind. This minitrack focuses on the role and importance of inclusive AI and the directions and opportunities based on it. It welcomes all types of contributions – theoretical, conceptual, and empirical.

(12) Learning Divide: AI, Human Intelligence, and Linguistic Justice. This minitrack explores the growing divide between and within human and machine learning, examining how AI advancements impact the future of human learning. Beyond education, AI is also reshaping global communication. AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) influence how language is represented, understood, and used, yet their development often amplifies linguistic inequities. This minitrack welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives that critically examine these issues and offer solutions.

(13) Neurodiversity at the Core: Rethinking Digitalized Environments and AI for Experiential Pluralism. This minitrack highlights experiential pluralism, the recognition that human engagement with the world – through cognition, affect, sensory processing, and social interaction—is inherently diverse. Neurodiversity encompasses natural variations in neurological functioning that influence perception, communication, and behavior. This includes, but is not limited to, autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and other neurodevelopmental variations, as well as cognitive, affective, sensory, and social processing styles that do not necessarily align with specific diagnoses. This minitrack invites research that places neurodiversity at the core of discussions on the evolution of digital services, AI, digitalized workplaces, and online platforms across various domains.

(14) 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.

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 North Carolina Wilmington
joshik@uncw.edu

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