INTRODUCTION
   
  ORGANIZERS
   
  PROGRAMME
   
  An increasing number of researchers and communities have an interest in and perspectives on the relationship between people and ICTs. The conference will be organised around four strands. Besides these, five sessions and one panel is devoted to special themes.

1. Users as innovators

Customers and citizens have often used ICTs in very creative, sometimes unanticipated, ways at home, at work and in public places. This refers to ways in which ICTs enable and/or constrain users’ ability to develop innovatory social practices, linked to technology design and content creation. In this regard COST 298 researchers looking at ICTs use integrate insights from three main domains: domestication and social constructivism (like science and technology studies), diffusion and marketing approaches and usability/human-computer interaction studies.

As a way of structuring the field and making connections between these research traditions the COST 298 workgroup ‘Users as innovators’ is currently exploring how the research projects in these interdisciplinary domains can mutually inform each other. In addition we are concerned with the ways these insights can inform the design of and policy on media technologies. One practical way of doing this is to use case studies in order to explore these links. An important focus in COST 298 is on digital TV, but in the conference we would like to expand this approach by inviting researchers to submit research on the use of other new media and technologies, such as Web2.0 and mobile Internet, in both public and private capacities.

We welcome not only papers presenting empirical case studies but also method papers, literature reviews and theoretical reflections. We encourage you to discuss which enablers and/or constraints lead to creativity in the use of ICTs and/or how such innovative use of ICTs may lead to an inclusive broadband society. We hope that product developers, social scientists, designers, engineers, researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds and policy makers from different countries will submit a paper to this strand.


2. Humans as eActors

Contemporary societies are so marked by the presence and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as social network sites and advanced mobile communication, that these warrant calling it the "broadband society". ICTs have become a central medium of social interaction on different levels, so that participation in this society seems to depend on their access and use. Under these conditions, what does it mean to participate in the broadband society? We invite papers addressing this question on theoretical, empirical and methodological levels.

This strand will explore participation in different social realms – everyday life, interpersonal relationships, work and leisure activities, collective and political action, etc. Across these realms, analysis will focus on the changes in modes of social participation. These changes affect, among other things, the temporal, spatial and organisational framing of participation; the engagement, trust and norms involved; and the personal and collective skills required. How do the presence and use of the technologies in question affect the modes of participation? Is social participation being improved by the presence and use of ICTs? Do they serve to empower actors on the individual and collective level?

In particular, we invite critical contributions addressing the question of whether or not using these technologies is already sufficient for participation. Is being a user the same as being an actor? Can participation be measured by, or even be equated with, increased connectivity, or with the possibility of providing content and information oneself? If it is not, what would be the conditions that allow us to talk of participation?


3. The multiple cultures of the Information Society

Although there are now a limited number of cross-cultural comparisons of the experiences of ICT use, it is quite clear that there are complex issues involved in making sense of international differences, as well as differences within national cultures. While we welcome papers at the conference that focus specifically on cross-cultural issues we want to encourage a wider engagement in this issue. This strand invites people conducting national research on ICT adoption and use to report on that work. But we would like them to add what they think might be cultural or national influences shaping these developments in their country. For example, if studies focus on gender or age groups (such as youth, the elderly) we would ask researchers to consider how people’s experiences are influenced by national or regional circumstances (educational, legal, employment, financial, time structures, domestic division of labour etc.) or particular meanings and values in that culture. There is a workgroup within COST 298 that is looking at this whole area of cross-cultural comparisons. We hope to build on the reflections from the papers in this strand and develop our thinking with a view to producing a coherent publication based on these contributions.


4. The future in young and old hands: towards an inclusive broadband society

Compared to the other work of COST 298, this strand is more focused on the changing experiences of two particular social groups: the young and the old. There are various assumptions about the degrees to which younger and older people are more or less willing to use, or capable of using, new media in order to gain access to the information hat can help them to participate in a broadband society. Some researchers argue that there is a widening ‘digital gap’ between younger users of new media and older non-users. Others think that the situation is better characterised by the notion of a ‘digital spectrum’, with people using new media to varying degrees depending on factors such as life events, gender and education. In order to get a better understanding of what is really going on it is important both to conduct empirical studies and literature reviews in this field as well as develop our theoretical reflections upon the societal practices of today and tomorrow. It is for this reason that we welcome papers within this strand that address the following types of question to researchers interested in young people’s experience of new media, older people’s experience of new media, or both:

To what extent might future generations of the young and old (e.g. very young children now, pre-retired people now) experience ICTs differently when they are a few years older? Are any such differences due to the experience they had earlier in life, to the way that technology is itself changing or to other changing social practices so that they are reaching their next life stage in a slightly different world compared to previous generations?

How can we ensure that, the digital information represented in new media is accessible to, usable by and useful for these age groups? For example, what is the role of texts and images in facilitating access to and use of new media by younger and older people? In what ways do these groups learn to use new media differently and, drawing on debates relating to ‘digital divides’, what is the nature of their various skills in using new media, from more operational ones to strategic searching skills? How do these technologies fit into their lives, or not, and indeed what makes various new media interesting for or attractive to these younger and older users?

On a methodological level, what is the contribution of different approaches to understanding younger and older people’s use of new media? What new methods are being developed and what are the limitations of existing modes of analysis as well as innovatory methodologies? For example, what insights do we get from observations in living labs or participation in design studies when we try to appreciate the degree to which younger and older people use new media in different, or perhaps similar, ways? At a more general level, to what extent can various forms of scenario analysis help to forecast future developments in relation to these issues? At a more detailed level, what can we learn from techniques such as eye-tracking and social semiotics?

We invite paper writers with different backgrounds such as such web-designers, social scientists, linguists, scenario designers and policy makers to submit an abstract for this strand that will allow us to discuss the ways new media in young and old hands can lead us towards a more inclusive broadband society.


5. Special session: Participation and Representation in the Design process: A Broad User Spectrum (COST Action 294 MAUSE)

Inclusion in the broadband society requires the development of products and applications that are sensitive to the needs and capabilities of the entire user population. This is particularly true as the next wave of technology approaches, in which broadband content will impinge on more areas of everyday life and be carried by a greater range of host devices.

Take-up thus far has been hindered by design that pays too little regard to the needs of the user population as a whole. Design has typically targeted the ‘ideal user’ with the effect that citizens who are dissimilar to that profile are effectively excluded from design thinking. This can be seen as a significant factor in the growing ‘digital divide’, where the gap between technology adopters and those left behind increases as technology advances.

The generation of products and services has the potential to increase participation, inclusion and empowerment for a wide spectrum of citizens. This includes, for example, participation in e-democracy, involvement in virtual communities, e-learning and technology enhanced independent living. Furthermore, the range of technologies that are carriers for such services should expand significantly. Mobile and hand-held devices, interactive TV platforms and ubiquitous technologies all offer opportunities to design services in an adept and appropriate way for a diverse spectrum of users. This, however, is dependent on design that is truly sensitive to user requirements, needs, aspirations and values. Therefore it is critically important that users are represented in design, either directly through participation, or through representations such as user models and personae.

This special track seeks contributions from researchers and practitioners interested in the design of end-user technologies to support wider take-up and inclusion. Papers are invited on all aspects of user participation and representation in the design process. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Participatory approaches to design
  • Design for personalisation/adaptive systems
  • New technologies for increased user participation in design
  • Models and representations of users for inclusive design
  • Evaluation in-situ
  • Value-based design
  • Design for users with physical and perceptual impairments
  • Design for older users
  • Design for users with low literacy



6. Special panel: ICTs and Asian Countries

The penetration of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) has been fast and ubiquitous in the Asian countries. Their applications are in effect endless and their influences on the social, economic, and political aspects of social lives are often unpredictable. They may bring forth promises or pose challenges. This panel welcomes theoretical, methodological, and empirical contribution to the discussion of ICTs and the constitution of broadband societies in the Asian countries. The suggested topics are:

  • the consequences of the use of these new communications technology for notions of identity (personal, national, diasporic, and global)
  • the separation of the public/private domains
  • the uses of ICTs and asian values
  • localization of the Internet, e.g. local forms, usages, languages, contextualizations, etc.
  • virtual vs. real relationships
  • the basis for trust formation, and its effects on structures of governance
  • mobiles, landlines, PCs and, internet, complementarities, convergences, and competitors
  • ICTs content and specialized applications for development
  • ICTs and the informal economy
  • social practices, users’ design variants, innovations, and unexpected effects
  • ICTs and social participation
  • ICT4D

This panel also welcomes related issues.


7. Special session: Sonic Interaction Design (COST Action IC0601)

Thinking back to Edison's phonograph or, more recently, to the mp3 craze, one may well say that music has been a driving factor for technology in general, and for the development of the broadband society in particular. But, can the same be said for non-musical sounds as well? To date, non-musical sounds have been accepted as by-products of technologies rather than being exploited for their intrinsic value. Now times are mature to think about sound as one of the main design dimensions of the environments in which we live and work, with and without the mediation of information networks. That means overcoming the sound-as-noise cultural barrier and promoting a sound-as-information attitude. This tendency is already visible in the market where new products (e.g., the Nintendo Wii) exploit the tight coupling between sound and gesture in interaction. The same trends have manifested in the performing arts for many years. Designing the sonic appearance of interactive systems is thus becoming a competitive issue as well as a lively playground, which nevertheless depends on knowledge that has grown in several interrelated fields of research and practice. The relevant areas of research have grown in significance, both as a result of the design needs associated to improving the sonic jungles we are increasingly confronted with, and as economies of scale and miniaturization have contributed to a widening array of interactive artifacts and systems that are embedded with ever more sophisticated computing, sensing and actuating capabilities.

The Special Strand is organized about four invited presentations by European researchers of the Management Committee of the COST-IC0601 Action on Sonic Interaction Design. The four presentations will address the following issues:

  • how can information be conveyed by using interactive sound, and what are promising applications for the broadband society?
  • how can sound be exploited in modern education, where technology, creativity, context, and evaluation should be properly combined?
  • how can design methodologies engage interdisciplinary collaboration for shaping sonic interactions in everyday life?
  • can we envisage new networked platforms for active, experience-centric, and context-aware active music listening?



8. Special session: Telecommunications Economics (COST Action IS0605)

The goal of Econ@Tel (COST Action IS0605) is to develop a strategic research, training network among key people/organizations in order to enhance Europe's competence in the field of telecommunications economics, to support related R&D-initiatives, and to provide guidelines, recommendations to European players (end-users, enterprises, operators, regulators, policy makers, content providers) for the provisioning of new converged broadband, wireless, content delivery networks to citizens and enterprises.

Econ@Tel addresses the development of research methodologies, tools from engineering, media, and business research. Regulatory issues helping or hindering the adoption of economically efficient services are identified.

In that respect the Telecommunication Economics Strands at the COST 298 Conference on "Participation in the Broadband Society" cover the following contributions:

  • the analysis of the link between an un-bundling policy and entrant’s incentives to invest
  • the discussion of various policy measures taking the Lisbon process as a point of departure
  • the provisioning of a literature review of collective use of spectrum (CUS) by consolidating various perspectives and the result of the public consultation from the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG)
  • the examination of comprehensive theoretical research on the digital divide and its impact in the information society
  • the discussion of mobile operator's for a low-income population in case of Georgia
  • the presentation of a description of the European information society development scenario using values reached by the member states in a set of indicators selected for measuring said progress
  • the provisioning of an extensive study estimating the digital divide convergence based on a dataset regarding diffusion of broadband services over all European countries and for a long time period



9. Special session: ICTs and generations

Generational differences are a socio-cultural variable affecting Ict and broadband adoption and use all over Europe. The role of generations in the field of cultural production and consumption is more and more relevant as each generation is characterized by a different relational form institued with the Ict’s and their services The constitution of a broadband society is then affected by some relevant differences between baby boomers and post-war generations, but also between digital immigrants and digital natives.

Those differences are destined to have relevant consequences both in the development of products and applications in design processes and in the diffusion of host devices as they are more and more present in everyday life. They are relevant also in furthering participation in e-democracy, involvement in virtual communities and technology enhanced independent living.

Those differences then affects all European countries but are also locally situated and new differences are emerging in broadband take-up in each european country.

This panel will hosts theoretical, methodological and empirical contribution to the discussion of the constitution of a broadband society facing generational differences.

The topics are:

  • the role of generational identitary backgrounds in relation with ICTs and broadband services: forms, usages, contextualizations etc.
  • local and national differences between generations and ICTs adoption and use
  • ICTs and the definition of generation
  • the use of ICts and generational value
  • virtual vs. real relationships and different generations
  • social discourses analisys of generations and ICTs
  • innovations, and unexpected effects of ICTs use by different generations
  • products and applications development for different generations.



10. Special session: Cyberbullying - coping with negative and enhancing positive uses of new technologies, in relationships in educational settings (COST Action IS0801)

Customers and citizens have often used ICTs in very creative, sometimes unanticipated, ways at home, at work and in public places. The relationship between people and ICTs have born some very creative and useful products – social networks for social support for example. On the other side it is the base of a new kind of bullying, often called cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying refers to bullying and harassment of others by means of new electronic technologies, primarily mobile phones and the internet. There has been much research and action on traditional forms of bullying in schools, with some success, but cyberbullying has arisen and increased in the last few years. Researchers, pupils, parents, teachers, unions, and local, regional and national authorities, are all in various ways starting to grapple with the issues involved in cyberbullying, in consultation with mobile phone companies and internet service providers.

COST Action IS0801 “Cyberbullying: coping with negative and enhancing positive uses of new technologies, in relationships in educational settings” aims at sharing expertise on cyberbullying in educational settings. The following set of papers present some of the most recent researches on cyberbullying conducted by members of COST IS0801.


   
   
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