Winter Institute
January 30 - February 1, 2025
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona
How do we, as creatives working for our Indigenous communities, envision our future digitally-mediated world?
In the last decade, small groups of scholars, scientists, artists and designers, policy-makers and tech practitioners working across academia, government, private industry, and non-governmental organizations have independently developed meaningful and responsive design methods for testing, implementing, and sustaining computational systems in various Indigenous, First Nations, Native American and Pacific Islander contexts. Many of us are in collegial and friendly conversation. As long-time researchers in this area, we want to sustain this conversation and create new networks and collaborations toward our collective decolonial and community-centered efforts.
We invite you to participate in our 2025 hybrid Winter Institute as we work together to 1) characterize the conditions for infrastructural augmentation and innovation in low-resource contexts, 2) identify institutions and structures needed to sustain responsive and responsible design approaches, and 3) contribute to the collective publication of insights through key scholarly scientific forums.
Imagine the future of your field in 10 years. How is your work going to contribute to changes in the field? In the communities where you work? In the lands and waters? For the governance structures and infrastructures shaping the Indigenous peoples who you serve? Through a series of three convenings–a Zoom pre-workshop conversation circle, the 2025 hybrid Winter Institute, the 2025 online Summer Institute–and a set of asynchronous collaborative activities–we aim to understand the following from diverse perspectives:
What are the conditions for critical infrastructural augmentation and innovation of novel technical systems across Indigenous geographies?
How do technologists ideate, pilot, and advance technical systems through such circumstances?
How do experienced researchers, entrepreneurs, and seasoned tech practitioners frame productive and meaningful community-centered design in Indigenous contexts?
What can study a combination of novel and sustained sociotechnical infrastructures built on Indigenous community strengths teach us about new modalities for technical innovation and incubation in comparable contexts?
If you are interested in participating, please submit a 500-word extended abstract on a topic you anticipate crafting into a ~3,000 word position paper and a 2-4 minute video-recorded lightning talk. We invite you to submit your 500 word extended abstract to indigenouscomputation@gmail.com by October 30, 2024. Along with your extended abstract, please include your name, preferred pronouns, title, home institution, geographical location and time zone, contact information, and also a brief description of how you relate to this work. Please provide that information as well for each of your co-authors. You can view our position papers templates for a draft structure for creating your extended abstract. Position papers can be in one of three categories: research contribution, artistic contribution, or entrepreneurial contribution. Please note that we are particularly interested in work that relates to pervasive integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning, advanced computational hardware and software, and advanced telecommunications and immersive technologies as these relate to and center diverse Indigenous peoples’ frameworks, theories, and experiences.
Upon acceptance, we will invite you to prepare your position paper, which we will post on our website. We ask all participants to review the papers to inform their preparation of their 2-4 minute pre-recorded lightning talk. The lightning talks are designed to encourage participants to consider how their contribution relates to, is in conversation with, or is inspired by the insights from at least one other participant's position paper. We will also post these videos online in time for the 2025 Winter Institute.
Travel scholarships are available for up to 14 participants; please indicate in your email with your completed position paper if you would prefer to attend the 2025 hybrid Winter Institute online or in-person. If you prefer to attend in-person, please indicate whether you need a travel scholarship or will self-fund your travel. The more participants self-fund, the greater the group of in-person participants at our hybrid Winter Institute.
Process Guide for Participating
Submit a 500 word extended abstract by October 30, 2024.
You will receive notification of your acceptance between November 9 and 11, 2024. If you plan to attend in person, please let us know, including your plan to self-fund your travel or request a travel scholarship.
Upon acceptance, download the template for either the research contribution, artistic contribution, or entrepreneurial contribution. Prepare your ~3000 word position paper, and submit to indigenouscomputation@gmail.com by December 12, 2024. Include Position Paper: [Title] in the subject line.
In mid-December, review the position papers posted on our website. Record your 2-4 minute lightning talk with regard for the insights and connections you generate from at least one other person's position paper. Submit your lightning talk by January 15, 2025.
Join our January 9 Winter Conversation Circle via Zoom so that we can say hello and get to know each other.
Please review the pre-recorded lightning talks to prepare for the Winter Institute.
Plan to attend all 3 days of the 2025 Winter Institute. Volunteer for collective writing opportunities and idea exchanges.
Plan to attend the follow-up 2025 Summer Institute via Zoom.