ETHICOMP is an international conference series focussing on ethical and social aspects of computing and information technologies. ETHICOMP has run every 18 months since 1996. The next ETHICOMP conference will be held in Denmark in May 2013. The subsequent conference should take place in September 2014.
ETHICOMP conferences typically attract around 100 participants. Contributions are peer reviewed and published in conference proceedings. ETHICOMP prides itself on being an inclusive and supportive environment that fosters interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue concerning important ethical issues shaping the information society.
Why Should you Apply?
ETHICOMP is an established conference that attracts leading scholars from around the world for a discussion of ethical and social issues of information technology. These issues affect everybody and are increasingly relevant to national and global policy development. Hosting the ETHICOMP conference can allow researchers as well as practitioners to present themselves, their work and their organisations to the international ETHICOMP community.
The successful host of the ETHICOMP conference will furthermore be invited to remain an active member of the ETHICOMP community share their knowledge and experience with the community. It will be possible to take further roles in future ETHICOMP conferences, such as that of programme chair of conference chair. They will also be invited to join the ETHICOMP Steering Committee and contribute to the future development of the conference series.
Content of the Application
The ETHICOMP Steering Committee is seeking expressions of interest from indivduals or institutions who are interested in hosting the event and taking responsibility for local organisation. Applicants are asked to submit an application to the ETHICOMP Steering Committee via its Chair, <(chair details)>. The application should contain the following headings:
Name and contact detail of lead individual
Name and short description of host organisation
Prior experience in hosting and organising conferences
Clear statement of support from the host organisation
Explanation of academic relevance. Which existing activities link to ETHICOMP
General ideas about the conference, e.g. conference topic, keynote speakers, highlights to attract delegates
Willingness to consider hosting ETHICOMP at a later date
Potential applicants are encouraged to contact the Steering Committee Chair during the preparation of their applications.
Tasks
The successful applicants will work with the conference Steering Committee and Conference Chair and Programme Chair during the preparation of the conference. Their main tasks will be:
Preparation of venue
Preparation of schedule (in collaboration with programme chair)
Organisation of accommodation and social programme
Development of the budget for the conference
Determine the theme of the conference in collaboration with the Steering Committee
Selection Criteria
When selecting the successful applicant, the ETHICOMP Steering Committee will consider the following criteria.
Location
possible involvement of a society/community that has recently joined ETHICOMP and has not had the opportunity to participate very actively so far
advance indication of institutional support on the part of the individual(s) putting forward the proposal
a geographical location that has not recently been represented as a conference location
ease of access to the conference venue/location in terms of easy and economic forms of transportation
a large enough venue to hold the prospective numbers of attendees.
Team
· young researchers/academics, industrialists, people involved in civic society and others (e.g., under-35s)
· persons involved in the teaching of ethics of ICT in wider forms of education (e.g., informal forms of education; community education; lifelong learning; Universities of the Third Age) (see bullets in point 2 - below)
· willingness to formulate theme of the conference in conjunction with the ETHICOMP Steering Committee
willingness to undertake all associated aspects of the conference (e.g., hosting, rooms and bookings, associated conference proceedings).
by DW and MP
Conferences are held around every 18 months
· the latest conference was held in Sheffield, UK in September, 2011
· the next conference is anticipated to be in Southern Denmark, Denmark in May, 2013
· the following conference is proposed to be held in September 2014
· the conference following that is proposed to be held in April 2016.
The ETHICOMP Steering Committee would like to be in a position whereby, at any point in time, it can foresee a roadmap which looks forward for the next [two] conferences. I.e., As per spring (February/March) 2013, the location of the September 2014 conference will already be known.
With this aim in mind, an open call will be opened to request proposals from
· people/institutions willing to host the 2014 conference.
The timelines of the Call are expected to be operate between [September 2012 - February 2013][2]. For future years, the Call will be open in the period nine to three months before each conference.
The ETHICOMP Steering Committee will operate a selection mechanism to select a single proposal among the various submissions that it receives. The Steering Committee will make its decision in the period three to two months before the next conference.
Therefore, at the time of the next conference, the conference chairs will be in a position to announce the venue of the location of the conference that follows.
A proposal draft of the Call text could be drafted by the ETHICOMP Steering Committee following a set of bullet points devised by the Committee, and finetuned during the period until [early 2012]. The bullets/draft text could be discussed at the next skype conference call of the committee in early 2012 (precise date TBC[3]).
[1] It may be sufficient to simply have the possibility to see just one conference ahead; strengths and weaknesses of the two possibilities to be debated.
[2] We suggest a three-month time horizon for an open call at a time-period that is convenient for academic institutions.
[3] To be confirmed.