Reflections on human-human interaction and responsibility in a virtual environment

The Business Process Modeling, Development and Support (BPMDS) working conference has been held for two decades, dealing with and promoting research on BPMDS. It has been a platform for a multitude of influential research papers. In line with its tradition, the working conference covers a broad range of theoretical and application-based research on BPMDS.

This year’s topic theme, “Reflections on human-human interaction and responsibility in a virtual environment” reflects the abundance of virtual environments in all domains of our lives. Technologies are here. Are we ready to use those technologies in an extremely connected world where false information spreads faster than the true one with detrimental consequences? Are we mature enough to process the information as fast as the computers provide them? What is the meaning of a “like” in a professional environment when the ”thing” which has been “liked” was not precisely read or understood? How should we enhance business process engineering, modeling, and management to master this increasing complexity new deal? How could/should human-computer interfaces support the issues related to increasing reflexes (fast clicks) to the detriment of reflection? A pilot who is using a flight simulator during her training is aware that this is a virtual and fictitious platform, and she is confident that she will use the competencies she is acquiring in this virtual and fictitious environment, later in the physical world; the new competencies will be partly due to the mistakes made using the flight simulator. On the opposite, is the surfer, who likes or comments in an online social network, totally aware that she acts in the “real world” (not a fictitious one) when she clicks? Is she aware of her responsibility?

Virtual does not mean fictitious. Using virtual environments expands our capabilities/frontiers of action in the real world (“real” in opposition to “fictitious”). E.g., using voice-based assistants such as Amazon Alexa allows integrating people who have been excluded (because of their handicap) by graphical user interfaces from using software systems so far. Digital technologies enable the creation of new business models. E.g. platforms such as Airbnb integrate huge numbers of external resources. An important factor to accomplish this is the provisioning of information on these resources and evaluating their quality. Both can only be accomplished by collecting this information with digital means. Consequently, we are more and more drastically responsible for what we produce as information.

Organizations and the world are going through huge transformations due, in large part, to information technologies and their direct and indirect impacts. These transformations impact frontally the information systems, which support the business processes of organizations, and therefore the actors in carrying out their activities/missions. The speed of organizational and societal transformations requires continuous improvement and innovation processes. Creativity and responsibility are determining factors and require detailed and multi-faceted knowledge of the problem to handle and of the context. The unpredictability of the related transformations (and more particularly their detrimental effects) requires more than ever a systemic vision in the (i) engineering and governance of information systems and (ii) in the engineering and architecture of business processes ecosystems the latter have to support.

The opportunities for evolution and transformation assume the ability to capture, store, organize, search and analyze large volumes of information and put us in front of many new challenges: meeting and mastering the requirements of volume, speed, variety, veracity, the value of data, comply with data protection laws, and be fully aware of (and responsible for) the components of the new VUCA world (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity). We are all responsible as engineers, researchers, professors, and citizens. We need human intelligence more than ever.

Detailed information regarding the submission topics is available here.

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