As spaces for learning about Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) research and practice become more diverse, there is a pressing need to revise the universal collaborative and pedagogical structures supporting them. Specifically, it has become urgent to explore how to ‘de-center’ dominant assumptions about who learns in these environments. Our workshop aims to collectively explore how to craft learning spaces that resist universality by recognizing and valuing other perspectives and realities. We will consider systemic roots of how learning spaces for socio-technical research are setup, ways in which they can be reconfigured, and explore potential research opportunities in the space.
In this sense, the workshop seeks to promote conversations and connections in order to discuss how the CSCW community can be more inclusive in regards to its different learning spaces. These learning spaces can be varied, ranging from university classes and labs, workshops at a tech company, to virtual gatherings via videoconference. Inclusion in such spaces could involve a better integration of learning audiences and spaces at the periphery of the current ways of collaborating and interacting within the CSCW practice, for example, in order to evaluate or design technology. We will examine the challenges involved in making CSCW more diverse and we will also set an actionable plan with which participants of the workshop could become agents in decolonizing learning spaces.
Workshop Goals: