Call for Participation!

Conducting research with communities who are at risk of being stigmatized can be a challenging endeavor. It is often difficult to reach and recruit individuals for research purposes regarding a stigmatized condition or situation. Yet, researchers in our field have recognized the importance of work in this area and have individually developed a range of strategies to reach, recruit, and work with these populations.

This will be an insightful one-day workshop on Saturday, November 3rd during the CSCW 2018 Conference in New York’s Hudson River (Jersey City). The workshop will be led by a group of researchers who have worked with different stigmatized groups, and they will share their experiences and challenges throughout the workshop! We invite any student, researcher, or practitioner who is or has worked with any type of stigmatized population (e.g., addiction, homelessness, HIV, depression, LGBTQ+, etc.) The focus of the workshop is to present, discuss, and compare strategies and experiences when working with stigmatized communities in the context of the ever evolving nature of technology. The outcomes of the workshop will include an outline for an article that will summarize the strategies and practices discussed as well as highlight approaches that have led to the best outcomes across different populations. Thus, this will be a great opportunity for participants to discuss and learn how to work better with stigmatized populations!

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

      • Challenges of working with stigmatized populations
      • Best practices in designing and executing research with stigmatized populations
      • Recruitment
      • Data Collection/Analysis
      • Research Outcomes
      • Privacy and Confidentiality
      • Ethical Considerations

Participants are asked to submit a 2 - 4 pages position paper that address at least one of the workshop themes and highlighted topics provided in this call. Submissions will be accepted based on the relevance and development of the chosen topic, as well as their potential to contribute to the workshop discussions and goals.

Position papers will be peer-reviewed and final decisions will be made by the workshop organizers taking into account their relevance to any of the workshop topics. Accepted papers would cover a variety of populations, topics, methods, and research areas in order to ensure a productive discussion. Papers should be formatted using the standard ACM SIGCHI Extended Abstract format (https://sigchi.org/templates/) and should include an abstract of no more than 150 words.

Position papers must be submitted in PDF format by the deadline to the following email: stigmaresearchworkshop2018@gmail.com by September 30, 2018. Acceptance decisions will be sent out by October 8, 2018. With the author’s permission, accepted papers will be published on the workshop website.

Authors of the accepted submissions will be invited to present and discuss their work at the workshop. At least one author of each accepted position paper must attend the workshop. Participants must register for the workshop (registration to the conference is optional). For registration fees please visit: https://cscw.acm.org/2018/attend/registration.html


We look forward to seeing you in Jersey City!


Timeline for Submission and Review:

  • September 30, 2018: Position paper deadline (11:59pm, PT)
  • October 8, 2018: Notifications and registration instructions sent to authors
  • November 3, 2018: Workshop day!


Final submissions and questions about the workshop should be sent to stigmaresearchworkshop2018@gmail.com

The workshop Facebook page can be accessed here.


Workshop co-organizers:

Juan Fernando Maestre (Indiana University Bloomington)

Elizabeth Eikey (University of California, Irvine)

Mark Warner (University College London)

Jessica Pater (Georgia Tech/Parkview Research Center)

Maia Jacobs (Harvard University)

Svetlana “Lana” Yarosh (University of Minnesota)

Gabriela Marcu (University of Michigan)

Patrick Shih (Indiana University Bloomington)