Citations are nodes in the networks of knowledge we create, portals to conversations with the past and material that bonds with scholarship in the present. Choosing who we cite is a practice signaling who we recognize and respect as a knowledge source. Citations are, thus, a relational practice and their relations are mediated by wealth we distribute across those who we cite.

This one-day workshop engages with Citational Justice. Building on increased discussion of citational practices within HCI, it deeply reflects on how we cite and the practices and infrastructures surrounding citations. The workshop seeks to create an inclusive language to collectively reflect on and interrogate our citational practices and their consequences; concrete ways to make our practices just in research and involvement in our communities; and, to imagine approaches, and adapt systems and infrastructures to make them feasible.

We will bring together a diverse group of researchers, designers and practitioners from varied disciplines, sectors, knowledge practices and socio-cultural and geographical contexts, who are interested in examining their citational practices and the systems surrounding them.

We will collectively reflect on our citational practices while attempting to address critical questions: Why do we cite in the ways we cite? Where do we look for knowledge? Can citing more broadly and fairly be a concept for holding someone accountable for their unjust practices? Can citing practice be a lens to examine the impacts of the demeaning dominant academic culture? Could changed citational practice be a way for people to enact justice-making, even if they cannot or do not wish to engage further with epistemic justice or decoloniality?

In case of any questions, please feel free to email us at: trailofcj@gmail.com

The organisers will review submissions to ensure both diverse and relevant perspectives are represented in the workshop. To enable meaningful participation, the workshop is limited to 25 participants.

Accepted contributors are required to register for the conference and workshop in order to attend by October 24th: https://cscw.acm.org/2021/registration/

Session 1

The first half of the workshop aims to build a shared language around CJ and establish a common ground for participants to share perspectives and experiences regarding the dynamics involved in citing. We start by exploring the following questions:

1. What is CJ?

2. Why is CJ needed?

3. What does CJ look or feel like?

4. What does CJ lead to?

5. Who does CJ affect, when, and to what extent?

6. What are our experiences or witnesses of citational injustice (What happened? What might have been a better outcome?)

Activities in the first session include:

• Multiple rounds of “speed dating” to enable groups of participants to introduce themselves and share initial views on CJ and expectations for the workshop.

• Sharing and documenting experiences of citational (in)justice using a collaborative virtual board. Participants will begin individually and then in groups to reflect on the factors and actions that led to the experiences, (un)desirable outcomes, and people and other beings impacted in the short and long term. Participants represent their experiences, using personas, storyboards and other techniques.

• Collectively characterizing CJ. Referring to the experiences shared on the board participants discuss, in groups: what CJ is, why it is needed and how it would look and feel like. Each group will document their ideas and later share them with the whole group.

• Identifying the most pressing issues for the CJ community by modelling the systems and tensions in which citational issues emerge. Participants will also reflect on unresolved questions or loose ends for conversations, including proposing or modifying in-depth discussion tracks for the second half of the workshop.

Session 2

The second half of the workshop offers multiple tracks in which participants will contribute to in-depth discussion of a particular aspect of CJ. Each track will be facilitated by workshop organizers and will involve different activities and outcomes. Afterwards, the different tracks will reconvene for a larger group discussion on critical commitments in moving forward.

We propose the following initial tracks, however these will be modified and added to based on the outcomes of participants’ discussions in Session 1 of the workshop.

• “Citing the 99%”, Track A, will focus on how we can cite knowledge sources that are not archived within elitist media. We will discuss what entities have knowledge, encompassing the human to the non- or beyond human, and how we access and ‘read’ this knowledge. We will also ask how we can raise our awareness about the potential harms in the process of knowledge production. Track A will also envision new citation systems and tools for finding work from scholars, and other knowers, beyond the mainstream.

• “CJ Research Agenda”, Track B, will focus on research topics around CJ, including how we might systematically understand the distribution of citations in HCI, how researchers cite, and the impacts of CJ. It will also provide an opportunity to map out and share institutional, fiscal, and academic resources to advance research on CJ.

• “The Human and Institutional Infrastructure of CJ”, Track C, will create a space for knowledge producers in HCI and CSCW to re-imagine knowledge production systems. In this track, community members coming from diverse forms of knowing and being can discuss how to support each other in navigating institutional power networks and rethinking knowledge production processes, such as reviewing and tenure evaluations.