Announcement and Call for Papers

Three international conferences in this series have been held which address the social and ethical issues surrounding the world of computing. The first was in the USA at Southern Connecticut State University (NCCV91), the second (ETHICOMP95) was at De Montfort University in the UK and the third (ETHICOMP96) was at the University of Salamanca in Madrid. The ETHICOMP conference series is now recognised as one of the premier international events on computer ethics attended by delegates from all over the world. Conferences are held about every 18 months.

ETHICOMP98 is to be held in Rotterdam. The intention is to bring together international scholars and practitioners to consider current and future developments of IT and resulting social and ethical issues. Rotterdam is an ideal location for this conference, being a major European city with excellent transport links. Erasmus University offers first class conference facilities.

The overall theme of ETHICOMP98 will be computing and the workplace; the potential tension between (a) financial goals, politics and personal agendas, and (b) social and professional responsibility.

The intention is to include papers and case studies which provide practical guidance on socially and ethically sensitive applications of IT as well as papers of a more conceptual nature. Submissions on the lessons learned in addressing ethical and social issues in industry and commerce are also sought.

Papers and case studies are invited from relevant disciplines such as business, government, computer science, information systems, law, social sciences and philosophy. Papers and case studies with a multi-disciplinary perspective are particularly welcome.

Example areas of interest

• Privacy and monitoring - Issues relating to information held on individuals. What can be or has to be revealed and what safeguards should be in place to ensure privacy. Data Matching. CCTV monitoring and image recognition. Smart card usage. Encryption and key escrow (including with 'trusted third parties').
• Security and computer misuse - Issues of misuse and the impact of misuse of IT. Hacking, viruses, 'virus warnings' and other unwanted email, computer fraud, undesirable material on the WWW, waste of resources, other forms of possible misuse.
• Encouraging and enforcing professional standards - Licensing, codes of conduct and standards of practice, ethical education in the sphere of computing.
• Value and accuracy of data and information - Issues of authenticity, fidelity and accuracy and how information can be cultivated for general good. The WWW as a global library. Electronic date stamping and certificates of authenticity (including those provided by 'trusted third parties').
• Developing information systems now and in the future - How to ensure social value issues are properly addressed and how to ensure future advances can be catered for and used in a socially acceptable manner. Responsibility and liability for development and implementation.
• Social and ethical aspects of the 'Year 2000 Problem' - And related issues in software reliability, maintenance and design.
• Electronic commerce - including fraudulent commerce. The effects that use of IT in financial markets is having. The WWW as a global marketplace.
• Issues of social responsibility in hardware and software marketing - Good and bad practices, principles.
• Software and data as intellectual property - Intellectual property rights and the promotion of quality in software and data. Intellectual property rights (in software and data) and monopolies. Intellectual property rights (in software and data) and economic inequality.
• Organisation structure and the location of work - As powerful change agents, computer technologies change organisations and social structures. The global community raises many issues relating to ethnic, and cultural differences. Computer enabled work. Telecommuting and telework, including across international boundaries, and including both the factors affecting the amount of teleworking and the social and environmental effects of changes in the amount of teleworking.
• Access to computing - Including computer literacy. Includes the effects of global and local inequalities on levels of practical access to computers, issues surrounding computers in schools, and the effects of inequality in computer literacy and access.
• Effects of computing on the global distribution of wealth and power.
• Environmental impact of computing - Impacts of production, use and disposal, indirect effects, factors in the level of demand for hardware, possible uses of computers for environmental benefit.
• Ethics of robotics and ethics of artificial intelligence - Including expert systems, Asimov's '3 laws of robotics' and other views of the obligations of developers of intelligent systems.
• Submissions on other relevant topics are welcome.

Important Dates

Notes

Conference language is English

For further information contact

Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility
School of Computing Sciences
De Montfort University
The Gateway
Leicester
LE1 9BH UK

Telephone +44 116 250 6143
Fax +44 116 254 1891
E-mail ccsr@dmu.ac.uk
Web www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk