[WSIS CS-Plenary] Call for Participation -- CPSR Parallel Event -- The Role of Computer Science and Engineering Professions in Achieving WSIS Goals

[Bill McIver]

CPSR  Computer Professionals     | Technology is driving the future ...
      for Social Responsibility  | it is up to us to do the steering.
     

Version: 2005-11-11  002

Parallel Event of the United Nations World Summit on the Information 
Society (WSIS), Tunis, 16-18 2005.

"The Role of Computer Science and Engineering Professions in Achieving 
WSIS Goals"

Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
http://www.cpsr.org

Kram (Summit Venue)
Tunis, Tunisia
16 November 2005
11:00 - 13:00
Room: Le Kram


1.Confirmed Panelists

Michael Gasser, Department of Computer Science, Indiana University
David Hakken, School of Informatics, Indiana University
Eden Medina, School of Informatics, Indiana University

2.Conveners

William McIver, Jr. (CPSR)                   Douglas Schuler 
(CPSR)                                                               
National Research Council                     Evergreen State College
Institute for Information Technology     Olympia, Washington  USA
Fredericton, NB  Canada              
Bill.McIver at nrc-cnrc.gc.ca                    douglas at cpsr.org

3.Panel Chair

William McIver, Jr.

4.Description

This panel will examine the central role that the computer science and 
engineering professions play in shaping the information society and how 
they can serve in helping to realize the goals set by the World Summit 
on the Information Society (WSIS).

5.Background and Motivation

There has been relatively little discussion within the WSIS process 
about the research, engineering, and implementation processes and 
professions that produce the information and communication technologies 
(ICT) which give rise to the policy issues under debate. The focus has 
been instead - and necessarily -- on addressing the direct and indirect 
effects of ICT production and use and to a lesser extent on how the 
characteristics of ICT might be leveraged to either address human needs 
or violate human rights. The processes and professions that produce ICT 
might be said to exist as "black boxes" relative to the policy debate. 
In an abstracted view of this, the computing and engineering professions 
are arguably the most responsible for the generation of the 
technological artifacts and complex systems that yield the transitive 
social, political, and economic phenomena to which the WSIS is 
necessarily responding, yet these professions and their approaches have 
been subject to only minor scrutiny and calls for accountability within 
the WSIS framework.

In general and in the WSIS in particular, major exceptions to this view 
can be cited. Factors outside of technology production, such as policy 
decisions giving impetus to ICT production and end user behaviours and 
trends, must obviously be taken into account when assessing the sources 
and causes of social, political, and economic phenomena.  It is also the 
case that attention to such areas as free and open software, technical 
education, and community informatics in the WSIS implies at least a 
partial focus on how ICT are produced. Nevertheless, there is arguably a 
need for an even greater focus on these  issues since poor design 
choices and their resulting impacts are more difficult to fix later in 
the process. Thus, the policy debate must begin within what is now the 
"black box."

The evolution of thinking and practice within the computing and 
engineering professions has seen the gradual erosion of boundaries of 
concern between technology design and production and the assessment and 
response to the resulting potential or realized impacts.  According to 
this thinking, iterative and participatory interactions should occur 
between all stakeholders throughout the life cycle of any technology.  
This shift in thinking is still a long way from where it needs to be, 
but is reflected in significant ways in the development of research and 
development methodologies across a number of academic and professional 
disciplines, as well as the evolution of a concurrent outward focus 
(i.e. from the computing and engineering professions) on relevant social 
contexts. For example, in this latter regard, members of these 
professions have engaged in important ways in the WSIS process. These 
engagements might be seen as both attempts to: (1) inform the WSIS 
process from expert technical perspectives and (2) be informed by the 
perspectives of others present in the process as a way of evolving their 
own practice. External perspectives here include those of  policy 
makers, advocates in specific issue areas (e.g. human rights and ICT), 
and those engaged at a practical level in social and economic 
development.   In contrast, there has been little corresponding 
engagement in the WSIS process in the other direction by stakeholders 
outside of the technical professions to understand how ICT production 
might be improved in ways beneficial to to the policy landscape.

Has an end-user or "black box" perspective on ICT development processes 
been in effect in the WSIS process? How might external engagement with 
the computing and engineering professions and the processes they use 
alter the post-WSIS ICT policy landscape for the better? What can be 
done within the computing and engineering professions to improve the 
chances of realizing the WSIS goals?

Please join us for this discussion.

6.Contact

William McIver, Jr.
Bill.McIver at nrc-cnrc.gc.ca or wmciver at acm.org




-- 
Bill McIver  
e-Government / e-Citizen Group
National Research Council Canada  Institute for Information Technology
e-mail: bill.mciver at nrc.gc.ca                  
http://iit-iti.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/r-d/e-government-gouvernement-e_e.html
http://iit-iti.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/r-d/e-government-gouvernement-e_f.html

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