WorkshopsICT4S 2024

Accepted Workshops

• Aligning Computing Research and Sustainable Practices: A Book Proposal
• What computer science research in the Anthropocene?
• ICT4SEdu 2024: Sixth International Workshop on ICT for Sustainable Education
• Bridging Sustainable Consumption and ICT: A Collaborative Workshop
• Thinking with Digital Sufficiency
• 3rd Workshop on the assessment of indirect effects of ICT
• Involving stakeholders for sustainable AI
• Exploring the social impact of data centers and high-performance computing
• True cost of ICT: From materiality to techno-solutionism
• Sustainable Privacy-enhancing Technologies

Schedule

Detailed schedule will be published on the ICT4S 2024 soon. Please always check each of the workshop’s website for the latest details, program and specific schedule.

Monday, June 24, 2024: - Aligning Computing Research and Sustainable Practices: A Book Proposal - ICT4SEdu 2024: Sixth International Workshop on ICT for Sustainable Education (half-day) - Bridging Sustainable Consumption and ICT: A Collaborative Workshop (half-day, afternoon) - Involving stakeholders for sustainable AI - True cost of ICT: From materiality to techno-solutionism - Sustainable Privacy-enhancing Technologies (half-day)

Friday, June 28, 2024: - What computer science research in the Anthropocene? - Thinking with Digital Sufficiency - 3rd Workshop on the assessment of indirect effects of ICT - Exploring the social impact of data centers and high-performance computing

Aligning Computing Research and Sustainable Practices: A Book Proposal

How can the multiple branches of computing research align with socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable practices? In this co-design workshop, we look for a group of at least 10 colleagues with whom to embark in looking for an answer to this question through the process of writing a book in the form of an edited collection of essays. This full-day workshop aims at creating conversations between researchers from different branches of computing including cybersecurity, AI/ML, computing education, interaction design, distributed computing, and more. Based on the organizers’ previous experience, the workshop will rely on pre-workshop online activities that will pave the way for collectively addressing the challenges of interdisciplinary collaborations when dealing with the complexity of sustainable practice. With this workshop, we aim to produce a table of contents for the proposed book, and to: 1. collectively explore different branches of computing research and identify key authors on sustainable practices in computing research; 2. discuss how contributions to the book can be aligned in relation to the different branches of computing research; 3. start building a path toward aligning future computing research with sustainable practices, in the book and beyond. That includes identifying potential co-editors, to maximise the possibilities for the book to achieve high impact.

Organizers:

Lorenzo Angeli,
		University of Trento
		lorenzo.angeli@unitn.it
Mela Bettega, 
		Nova University of Lisbon
		mela.bettega@protonmail.com
Markus Löchtefeld, 
		Aalborg University mloc@create.aau.dk
Chiara Rossitto, 
		Stockholm University
		chiara@dsv.su.se
Maurizio Teli,
		Aalborg University 
		maurizio@plan.aau.dk

What computer science research in the Anthropocene?

The social-ecological crisis requires radical changes. How do we align research in computer science (CS) with the pressing challenges of the Anthropocene? Should we therefore abandon certain areas of research? Or focus more on others?

This workshop, initiated by a thinking group at Labos 1point5, aims to collect ideas on which CS research could be useful for the transition while having minimal environmental impact. It will complement an ongoing campaign of semi-structured interviews with CS academics in France.

We will begin with presentations of our preliminary results and similar initiatives going on right now. This will allow us to start a discussion on the methods and tools available to researchers to question their field of research in relation to the social-ecological crisis.

On the basis of these reflections, we will discuss the structural barriers to their use and the potential levers to be applied. We hope that by the end of the workshop we will have collectively proposed approaches and methodologies that could be more widely used in computational research groups and help us to understand the impact of our research results.

Organizers:

Maël Madon 
		(IRIT, Université de Toulouse) mael.madon@irit.fr
Lou Grimal 
		(Hochschule Darmstadt) lou.grimal@h-da.de
Mathilde Jay
                (LIG, Université de Grenoble Alpes) mathilde.jay@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr

ICT4SEdu 2024: Sixth International Workshop on ICT for Sustainable Education

ICT4S as an umbrella concept encompasses several disciplines and areas related to sustainability and ICT, and it can be difficult for an educator to have an overview of all areas and research fronts where interesting, engaging and transformative research is taking place. Since sustainability is not yet a mainstream subject within the computing-related curricula, there is a need for educational practitioners to meet, collaborate and develop key topics, methods and tools, as well as sharing experiences. This workshop aims to bridge this gap by providing a forum for cross-domain interaction by bringing together members of ICT4S community to share perspectives and present findings relevant to research and practice in education. In addition, the workshop aims to provide a platform for participants to collaboratively work on expanding the body of knowledge in sustainability education and to jump-start new collaborations through the live creation of teams that commit to working together on concrete topics. A significant portion of the workshop is devoted to focused interaction among the participants with the goal of generating a research agenda to improve processes and practices, tools, techniques, and methods regarding the sustainability education in computing.

Organizers:

Anne-Kathrin Peters, 
		akpeters@kth.se, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Learning
Birgit Penzenstadler, 
		birgitp@chalmers.se, Chalmers | Göteborg University, Lappeenranta University
Minna Laurell Thorslund, 
		minnalt@kth.se, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design
Colin Venters, 
		C.Venters@hud.ac.uk, entre for Sustainable Computing, University of Huddersfield, U.K and European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland
Elina Eriksson, elina@kth.se, 
		KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design

Bridging Sustainable Consumption and ICT: A Collaborative Workshop

Consumption patterns are increasingly influenced by the ubiquitous presence of ICT in our daily lives. As digital services are considered less carbon-intensive that most other consumption categories, increased usage of ICT can mean increased dematerialization of consumption, and thus overall lower carbon emissions, and lower resource use. However, ICT-adoption also has the potential to make activities cheaper, less time consuming, and easier. It has been suggested that on balance, increased ICT use leads to increased energy use, due to increased economic activity.

This workshop aims to bring together academics and professionals in the fields of Sustainable Consumption and Information and Communication Technologies. The primary objective is to foster community building and stimulate passionate discussions about emerging topics related to ICT and consumption. An additional aim is to plan for a follow-up workshop at an international conference on sustainable consumption in Lund, April 8-10, 2025, preferably in the form of a special session on ICT4S.

We invite abstracts relevant to sustainable consumption and ICT from those who would wish to present ongoing research or research ideas. Participants are welcome to join also without submitting an abstract to participate in the workshop.

Come and help shape the future of integrating ICT- and sustainable consumption research.

Organizers:

Matthias Lehner, 
		International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (SEED), Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Matthias.lehner@iiiee.lu.se
Göran Finnveden, 
		Dept. of Sustainable Development, Environmental Sciences and Engineering (SEED), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. Goran.finnveden@abe.kth.se

Thinking with Digital Sufficiency

In this workshop, we are interested in exploring how digital sufficiency, is currently understood in different domains and how it could be developed further. This could include exploring how to operationalize digital sufficiency in the development and implementation of ICT and computing education.

We welcome contributions related to: - Entertainment and media infrastructure in the home - Digital infrastructures - Smart cities, buildings, homes and offices - Digital sufficiency in industry practice - Other topics relating to sufficiency within and around ICT

As well as different methodological approaches such as, but not limited to - Design fiction - Prototypes or provotypes - Policy analysis - LCA - Ethnographic studies

The main objective of the workshop is to collectively develop and outline ideas. Possible outcomes include a pitch for a special issue focusing on digital sufficiency, and sketches/pitches for future collaborations such as articles and projects.

Organizers:

Mike Hazas, 
		Digital Ecologies Lab, Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, mike.hazas@it.uu.se
Miriam Börjesson Rivera, 
		Digital Ecologies Lab, Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, miriam.borjesson.rivera@it.uu.se
Martin Stojanov, 
		Digital Ecologies Lab, Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, martin.stojanov@it.uu.se
Ossian Nordgren, 
		Digital Ecologies Lab, Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, ossian.nordgren@it.uu.se

3rd WAID - Workshop on the Assessment of Indirect Effects of Digitalisation

The interest for the indirect effects of ICT – in particular their positive effects whether referred to as enabling effects, abatements, avoided emissions or second and higher order effects – has perhaps never been more widespread. The methodological basis for these claims, however, is often underdeveloped or problematic, and indirect negative effects are often ignored. We thus invite researchers, practitioners and policy makers to a day full of mutual updates and vivid discussions on the topic.

The organizers have previously been engaged in organizing similar workshops which have been instrumental in developing the methodologies at hand and we hope that this will be an opportunity to further advance the understanding of this complex topic and provide guidance for way forward. In its 2024 edition, the workshop will give particular attention to the ontological uncertainties related to the assessment of indirect effects (and the very wide system boundaries partially causing them), and the inherent conflict between the ontological uncertainty behind any calculations taking them into account, and the need for meaningful policy recommendations. Participants are welcome to contribute analyses or proposals related to specific methodological aspects as input for the discussions. Such inputs could either be based on theoretical and conceptual analysis of challenges and solutions, on practical experiences from applying these or similar methodologies or refer to associated policy challenges. Any input will be evaluated with respect to relevance, but no formal peer review will be performed. Contributors may be asked to present at the workshop.

Organizers:

Vlad Coroamă, 
		Roegen Centre for Sustainability, Zurich, Switzerland and TU Berlin, Germany. vlad@roegen.ch
Mattias Höjer, 
		Dep. of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. hojer@kth.se 
Christina Bremer, 
		School of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK. c.bremer@lancaster.ac.uk
Charlie Wilson, 
		Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. charlie.wilson@eci.ox.ac.uk
Daniel Schien
		School of Computer Science Systems Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. daniel.schien@bristol.ac.uk

AI and ‘Nature’ as a stakeholder: Exploring the role of AI in Earth Law

In April 2024, Indigenous communities from New Zealand, Tahiti, and the Cook Islands signed a declaration providing whales the status of legal subjects with the aim of enabling better protection [see e.g., Greenpeace]. The rationale is based on “Earth Law”, or ecocentric law, which grants non-human stakeholders (from endangered species to entire ecosystems) legal rights that can be defended and protected in court. Advocacies for the rights of nature are already beginning to transform legal frameworks worldwide, with constitutional amendments, treaties, and various levels of legislation already present in 24 countries and numerous local jurisdictions. AI could play an important role in putting Earth Law approaches into practice, e.g., by helping to include non-human actors as stakeholders in decision making processes. At the same time, such approaches could help AI governance itself, e.g., by improving the recognition of environmental sustainability concerns in AI systems’ development. In this workshop, we aim to foster an interdisciplinary discussion around three questions: 1) How can AI be used to better implement Earth Law? 2) How can AI be designed more environmentally sustainable in compliance with Earth Law? 3) What are the political options and barriers in this context? In the first part of the workshops, several speakers will give inputs regarding AI, Earth Law and stakeholder involvement for sustainability. In the second part of the workshop, a scenario building exercise will be conducted. The workshop is conceived as a first step for future collaboration between the participants and towards a standardisation effort in this emerging topic.

Date and Duration of the workshop: 24 June 2024, 4h (halfday, online), 1 – 5pm CEST

Number of participants: 15-20, scholars with technical and social science backgrounds, policy makers and civil society representatives warmly invited to join

Organizers:

Stefanie Kunkel 
		Research Institute for Sustainabiltiy (RIFS) Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Germany, Research Group “Digitalisation and Transformation to Sustainability” 
Silke Niehoff 
		Research Institute for Sustainabiltiy (RIFS) Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Germany, Research Group “Digitalisation and Transformation to Sustainability” 
Andre Uhl 
		The Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, University of Chicago

Exploring the social impact of data centers and high-performance computing

Sustainability necessitates a comprehensive approach that takes into account Economic, Environmental, Social, and Governmental aspects when making strategic and operational decisions, thus fostering long-term stakeholder value. While the urgency surrounding climate action has led to a marked emphasis on the environmental component, it is crucial not to overlook the other elements. This workshop aims to delve into the social impact of Data Centers, utilizing design thinking and lean start-up methodologies to facilitate robust dialogue and capture a diverse range of ideas. Within the framework of the workshop, we will: - Establish the challenge based on the specific context and ersonas involved. - Discern the primary societal impacts and challenges presented by Data Centers. - Identify opportunities to quantify these challenges, thereby facilitating solution-oriented discussions.

Ultimately, we will employ the Total Cost of Ownership model for Data Centers to evaluate the economic impact and explore potential avenues for incorporating the social impact. The workshop’s main objective is to pinpoint the significant social impact factors associated with Data Centers that can be expressed in tangible monetary terms, thereby influencing sustainable business decisions.

Organizers:

Esther Roure Vila, 
		Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, CISCO, esther.roure@upc.edu

True cost of ICT: From materiality to techno-solutionism

In the past few decades, the word technology has become synonymous to digital technology or simply ‘tech’. The tech industry of today generates a variety of gadgets, products and services that proliferate in numbers that is beyond most of our imaginations and determines our lives in ways we do not even realise. The growth of semiconductor technology is unprecedented compared to any other industrial sector, from 2000 components in a semiconductor chip in ‘70s to 50 billion today. The resulting impact in our digital life is so enormous that chips are now compared to air, both invisible and indispensable. At the same time, this boon to innovation has led to significant environmental problems (mostly externalised to the Global South) associated to water, energy and material consumption, not only during production, but also in its usage and end-of-life as a result of e-Waste. We look forward to an exciting and interactive workshop where we will jointly seek to understand the drivers and material dependencies of these technologies, their dependence on semiconductors and identify a research roadmap toward quantifying these effects.

Organizers:

Srinjoy Mitra,
		University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Srinjoy.Mitra@ed.ac.uk
Adrian Friday,
		Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom, a.friday@lancaster.ac.uk
Jan Tobias Mühlberg,
		Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussles, Belgium, jan.tobias.muehlberg@ulb.be

Sustainable Privacy-enhancing Technologies

We invite researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to participate in our half-day workshop exploring the intersection of Privacy-Enhancing Techniques (PETs) with sustainability challenges. As the volume of Artificial Intelligence (AI) publications skyrockets, addressing the ecological impact is imperative. Early studies warned of environmental repercussions, emphasizing the need for a nuanced analysis of digital processes and their ecological footprint. Our workshop delves into two critical aspects of PETs: energy consumption and data utility. With ICT’s substantial carbon footprint, especially without renewable energy, and growing privacy concerns, our event aims to bridge the gap between research and informed decision-making. We host presentations addressing these concerns, allowing discussion of the outcomes in a group of peers. Finally, we discuss hot topics, and potential solutions, and set out directions for future work on sustainable PETs.

Organizers:

Ana Oprescu, 
		a.m.oprescu@uva.nl, Assistant Professor University of Amsterdam
Ivano Malavolta, 
		i.malavolta@vu.nl, Associate Professor Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Joāo Paulo Fernandes, 
		jpaulo@fe.up.pt, Associate Professor University of Porto
Fernando Caster de Lima, 
		f.castor@utwente.nl, Associate Professor University of Twente
Pepijn de reus, 
		p.dereus@uva.nl, Master student University of Amsterdam

At ICT4S 2024 we are facilitating three kinds of workshop:

1) Formal Workshops - workshops looking to establish annual gatherings and publish proceedings associated with topics covered by ICT4S. We expect to publish a proceedings volume including all accepted peer-reviewed workshop papers in an open access archive (e.g., arXiv’s Computing Research Repository, CEUR). These workshops are expected to include a full peer review process for workshop submissions (facilitated by the workshop organizers). [Present complete or ongoing work]

2) Community Workshops - workshops for community building and passionate discussion in emerging topics relating to ICT4S. These workshops may also draw in a wider audience and we welcome proposals from community, business and local government that might help start a dialogue to develop solutions. [Big idea discussion]

3) Drafting and co-design Workshops - workshops where attendees convene to develop a vision paper or a special-issue journal topic where they complete a draft within the workshop. Possible workshop activities could include research planning, timeline development, experiments preparations, and journal associate editor’s identification among others. [Co-design workshops]

We invite workshop proposals of traditional or unconventional formats that support preparing for half-day or full-day workshops. Workshops are to be held on Monday, June 24, and Friday, June 28, 2024.

Formal Workshops

Formal workshop proposals should be between 4-6 pages long and include:

• Title
• Background - rationale for the workshop, including the aims and objectives
• Organizers - short backgrounds/bios, including experience in organizing workshops or similar events
• Type of workshop - full-day, half-day, or evening and expected number of participants
• Pre-workshop plans - details on recruitment for the workshop, e.g., the target audience communities, strategy for communication with these communities.
• Workshop Structure/Activities - the workshop structure in detail, including activities and resources required.
• Post-workshop plans - plans for the creation of tangible outcomes or outputs, and follow-up with attendees/ICT4S
• Program committee (PC) proposal - this should include the names, contact details, and affiliations of potential members of the PC.
• Type of papers
• Submission criteria for authors - criteria by which submissions to the workshop will be evaluated
• Call for Participation (CfP) - a 250 word CfP that will be posted on the ICT4S website
• References

Community Workshops

Community workshop proposals should be between 2-4 pages long and include:

• Title
• Background - rationale for the workshop, including the aims and objectives
• Organizers - short backgrounds/bios, including experience in organizing workshops or similar events, contact details
• Type of workshop - full-day, half-day, or evening and expected number of participants
• Pre-workshop plans - details on recruitment for the workshop, e.g. the target audience communities, strategy for communication with these communities,
• Workshop Structure/Activities - the workshop structure in detail, including activities, speakers, and resources required.
• Call for Participation (CfP) - a 250 word CfP that will be posted on the ICT4S website
• References

Drafting and Co-Design Workshops

Community workshop proposals should be between 2-4 pages long and include:

• Title
• Background - rationale for the workshop, including the aims and objectives,
• Organizers - short backgrounds/bios, including experience in organizing workshops or similar events, contact details
• Type of workshop - full-day, half-day, or evening and expected number of participants,
• Pre-workshop plans - details on recruitment for the workshop, e.g. the target audience communities, strategy for communication with these communities,
• Workshop Structure/Activities: the workshop structure in detail, including activities and resources required. Organizers should also include details on what constitutes a Minimum Viable Outcome (MVO) and how the workshop activities will support participants in achieving that.
• Call for Participation (CfP) - a 250 word CfP that will be posted on the ICT4S website
• References

Submission Guidelines

Workshop proposals should be submitted electronically via EasyChair. Select “[ICT4S’24] Workshops". All workshop proposal submissions should be submitted in IEEE conference proceedings format.

Potential Topics of Interest

Possible workshop topics include (but are not limited to) sustainability and ICT in the context of the following:

• Transport and logistics
• Software Engineering
• Behavioral and societal change
• Energy-efficient and energy-aware software engineering
• Infrastructure management and resilience, smart grids
• Hardware obsolescence, e-waste and material life cycles
• Decision support and policy making
• Education
• Smart cities, buildings, homes and offices
• Data centers and high-performance computing
• Social movements, grassroots communities and organizations
• Just and ethical energy transitions
• Degrowth
• Unmaking for good

Further details

All workshops can be provided with the following resources: catering (coffee breaks and lunch), conference materials, WIFI, white board with markers, projector/screen, laptop (upon request), and a room. Formal workshop organizers are expected to set up and manage their own submission and review processes. Furthermore, it is strongly recommended that workshop organizers set up websites and social media accounts to help publicize the event.