IT artifacts pervade almost all aspects of our daily lives, so much so that almost all our day-to-day practices involve interaction with them. A radical re-thinking of the computing field which recognizes the complex relationship between system and practicehas been slowly gathering momentum over the past quarter century, and emphasis is now shifting from an exclusive concern with hardware and software to aspects of the human, social, and organizational contexts within which information and communication technologies are both being designed and used. The design of innovative IT artifacts needs to be understood as relying upon, interacting with, and challenging given social practices. These shifts imply a radical approach to methodology, one which is fundamentally interdisciplinary. The most important contributions to this developing understanding draw on psychology, sociology, management science, and information systems research as well as the more traditional computer science and engineering approaches. The issues at hand are vibrant and substantive and have profound implications for the research paradigm in many fields of applied computer science.
The EUSSET-IISI Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to scholars for outstanding contributions to the reorientation of the computing field. This award recognizes the very best work in shaping the field. It is given for a lifetime of innovation and leadership and is honored with 5,000 Euro. The criteria for selecting the award winner are:
- Cumulative contributions to the field,
- Influence on the work of others,
- Development of new research directions.
The EUSSET-IISI Lifetime Award is the most prestigious award in this emerging field. It will be granted each second year. The winners will become honorary member of EUSSET – The European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies.
Award Committee: The Award Committee consists of five members and is appointed jointly by the European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET) and the International Institute for Socio-Informatics (IISI). The Awards committee is chaired by Mark Ackerman, University of Michigan and selects the winner of the Award. Members of the Award Committee are: Geraldine Fitzpatrick, TU Vienna; Myriam Lewkowicz, UTT Troyes; Dave Randall, University of Siegen, and Markus Rohde, International Institute for Socio-Informatics.
The committee gathers nominations for the award and decides who will receive the Award. A successful candidate will need at least two nominations from within the academic community. The Award Committee seeks input from many sources in reaching its decision. It can decide to split the Award among more than one winner. To prevent conflicts of interest, neither current members of the Award Committee nor actors holding official positions in EUSSET or IISI can win the award.
Nomination Process: Nominations must be submitted in English and must include:
- the name of the nominee,
- his/her university or research institution,
- a outline of his/her previous career (Curriculum Vitae),
- and a factual and informative description of the candidate’s merits, specifically how the nominee meets the criteria for the award
These documents (no more than 12 pages in total) should be sent to the chair of the Awards Committee (dave.randall@uni-siegen.de). Nominations must be submitted by 30th July 2011. The Award will be handed over for the first time at ECSCW 2011.
Background Information
The European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET,www.eusset.eu) is a networked organizational forum dedicated to the development of technological tools and infrastructures that incorporate a human-centered design perspective in computing. The members of EUSSET come from a variety of organizations and disciplines, but they share a passion for developing a range of more integrative, interdisciplinary approaches to the design, development and use of new technologies for work, home and play.
The International Institute for Socio-Informatics (IISI, www.iisi.de) was founded to investigate into the design of computer applications in support of social systems. An interdisciplinary group of researchers works at the intersection of computer science, social science, learning science, and design. Taking into account current developments of the internet, multimedia and mobile computing, the main focus of IISI is on a user-oriented and sustainable design of information technology.