In a new workshop report published by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), Grand Challenges for the Convergence of Computational and Citizen Science Research, dozens of experts across disciplines came together to examine the ways in which advanced computing and citizen science mutually enrich each other, fundamentally altering our potential for advancement in numerous scientific fields for the better. From users mapping biodiversity on iNaturalist to analyzing protein folding configurations to advance drug discovery on Foldit, we have seen the value of engaging the public in scientific research projects. This report also presents the opportunity of citizen science and computing research, together, to maximize the potential of tools with broad applications […]
Computing Community Consortium Blog
The goal of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is to catalyze the computing research community to debate longer range, more audacious research challenges; to build consensus around research visions; to evolve the most promising visions toward clearly defined initiatives; and to work with the funding organizations to move challenges and visions toward funding initiatives. The purpose of this blog is to provide a more immediate, online mechanism for dissemination of visioning concepts and community discussion/debate about them.
Ensuring American Scientific Leadership through the Convergence of Computing and Citizen Science
April 14th, 2026 / in CCC, Interdisciplinary Research, policy / by Marla MackoulWhat Does It Take to Be an Effective Leader and Mentor in Research Supporting At-Risk Technology Users?
April 9th, 2026 / in CCC, resources / by Marla MackoulResearch that helps mitigate risk to vulnerable populations online — helping to avoid experiences like cyberstalking or digital exploitation — is essential work for making technology safer for everyone. SARU (supporting at-risk users) research requires precautions that minimize harm to participants, but that same work can also pose risks to researchers themselves. It’s therefore essential that researchers have institutional support that promotes their wellbeing when undertaking this work, and that often begins with a proactive and reliable research lead or mentor. To help guide senior researchers in this field on how to lead in their labs and on campus, the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) has published a new brief: Leading […]
Call for Papers: CCC-Sponsored Blue Sky Track at ICDM 2026
April 7th, 2026 / in Blue Sky, call for papers, CCC / by Marla MackoulThe Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is pleased to announce our sponsorship of the Blue Sky Ideas track at the 26th IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM 2026), taking place from November 12-15, 2026, in Shenyang, China. Submissions are open until July 1st, 2026. If you are interested in submitting a visionary paper that could shape the future of the data mining community, please see the details below. Call for Papers: ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction Track: Blue Sky Track (A.K.A. Vision Track) Date: November 12-15, 2026 Location: Shenyang, China Website: http://icdm2026.neu.edu.cn/main.htm Aims and Scope The Blue Sky Track invites the research community to present visionary propositions […]
How to Approach New Research Supporting At-Risk Users of Technology
April 2nd, 2026 / in CCC, resources / by Marla MackoulResearch into how to support at-risk users (SARU research) of technology ultimately helps protect all users. It helps us understand widespread and deeply impactful issues such as cyberstalking, online harassment, and digital exploitation. Yet such research can itself pose risks to participants, researchers, and more. These risks make it all the more important to strategically plan SARU research projects, beginning with purposefully selecting a research problem. The Computing Community Consortium has released a new brief, titled The Problem of Problem Selection, to help researchers in the beginning of their journey into SARU research. This new brief is an outcome of the December 2024 visioning workshop Supporting At-Risk Users Through Responsible Computing. […]
How Citizen Science Can Transform Advanced Computing — And, Ultimately, Scientific Research As a Whole
April 1st, 2026 / in AI, CCC, Interdisciplinary Research, Visioning Workshops, workshop reports / by Marla MackoulCitizen science projects have contributed to scientific progress across disciplines. From users mapping biodiversity on iNaturalist, to analyzing protein folding configurations to advance drug discovery on Foldit, to discovering new planets on Zooniverse, we have seen the value of engaging everyday participants in scientific research projects. The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) recently published a new report on how advanced computing, especially artificial intelligence (AI), can extend that impact even further while at the same time contribute to human-in-the-loop computational research. The report, titled Grand Challenges for the Convergence of Computational and Citizen Science Research, assesses the ways that such technology can increase the potential of citizen science, ultimately enhancing scientific […]
Call for Papers: CCC-Sponsored Blue Sky Track at ACM ICMI 2026
March 19th, 2026 / in awards, Blue Sky, call for papers, CCC / by Marla MackoulCCC is happy to announce our sponsorship of another Blue Sky track. We’re supporting bold, out-of-the-box ideas at the 28th annual Association for Computing Machinery International Conference on Multimodal Interaction, taking place in Napoli, Italy in October 2026. Paper submissions are open until May 8, 2026. If you are interested in submitting a paper, please see the submission details below or check out the conference website for more information. Call for Papers: ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction Track: Blue Sky Ideas Date: October 5-9, 2026 Location: Napoli, Italy Website: https://icmi.acm.org/2026/call-for-papers-2/ Aims and Scope The Blue Sky Ideas Track at the ACM International Conference […]
