Motahhare Eslami (Carnegie Mellon University), Eric Gilbert (University of Michigan), Sarita Schoenebeck (University of Michigan), and Haley Griffin (CCC)

Earlier this month, the CCC, with support from the Knight Foundation, held a visioning workshop on, “The Future of Research on Social Technologies.” The workshop organizers were Motahhare Eslami (Carnegie Mellon University), Eric Gilbert (University of Michigan), and Sarita Schoenebeck (University of Michigan). David Jensen (University of Massachusetts Amherst) supported the workshop as the CCC Council Liaison. The 52 workshop attendees gathered in-person at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC.

This workshop focused on bringing together scholars from multiple disciplines to reflect on the field’s key findings and to create a roadmap for future research. The workshop centered on the question: What are the key future challenges for research on social technologies, and what types of approaches do we need to address them? Attendees brought a range of disciplinary perspectives as well as expertise from industry, academia, government, and civil society contexts. 

The workshop was a resounding success, with many participants noting how great of an opportunity it was for collaborating, addressing challenging ideas, and networking.

CCC piloted a new visioning strategy during the workshop: a day full of “unconference” sessions. The principles of “unconference” are that there are no speakers, panels, or agenda, and it is up to the workshop participants what is discussed. At the end of the first day of the workshop, the organizers sent out a spreadsheet for individuals to propose ideas, and/or sign up to attend sessions they were interested in. There were no requirements for what they wanted to discuss, as long as it was oriented around research on social technologies. The following day, participants evaluated the suggested sessions and self-selected which to attend. At the end of the day, everyone reconvened and shared their key takeaways.

Another unique aspect of the workshop was that CCC worked with the workshop organizers to contract a Graphic Recorder, Greg Gersch, to work the event. Throughout the two days of the workshop, he sketched amazing original artwork based on workshop discussions. Here are scans of the work he generated:

Thanks to all of the participants, and especially the amazing workshop organizers, for two days of fascinating discussions! Please keep an eye out for a workshop report that will be posted on the CCC website in a few months.

A reminder that CCC has an open call for Visioning Workshop Proposals, and computing community members are encouraged to apply.