IMPORTANT DATES

April 12: Special Session Proposal deadline

April 20: Acceptance/rejection notice for Special Sessions

April 28: Tutorial/Workshop Proposal deadline

May 23: Acceptance/rejection notice for Tutorial/Workshops 

July 13: Extended Paper Proposal deadline (for all full-length, short-length, and abstract-only submissions)

September 1: Acceptance/rejection notice of Papers

September 15: Early Conference Registration deadline

October 5: Final Camera-Ready Paper deadline

October 28-31: ISTAS21 Conference

ISTAS21 Call for Papers: Technological Stewardship & Responsible Innovation

The Call For Papers Has Officially Closed

28-31 October 2021

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (hybrid virtual/in-person event)

The IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS) is the flagship conference of the IEEE’s Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). ISTAS is a multi/inter/trans‐disciplinary forum for engineers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, philosophers, researchers, social scientists, technologists, and polymaths to collaborate, exchange experiences, and discuss the social implications of technology. Hosted by the University of Waterloo and University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada), ISTAS21 will take place primarily online; select in-person, live-streamed events will be held in Waterloo, COVID-19 permitting.

The ISTAS21 theme, Technological Stewardship and Responsible Innovation, invites participation from academics and practitioners who are engaged in current debates about the status, future, and significance of technology in today’s society, and who are interested in topics related to ethics, sustainability, equity, and social values within the tech industry. The conference seeks to foster trans-disciplinary and cross-sector  conversations about how technological innovation can embrace and build from principles related to “stewardship” and “responsibility,” broadly conceived. Through partnerships with Waterloo/Guelph-based organizations, ISTAS21 features programming related to several subthemes:

• Health Systems
• Privacy & Security
• Technology Policy & Governance
• Sustainable Cities & Communities
• Artificial Intelligence & Automation
• Ethical and Human Values in Emerging Technology

ISTAS21 Topics

We welcome new ideas, approaches, frameworks, methodologies and theories to help develop a field that will be critical to our future. Topics of interest for ISTAS2021 include, but are not limited to:

IEEE ETHICS-2021 will be included in ISTAS21

The IEEE International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering, Science, and Technology (originally launched in 2014) will be convened as a theme track of ISTAS21. The theme for ETHICS-2021 will be “Engineering and Corporate Social Responsibility.” ETHICS-2021 topics include but are not limited to:

• Technology as a Tool for Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR)
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Technology-centered Corporations
• CSR and Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
• Technological Disasters and Corporate Responses
• Corporate Alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals
• CSR and Engineering Ethics Education
• Ethics, Regulation and Technology
• Corporate Responses to Climate Change
• Corporate Digital Responsibility
• Use and (misuse) of ethics experts in AI/Computing Industry
• Social Media, Hate Crimes, and CSR

For ETHICS-2021 follow the submission guidelines for ISTAS21 and check the theme box indicating “Engineering and Corporate Social Responsibility (ETHICS-2021).”  For more information on the ETHICS- 2021 track see their website here.

Submission Guidelines

The ISTAS21 Conference Committee welcomes proposals for pre-organized sessions and invites submissions of original work not previously or simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. Several paper and presentation formats are available; authors will be prompted to identify an appropriate category and relevant conference subtheme(s) for their work during the submission process. Please read the descriptions below, and when you are ready, visit the:

Submission Guidelines

The ISTAS21 Conference Committee welcomes proposals for pre-organized sessions and invites submissions of original work not previously or simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. Several paper and presentation formats are available; authors will be prompted to identify an appropriate category and relevant conference subtheme(s) for their work during the submission process. Please read the descriptions below, and when you are ready, visit the:

ISTAS21 EasyChair Submission Portal (NOW CLOSED)

Please note: If you have not used EasyChair before, you will need to register before submitting your abstract, paper or proposal. Click on the register button and then follow instructions. You’ll then receive further instructions by email.

Special Sessions, Workshop, and Tutorial Proposals: 

To propose one of these sessions, submit a PDF of no more than 2 pages that outlines a clear topic, set of objectives, and format (included anticipated duration of 90 min, 3 hrs, or full day), and explains how the session aligns with the conference theme and/or subtheme(s). Provide a list of proposed presenters/facilitators, or explain your intended plan for securing presenters. Please use the EasyChair portal for submissions.

• Special Sessions address broad topics of relevance to the conference; they typically involve a combination of presentations (which can take a variety of formats, such as traditional full-papers, shorter-form position statements and responses, round-table discussions, etc.) and audience dialogue (e.g. a Q&A session); organizers are responsible for confirming at least three unique presenters by the overall conference paper submission deadline (13 July 2021), and all must register for the conference; special session presenters are invited to submit papers for peer-review and publication as part of the ISTAS21 Proceedings.
• Workshops are interactive sessions that focus on a narrowly defined topic; they typically involve a combination of presentations, dialogue between facilitators and participants, and activities that allow participants to try out or implement new ideas.
• Tutorials are didactic sessions that deliver a focused lesson on a topic relevant to the conference theme; an facilitator/teacher typically presents material to an audience of students who are interested in the topic but not yet subject-matter experts.

Full-length papers: 

These contributions are between 6-8 pages and will receive full peer-review for consideration as part of the ISTAS21 Proceedings (published on IEEEXplore). Full-length papers are expected to present original, cutting-edge research, they should contain detailed and explicit methodology and comprehensive literature review, and they must clearly explain the work’s novelty and contribution to its respective field. Full-length papers must be submitted through the EasyChair portal as PDFs, following the IEEE conference template.

Short Papers: 

These contributions are between 2-4 pages, excluding references, and authors can elect to receive either full peer-review (for consideration as part of the ISTAS21 Proceedings, published on IEEEXplore) or desk review (in which case, only the Abstract will appear in the ISTAS21 Proceedings). Short papers may present preliminary findings from work in progress, industry/practitioner/artist perspectives on issues relevant to the conference theme, or student research projects. They should present and discuss a clear and focused central idea, incorporate discussion of relevant research/contexts, and provide references as necessary. Short papers must be submitted through the EasyChair portal as PDFs, following the IEEE conference template.

Abstracts: 

These contributions should be no longer than one page and they will receive desk review. Accepted abstracts will be included in ISTAS21 proceedings, and authors will be invited to present as part of the conference program. Abstracts should provide a 200-300-word summary outlining the proposed presentation’s topic, purpose, argument, and alignment with the conference theme/subtheme(s). Please refer to past research and provide references. Abstracts must be submitted through the EasyChair portal as PDFs, following the IEEE conference template.

If you have questions about the suitability of your work for various conference themes and/or paper formats, or about the ISTAS21 submission guidelines and EasyChair procedures, please contact Brandiff.Caron@concordia.ca.

Style & Formatting Instructions

All submissions must be uploaded to the ISTAS21 EasyChair portal in PDF format based on the IEEE conference template.

If this is your first time publishing with IEEE, you might appreciate visiting the IEEE Author Center. Additional author/presenter tips are available here.

Paper Evaluation and Publication

All ISTAS21 submissions will be evaluated according to:

• Relevance (consider Social Implications, address Conference Themes)
• Validity (well argued, evidence-based, grounded in theory)
• Significance/Originality
• Methodological Basis and Rigor
• Balance, Structure, and Clarity

The IEEE ISTAS21 proceedings will be published through the IEEEXplore database. Papers will be included in the proceedings only if at least one author registers for ISTAS21 and pays the conference registration fee.

Select papers may be invited for expansion/revision and further peer review for inclusion in a special issue of the IEEE Technology and Society Magazine for publication in 2022. The invited papers should be 70% different in terms of the content and findings from the papers that have been submitted to the conference.