To Choose is To Renounce: How is cultural diversity taken into account in ICT design and implementation?

On July 30^th, 2020, at 12.00 CEST, the Confucius Institute at the University of Geneva is co-organising a thematic workshop at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum, titled “To Choose is To Renounce. How is cultural diversity taken into account in ICT design and implementation?”. The one-hour workshop will take place online, please register in advance here.

This thematic workshop will bring together a multidisciplinary team of researchers and designers to discuss the role of culture and cultural diversity in the design, development and implementation of ICT. It will unpack and discuss critically the notion of ‘cultural diversity’, what dynamics we need to better understand and explore in culturally diverse contexts and how these reflections may inform the design of technologies that are inclusive, representative for diverse groups and cultures, and foster cooperation and collaboration. 

The first half of the workshop features short presentations from researchers and designers in China, the UK and Switzerland, followed by a moderated discussion open to audience inputs and questions. Finally, the workshop will discuss the implications of these reflections for the WSIS Action Line 8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content.

Participants include researchers with specialties ranging from social study of technology to communication and computer science, from universities in People’s Republic of China, United Kingdom and Switzerland:

TANG Youcai, East China University of Science and Technology, China

ZHANG Yan, East China University of Science and Technology, China

Amalia SABIESCU, Loughborough University London, United Kingdom

Sara VANNINI, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Fayez ALRAFEEA, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Marylaure BLOCH, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Jorge CARRILLO, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Dana MAHR, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Ozan SAHIN, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Basile ZIMMERMANN, University of Geneva, Switzerland