Social Inclusion and Socio-Technical Issues (SIGSI)

The Social Inclusion track welcomes relevant theoretical, empirical, and intervention research, in either completed research or emergent research format, that relates to the mission of SIG Social Inclusion (SIGSI). The purpose of SIGSI is to promote research, pedagogy, and outreach on all aspects of social inclusion in the field of InformFation Systems (IS). The goal of such efforts is to stimulate greater diversity of thought and personnel in AIS and the IS field overall, and participation of all AIS members in a more socially-aware and inclusive discipline. Social inclusion research investigates the part IT plays in enabling or inhibiting individuals and social groups’ participation in the social structures in which they exist and the needs of under-represented producers or consumers of information systems and technology within the IT field. Topics include: the underrepresentation of gender minorities, race, ethnicities, neurodiversity, and abilities in the IS field, intersectionality of identities (such as ethnicity, gender and socio-economic class), socioeconomic divisions that impact access to or use of technology, designing for the differently-abled, the digital divide, underserved groups in the information society, and a range of topics related to human diversity, and the “haves” and “have nots” in the information society.