By: Babak Farshchian and Elena Parmiggiani
We prayed for sunny days in Trondheim during June 5-9, 2023, when we welcomed more than one hundred participants to the 21th European conference on CSCW. We got some sunny days, both weather-wise and professionally. We hosted four workshops, one masterclass, and a doctoral colloquium during the first two days of that week. For the rest of the week, we sat back and listened to three days worth of exciting research in the form of paper and poster presentations, panel discussions, and keynote speeches. Friday afternoon was a sad day when everybody had to leave. But that’s life.
The conference contained presentations showcasing practice-centered computing, which is the hallmark of CSCW research. Twelve exploratory papers, eleven journal papers, and two notes were presented as part of the main conference track. In addition, we had three posters presented during the poster madness session and exhibited in the conference area. You can download most of the written material from the EUSSET digital library.
Our keynote speeches (given by David Ribes of the University of Washington and Eivor Oborn of the Warwick Business School) and our panel discussions brought forward the modern context of CSCW. Our keynote speakers challenged our views on the impact of technology on our society and gave us new perspectives on how to look at CSCW as a discipline with a long history. Our panel discussions brought forward contrasting views on big data in the society and encouraged us to look at the ecological underpinnings of CSCW in a changing world in need of sustainable solutions.
We also made some space during the conference to celebrate some of the accomplished members of our community. This year, we had the pleasure of hosting two recipients of the IISI-EUSSET lifetime achievement award, 2022 awardee Richard Harper and 2023 awardee Volkmar Pipek. In addition, the paper “Who Cares About Data? Ambivalence, Translation, and Attentiveness in Asylum Casework” by Trine Rask Nielsen, Maria Menendez-Blanco, and Naja Holten Møller received the David B. Martin award for best journal paper.
In addition to being a technology and innovation center, Trondheim is the historical capital of Norway. Trondheim’s history is connected to Olav, the king and the saint who united Norway. Olav is said to be buried in the Nidarosdomen cathedral, where most of our social activities were centered. Our main social event consisted of an organ concert in the cathedral, followed by dinner at the archbishop’s place in the neighboring building. The comments we received from those who attended were all positive, and we hope all of you who participated in these events enjoyed them!
Of course, no conference gets organized without a large behind-the-scene team of volunteers who contribute with their knowledge, motivation, and efforts. We had the privilege of having a large local organizing group, coupled with another large international group who took up the roles of co-chairs, workshop and masterclass organizers, doctoral colloquium organizers, program committee members, student volunteers, and more. We also received tremendous support from our institute at NTNU and from NTNU conferences, who took care of technical and financial aspects. In other words, it has been a pleasure to organize this conference!
Now, the only thing left for us is to look forward to the next ECSCW, which will happen in Rimini, Italy, on June 17-21, 2024. See you all there!
Babak and Elena.
PS: Here are some photos from the conference.
