Presentation

Sustainable communities are defined by being active, inclusive and safe, fair for everyone, environmentally sensitive, well served, accessible and with a flourishing and diverse local economy. The development of virtual and real sustainable communities can be supported by communication technology. In this sense, the first Interdisciplinary Workshop on Communication for Sustainable Communities intends to discuss how communication aspects may support ecological, socio-cultural and economical issues within the sustainable development of these communities. Moreover, the workshop will discuss sustainable aspects in the design, development and use of communication technologies and the creation of the built environment.

The latest developments in Web2.0 technologies, along with the paradigm of semantic user-generated information have altered how communities are formed. Social media have been used as alternative channels for communication in political turmoil, disaster relief, campaigning and community development. Furthermore, pervasive and mobile technologies have accelerated the adoption of such technologies in all kind of societies.

Communities, both online and offline, form according to social needs, values, their physical surroundings and the technologies of their time. Participatory design, community deployment of communication devices, social networks and interactive explorations have demonstrated that communities greatly benefit from well designed technologies that enable and enhance communication between the members of a group of people.

Although these technologies vastly impact the communities that use them, their potential to foment a sustainable behavior within these groups has not been widely explored. Literature has emphasized important aspects like social capital, participation and communication as crucial for the development of sustainable communities and social change. In very few research examples, however, the focus of these investigations has been the long-term adoption of communication technologies and their effect on the structure of pre-existent and newly formed communities.

It is necessary to investigate how communication aspects may support ecological, socio-cultural and economical issues within community development. It is also important to discuss these sustainable aspects, in the design, development and use of communication technologies. Areas as sustainable computing, sustainable interaction design and green technology have already highlighted the need to rethink how we design technologies that can be used by people in a sustainable manner.

The Interdisciplinary Workshop on Communication for Sustainable Communities, held within the SIGDOC'10 conference aims to engage participants in a fruitful dialogue that spans from the use of sustainable materials and processes in the development of technology, to the effects of such technologies in small, large, nomad and geographically dispersed groups supporting a sustainable behavior. Selected papers will be published in the CEUR Workshop Proceedings.

Further information, including IWCSC topics of interests can be found at the Call for Papers

IWCSC is being sponsored by the Graphics, Animation and New Media(GRAND)network of Canadian researchers.

Important Dates

Submission deadline: August 14th, 2010 (extended)

Notification to Authors: September 2nd, 2010

Camera-ready: September 12, 2010

IWCSC'10: September 26th

SIGDOC'10: September 26th-29th