1st VERTUOSE Project Worskhop
Collectively Improve the Quality of Life at Work: How and Which Data to Collect and Analyze?
In conjunciton with the 21st European Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (ECSCW 2023➹)
June 5th, 2023
Trondheim, Norway
Call for Papers
Digitization of work has expanded the possibility to collect traces of activities, and AI techniques now extend the potential for analyzing this large amount of data. This phenomenon is mostly associated with forms of control and evaluation of the activity of the employees, thus generating forms of resistance. It is therefore important to think about forms of collection and processing of this data that could improve quality of life at work, by tackling information, cognitive, or communication overload. Indeed, this data could be used to improve deliberation in organizations, by providing digital representations of the activity, which is not easy to grasp in day-to-day professional work.
The objective of this workshop is to gather researchers interested in discussing how data could be collected, analyzed, and discussed to improve the quality of life at work: which data? Which methods for its collection and its analysis? Under which conditions?
In this context, several questions can be raised:
How can data be collected at work, ensuring transparency for the workers, and the respect of local regulations (like the GDPR law in Europe)?
Which work needs to be done on the collected data at work? How to protect data, how to define which gets access to which data? What are the organizational and political stakes related to these issues?
How can we design AI systems producing useful and meaningful data that can support people mundane everyday working activities?
What do people need to know about an AI system to be able to work with usage data?
How AI systems convey usage data to its users in a meaningful and understandable manner?
How can the data generated by an AI system contribute to reducing equivocality and uncertainty and thus support sensemaking and collective decision-making processes?
How could the workers appropriate data and their analyses to improve their quality of life at work (QLW)? How could they collectively define norms for QLW, and which data and systems could support these negotiations?
Workshop themes
In order to address the questions listed above, we are looking for contributions on the following themes, but not limited to:
Empirical studies about forms of data collection at work, the use of metrics in the workplace, debates about the collection of data, the collective formation of norms, forms of resistance, bypasses, workarounds, …
Methodological challenges and innovative methodologies for the collection and analysis of data at work
Conceptualization of different forms of agency , trust …
Participatory designs of software/AI systems to collect data, analyze it, visualize the analyses, discuss them, collectively define usage norms
IT systems/algorithms programming the infrastructure to implement usage norms
The themes listed above can be addressed regardless of the type of work being considered. We are especially interested in reflections and testimonies (positive or negative experience with such data use) upon data collection for workplace democracy, but also for improving quality of working life.
Activities
Maximum number of participants : 15
Length of the workshop: 1 day
The workshop is planned as a full-day event divided into two sessions and will involve additional online activities organized both before and after the workshop. The contributions will be made available on the workshop website in order to prepare the attendees for discussions at the workshop. Beyond the themes highlighted here by the workshop organizers, other themes for the workshop emerging from the papers will be posted on the website. We will ask participants to reflect on these themes. Depending on the scope and focus of the contributions, we will consider proposing a few guiding questions.
The first half of the workshop would be devoted to the brief presentations of participants’ research. In order to stimulate the exchanges, each selected proposal will be assigned to a discussant who will have to provide a brief summary of the short paper’s main topic and its contribution to the workshop, talk about the submitted short paper and raise questions to the author(s) during the workshop. The author(s) will be able to answer the questions by sharing empirical material or results, by explaining conceptual framework or by developing on methodological choices. The second half of the workshop will consist of collective development of a synthesis upon identified themes with a review of the literature. The group would be first divided then gathered for a final restitution.
Submissions
Participation in the workshop requires the submission of a paper. We encourage potential participants to explain their interest in the workshop and particularly welcome papers that address one (or more) of the workshop themes outlined above. Papers are limited to a maximum of four pages (excluding references) in the ECSCW paper format. A template specifying the format is available in LaTeX, RTF, and Word. You submit your paper, converted to PDF, using the submission form.
The submitted papers will be reviewed by the organizers and accepted on the basis of the relevance and development of their content. If the number of people interested in attending the workshop exceeds its capacity, the organizers will prioritize submissions that make for rich presentations and discussions, while also seeking diversity among the participants.
In addition to submitting a paper, participation in the workshop requires that the authors of accepted papers register for ECSCW2023.
Important Dates
Paper Deadline
April 28th, 2023
May 2nd, 2023
Notification of Acceptance
May 5th, 2023
Workshop at ECSCW'23
June 5th, 2023
ECSCW Conference