Dear colleagues and friends,
On behalf of the Minitrack Co-Chairs, I would like to encourage you to submit your research to the ICT and Social Justice Minitrack at the 59th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), taking place January 6 – 9, 2026 at the Hyatt Regency Maui, Hawaii.
Important Dates:
- June 15, 2025: Paper submissions due.
- August 17, 2025: Notification of acceptance/rejection.
- September 22, 2025: Deadline for authors to submit final manuscript for publication.
- October 1, 2025: Deadline for at least one author of each paper to register for the conference
All accepted papers will be published in the HICSS 59 proceedings and will be considered for the best paper award.
Description:
Social justice is the belief that everyone deserves fair and equal treatment. It serves as a theoretical grounding for burgeoning research related to the oppressive and dehumanizing nature of modern information and communication technologies (ICT). Such technologies are developed and deployed based on the mass acquisition and curation of human-centric data, in some cases without consent from individuals, which serve as an affront to human dignity and very essence of being humans in a just society. Thus, ICT and Social justice research refer to studies about actions that promote equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal treatment between individuals, organizations, and the technologies themselves, as well as studies that highlight the use of ICT to uncover social injustice.
The guiding principles of social justice are human rights, access to basic elements such as food, water, shelter, safety, education, and opportunities, equal participation in decision-making, and equity to reduce systemic barriers to ensure every individual is treated fairly and equitably.
So why is social justice part of our remit as IS and organizational researchers? ICT are involved in the way that we as individuals carry out our work and leisure activities, in the way that we organize ourselves in groups, in the forms that our organizations take, in the types of societies we create, and thus in the future of the world. ICT are therefore deeply implicated in social justice. Emergent ICT, such as biometrics and modern AI systems, are often, by design, developed through the collection and extraction of increasing amounts of human data, and in turn can unilaterally shape our perceptions of the world, and thus pose imminent and existential threats to social justice and humanity.
This Minitrack invites submissions of original work concerning the intersection of IS and organizational research with social justice. Studies about the uses of ICT to uncover inequalities and injustice, promote justice at all levels (i.e. racial, climate, age, etc.), and prioritize equality and equity for those with fewer privileges, such as people of color (POC), refugees and asylum seekers, unhoused, and people with disabilities, are all welcome. We also welcome critical approaches to these topics. Our goal is to spur discussion through research explorations that can enhance understanding and enliven new opportunities to derive novel ways of preserving and improving individual and societal well-being. The relevant topics for the Minitrack include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
- ICT and social inclusion
- ICT and racial injustice
- ICT and equality and equity
- ICT and climate justice
- ICT and voting rights
- ICT and income gap
- ICT and ageism
- ICT and individuality, humanness, and human dignity
- Feminist perspectives in data justice
Please visit the HICSS 59 website for more information about the conference. We also welcome any and all inquiries about the ICT and Social Justice Minitrack – please contact any of the following Minitrack Co-Chairs and we will be happy to provide you with additional information.
Andrew Park (Primary Contact)
University of Victoria
apark1@uvic.ca
Jan Kietzmann
University of Victoria
jkietzma@uvic.ca
Jay Killoran
Queen's University and Oregon State University
j.killoran@queensu.ca
We look forward to receiving your research!
Jay Killoran