The 3rd Interdisciplinary Workshop
on the Digital Society: Inclusive Technologies

Tech has come undone. Feeds and frontpages increasingly problematize artificial intelligence biases, Web 3 fraud, platform monopolies and inequality, or all-male, all-white, all-young images of entrepreneurship. It is time to ask how technologies can be shaped more inclusively to co-create tools that help us address global social injustice, ecological destruction, and the much-needed (re)organization of transnational political economy. To study how digital technologies and societal problems interact, we want to support researchers who take on interdisciplinary approaches.

The 3rd Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Digital Society will be a full-day event held on Friday March 1, 2024 at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, organized by the Network Institute. Our primary goal is to create a welcoming space for researchers from different backgrounds interested in collaborating and to provide a low-threshold opportunity to present your work. This year’s theme is inclusive technologies.

When: Friday March 1, 2024; 9am-15:30pm followed by bingo and drinks
Where: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Medical Faculty building Atrium (see campus map below).
- Bingo and drinks will take place at Grand Café Living, in the NU building

Medical Faculty building “MF” circled in black

Participants will have the opportunity to present a poster and give a short lightning presentation to interact and connect with colleagues from inside and outside the VU. The program will also include a keynote by prof. dr. Payal Arora from Utrecht University and fun networking activities, including a research speed dating session, and the opportunity to win a research money voucher.

~~Register for this year’s event here~~ Registrations are closed

Call for Submissions– Submissions are closed

We invite all researchers interested in an interdisciplinary discussion around Digital Society to contribute to our program. We accept two types of submissions:

A previously published paper: submit your existing paper to initiate interdisciplinary discussions. You might find the right collaborator for a follow-up project.

Work in progress: submit a short abstract (250 words) describing your work in progress. You might receive valuable feedback from outside your academic bubble.

All submissions must be entered in the EasyChair platform. In the abstract input field you include a) an abstract (max. 250 words) of your paper (option 1) or your work in progress (option 2) and b) a motivation (max. 250 words) for how your research could benefit from cross-pollination with other disciplines. You only need to attach a paper for option 1. Submissions can be uploaded here

Submission Deadline: February 2, 2024
Author Notification: February 14, 2024

We will conduct a (lightweight) review of all submissions. The workshop is non-archival.

Tentative program | 01 March 2024

09.00 – 12:15: Keynote by prof.dr. Payal Arora and lighting talks & posters by selected participants.
12:15 – 13:15: Lunch
13:15 – 15:30: Research speed date and awards
15:30: Community meet-up with a digital society bingo and drinks

Organizing committee:
Mike Ligthart (coordinator) – Artificial Intelligence
Kim Baraka – Artificial Intelligence
Renate Baumgartner – Athena Institute
Constanza Gajardo – Journalism
Tomislav Karacic – Knowledge, Information and Innovation
Lea Krause – Computational Linguistics
Alberto López Ortega – Communication Science
Bernhard Resch – Organization Sciences
Myrthe Reuver – Computational Linguistics