Workshop on Robust Socio-technical Architectures in Support of Displaced Persons

武装冲突和自然灾害正越来越多地迫使人们背井离乡。这种流离失所--从物质财产、熟悉的环境和社区中剥离--产生了对连通性、交流和连通性的强烈需求。流离失所的人必须在体验两种类型的移动性的同时，导航他们的连接和信息需求。首先，当他们离开家园和社区寻找安全和避难所时，他们面临着巨大的流动性。接下来，他们必须与重新恢复的微观流动性作斗争。他们努力在新地点建立和保持联系，无论是难民营还是临时避难所。这些流动性以及流离失所者的实际环境，给成功实施无线网络、应用程序和设备带来了挑战。此外，流离失所还造成极端的资源匮乏、依赖性、地理变化以及个人和组织之间的冲突，进一步挑战信息技术的实施和使用。这种情况需要强大且可快速部署的网络技术，以及在受害者需要时为其提供支持的应用程序。该奖项支持一个研讨会，以产生相关的新技术和理论，并确定一个研究议程，该议程源于各种科学学科的见解，即计算机、信息、组织和地理信息科学，以及通信和难民研究。研讨会还将包括从业人员，特别是那些从事难民和流离失所人口工作的人员。讲习班的成果将包括一项研究议程，它将对无线网络架构、信息服务设计、地理空间可视化、社区自组织和国际组织治理方面的学术研究产生影响。另一项成果将包括公开提供的多媒体案例研究，其目的是在讲习班期间集中讨论，但也用于以后的教育用途。为了汇集这一多样化群体，讲习班将在2013年12月在南非开普敦大学举行的ACM DEV和ICTD2013会议之前举行。这一地点使组织者能够利用这两次会议上提供的各种科学专门知识。它还使他们能够利用南非已经并继续收容逃离非洲大陆许多地区冲突的难民时发展起来的当地专门知识。特别是，组织者将邀请联合国难民事务高级专员办事处(难民署)外地办事处和开普敦难民中心的官员参加。智力价值：讲习班将产生一个技术和社会科学理论的研究议程，以支持流离失所者所经历的各种形式的流动及其影响。这些技术和理论必须共同克服挑战，包括有限的电力和网络基础设施、密集的居民点、快速变化的地理位置以及个人之间以及个人和组织之间新的不断变化的社会关系。研究议程将优先考虑技术发展及其相关的社会科学影响，以满足最紧迫的信息需求，为组织和个人带来创新。广泛的影响：这些努力产生的技术和理论可能会改善数千万流离失所者的生活。除了使他们的生活更轻松之外，技术和社会理论的应用还可能增强他们的复原力，从而使恢复更快、更完整，从而限制武装冲突和灾害的总体负面影响。由此产生的项目小组的跨学科性质将促进计算机、信息科学和社会科学之间的相互促进。此外，研讨会和后续团队的国际性将使美国科学家能够利用国际同行的资源和专业知识。最后，多媒体用例研究可用于各种教育背景，增强STEM教育的国际层面。

Armed conflict and natural disasters are increasingly driving people from their homes. This displacement--being torn from physical possessions, familiar surroundings and community--generates acute demands for connectivity, communication and connectedness. The displaced must navigate their connectivity and information needs while experiencing two types of mobility. First, they face macro-mobility as they leave their homes and communities in search of safety and shelter. Next, they must contend with resituated micro-mobility. As they work to establish and maintain ties within their new location, whether a refugee camp or temporary shelter.These mobilities, as well as the physical environment of the displaced, create challenges for successful implementation of wireless networks, applications and devices. Moreover, displacement also creates extreme resource scarcity, dependency, geographic change and conflicts between individuals and organizations, further challenging information technology implementation and use. This situation demand robust and rapidly deployable network technologies, together with the applications to support victims in their time of need. It also calls for novel social science theories, providing a deeper understanding of the information requirements of the displaced along with informing technical development.This award supports a workshop to generate relevant novel technologies and theories, and to define a research agenda derived from insights from a variety of scientific disciplines, namely computer, information, organization and geographic information sciences, as well as communication and refugee studies. The workshop will also include practitioners, particularly those working with refugees and displaced populations. Outcomes of the workshop will include a research agenda, with implications for academic research in wireless network architectures, information service design, geospatial visualization, community self-organization and international organization governance. An additional outcome will include publicly available multimedia use-case studies, designed to focus discussions during the workshop but also for subsequent educational use.To assemble this diverse group, the workshop will be held in advance of the ACM DEV and ICTD2013 conferences at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in December 2013. This location allows the organizers to draw upon the diverse scientific expertise present at these two conferences. It also enables them to tap into local expertise developed as South Africa has and continues to host refugees fleeing conflicts in many parts of the continent. In particular, the organizers will invite officials from the field office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Cape Town Refugee Center.Intellectual Merit:The workshop will generate a research agenda for technologies and social science theories to support the diverse forms of mobility and their effects as experienced by displaced persons. Together, the technologies and theories must overcome challenges including limited access to power and network infrastructure, dense settlements, rapidly changing geography, and new and changing social relations among individuals and between individuals and organizations. The research agenda will prioritize technical developments and their associated social scientific implications to meet the most pressing information needs, generating innovations for both organizations and individuals.Broader Impacts:The technologies and theories resulting from these efforts will potentially enhance the lives of tens of millions of displaced persons. In addition to making their lives easier, the application of technologies and social theories may also enhance their resiliency, thereby making recovery faster and more complete, limiting the overall negative impacts of armed conflict and disasters. The interdisciplinary nature of the resulting project teams will foster cross-fertilization between computer and information sciences and social sciences. Also, the international nature of the workshop and subsequent teams will enable U.S. scientists to draw upon the resources and expertise of international counterparts. Finally, the multimedia use-case studies can be used in a variety of educational contexts, enhancing the international dimension of STEM education.