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

支持流离失所者的稳健社会技术架构研讨会

• 批准号: 1343520
• 负责人: Carleen Maitland
• 金额: $ 4.95万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1343520&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Workshop; Robust; Socio; technical; Architectures

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.

武装冲突和自然灾害越来越多地迫使人们离开家园。这种流离失所-与物质财产、熟悉的环境和社区分离-产生了对连通性、沟通和连通性的迫切需求。流离失所者必须在体验两种流动性的同时满足其连通性和信息需求。首先，他们面临着大规模流动，因为他们离开家园和社区寻找安全和庇护所。其次，他们必须应对重新定位的微观流动性。无论是在难民营还是临时住所，他们都需要在新的地点建立和保持联系。这些移动性以及流离失所者的物理环境，为成功实施无线网络、应用和设备带来了挑战。此外，流离失所还造成资源极度匮乏、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。这种情况需要强大和快速部署的网络技术，以及在受害者需要时支持他们的应用程序。该奖项还呼吁创新的社会科学理论，提供对流离失所者信息需求的更深入理解，同时沿着信息技术的发展。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，该议程来自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。讲习班还将包括从业人员，特别是从事难民和流离失所者工作的从业人员。讲习班的成果将包括一个研究议程，对无线网络架构、信息服务设计、地理空间可视化、社区自我组织和国际组织治理等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用例研究，旨在集中研讨会期间的讨论，但也可用于随后的教育目的，为了聚集这一不同群体，研讨会将在2013年12月在南非开普敦大学举行的ACM DEV和ICTD 2013会议之前举行。这个地点使组织者能够利用这两个会议上的各种科学专门知识。它还使它们能够利用南非在非洲大陆许多地区已经并继续收容逃离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。智力优势：研讨会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，包括电力和网络基础设施的有限使用，密集的定居点，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和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，以满足最迫切的信息需求，为组织和个人带来创新。更广泛的影响：这些努力产生的技术和理论将有可能改善数千万流离失所者的生活。除了使他们的生活更容易外，技术和社会理论的应用还可以提高他们的复原力，从而使恢复更快、更全面，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和信息科学与社会科学之间的相互促进。此外，研讨会和后续小组的国际性质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环境，增强STEM教育的国际层面。