Digital technologies should be good for people, societies and the planet, but there is ample evidence that they are often not. Social scientists, humanities scholars and others have provided rich empirical evidence of the harms and inequities that can result from digital tech deployments. For example, dating apps are used to harass and control as well as to enable romantic connections. Social media platforms deny users access to communities of wellbeing support in the process of moderating content to limit self-harm. Generative AI can provide creative assistance and make skills accessible, but it also hallucinates, infringes copyright and results in job losses. And there are environmental costs from data centres’ energy consumption and the global appetite for new devices.
The negative consequences of tech deployments make clear the digital society we do not want. The next step is to ask what a good digital society looks like, a question which is attracting growing interest around the globe. What does a good society look like? is a two-day conference which addresses this question. It takes place in Sheffield, UK, on 10-11 June 2027. The conference represents the culmination of the five-year long Digital Good Network, which is collectively concerned with the notion of the ‘digital good’: both what it means, and how we achieve it.
Call for papers:
We invite proposals for papers, panels and workshops from researchers and stakeholders from any discipline or sector who are interested in coming together to think about the digital society in which we want to live.
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We invite:
- traditional conference paper submissions: with an abstract of 250 words;
- panel submissions: with a predefined set of confirmed speakers: 150 word abstracts for each paper + an overarching, 250 word panel abstract;
- workshop submissions: with an abstract of 400 words, to include the theme, activities, and practical requirements;
- submissions for creative formats: with an abstract of 250 words and up to four accompanying image