SIGCAS Chair’s message

Flo Appel

Saint Xavier University

appel@sxu.edu

Gratitude

As this issue of Computers and Society goes to publication, I would like to wish all of you a happy new year. With all of us so busy with professional and other responsibilities, it’s good to take a few moments to reflect on the fine work that so many of our members are doing. My sincere appreciation to our Executive Committee and Executive Committee and Editorial Board – without your commitment, we would have no organization. Many thanks especially to Carol Spradling for her extraordinary work on the ACM Education Council, Alan Rea and Gene Spafford for maintaining a connection between SIGCAS and USACM, Joe Oldham for his continued efforts to give SIGCAS a presence at – without your commitment, we would have no organization. Many thanks especially to Carol Spradling for her extraordinary work on the ACM Education Council, Alan Rea and Gene Spafford for maintaining a connection between SIGCAS and USACM, Joe Oldham for his continued efforts to give SIGCAS a presence at Carol Spradling for her extraordinary work on the ACM Education Council, Alan Rea and Gene Spafford for maintaining a connection between SIGCAS and USACM, Joe Oldham for his continued efforts to give SIGCAS a presence at, Alan Rea and Gene Spafford for maintaining a connection between SIGCAS and USACM, Joe Oldham for his continued efforts to give SIGCAS a presence at USACM, Joe Oldham for his continued efforts to give SIGCAS a presence at SIGCSE symposiums, and Don Gotterbarn who stepped up to manage the recruitment of a slate for our next SIGCAS elections. Our membership is connected to so many other professional, academic and advocacy areas, that there often do not seem to be enough hours in the day to focus on an umbrella organization such as SIGCAS. Nevertheless, our role is vital to ACM, as we continue to raise the pressing social and ethical issues of our times in the Education Council, in USACM, and other ACM venues. As always, we continue to seek your involvement in SIGCAS and invite you to visit the volunteer opportunities page on our website and in this issue directly following this column. Our presence at the upcoming SIGCSE symposiums, and Don Gotterbarn who stepped up to manage the recruitment of a slate for our next SIGCAS elections. Our membership is connected to so many other professional, academic and advocacy areas, that there often do not seem to be enough hours in the day to focus on an umbrella organization such as SIGCAS. Nevertheless, our role is vital to ACM, as we continue to raise the pressing social and ethical issues of our times in the Education Council, in USACM, and other ACM venues. As always, we continue to seek your involvement in SIGCAS and invite you to visit the volunteer opportunities page on our website and in this issue directly following this column. Our presence at the upcoming SIGCSE symposium this February in Dallas, our in-cooperation collaboration with IEEE’s ISTAS conference this coming May 2011 in Chicago, as well as SIGCAS members’ participation in the upcoming CEPE conference in Milwaukee (after which we anticipate another special issue of Computers & Society that features selected CEPE articles) are all opportunities to step up and represent SIGCAS in these important venues. CEPE conference in Milwaukee (after which we anticipate another special issue of Computers & Society that features selected CEPE articles) are all opportunities to step up and represent SIGCAS in these important venues.

Gearing up for SIGCAS elections in 2011

As mentioned, Don Gotterbarn has completed the task of constructing a slate of candidates for the next SIGCAS election, which will be held this coming year (February, I believe). Please look for an email from ACM instructing you about how to cast your vote electronically. It has been an honor and great experience serving as SIGCAS chair over these past six years, and I am very grateful to those individuals who have expressed an interest in carrying on the leadership of SIGCAS. The three-year Executive Committee positions up for election are chair, vice-chair and at-large.

Connections and collaborations

We in SIGCAS are actively collaborating with a number of other organizations: At the SIGCSE Symposium in Dallas this February, SIGCAS members Don Gotterbarn and Keith Miller, with support from Bo Brinkman, will lead a pre-conference SIGCAS Computers and Society, Volume 40, No. 4, December 2010 5 computer ethics workshop co-sponsored by SIGCAS and ACM’s Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE). SIGCAS has also reserved a meeting space for the Wednesday morning before this workshop, in order to give SIGCAS members an opportunity to participate in a gathering/brain-storming session about efforts that SIGCAS might engage in for the coming years. More details for this will be provided in an email from our announcement list. And, as we have for the past several years, we will hold our regular SIGCAS Birds of a Feather (BOF) during the BOF sessions of the SIGCSE Symposium. We are currently working with IEEE’s Society for the Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) to collaborate with them on their annual conference (ISTAS), scheduled for May 23-25, 2011 in Chicago. If you are interested in working on this event, please let me know! Just prior to the ISTAS event, CEPE (Computer Ethics, Philosophical Enquiry) , the biennial conference of INSEIT, will be taking place in Milwaukee. This is a wonderful opportunity to participate in scholarly discourse on serious computer ethics issues, and is a popular conference for many SIGCAS members. computer ethics workshop co-sponsored by SIGCAS and ACM’s Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE). SIGCAS has also reserved a meeting space for the Wednesday morning before this workshop, in order to give SIGCAS members an opportunity to participate in a gathering/brain-storming session about efforts that SIGCAS might engage in for the coming years. More details for this will be provided in an email from our announcement list. And, as we have for the past several years, we will hold our regular SIGCAS Birds of a Feather (BOF) during the BOF sessions of the SIGCSE Symposium. We are currently working with IEEE’s Society for the Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) to collaborate with them on their annual conference (ISTAS), scheduled for May 23-25, 2011 in Chicago. If you are interested in working on this event, please let me know! Just prior to the ISTAS event, CEPE (Computer Ethics, Philosophical Enquiry) , the biennial conference of INSEIT, will be taking place in Milwaukee. This is a wonderful opportunity to participate in scholarly discourse on serious computer ethics issues, and is a popular conference for many SIGCAS members.

In this issue

This issue features articles from a number of Computers & Society readers and supporters. The breadth of subject matter reflects the diverse interests and talents of our community. We have two pieces from privacy strategist Ben Gerber, who shares a technique he has used to encourage his audience members to “widen their thinking about privacy implications” (see Conceptualizing Privacy) and also a report on a new tool tool developed by IBM to support privacy-enhanced searching (see Privacy Enhanced Search). Martin Gibbs, an independent researcher who received support from SIGCAS responders to his survey on biometrics and body odor, returned the favor by graciously agreeing to submit an article on this intriguing approach to security. In another article, University of Central Florida graduate student Naveed Imran grapples with the root causes of electronic plagiarism, and suggests some remedies for this serious problem. And, Computers & Society Editorial Board member Camille Dickson-Deane encouraged her colleagues to submit a piece on an open source generated product to support a virtual learning environment for autistic youth. Finally, long-time SIGCAS member Kevin Bowyer has supplied us again with a popular annual feature: the three winning Schubmehl-Prein essays for 2010. The authors of these articles are high school students who responded to a question regarding privacy concerns over Google’s Street View. Please see Kevin’s introduction to this section for more details.