SIGCAS Chair’s message

Flo Appel

Saint Xavier University

appel@sxu.edu

SIGCAS and INSEIT

As has been our practice for the past several years, in this issue of Computers and Society, we are publishing the selected papers from the biannual conference of the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology.  Computer Ethics, Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE) is a venue for the dissemination and serious discussion of seminal computer ethics research.     Thanks to the dedication and proactive efforts of SIGCAS/INSEIT member Herman Tavani, we again are able to showcase the excellent work of our computer ethics colleagues.   As a longtime computer ethics educator, I have found that much important computer ethics literature has had its start at CEPE.   Many thanks to our entire editorial board for supporting the work of our guest editors Maria Bottis, Herman Tavani and Fran Grodzinsky, in editing articles and getting this issue out in a timely fashion.

SIGCAS @ SIGCSE

Over the last several years Joe Oldham and I have hosted a Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) session for those attending SIGCSE who are also part of SIGCAS, or simply interested in issues of computing and society.  Over time, we have made many new friends.   SIGCSE 2010 will take place March 10-13, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and I am pleased to announce that our BOF will again take place, affording us the presence to raise important issues and support our computer science educator colleagues who are making efforts to introduce computer ethics and social impact issues to their students. 

2009 SIGCAS Awards / Honored ACM Member

I am happy to report that our two SIGCAS award recipients have been chosen for 2009.  Cem Kaner, from Florida Institute of Technology is our SIGCAS Making a Difference awardee, and I am honored to accept the SIGCAS Outstanding Service Award.  Our website will be updated within the next month with coverage of these awards.  Thank you to SIGCAS Executive Committee Member Mark Perry for his work in overseeing the 2009 awards process.  Congratulations also to SIGCAS member Anthony Lobo who has been designated an ACM Senior Member this year.

SIGCAS and SSIT

Thanks to the efforts of longtime SIGCAS member Keith Miller, we have been contacted by IEEE’s Society for the Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) to investigate ways that we can collaborate.  The ISTAS conference will likely be held in the Chicago-Springfield Illinois area in 2011, and we have been invited to co-sponsor ISTAS.  More details to follow – if you are interested in contributing to this effort, please let me know.