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CALL FOR PAPERS:
ICDSS2011 - International
Conference on DSS
DSS and Global Sustainability
June 6-7, 2011
Tilburg University, the Netherlands
Conference Theme: DSS and global sustainability
While papers in any area of DSS are invited, we welcome in
particular for this edition of the conference contributions that
highlight the contribution of Decision Support Systems to the
emerging research domain of global sustainability.
It is widely understood that over the next decade the global
scientific community must take on the challenge of delivering to
society the knowledge and information necessary to assess the risks
humanity is facing from global change. It is important to
understand how we can effectively mitigate dangerous changes and
cope with the change that we cannot manage.
This domain, defined as ‘global sustainability research’ by the
International Council for Science (ICSU, www.icsu.org), builds upon and
integrates expertise within the sciences (social, natural, health,
and engineering) and humanities and applies it to pressing coupled
social-environmental research questions of human interactions with
nature and earth.
We believe that the field of DSS can contribute significantly to
this emerging research domain. For this conference, we therefore
invite contributions that focus on the design, development,
implementation, use and evaluation of decision support systems that
advance our responses to the following challenges:
• FORECASTING: Improve the usefulness of forecasts of
future environmental conditions and their consequences for people. A
‘useful’ forecast is considered to be one that is responsive to the
needs of societies and decision-makers for information at relevant
spatial and temporal scales. Forecasts should be timely, accurate,
and reliable.
• OBSERVATIONS: Develop the observation systems needed to
manage global and regional environmental change. The current
approach to supply information needed to manage the
social-environmental system, especially at a global scale, as well
as the system for delivering that information to decision-makers,
must be improved. It is also important to understand how those
observations are analyzed under specific social contexts, taking
into account cultural and professional diversity.
• RISKS: Determine how to anticipate, avoid and cope with
the risks of global environmental change. How can improved
scientific knowledge of the risks of global change and options for
response most effectively catalyze and support appropriate actions
by citizens and decision-makers?
• RESPONSE: Determine what institutional and behavioural
changes can best ensure global sustainability. Global change exposes
gaps in social institutions, including governance and economic
systems, for managing emerging global (and local) problems. The time
and spatial scales of global change differ fundamentally from the
types of problems that humanity has addressed in the past.
Currently, decision-makers have incentives that favour short-term
and private benefits, rather than long-term and collective
benefits.
• INNOVATION: Encourage innovation (coupled with sound
mechanisms for evaluation) in developing technological, policy, and
efficient social responses to achieve global sustainability. Which
factors will positively influence feedback and learning processes to
increase the capacity of citizens and decision makers? How to
provide rapid and effective feedback to scientists regarding the
applicability and reliability of broad findings?
Please note that we also welcome papers that may not fit into the
special theme of the conference, yet highlight state of the art DSS
research.
CONFERENCE VENUE:
The ICDSS2011 conference is organized at Tilburg University (http://www.tilburguniversity.nl).
With a population of nearly 200,000 inhabitants, Tilburg is the
Netherlands' sixth largest city and is located in the South of the
country, close to the Belgian border, in the Province of ‘North
Brabant’. Tilburg University is nicely situated in a forested area
on the outskirts of the city. Tilburg University is a relatively
small and internationally oriented university with around 12,000
students in total and 750 international students from 65 countries.
The university is internationally renowned for its research,
especially in economics through the international research institute
CentER.
Conference Proceedings - Annals of Information Systems:
Accepted contributions will be published in the ICDSS Conference
Book of Abstracts. Authors of the abstracts accepted for
presentation at the conference will be encouraged to develop their
ideas into full papers for review and publication in the Annals of
Information Systems (Kluwer).
IMPORTANT DATES:
Extended Abstract Submission deadline: February 1, 2011
Notification to Authors: March 1, 2011
Final version submission deadline (upon acceptance): April 1, 2011
Early Registration Deadline: April 1, 2011
Conference Date: June 6-7 2011
EXTENDED ABSTRACTS SUBMISSIONS AND AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS:
We are soliciting submissions in the form of extended abstracts (two
pages max, single-spaced). All extended abstracts will be reviewed
for clarity, relevance and significance. The template for extended
abstracts can be downloaded at http://www.iscram.org/ICDSS2011.
All submissions, and any related requests, should be sent to: icdss2011_at_gmail.com
. Please include “ICDSS2011” in the header of your email.
Local Conference Organizing Committee:
Jaap van den Herik Tilburg University, the Netherlands
Bartel Van de Walle Tilburg University, the Netherlands (chair)
Anne Rutkowski ,Tilburg University, the Netherlands