Track description

Information and communication technologies permeate all areas of our society. Digitization opens up new opportunities to address important social issues. The driving force behind digitization can be social necessity, technical feasibility, but also a crisis, as the coronavirus pandemic shows: Much is being moved and changed positively out of necessity. The digitization of everyday work and learning, apps for tracing information chains and containing new infections have great potential, but also pose social risks. The current corona crisis appears to be shedding new light on the significance of digitization. It is therefore important to evaluate which digital solutions prove their worth and where there is room for innovation.

In order to best master the social challenges that digitization poses, it is also particularly important to understand how they arise. If digital solutions are used in security-critical contexts, dependencies are created and various dangers threaten: Infrastructure disruptions and failures can occur as a result of criminal acts, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, operational disruptions and system errors. Critical value chains must function reliably as a whole. Added to this is the concern about data that arises when digital solutions are used. Data protection, data sovereignty and data security and their social perception must always be closely monitored. Furthermore, it should always be checked that an expansion of digitization does not lead to a digital divide. New digital solutions require constant evaluation and assessment of the consequences.

This track focuses on issues at the intersection of digitization and society, not only, but also in times of corona, and is aimed at scientists* and practitioners* in business informatics and related disciplines.