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Call for Papers: Conference on Social Informatics and Law
March 14-15, 2003
Buffalo, New York
Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy
University at Buffalo Law School
Law School
511 O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260
Sponsored by Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, University at Buffalo
and the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction
http://www.law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/socinfo02.html (website forthcoming)
CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION
As described by Rob Kling, Professor of Information Systems and Information
Science, SLIS and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science, Indiana University
at Bloomington, "social informatics" identifies a body of research that
examines the social aspects of computerization. Specifically, it may be
defined as "the interdisciplinary study of the design, uses and consequences
of information technologies that takes into account their interaction with
institutional and cultural contexts" ("Social Informatics," at
http://www.slis.indiana.edu/si/si2001.html). However, unlike common lay
speculations, social informatics research strategies are usually based on
empirical data. Social informatics researchers use data to analyze the
present and recent past to better understand which social changes are
possible, which are plausible and which are most likely in the future. One
of the key concepts of social informatics is that information technologies
are not designed or used in social or technological isolation. From a
social informatics perspective, information technology applications may be
viewed as "socio-technical networks," that is, systems that include many
different elements, such as IT hardware, software, legal contracts and
people in relationship to each other and other system elements. Social
informatics is an alternative to romantic (or anti-romantic),
non-research-based approaches to information technology and social change.
The research in social informatics has found that the ways that many IT
applications are configured, regulated, and used often have consequences
that their designers and supporters did not anticipate. In addition, social
informatics research shows that an IT application's consequences can appear
contradictory because the effects can vary considerably across the different
situations in which the application is being used. The most advanced social
informatics research emphasizes theories that allow for complex, ambiguous,
or varied outcomes, and helps to anticipate seemingly contradictory
consequences.
To date little of this growing body of research has been directed toward the
utilization and effects of information technology in legal education or the
practice of law. The scholarship on the future of legal education and the
legal profession is filled with punditry, supplemented by anecdotal reports
of specific implementations of information technology in law schools or law
firms. We have very little empirical data on how law has differed from
other professions in the adoption of information technology, or the specific
mechanisms of how information technology has affected and been affected by
legal academics and practitioners. Why, for example, have PDA's have become
almost ubiquitous in medical schools, while their impact in law schools has
been negligible? Why have medical schools widely adopted a small-class
model in conjunction with intensive use of information technology, while law
schools continue with large Socratic-style classes? Sound empirical
research into these questions is needed before we can begin to predict
future outcomes of the interactions of information technology and the legal
profession. The conference and its results may lead to future grant funding
to sponsor further empirical research on the use of technology by students
and other academic constituents.
CONFERENCE FORMAT
This will be a small, working conference, with no more than ten presenters
and a total of 30 to 45 participants and attendees. The conference will
begin Friday afternoon and continue through Saturday. It is anticipated
that the completed papers will be published as a symposium issue of an
interdisciplinary or law journal.
IMPORTANT DATES
December 20, 2002 Proposal abstracts due
January 10, 2003 Authors notified
February 21, 2003 Drafts due
SUBMISSION DETAILS
Abstracts and drafts should be submitted in Word or WordPerfect format, by
email to the Baldy Center at baldyctr@acsu.buffalo.edu or on diskette to
Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, University at Buffalo Law School,
511 O'Brian Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260. Abstracts will be posted on the
conference website and draft copies of the papers will be made available in
advance to participants.
CONFERENCE SPONSORS
The Christopher Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, at the University at
Buffalo Law School, is an internationally recognized institute that supports
the interdisciplinary study of law and legal institutions. Over 100 UB
faculty members from 17 academic departments participate in Baldy Center
research and teaching activities. The Center maintains cooperative ties to
other interdisciplinary research centers at UB and co-sponsors a regional
network of sociolegal scholars in New York and Canada. The Baldy Center
hosts distinguished scholars from around the world as visitors, consultants,
and conference participants. For more information, see
http://law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/
CALI, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, is a consortium of
law schools that researches and develops computer-mediated legal instruction
and supports institutions and individuals using technology in legal
education. CALI was established in June 1982 by the University of Minnesota
Law School and Harvard Law School to continue and expand upon a
collaboration which began in 1971. The focus of this early activity was the
development of computer-based exercises for use in law school curriculum and
in the development of a computer network for sharing these exercises. Now
CALI has a membership of over 180 law schools and international affiliates
and publishes over 150 computer-based tutorials in over 20 different legal
subject areas. Other activities include the Conference for Law School
Computing and the CALI Excellence for the Future Awards for law students who
receive the highest grade in their class. CALI also runs a website with
pages that relate to all of CALI's activities and is actively researching
the use of the Internet as an educational delivery tool or collaborative
learning environment. CALI maintains offices at the University of Minnesota
School of Law and Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of
Law. For more information, see http://www.cali.org/
CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS
James G. Milles
Associate Dean for Legal Information Services and Director of the Law
Library
Visiting Associate Professor of Law
University at Buffalo Law School
208 O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, New York 14260
Phone: (716) 645-2089
Fax: (716) 645-3860
jgmilles@buffalo.edu
Shubha Ghosh
Visiting Associate Professor of Law
University at Buffalo Law School
724 O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, New York 14260
Phone: (716) 645-2749
sghosh2@buffalo.edu
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