UTS to host inaugural PDC Malaysia Place Aug 17-20
SIBU: University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) here will be hosting the country’s inaugural Participatory Design Conference (PDC) Malaysia Place Aug 17 to 20.
In a press release, UTS said the international conference will be held in collaboration with Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) and Association for Progressive Communications.
“This international conference will be held for the first time in Malaysia for technologists, artists, academics and development partners and agencies from around the world to explore new participative approaches to design safe, inclusive, and equitable technologies.
“The conference will highlight transcultural, transnational, and trans-disciplinary learning gained through building international partnerships and engaging with local indigenous community partners in Long Lamai and Bawang Assan,” it stated.
PDC is a world-leading venue and ACM SIGCHI (Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) conference that brings together the latest debates in collaborative and equitable design of technology, services and socio-technical systems.
“PDC 2022 will be hosted by Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, the UK Aug 19 to Sept 1 with online participation at PDC-Places to reduce carbon footprint.
“PDC Places are in-person events and activities running in different locations around the world with each Place shaped and organised by regional Participatory Design (PD) researchers and practitioners,” it added.
The speakers will include Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development Sarawak, Dr Annuar Rapaee, Deputy Minister Premier Department (Labour, Immigration and Project Monitoring) Sarawak Datuk Gerawat Gala, as well as international speakers from Colombia, Sweden, Singapore, India, Australia, Malaysia and Canada.
The speakers will share how academia, policymakers, the development sector, and community members can engage in critical debates of what it means to design technologies for social justice, inclusiveness, and sustainability.
The conference programme will include high level policy dialogue on the status of digital inclusion and meaningful connectivity in the state of Sarawak, IPID (International Network for Postgraduate Students in the Area of ICT4D)-Asia mentor, mentees session for young scholars in the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), a workshop on Service Learning, community workshops in Fuzhou World Heritage Gallery, Sibu Digital Innovation Hub, and a full-day session in Bawang Assan longhouse on establishing indigenous climate observatory for local actions, the press release elaborated.
Conference participants will also witness the exchange of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between UTS and Sarawak Development Institute as well as Malmö University Sweden.
PDC Malaysia Place is sponsored by Yayasan Sarawak, Business Events Sarawak and International Network for Postgraduate Students in the Area of ICT4D (IPID) of SPIDER, Stockholm University Sweden.
For further information, contact programme co-chairs Associate Professor Dr Tariq Zaman (tariqzaman@uts.edu.my) or Gary Loh Chee Wyai (gary@uts.edu.my).