We invite applications for diverse sessions (workshops, tutorials, fishbowl dialogues, site visits, etc.) to be presented at CRAFT, a program embedded in the ACM Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT) conference to be held in Athens, Greece. Sessions should explore a critical question in computing and AI today from positionalities, experiences and perspectives often underrepresented at FAccT (e.g. indigeneity, coloniality, feminist and gender politics, racial regimes, disability justice, communality, the environmental impact of computational systems, and perspectives from the Majority World, among others).

In the spirit of fostering solidarity and embracing our collective responsibility to prevent and critique the growing weaponization of sociotechnical systems in ongoing conflicts around the world, we invite session proposals from of all disciplines; people from communities directly impacted by these systems, and people in different communities of practice and backgrounds (community organizers, journalists, activists, advocates, educators, artists, public sector workers, etc.). That said, we acknowledge the systemic inequities and barriers to mobility that persist globally. Convening in Athens, Greece—within Europe's geopolitical boundaries—is entangled in ongoing histories of colonialism, imperialism, and state violence. By gathering in this context, travel to Athens, Greece, may not be accessible to all, particularly those situated in the Majority World.

Overview

The ACM Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT) conference is an interdisciplinary research venue where social and computer scientists—often in dialogue with activists, journalists, community organizers, advocates, and policy actors—forge community, solidarity, and shared practices in technology, AI and computing.

Within the conference, critical scholars formed a dedicated track called “Critiquing and Rethinking Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency” (CRAFT) to build bridges between people contending with computing systems from diverse perspectives and lived experiences.

The CRAFT track presents a unique space within an academic conference to critically consider the interconnected impacts of technology– from individual experiences and community relationships to its broader implications for systems of governance, the environment, and collective resistance. Simply put, CRAFT provides a space that allows everyone to engage in meaningful conversations without being constrained by the limitations of top-down approaches to knowledge-making.

We are seeking session proposals from academics of all disciplines, communities of practice, and communities most directly impacted by technological systems to help shape how we discuss, debate, regulate, limit and design these technologies. Please submit contributions in the form of workshops, panels, activities, unconferences, etc., to:

• Creatively address critiques of the field of fairness, accountability and transparency in machine learning, data science and other forms of technology -- its gaps, omissions, and possibilities;
• Convene a transdisciplinary group of academics, practitioners, and individuals from communities most directly affected by technological systems inspire conversation about open lines of future research, collaboration and practice;
• Push beyond the established boundaries of research and practice in the field. Describe community- and advocacy-led solutions to the challenges that biased machine learning and other digital tools present.

Themes

Below, we offer a set of themes as a starting point for CRAFT proposals; this list is not exhaustive. We will consider framings that take up these themes and provocations from positionalities, experiences and perspectives often underrepresented at FAccT (e.g., indigeneity, coloniality, feminist and gender politics, racial regimes, disability justice, communality, the environmental impact of AI, and perspectives from the Majority World, among others). We invite contributions

• Addressing algorithmic harms as well as algorithmic resistance and counter-power measures from the position of local experiences and stories and through diverse value-driven, inclusive, and participatory methodologies.
• Sharing future or applied work exploring how AI would operate in a liberated world, emphasizing the involvement of diverse stakeholders beyond academics and Big Tech Companies.
• Increasing collective understanding of global environmental, social, and legal impacts of emerging technologies on systemically impacted communities (e.g., immigrants, refugees, low-wage workers, rural communities, persons with disabilities, children and youth, older individuals, and other affected collectives).
• Highlighting models that support more accountable and transparent use of data (e.g., platform data access, worker data collectives and community-led audits).
• Interrogating, critiquing and expanding on emerging practices from FAccT and the broader social epistemology of AI and AI Ethics.
• Providing analyses of legal and policy frameworks that engage with power and resistance to technical systems, and with a focus on communities and territories of the Majority World.
• Exploring how diverse governance models, as well as sociocultural and cognitive diversity influence design decisions surrounding AI, and how those decisions spill into predictive systems.
• Reflecting on and investigating the current state of participation, activism, and critical or alternative responses to AI technologies (e.g., GenAI) within academic communities.
• Reporting and/or critiquing the roles of predictive systems in militarism, warfare, state violence and other forms of oppression past, present and future.

Acceptance and travel support

We will accept approximately 15 presentations for CRAFT sessions.

Where possible, we encourage in-person sessions or online-only sessions. Our goal is to provide funds that enable participation by organizers of all accepted CRAFT sessions. Accepted presenters will be able to submit via separate applications for travel funding support and for childcare/caregiver funding support, which will be allocated based on need and administered by the conference's Financial Support Chairs. For questions or concerns about travel requirements, visa needs, and accommodations, please reach out to inclusion@facctconference.org.

For accepted applications that want thought partnership and advice on designing and facilitating their sessions, we will also host 2-3 online workshops that are accessible across time zones.

Note that funds will be distributed only after the conference.

While this year’s conference will be in-person, if applicants want to host an online-only or hybrid CRAFT they should identify what their A/V needs or any other accommodations or session support in the application.

Guidelines for CRAFT Contributors

Session Formats for Contributions

In the spirit of openness, we welcome contributions in a variety of different formats. These may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Lightning talks
• Panels
• Fishbowl Dialogues
• Poster and/or Demo Sessions
• Unconferences
• Local Community Engagements
• Interactive Workshops
• Art Exhibits or Other Artistic Interventions
• Dialogues across disciplines - e.g. policymakers, data scientists, historians, and advocates

Our goal is to build community throughout the conference, please feel free to propose another format. We especially encourage proposals that feature or bring together people from different backgrounds, such as different disciplinary, epistemological or institutional orientations and bring new communities, movements, organizations, or positions to the conference.

Remote and online Presentations

Please note that the ability to support remote presenters in hybrid sessions is still being finalized and may not meet demand. We encourage online-only or in-person CRAFT sessions. To support in-person sessions, organizers can apply for travel funding. Please let us know in your proposal if you have plans to organize hybrid sessions with remote presenters.

Proposal Requirements

Submit your proposal via Google Forms. Your proposal should include sufficient information to evaluate it among other proposals.

• Proposed Title: Let us know what your session will be called.
• Format: Indicate and describe the kind of format you will use for your session. (E.g., Interactive Workshop, Panel, Debate, Unconference, Art Exhibit or Other Artistic Intervention, Site Visit, Poster and/or Demo Session, Lightning Talk, Fishbowl Dialogue, Other).
• Modality: Indicate here if the proposal is in-person, online-only session or hybrid. Please note we may have limited capability to support online-only and hybrid sessions, and thus encourage in-person sessions where possible.
• Description: In approximately 500 words or less, describe the session theme, its central questions and structure. Think of this as the main blurb or abstract for your session that people will read to decide if they want to attend this session or not. Highlight the participatory, experiential, community-oriented dimension of your proposal.
• Goals: What are you trying to achieve with your session? What do you want participants to know by the end of your session? How would your session contribute to building community? How will you make sure that your session is inclusive?
• Coordinator(s)/Organizer(s): Please indicate the name(s) of session organizer(s), including job titles, affiliations, country (of their affiliation/work) and contact information.
• Speaker(s)/Facilitator(s): If known, indicate the name(s) of any presenters, speakers or facilitators, including their job titles and affiliations. If the program is still to be curated and you don’t know all the names of presenters, please say so.
• Length: Choose the appropriate time duration for your session. The proposed events can be 45 minutes, 1.5 hours, or 3 hours. 1.5 hours will be the default.
• Target Audience Size: Let us know how many people you anticipate coming to a session or how many participants you would ideally like to have.
• Online Participation Needs: Let us know what A/V and other support would be required to enable online participation in your session.
• Other Considerations (optional): Please include a note specifying any specific needs for your session not covered elsewhere, such as translation, accessibility accommodations, or other requirements.
• Additional Artifacts (optional): If you have additional materials that would support your proposal, such as a video example of the facilitation, a website or written workbooks, you can also include that in your proposal.

To submit your proposal, use this link: Google Forms

Note the Tutorials track:In addition to the CRAFT track, ACM FAccT also solicits proposals on the Tutorials track, which welcomes hands-on tutorials, translation tutorials and implications tutorials. If your proposal would be a better fit for that format, read more at the call for tutorials.

Evaluation Criteria for CRAFT Session Proposals

CRAFT submissions will be selected by the CRAFT chairs in consultation with the FAccT organizing committee, with selections made by quality and the need for a balanced and diverse program of interest to the FAccT community.

The review process will focus on three basic areas:

1. Planning and Quality: Is the proposal clear, sensible, and thorough?
2. Contribution and Relevance: Is the proposed session likely to generate new discussions within the conference and shift the debates in the field on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency? Does it offer new questions and debates to consider?
3. Broadening and Critique: Does the session feature voices and views that are not often represented in the main track of the conference? Does it expand our current critical understanding or offer different perspectives?

CRAFT Co-Chairs

Please contact craft@facctconference.org for any questions.

• Paola Ricaurte Quijano, pricaurt@tec.mx
• Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar, Research Scientist at Boston Dynamics AI Institute, pcuellar@theaiinstitute.com
• Alix Dunn, CEO of Computer Says Maybe, alix@saysmaybe.com

Please contact craft@facctconference.org with any questions.