CALL FOR PAPERS

 Australian Women in IT 2003 Conference:

Participation, Progress and Potential

Due Date - 6th December 2002

Email submission -  AusWIT2003@infosys.utas.edu.au

The School of Information Systems at the University of Tasmania is sponsoring this conference for educators, researchers and practitioners. The theme of the conference is “Participation, Progress and Potential”, which concentrates on ways of ensuring full participation by girls and women in information systems and information technology within education, industry and government.

Women have been and remain under-represented in the IT profession, and they continue to be under-represented in the tertiary courses that prepare IT professionals. There is growing discussion of differences in gender attitudes to IT and IS and to the attractiveness of IS/IT careers. These differences go back to school curriculum, teaching and role models, as well as the perceptions of teachers and parents of the options available to girls.

There have also been suggestions that women enter IS/IT through other career areas, and may not be recognized appropriately as full professionals. Pathways to entering IS/IT and their longer-term potential for satisfying and senior careers may be quite different for women and girls from those traditionally associated with professional development.

This conference will bring together academics, educators and practitioners, to share insights into the issues of women’s participation and progress within the IS/IT area. Papers and workshops will include, but are not limited to:

• Gender equity issues in IT
• Curriculum developments and curriculum initiatives
• Increasing participation and awareness of women
• Career mobility

Papers to be presented at the conference can be submitted to either the refereed or non-refereed section. This flexibility is aimed at encouraging interaction between academic contributors and their associates within teaching, industry and government environments.

Call for Papers

You are invited to submit a full-length paper on any issue that contributes to the conference theme. Papers should not exceed 10 pages in length (using line spacing of 1.5). Papers must be original, previously unpublished, and include a 100-200 word abstract. They may be completed research, research-in-progress or case studies, especially those reflecting innovative practice and evaluation of projects.

Conference proceedings will be published in the form of CDs made available to all attendees at the conference. This facilitates submission dates close to the conference itself.