Reflexivity & Reflection (R&R) for Sociotechnical Safety: Creating a Space for Collective Learning

Researchers in CSCW have long examined the sociotechnical aspects of digital security, privacy, and safety, building knowledge not only on the security challenges faced by (at-risk) communities, but also on the challenges of conducting responsible research. The burgeoning subfield of “sociotechnical safety" within computer security & privacy (S&P) has grown alongside this work, including topics like the S&P of at-risk users. These two research fields are distinct in epistemological and methodological approaches, but share a common goal: improving the digital safety of (at-risk) populations. During this critical time, we see an opportunity to gather as one community, to encourage honest conversation about the “hows" and “whys" of sociotechnical safety research. We invite researchers in both fields to discuss how CSCW’s methods, norms, and theories might bridge this emergent community, e.g., building meaningful collaborations with participants, researcher/participant safety. To cultivate reflexivity and reflection (R&R), we will host a closed-door panel of experienced researchers to share learnings from their work before collaboratively developing artifacts outlining actions that researchers can take to address these challenges. By fostering a collective learning environment at CSCW, we will assist researchers across disciplines to conduct responsible sociotechnical safety research by prioritising reflexivity.