Human-centric digital age
Technologies, networks and digital and social media are changing the
way people think, behave, apprehend neighbouring objects and their
environment in general, interact and socialize as persons, citizens,
workers and consumers.
We need to:
• Better understand the nature and consequences of these changes.
• Explore the two-way interactions between ICT and society.
• Lay foundations for future thinking in ICT and for future regulatory
and policy-making activities in the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE)
areas.
• Create mechanisms for systematic exchange and interactions
between different actors to integrate this knowledge into ICT
development and deployment.
Human-centric digital age
This objective is NEW. It aims to support:
• Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) exploration of societal issues in
the digital age, in order to foster innovation through a critical
accompaniment of ICT.
• the LEIT approach to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), by
networking SSH contributions across the LEIT Work Programme.
There will be both R&D&I and CSA-type activities.
Please note that SSH is ALSO called for and supported in other topics of
the LEIT programme, as well as in FET and societal challenges. A note
pointing to the areas where SSH contributions are expected will be
available in December.
Human-centric digital age
R&D activities should explore and experiment the development – or even
metamorphosis – of fundamental notions such as identity, privacy, relationship,
culture, reputation, motivation, responsibility, attention, safety, and fairness in the
hyper-connected age. For example:
•
How do humans cope with information overload and attention scarcity? How to
develop ICT environments enabling to deal with this?
•
How does the blurring between online world and off-line world affect the life?
How can smart environments support individuals and society?
•
What should be the norms and behaviours for a hyper-connected digital world?
How could their adoption in the digital culture be fostered?
These are expected to:
•
provide new knowledge, well-founded transferable results, including innovative
concepts and functional models, which can be exploited in the future research,
policy and regulatory agendas.
Human-centric digital age
The coordination and support activities should:
• coordinate and support RRI through ICT and within ICT R&D&I
areas on different parts of the H2020 Work Programme by
efficient exchange of results between SSH research, on-going
R&D&I projects, and relevant areas of policy-making and
regulatory activities.
• In this context, they are expected to
•
facilitate community building between ICT developers, researchers in SSH and
other disciplines, and stakeholders for responsible research and innovation.
•
provide concrete incentives and motivations for cross-disciplinary
collaborations.
•
Promote and support takeup of best practices for responsible research and
innovation in ICT research and development projects.
Human-centric digital age
We do not seek:
• Technology-focused development projects which
consider individuals as mere end-users and aim
mainly at improving product usability.
• Social sciences studies without concrete linkages to
the emergent 'digital literacy‘ or to ICT R&I&D
processes.
• Coordination actions for discussion platforms
without concrete targets for outcomes and impacts
in linking SSH knowledge to ICT development.
Human-centric digital agenda - Key actors
•
The SSH community studying the digital transition.
•
Trans-, inter- and multi-disciplinary teams focusing on the
digital transition with a view to foster the societal intelligence
in coping with, taking up and/or shaping ICT developments.
•
ICT R&D&I actors ready to integrate considering the societal
response and potential of their work in the R&D process .
Background material:
•
Onlife initiative, http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/onlifeinitiative