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Dear Colleagues, 

We cordially invite you to submit a paper to the "From Digital Divide to Digital Equity and Inclusion" mini-track at the 60^th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences to be held at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hi., between 5-8 Jan 2027.

60th HICSS, 5-8 January 2027  

CFP: HICSS 2027 Mini-Track "From Digital Divide to Digital Equity and Inclusion"

 

Digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to and can effectively use digital technologies and those who cannot. While significant progress has been made globally in the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs), digital inequality remains persistent and multifaceted. Beyond technological infrastructure and connectivity, digital inequities may also be associated with and manifested in social, economics, educational, corporeal basis to shape who benefits from digital services and who is excluded (Chan & Guan, 2025; Faik, et al., 2024; Pandey & Zheng, 2023; Zheng & Walsham, 2021). These disparities disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, including but not limited to youth, older adults, persons with disabilities, low-income communities, rural and indigenous communities, marginalized castes, refugees, stateless individuals, and underserved regions in both developing and developed contexts (Chad et al., 2024; Ding, 2024; Tim et al., 2020; 2025; Zhang et al., 2025).

 

Emerging Artificial Intelligent (AI) technologies further highlight the two-edged nature of digitalization in shaping digital divides and digital equity. While AI offers opportunities to enhance inclusion through improved access to education and digital technologies, it may also deepen inequalities due to uneven access to data, infrastructure, and skills, as well as algorithmic bias and the concentration of AI capabilities (Acemoglu & Johnson, 2023). Examining this dual role of AI is essential for advancing inclusive and equitable digital futures.

 

Moreover, the use of AI in the workplace is also creating a new future of work. There is a heightened need to ensure this new digitally-enabled future of work unfolds in a manner that promote digital equity and inclusion, especially for those who are at risk of being digitally disenfranchised (Chan et al., 2025; Knight et al., Forthcoming).    As societies and institutions become increasingly digitalized and cities transform into smart cities, the urgency of moving from diagnosing digital divides to enabling digital equity and inclusion has never been greater. This track invites research papers and review articles that elucidates the theory and practice of digital divide and advances digital equity and inclusion. Design science studies on digital social innovation that promotes digital equity and inclusion are also welcomed (Qureshi et al., 2021; Tim et al., 2025; Zhang et al., 2025). The unit of analysis can be at the individual, community, organizational or even national level.

 

Submissions may address, but not limited to, the following topics:

References

Acemoglu, D., & Johnson, S. (2023) Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity. Public Affairs.

 

Chad, F., Noteboom, C., & El-Gayar (2024) Digital divide in rural native american homes: A student perspective. Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

 

Chan, C.M.L., & Guan, C. (2025) ICT usage among senior citizens: Towards a practice theory of digital inclusion and exclusion. The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, 54(4), 12-35.

 

Chan, C.M.L., Tan, J., Billett, S., & Chong, W.H. (2025) Blue-collar workers adaptation to digitalization: A career construction theory analysis. Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

 

Ding, W. (2024) The ripple of technology: A literature review on examining the impact of ict on tibetan refugees through the lens of modernity and postmodernism. Proceedings of the 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

 

Faik, I., Sengupta, A., & Deng, Y. (2024) Inclusion by design: Requirements elicitation with digitally marginalized communities. MIS Quarterly, 48(1), 219-244.

 

Knight, B., Mitrofanov, D., & Netessine, S. (Forthcoming) Human-algorithm collaboration in gig work: The role of experience, skills level, and task complexity. Information Systems Research. 

 

Pandey, P., & Zheng, Y., (2023). Technologies of power in digital inclusion. Journal of the Association of Information Systems, 24 (5), 1334-1357.

 

Qureshi, I., Pan, SL. and Zheng, Y., (2021). Digital social innovation: An overview and research framework. Information Systems Journal. 31 (5), 647-671

 

Tim, Y., Cui, L., & Sheng, Z. (2020) Digital resilience: How rural communities leapfrogged into sustainable development. Information Systems Journal, 31(2), 323-345.

 

Tim, Y., Brooks, J., & Zeng, D. (2025) Towards socially inclusive design: An action design research project supporting social inclusion of senior citizens. European Journal of Information Systems, 35(1), 109-133.

 

Zhang, X., Pan., S.L., Tim, Y., &  Jiang, Z (2025) Designing an immersive virtual reality artefact for disability inclusion: An action design research. European Journal of Information Systems, 34(5), 843-872.

 

Zheng, Y., & Walsham, G., (2021). Inequality of what? An intersectional approach to digital inequality under Covid-19. Information and Organization, 31(1), 100341.

 

 

Journal Fast-Track Opportunity

 

 

Dates

15th June 2026 – Paper Submission Deadline

17th August 2026 – Decision Notification

4th September 2026 – Resubmission Deadline for Conditionally Accepted Papers

22nd September 2026 – Final Manuscript Submission Deadline

 

 

Mini-Track Co-Chairs:

Calvin M.L Chan, Singapore University of Social Sciences, calvinchanml@suss.edu.sg

Tianjian (TJ) Zhang, California State University Dominguez Hills, tzhang@csudh.edu  

Yingqin Zheng, University of Essex, y.zheng@essex.ac.uk