5th European Symposium on Gender & ICT "Digital Cultures: Participation -- Empowerment -- Diversity" *Early Bird Registration ends Januar 5, 2009* Registration is now open for the 5th European Symposium on Gender & ICT: March 5 - 7 2009, University of Bremen, Germany. To register for the conference please consult: http://www.conftool.com/gict2009 Preliminary program The preliminary program has been posted. The conference includes 13 paper sessions in 3 parallel streams, a poster session, a research exhibit, and a pre-conference workshop. For more information please consult: http://gict2009.de Keynotes Lucy Suchman: Lancaster University, UK, and MIT, Boston, US Tanja Paulitz: University of Graz, Austria Chat Garcia Ramilo: APC, Manila, Philippines Pre-conference workshop IT Expertise in Industry - Building a Better Model Integrating Women's Potentials Claudia Morrell: Executive Director Maryland Women in Technology, Baltimore, MD, USA About the European Symposium on Gender & ICT Information Society with its variety of new information and communication media offers many new options to participate in today's social, cultural, political and economic activities. However, chances are still distributed unequally, e.g. by class, ethnicity, age -- and by gender. Access to and the ability to use information and communication technology (ICT) are necessary prerequisites for participation. On top of this, involvement in ICT design is a highly prestigious activity. On the 5th European Gender and ICT Symposium we will take a closer look at the complex interdependence between gender and ICT. We will explore ways to increase appreciation of diversity in design and use and to strengthen empowerment and participation by means of ICT. This Conference, the fifth in a row of symposia held in Europe since 2003, traditionally provides a meeting point for researchers from various disciplines and research schools dealing with gender and ICT. Contact gict@informatik.uni-bremen.de - http://gict2009.de Program chairs Prof. Dr. Susanne Maass, Prof. Dr. Heidi Schelhowe Conference organisation Maike Hecht, Carola Schirmer, Bettina Rabe, Marlott Hederich, Susanne Maass, Heidi Schelhowe University of Bremen Department of Computer Science Postbox 330 440 28334 Bremen, Germany Phone (49) 421 -- 218 64390