23-25 June 2021


6th International Conference
Digital Transformation & Global Society (DTGS 2021)
DTGS 2021 will be held completely online. Please learn the details here.
more than 450
authors from 20 countries have participated in DTGS 2016 - 2020
over 34000
of DTGS 2019
34
average acceptance rate
ABOUT DTGS
DTGS is an international academic forum for the interdisciplinary field of Internet Studies. It provides a collaborative platform for researchers to discuss transformative impact of digital technologies on the way we communicate, work and live.

DTGS is hosted by the ITMO University in cooperation with the E-Development Partnership in the North-West of Russia (PRIOR North-West)– a non-profit association. The Youth Forum and the eSociety track are organized in collaboration with the HSE University in St. Petersburg.

Contributions from early-career researchers and doctoral students are especially welcome.Early-career researchers and doctoral students are welcome to contribute to Kronos software> through the Kronos Open Source Initiative.
History
SUBMIT A PAPER
Important Dates
Deadline for papers / panels submission: 25 March 2021

Deadline for Youth Forum papers submission: 10 April 2021

Notifications for acceptance: 20 May 2021

Authors registration deadline: 15 June

Camera-ready papers submissions: 20 June

Conference: 23-25 June 2021
Conference Tracks
DTGS welcomes research papers which fall into one of the following tracks:


eSociety
organized by the Laboratory for Social and Cognitive Informatics, HSE University
Social Informatics, Virtual Communities, Ethical and Security Issues

ePolity
Politics in Cyberspace, Electronic & Smart Governance, E-Democracy & Participation, Open Government

eHumanities
Digital Culture, Education and Communication Issues

eCity
Smart Cities, Urban Governance and Planning

eEconomy
Digital Economy, eCommerce, ICT – driven Economic Institutions and Practices

eCommunication
Online Political Communication, the New Media and Social Relations
Academic Ethics Policy (!)
We aim at the highest levels of academic standards. All authors must strictly follow the DTGS academic ethics policy, as well as the Springer editorial policy ().

The violation of the rules leads to rejection of the paper at any stage (including volume preparation).

By submitting a paper, the author confirms that:

(1) The paper has not been published anywhere before. Exceptions can be made for preprints, but the final decision on acceptance / rejection is up to the Program Committee heads and the Editorial Board. Authors must disclose the fact that the paper has been published as a preprint.

(2) The paper is not a translation of an article published in a language other than English. Also, the paper must not contain extensive self-plagiarism - direct borrowings from previous papers should not exceed 20 per cent, should not be related to the main findings of the submission, and must have correct references to initial articles.

(3) The paper does not contain plagiarism in any form. The authors should observe all accepted norms regarding citing.

(4) The author has all proper rights for copyrighted materials used in the paper. Pictures, figures etc. must either have free license for commercial use or be created by the author.

If any of these violations are revealed, the paper is rejected and excluded from the Conference program and / or the Proceedings, regardless of the stage of the Conference / Proceedings organization.
Technical Requirements & Paper Submission System
Please note that if a paper does not meet the following technical requirements, it can be desk-rejected by the Program Coordinators.

FORMAT

The paper must strictly follow the Springer LNCS .
We recommend the authors to use a template and macros embodied into it to ensure the paper complies with the format.

Template can be downloaded .

LENGTH

The papers should be within 10-15 pages in the Springer LNCS format. The papers for the Youth Forum should be within 8-15 pages in the Springer LNCS format.

REFERENCES

All references should be done according to the . DOI should be indicated whenever possible.

LANGUAGE & WRITING

The paper must be written in English without major grammatical or stylistic errors. It is recommended to proofread the article before the final submission.

PAPER SUBMISSION SYSTEM

To submit a paper, you should be registered in the EasyChair conference management system

(1) If you already have an account in the EasyChair, go to the DTGS EasyChair page and enter as author;

(2) Click "New Submission" and fill in the required fields. Please choose one topic from the list of the conference topics.

(3) Upload the paper in PDF file. The papers must be anonymized, i.e. all names, affiliations of the authors should be removed!
Peer Review Criteria
DESK REJECTION

The paper can be desk - rejected in the following cases:
(1) The paper violates the DTGS Academic Ethics policy;
(2) The paper is obviously not related to the scope of the Conference;
(3) The paper is clearly out of the technical requirements.

All papers that meet the mimum requirements undergo the peer review procedure.

PEER REVIEW

Each paper is reviewed by at least three members of the Program Committee to be accepted. The review criteria are the following:

The paper should have clear contribution to the research field. Purely descriptive papers without any clear findings are not accepted. The following elements of the paper are required:

Research Question / Problem Statement: the authors should give a clear research question (for research papers) or problem statement (for experience papers) they are to address in the text. Both the research question and problem statement need to be justified by either theoretical or social topicality.

Literature / Background Review: the paper must contain a solid literature review encompassing the up-to-date academic articles and books (for research papers) or give a sufficient background (for experience papers). The review needs to be relevant to the research question.

Theoretical Grounding and Methodology: The paper should give a theoretical argument or use a theoretical framework, as well as to provide a methodology relevant to address the research problem.

Empirical Analysis / Case Selection: The research papers must present either an empirical research based on gathered data. Qualitative or quantitative methods of empirical analysis should be used. Another option is to present a review, but in this case the literature selection method should be specified. In case of experience papers, the authors need to justify the case selection and prove its significance to the international audience.

Discussion: Both the complete research and experience papers need to critically examine the findings and address them in the discussion section. In case of the research paper, authors are welcome to elaborate on how their findings contribute to the global scientific research in the field. In the ongoing research paper there can be some elaboration on future research. Experience papers must analyze at least advantages and disadvantages of the proposed best practice.
PARTICIPATE
Conference Format 2021
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conference will be organized online.

The instructions on participation will be sent to the registered participants.
Participation Fees & Refund
Publication is free of charge, no fees are taken for the publication. However, participation fees are charged for the organization and logistics of the Conference.

Conference fees are paid only by the authors attending the Conference and presenting the paper in person.

To be published, a paper must be presented by at least one author. No showing up at the Conference results in paper rejection without any refund.

If authors are interested in open access options, they may contact the Publisher directly.

Please note, that there is no refund in the following cases:

(1) The paper has been declined due to the violation of any rule of the DTGS Academic Ethics policy, including plagiarism, revealed before, during or after the Conference during the editorial review;

(2) The camera-ready paper has not been submitted on time and hence has not been included into the post-conference Proceedings volume;

(3) The authors have not shown up at the Conference without prior notification and a valid excuse.

Full refund is possible before the end of the Conference registration period upon written notification at dtgs@itmo.ru

The fees categories can be found here
Payment
Participants can pay the organization fee to the E-Development Partnership in the North-West of Russia (PRIOR North - West NPP), the co-organizer, official partner and operator of Conference.

All payments should be done in roubles. Please do not forget to specify the name of a participant.
Registration
The registration will be open after the review period is over
For Early-Career Researchers and Students (!)
DTGS especially welcomes contributions from early-career researchers and students.

Reduced fees and fee-waivers are available for students of all levels of study (BA, MA, PhD) and young scholars till the age of 35 (including).
YOUTH FORUM
About
The Youth Forum is held prior to the main Conference on June 23, 2021.

The aim of the Forum is to bring together young scholars and to maintain open and friendly discussion of their research, supported by experienced researchers.

There are two options of participation in the Youth Forum:

(1) Participation with full paper: authors submit the paper according to the technical requirements specified for the general program (8-15 pages in LNCS format). All accepted papers are presented and discussed, and the best ones are selected by the Awards Committee published in the Proceedings of the Conference.

(2) Participation with abstract: authors submit an extended abstract (2-4 pages in LNCS format). All accepted submissions are presented and discussed during the Forum. Best submissions are expected to be extended to short paper format (8-10 pages) and published in the of the Conference, after distance training and peer feedback sessions.

If the authors target their research to further journal publication, they may chose not to publish their submission in the Proceedings, however such submissions are reviewed and selected according to the same criteria.

Program
The program of the Youth Forum includes:

- Presentation of the papers, Q&A session;

- Evaluation of the papers and presentations by the Award Committee.
Eligibility & Participation Fees
(1) The Youth Forum is open to students of all levels of study (BA, MA, PhD) and young scholars (including post-doctoral researchers) till the age of 35 (including).

(2) The paper can be co-authored by other students and / or academic supervisor and / or an official consultant, provided that the paper is co-authored by only one senior scholar, and the paper and poster are presented by students only.

(3) Participation in the Youth Forum is free of charge. Participants are also free to visit other Conference events.
Awards Committee, Review & Publication
(1) The special Awards Committee (AC) is organized to evaluate the posters.

(2) As a rule, the AC consists of the representatives of diffirent institutional and scientific background to be able to evaluate all posters objectively.

(3) Members of the AC evaluate the posters, papers and presentations, according to the review criteria. They may use these evaluations as guidelines during the discussion. Previous reviews (if applicable) can also be taken into account.

(4) After the poster session, the AC selects the best posters (no more than 35 percent of papers), to be published in the post-conference Proceedings. During the poster session the AC members are encouraged to give advice for paper improvements, and the final decision of acceptance is up to the Editors.

(5) Substantial changes might be needed for accepted papers, to be published. Editorial check is conducted on all submissions.
Evaluation Criteria
The Awards Committee evaluates the papers and presentations according to the following criteria. Each criterion is evaluated from 0 to 10.

  1. Relevance to DTGS
  2. Quality of Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
  3. Quality and Rigor of the Empirical Research
  4. Quality of Presentation
  5. Questions and Answers
PARTICIPATION FEES
FOR ONLINE FORMAT

4,000 Roubles - general participation fee

3,000 Roubles - reduced participation fee for students of all levels of study (BA, MA, PhD) and young scholars till the age of 35 (incl.), general program

free of charge - students of all levels of study (BA, MA, PhD) and young scholars till the age of 35 (incl.), Youth Forum

FOR OFFLINE FORMAT

10,000 Roubles - general participation fee

8,000 Roubles - reduced participation fee for students of all levels of study (BA, MA, PhD) and young scholars till the age of 35 (incl.), general program

3,000 Roubles - fees for visiting persons (including lunches and social events)

free of charge - students of all levels of study (BA, MA, PhD) and young scholars till the age of 35 (incl.), Youth Forum. The fee does not cover lunches and social events.
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Post-conference Proceedings are published by the Springer Nature in the series. All papers are indexed in Scopus.

According to the production cycle, we expect Proceedings to be published in 4-5 months after the conference, i.e. in November-December.

For authors: to get author copies of e-licences, please contact us at dtgs@itmo.ru
COMMITTEES
the information is being under update
STEERING COMMITTEE
ITMO University
Conference Co-Chair
HSE University
Conference Co-Chair
ITMO University
Organization Committee Head
HSE University
eSociety Track Chair
HSE University
Program Coordinator
HSE University
Youth Forum Coordinator
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
click to view
(the information is under update)
Thomas Ågotnes, University of Bergen, Norway
Roman Amelin, Saratov State University, Russia
Dennis Anderson, St. Francis College, USA
Francisco Andrade, University of Minho, Portugal
Maxim Bakaev, Novosibirsk State Technical University, Russia
Svetlana Berezka, HSE University, Russia
Alexander Bikkulov, Ufa State Petroleum Technological University, Russia
Radomir Bolgov, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Mikhail Bundin, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod, Russia
Anna Chizhik, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Andrei Chugunov, ITMO University, Russia
Sergey Davydov, HSE University, Russia
Saravanan Devadoss, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Alexander Fedosov, Russian State Social University, Russia
Olga Filatova, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Carlos Gershenson, UNAM, Mexico
Christoph Glauser, Institute for Applied Argumentation Research, Switzeland
Dimitris Gouscos, University of Athens. Greece
Sergei Ivanov, ITMO University, Russia
Yury Kabanov, HSE University, Russia
Katerina Kabassi, TEI of Ionian Islands, Greece
George Kampis, Eotvos University, Hungary
Ilia Karpov, HSE University, Russia
Sanjeev Katara, National Informatics Centre, Government of India
Igor Khodachek, RANEPA, Russia
Nora Kirkizh, GESIS, Germany
Sergei Koltcov, HSE University, Russia
Olessia Koltsova, HSE University, Russia
Pavel Konyukhonskiy, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Walter LaMendola, University of Denver, USA
Elena Lisanyuk, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Anna Litvinenko, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Aleksei Marynov, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod, Russia
Harekrishna Misra, Institute of Rural Management Anand, India
Sergey Mityagin, ITMO University, Russia
Ravil Muhamedyev, International IT Universuty, Kazakhstan
Ilya Musabirov, HSE University, Russia
Aleksandra Nenko, ITMO University, Russia
Olga Nevzorova, Kazan Federal University, Russia
Danila Parygin, Volgograd State Technical University, Russia
Sergey Pashakhin, HSE University, Russia
Dmitry Prokudin, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Aleksandr Riabushko, WeGO Eurasia Regional Office, Russia
Bogdan Romanov, University of Tartu, Estonia
John Magnus Roos, Centre for Consumer Science, Sweden
Anna Shirokanova, HSE University, Russia
Polina Smirnova, ITMO University, Russia
Anna Smoliarova, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Leonid Smorgunov, St. Petersburg State University, Russia
Alexander Sokolov, Demidov Yaroslavl State University, Russia
Alexander Sungurov, HSE University, Russia
John Ternovski, Harvard University, USA
Irina Tolstikova, ITMO University, Russia
Lyudmila Vidiasova, ITMO University, Russia
Arkaitz Zubiaga, Queen Mary University of London, UK
ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE
Click to view
Andrei V. Chugunov, E-Governance Center at ITMO University, Russia, Head of the Organization Committee, chugunov@itmo.ru

Yury Kabanov, HSE University in St. Petersburg, Program / Proceedings Coordinator, dtgs@itmo.ru

Polina Smirnova, E-Governance Center at ITMO University, Russia, Information Manager, dtgs@itmo.ru

Sergey Pashakhin, HSE University in St. Petersburg, Russia
HISTORY
"Digital Transformations & Global Society" (DTGS) is an academic forum for researchers and experts in the interdisciplinary field of the Internet Studies and Social Informatics. Each year the conference brings scholars from different countries and of various backgrounds to discuss how digital technologies transform our lives.

The conference became a successor of another significant international event – the international conference "Internet and Modern Society" (IMS), held annually in St. Petersburg since 1998. Building on this unique and long-lasting legacy, in 2016 IMS acquired a stronger international dimension under the DTGS umbrella – an Information Society Technology Week at ITMO University with the aim of attracting new international researchers and raising the quality of submitted papers.

The first international conference "Digital Transformation & Global Society" (DTGS 2016) was held on June 22-24, 2016, hosted by the ITMO University and co-organized by the University of Amsterdam, the European University at St. Petersburg, and the e-Development Partnership in the northwest of Russia (PRIOR North-West). Then we received 157 submissions, out of which 61 papers were accepted, with an acceptance rate of 39 per cent. The conference was organized in five tracks: eSociety, eKnowledge, eCity, eHealth and eScience and started from the poster session

Two keynote reports were presented as well. Professor Peter Sloot (University of Amsterdam) presented an insightful report on "Complexity Science and the Internet of Things," explaining how the latter may help to understand complex systems, "from a biological cell... to millions of computer systems... to our society." Latif Ladid (University of Luxembourg), Founder and President of IPv6 Forum, shared his view on the future of the Internet and perspectives on the use of IPv6 in innovations, such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and smart cities.

Held for the second time in June 21-23, 2017, it brought together more than 80 scholars. From DTGS'17 the co-organizers of the conference are the ITMO University and the National Research University Higher School of Economics (St. Petersburg campus), the leading research institutions in Russia. 38 papers were selected out of 134 submissions, making the acceptance rate of 28 per cent.

The conference started with the plenary session and three insightful keynote reports. Daniel Alexandrov, professor at the Higher School of Economics and DTGS'17 co-chair, gave a talk on the interrelationship between the Internet and the modern social sciences. Dr. Ginaluca Demartini from the University of Sheffield and the ACM distinguished scholar gave a presentation on the "Power of Big Data" and how data-driven applications transform our everyday life. The keynote lecture by Dr. Sergey Kovalchuk from the ITMO University was devoted to the innovations that help to enhance public health decision making with computational predictive models. Two more keynote speeches were presented during the conference. Dr. King-wa Fu from the University of Hong-Kong shared the results of his research on the Internet censorship in China and the ways to reveal its trends with automatic methods of data collection and analysis. Prof. Carlos Gershenson (National Autonomous University of Mexico) elaborated on the "Future of Urban Mobility" and digital transformations of urban life in the near future.

The conference proceeded with the Poster session and Panel session. The latter comprised the following DTGS'17 tracks: eSociety, ePolity, eCity, eFinance & eEconomy and eHealth.

The organizers of the conference are doing their best to make DTGS a new emerging collaborative platform for interdisciplinary research. The raise of papers quality and conference publicity is a good sign that this goal will be achieved.

The international conference "Digital Transformation & Global Society" (DTGS 2018) was held for the third time on May 30 – June 2, 2018 in St. Petersburg Russia. That year was marked with a significant raise of interest in the conference within the academia. We have received 222 submissions, carefully reviewed by at least three Program Committee members. 76 papers were accepted, with an acceptance rate of 34 per cent. More than 120 participants attended the conference and contributed to its success. We would like to emphasize the increase in the number of young scholars taking part in the event, as well as the overall improvement in papers' quality.

DTGS – 2018 was organized as a series of research paper sessions, preceded by a poster session. The sessions corresponded to one of the following DTGS – 2018 tracks:

  • ESociety: Social Informatics and Virtual Communities;
  • EPolity: Politics and Governance in the Cyberspace;
  • EHumanities: Digital Culture & Education;
  • ECity: Smart Cities & Urban Governance;
  • EEconomy: Digital Economy and ICT-driven Economic Practices;
  • ECommunication: Online Communication and the New Media;
Two new international workshops were also held under the auspices of DTGS: the Internet Psychology workshop, chaired by Prof. Alexander Voiskounsky (Moscow State University) and Prof. Anthony Faiola (The University of Illinois at Chicago), as well as the Computational Linguistics workshop, led by Prof. Viktor Zakharov (St. Petersburg State University) and Prof.Anna Tilmans (Leibniz University of Hannover). The agenda of DTGS is thus becoming broader, exploring the new domains of digital transformation.

Furthermore, we need to mention several insightful keynote lectures organized at DTGS – 2018. Prof. Stephen Coleman from the University of Leeds gave a talk on the role of the Internet in restoring and promoting democracy. The lecture was partially based on his recent book Can the Internet Strengthen Democracy(Polity: 2017), which had been translated into Russian and published by the DTGS team before the conference. Dr. Dennis Anderson(St. Francis College, USA) shared with the participants his vision on the future of e-government and its role in society, while Dr. Christoph Glauser(Institute for Applied Argumentation Research, Switzerland) presented the tools to evaluate citizens' expectations from e-government and the ways e-services can be adjusted to serve people's needs. The keynote lecture by Prof. Anthony Faiolawas devoted to e-health technologies, especially to the potential of mobile technologies to facilitate healthcare.

Finally, two international panel discussions were arranged. The first one – "Cybersecurity, Security and Privacy" - was chaired by Prof. Latif Ladidfrom the University of Luxembourg. Panel participants: Dr. Antonio Skametra(University of Murcia), Dr. Sebastian Ziegler(Mandat International, IoT Forum, Switzerland) and Dr. Luca Bolognini(Italian Institute for Data Privacy and Valorization) shared their opinion on the future of privacy protection in relation to the changes of the EU personal data regulations. The second panel moderated by Dr. Yuri Misnikov(ITMO University) and Dr. Svetlana Bodrunova (St. Petersburg State University) was devoted to the online deliberative practices in the EU and Russia. Prof. Stephen Coleman, Prof. Leonid Smorgunov (St. Petersburg State University), Dr. Lyudmila Vidiasova (ITMO University), Dr. Olessia Koltsova and Yury Kabanov(National Research University Higher School of Economics) took part in the discussion, expressing their views on the role of virtual communities in maintaining democratic practices and better governance.

The 4th International Conference on Digital Transformation and Global Society (DTGS 2019) was held during June 19–21, 2019, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Program Committee received 194 submissions, and after careful evaluation by reviewers and editors (before and after the conference) 65 papers were accepted for this post-conference volume. In addition to the main conference, two international workshops were organized for the second time: the Internet Psychology Workshop, chaired by Prof. Alexander Voiskounsky (Lomonosov Moscow State University), and the Computational Linguistics Workshop, led by Prof. Viktor Zakharov (St. Petersburg State University). The accepted papers from these workshops are also included in this volume.

An innovation of DTGS 2019 became the Young Scholars' Forum – an updated poster session, where students and young academics could present their research and get feedback from peers. The Award Committee, chaired by Dr. Olessia Koltsova (Higher School of Economics), was formed to assess all posters and select the best ones. By the decision of the Award Committee, several posters were accepted to the final volume after the substantial revision and expansion.

Furthermore, several insightful keynote lectures were organized at DTGS 2019: "Decision Making using Digital Personalities" by Klavdia Bochenina (ITMO University, Russia), "Fast and Accurate Algorithms for Detection of Spread Source in Large Complex Networks with Single and Multiple Propagation Paths" by Janusz Hołyst (Warsaw University of Technology, Poland), and "The Primacy of Presence: Supporting Psychological Wellbeing with Interactive Technology" by John Waterworth (Umea University, Sweden).


The 5th International Conference on Digital Transformation and Global Society (DTGS 2020) was held from June 17–19, 2020. This year we have received 108 submissions, and after careful evaluation by the Program Committee and the volume editors 36 papers were accepted for this post-conference volume. The submissions fall into several major tracks of the conference:
– E-Society: issues related to the social informatics, computational social science, and online media research
– E-Polity: e-governance and e-participation issues
– E-City: smart cities, urban governance, and planning
– Economy: digital economy, e-commerce, and consumers' behavior online
– E-Humanities: digital culture and education
– E-Health: digital transformation of healthcare

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Organization Committee had to change the format of the conference. It was organized completely online as a series of synchronous moderated sessions, for all participants to present their papers and get valuable feedback from the colleagues. Also, a special online platform was created, for the participants to get themselves familiar with the materials and ask questions before the
conference. Both asynchronous and synchronous parts of the conference went smoothly and provoked fruitful discussions.

The international workshop "E-Health: P4-medicine & Digital Transformation" was organized for the first time within DTGS, chaired by Anatoly Shalyto and Georgy Kopanitsa (ITMO University). This year the session on Smart Cities was held in partnership with the WeGO Eurasia Regional Office. The participants of the session were welcomed by Mrs. Svetlana Openysheva, Secretary General of the organization. We would like to thank
the colleagues and hope that our cooperation will continue. As was the case last year, the Young Scholars' Forum was also organized. We received 12 papers from the young scholars. By the decision of the Award
Committee, chaired by Andrei Chugunov (ITMO University), 5 best papers were accepted to the final volume after substantial revision. We thank all members of the Award Committee for their effort and excellent expertise during the forum.

Another special event of DTGS 2020 was the international online seminar "Electronic Participation: Concepts, Technologies and Interdisciplinarity." The mission of the seminar was to discuss topical issues related to the research and practice of e-participation. It brought experts and scholars from Austria, Portugal, Russia, and Switzerland.
CONTACTS
E-mail: dtgs@itmo.ru (Organization Committee)