1ST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF DIGITAL SOCIAL WORK

TURNING DIGITALIZATION INTO AN OPORTUNITY FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION

What we call digital social work or e-social work has progressed from being a specialisation to being a fundamental aspect of our discipline and profession. One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the acceleration of the digitisation processes of many public administration systems, education systems, and labour activities. 

From how we conduct interviews to how teams cooperate, our daily lives and professional activities are being redefined. Therefore, a process of technological innovation with social work at its forefront is required. For this purpose, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, the University of Zaragoza, and the University of Malaga have organised the 1ST International Congress of Digital Social Work, to be held on September 28–30, 2020. The Congress is a result of the response and interest on the seminars titled ‘Responses to POST-COVID-19. Diagnoses, challenges, and initiatives from Social Work,’ held in April and May 2020, and available on the Digital Social Work YouTube channel. 

Our objective is to promote a professional scientific space related to digital environments. By taking advantage of technological resources, we believe we can overcome geographical limits to work with colleagues in other countries, especially in Latin America, but also other parts of the world. We intend to place social work at the forefront of digitisation for not only analysis purposes but also the dissemination of research and intervention and the strength of people’s academic and professional careers. 

Our methodology is participatory; we seek to innovate by exchanging, creating, and transferring rigorous and well-founded knowledge. In all phases of the congress, we intend to use both traditional written text and video presentations to promote interaction in all dimensions. The work sessions will be held in online rooms, and the participants will have access to a repository containing all video communications that have been accepted. These video communications can be viewed during the week leading up to the start of the congress to facilitate a focus on interactive debate during the synchronous sessions. 

The process of participation in the congress is described as follows: 

1.       PANEL SESSIONS. For parallel sessions, the period of May 15 to June 5 is designated for the presentation of proposals. Which proposals have been accepted will be announced between June 5 and 10.

The session coordinators must send a video presentation of the session before June 10; this video will then be available on the Digital Social Work YouTube channel to enable the dissemination of each proposal and the preparation of communications. 

2.       PAPER AND POSTER SUBMISSIONS. June 15 to August 1 is designated as the period for submitting communications. Acceptance will be communicated before August 10. Once papers have been selected, each author must submit the final version of their text with a video presentation no more than 10 minutes in length before September 15. Alternatively, posters may be submitted; all submitted posters will be accessible in a repository during the congress sessions based on the same calendar (proposal presentation: June 15 to August 1). All accepted authors will be informed of their acceptance before August 10. Before September 15, each author must submit their poster in PowerPoint format with accompanying audio (maximum length: 5 minutes). 

3.       DYNAMIC OF THE CONGRESS: DISSEMINATION AND DEBATE. The video presentations of the sessions and those of each accepted communication will be available during the week leading up to the start of the congress on the Digital Social Work YouTube channel to facilitate the dissemination of all communications. Therefore, in the parallel sessions, the time available may be devoted to the debate, exchange, and analysis of proposals, as decided by those who coordinate each session. All selected posters will also be available during the week leading up to the start of the congress.

Finally, to accompany the selection of the 30 highest-quality communications, a monograph will be published in the Social Work Series collection published by Thomson Reuters Aranzadi.

LANGUAGES: Because the congress is an international congress, although the language of the plenary sessions will be Spanish, the parallel sessions may be held in other languages (English, French, Portuguese, Italian, or a language proposed by the coordinator). In addition, all communications related to said parallel sessions may be presented in the language established by the coordinator. The main activities of the conference, including the initial session, will be conducted in Spanish.