I was fortunate to connect with five other amazing and like-minded scholars in the digital and information systems domain and I was invited to participate on a panel session on a key area of concern to all of us, human flourishing in the digital era. We have subsequebtly published a journal paper on this but for property, here is an excerpt of the panel proceedings for our session at the European Conference for Information Systems (ECIS) 2023 held in Norway in 2023.
Reference of the panel proceedings
Hylving, L., Koutsikouri, D., Ngwenyama, O., Raftopoulos, M., Rowe, F., and Tona, O. (2023) “Human Flourshing in the Digital Era – What Responsibility Does/Should Research(ers) Have?” ECIS 2023 Panels.
Overview of the proceedings paper
The complexity introduced by digitalization in all spheres of society has cast established ways of thinking, working and doing into question and calls for new perspectives and approaches (Stahl et al., 2021). We have seen how digital technologies designed to entertain, connect, and enhance humanity cause negative stress, anxiety, inequality, social disconnect and more. Therefore, in this panel we will discuss and explore a wide range of issues related to human flourishing in contemporary society.
Human flourishing is both the optimal continuing development of human beings’ potentials and living well as a human being. It promotes the growth, development, and holistic well-being of individuals and communities. Having a thorough understanding of the conditions that enable human flourishing will promote safety and security in people’s lives. This includes health, economic, community, financial, political, and more, which are all areas that have been digitized or digitalized.
While the conception of “digital first” (Baskerville et al., 2020) is gaining much attention, it is easy to lose focus on the aspects that makes humans prosper and flourish, including belonging, emotions, lust, sensibility, close relationships, creativity, and more. Here we draw attention to the concept of human flourishing as this is an under-researched concept within the IS discipline. Establishing an understanding of what it means to be human will be a critical necessity in the near future to achieve social and emotional wellbeing.
We have brought together researchers from four academic institutions who will offer their insights and discuss the concept of human flourishing from different perspectives. They will share their views on how it can be studied, but also how we can cultivate it within the discipline (both in research and in practice), as well as what are the challenges, possibilities, and pitfalls.
With this as a backdrop, we question in this panel:
• What is our responsibility as researchers focusing on the development, design and implementation, and usage of digital technology in relation to human flourishing?
• Is it possible to amplify human flourishing with digital technology?
• What consequences does digital technology have on human flourishing?
• What new insights can information systems (IS) scholars offer regarding the possibilities and challenges in building a future where humans can flourish?
The panelists will bring forth different positions regarding human flourishing in the digital era. They will provide their educated guess and assessment of how further technological progress would impact the situation further and increase the challenge, but also bring forth possible resolutions.
Funding Statement
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101023024 for Augmented-Humans.
Augmented Humans 