CFP: Searching for Knowledge as Expertise
Call for Submissions
Searching for Knowledge as Expertise
Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture
Deadline: 21 July 2009 for proposals 1 October 2009 for
completed papers
"I can always find out: Searching for Knowledge as Expertise and the
Technocratic Generation"
The concept for this special 10th-anniversary issue of Reconstruction stems
from two intersecting strands. First, Engelbaert and Lickliderâ??s original
conception of what has become the Internet was a device for the
"augmentation of human intellect." Second, when Theodore Roszak conducted
his seminal study on the "counter culture" of the 1960s, among his
conclusions was the centrality of technocrats and the technocracy as the
pre-eminent authority in North American culture and as the target of
youthful resistance.
Not surprisingly, "I can always find out: Searching for Knowledge as
Expertise and the Technocratic Generation" has two distinct halves. The
first half, in which "always" means "every time," considers the ways in
which the ability to find knowledge has become synonymous with expertise and
examines the elements that have fostered this situation. In this regard,
factors such as the range of software and hardware--from Wikipedia and FAQs
to cellphones and iPods--which anticipate or "think" for the user but also
require constant updating are both rationale and outcome for their youthful
consumers. When combined with the downloading and broadening of elementary
and secondary curriculum at an ever-increasing rate, the range of everyday
devices which involve "looking up" information the results in technocrats
whose expertise is searching. Thus, the second half, in which "always" means
the lexical case, "as a last resort." This entails a consideration of the
effects of a particular kind of expertise on knowledge and on
creativity--namely, a generation of youth who are technocrats themselves. As
a result, the assumption "I can always find out" becomes the conclusion "I
donâ??t need to know because I can find out if I must" and in turn, the
resignation of "I donâ??t need to know."
This special issue envisions three broad areas of inquiry: defining the
expertise, the technical/cultural sites of such expertise, the effects of
the phenomena on creativity and expression. Scholars are also invited to
theorize, including extensions or developments of existing paradigms, on the
situation. Other general areas of inquiry might include:
* expertise vs knowledge in the classroom, including specific experiences
* pedagogical strategies for remediation or intervention
* cultural productions requiring such expertise
* curriculum downloading and its implications
* technocrats I have known
* software and hardware that thinks
* governmentalism and youthful technocracy
* the broadening of the youthful demographic
Please send proposals, abstracts, completed essays, multimedial
performances, etc. to Marc Ouellette at
reconstruction.managing_at_gmail.comby 21 July 2009 or completed
papers by 1 October 2009. We are happy to
consider abstracts and proposals prior to this date. Publication is expected
in the third quarter of 2010. All submissions are refereed. Papers must
follow the Reconstruction guidelines for submission <
http://reconstruction.eserver.org/guidelines.shtml>.
Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture <
http://reconstruction.eserver.org> (ISSN: 1547-4348) is an innovative online
cultural studies journal dedicated to fostering an intellectual community
composed of scholars and their audience, granting them all the ability to
share thoughts and opinions on the most important and influential work in
contemporary interdisciplinary studies. Reconstruction publishes three
themed issues and one open issue quarterly. Reconstruction is indexed in the
MLA International Bibliography.
--
Dr. Devon C. Fitzgerald
Assistant. Professor, Professional Writing & Rhetoric
Millikin University
(dfitzgerald /at/ millikin.edu)
(rhetoricjunkie /at/ gmail.com)
