[ecrea] CfP Hackademia Summer School 2016 Lüneburg

    15. November 2015
    *Call For Participants*
    *Hackademia: empirical studies in computing cultures *
    *The 2nd Lüneburg Summer School on Digital Cultures*
    *August 28^th  – September 2^nd , 2016*
    *Leuphana University *

    *Curated by*
    Paula Bialski, Leuphana University
    Gabriella Coleman, McGill University
    Marcell Mars, Leuphana University

    *Background*
    Studying digital media today means studying those
    technologists—hackers, security resarchers, game developers, system
    administrators, and designers—who create and maintain the digital
    worlds we live in. How much agency lies in the hands of programmers,
    coders, and engineers to create our digital worlds is still up for
    debate, yet this much is true: various hacking and related
    subcultures form critical nodes of practice that help shape and
    condition the contemporary technologies we use everyday. Whether it
    is an analyst or coder implementing algorithms at a large financial
    institution, a group of designers working on improving the user
    interface for a cryptographic tool, a privacy team securing a
    browser, a developer coding her own app, cryptographers working on
    an open source anoymized system, a programmer working on a p2p
    file-sharing platform, hackers buying and selling zero days in a
    grey market, a team of system administrators at Google working to
    scale up services, a journalist-coder developing visualization
    tools, indie game developers seeking to write a politically minded
    game, or a hacker-leaker whistleblowing to salavage privacy - all
    have something to say about how digital technology can and should be
    created.


    These technology workers/experts are now central to every field of
    social, political, and economic import. They secure our
    communications networks; shape the design and portals we use to
    connect to our banks, our friends, our loved ones, our colleagues,
    our business partners; inform us about the activities of our
    governments; design novel currencies; exfiltrate intellectual
    property and proof of wrongdoing from corporate actors; offer us
    alternative ways of organizing our political voices whether through
    political projects or games; function as conduits and warriors
    between nations; and allow us to confront the laws we don’t like –
    through democratic engagements, as in the Free Software movement, or
    tools that enable outright circumvention.
    This is an ideal time to understand and ultimately appraise their
    activities, actions, their desires, and intentions.While an
    increasing number of scholars – ethnographers, cultural
    anthropologists, sociologists, and media historians – are
    undertaking the study of hacker cultures,there are many
    methodological questions to pose and explore: How much technical
    knowledge is necessary to study the worlds of computing and
    programming?  How does one gain access to secret nooks of hacking or
    corporate sites – whether a security company, gaming outfit, or
    blackhat computer forum – where codes, designers, and hackers labor?
    How is the study of hackers similar and different to the study of
    other experts such as scientists? As participant observers, how can
    we fully understand the engineering culture of the hackers we are
    studying, and what shortcuts in our methods must be taken in order
    to create an understanding?

    *Who Should Apply?*
    This summer school invites doctoral students in the field of
    ethnography, cultural anthropology, media studies, software studies,
    sociology, science, technology studies, history, or other, who are
    currently working on a dissertation on the life-worlds, practices,
    cultures, or platforms of hackers. Hackers here are understood
    broadly as programmers, coders, pirates, and computer engineers of
    all shapes and forms – and do not necessarily have to be engaged in
    illegal or subversive activity or self identify as hackers.
    Applicants who are struggling with field entry, are learning to
    code, or seek to expand their methods, are particularly welcome.

    *Who Will Attend?*
    This summer school will provide a dialogue between hackers and
    academics. As such, we will additionally invite a number of hackers,
    coders, programmers, and technologists. These guests will lead
    sessions around the topic of field entrance, knowledge transfer,
    work organization and hacker communication practices, feminist
    critiques, and standards/protocols. Keynote speakers will also
    provide evening lectures, and help lead sessions.

    *Where and when will this take place?*
    The Hackademia summer school will take place at the Digital Cultures
    Research Lab (DCRL), Leuphana University in Luneburg, Germany (30
    minutes away from Hamburg), between August 28^th  – September 2^nd ,
    2016.

    *How to apply:*
    Please submit your CV along with a 500-word abstract of your
    dissertation, and a 500-word explanation on why you would like to
    attend this summer school. The deadline for applications for the
    summer school is January 4th, 2016.Please email your applications
    (compile into one PDF) to (bialski /at/ leuphana.de)
    <mailto:(bialski /at/ leuphana.de)>


    All applicants will be informed about the selection of participants
    in mid-February.


    The working language of the summer school will be English;
    therefore, a sufficient understanding of English is expected.
    There is no participation fee. The organizers will cover
    accommodation costs. We have a limited amount of need-based travel
    funding available. Please indicate in your application letter if you
    wish to apply for travel funding.
    For further information on the DCRL, please visit:

_http://cdc.leuphana.com/structure/digital-cultures-research-lab/project/research_



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