[ecrea] Call for Papers -Digital Culture meets data: Critical approaches

Call for Papers

Digital Culture meets data: Critical approaches

ECREA Digital Culture and Communication Section Conference.
6th –7th November 2017, University of Brighton, UK

Abstract deadline: 20 May 2017

Keynote speakers:

•	Rob Kitchin, Maynooth University, Republic of Ireland
•	Helen Thornham, University of Leeds, UK

Conference theme:

Algorithms and big data are today shaping our sociocultural and 
technical relations and our everyday experiences. Digital culture and 
communication are inevitably changing as media infrastructures, media 
practices and social environments become increasingly ‘datafied’. We may 
think of surveillance, algorithmic profiling and self-tracking for 
example. Wearable technologies such as fitness trackers allow people to 
understand the body as a data-producing object. Our use of commonplace 
media technologies is mediated by data in ways that we do not ask for, 
nor even necessarily know about or consent to. Data interpellate us. Yet 
data are obscure and enigmatic.


But what does this turn to data mean for our research, scholarship and 
pedagogic practice? Has the data paradigm arrived as an unquestionable 
unifying concept for studies of digital culture and digital media, 
communication, technology? It may be that a shift of focus on algorithms 
and data is fundamentally disruptive to the ways in which we see our 
research and disciplines. It may even appear to limit the theoretical 
and methodological tools through which we increasingly try to understand 
mediation, the formation of identity, social life, politics and the 
creative industries. To others, the ‘datalogical turn’ may be plainly 
repeating the processes of earlier instances of technological 
innovation. And for some, it may provide an opportunity to frame new 
theoretical concepts and methodological tools for a whole new set of 
social, cultural and political phenomena.


The ECREA DCC Conference “Digital Culture meets data: Critical 
approaches” asks the question: what theoretical and empirical 
perspectives on data and the digital can be used to augment and 
diversify our research and educational approaches? And how might we 
challenge data paradigms or aim to show alternative or complementary 
ways to address digital culture and communication? We invite empirical 
and theoretical research papers and panels that address themes such as:

-	Media studies and datafication -	Researching media and culture using 
data methods
-	Data visualisation, art and design
-	Data and the role of the imaginary, fantasy and myth
-	Data cultures and neoliberalism -	Data activism and citizen engagement 
-	Data and critical literacy -	Data and gender, race, class inequalities
-	Datafication and the creative industries
-	Feminist approaches to data -	Machine learning and AI
-	Mobile and locative media
-	Quantified self and data cultures
-	Smart cities, data and sustainability
-	Social bots and the management of sociality

The Conference will also host a YECREA Workshop entitled: ‘The ambitious 
early-career scholar in an age of precarity: questions, challenges, 
opportunities’ (Organised by Ysabel Gerrard, University of Leeds). This 
workshop will facilitate open discussion between academics at various 
stages in their careers about some of the issues confronting ambitious 
early-career scholars in an increasingly competitive international job 
market.
Submission details, individual papers:

Please submit abstracts of 250-350 words, written in English. Abstracts 
should contain a clear outline of the argument, the theoretical 
framework, methodology and results (if applicable), and how this links 
to the theme and topics of this conference, or to the general concerns 
of digital culture and communication. Please include 3-5 keywords that 
describe your work, and a Bio note (max 100 words, stating affiliation).

Submission details, panels:

We welcome panel submissions, numbering 4 speakers.  Please submit 
abstracts of 250-350 words per paper, plus a 250-350 word rationale for 
the panel.  Individual abstracts should contain a clear outline of the 
argument, the theoretical framework, methodology and results (if 
applicable), and how this links to the theme and topics of this 
conference, or to the general concerns of digital culture and 
communication. Please include 3-5 keywords that describe each individual 
abstracts, plus 3-5 keywords that describe the panel, and Bio note for 
each individual abstract (max 100 words, stating affiliation).

All abstracts and rationale should be sent together as a single document 
by the panel proposer.
Details for abstract submission:

Please provide abstracts as .PDF, .DOC or .DOCX file types.  Abstracts 
should be emailed to (brightondcc /at/ gmail.com).  Deadline for paper and 
panel submissions is May 20, 2017.  Notification of acceptance: June 
20th, 2017.

You do not need to be an ECREA or DCC section member to apply.
For updates, please visit https://dccecrea.wordpress.com
For CFP http://dccecrea.wordpress.com/call-for-papers-2017-conference/
Registration fees:
Academic Employed full time.…….... £65
Academic Employed Part Time …..... £40
Students / Unwaged ………….……… £20

Organising committee: Ryan Burns, Aristea Fotopoulou, Leighton Evans, 
Ysabel Gerrard, Ana Jorge, Theodore Koulouris, Sander De Ridder, Maria 
Sourbati.



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