[ecrea] CFP: Data Publics conference, Lancaster University

A reminder of a call that may be of interest to some members of this list.

Deadline for submissions is Sunday January 22nd.


CALL FOR ABSTRACTS AND EXHIBITS

Data Publics — Investigating the formation and representation of crowds, 
groups and clusters in digital economies

Lancaster University, March 31 / April 1 & 2, 2017

Keynote speakers: John Bowers (Newcastle University), Helen Kennedy (The 
University of Sheffield), Michiel de Lange (Utrecht University), Anders 
Koed Madsen (Aalborg University), Noortje Marres (University of 
Warwick), Alex Taylor (Microsoft Research)
“Those indirectly and seriously affected for good or evil form a group 
distinctive enough to require recognition and name. The name selected is 
The Public” (John Dewey, 1927).

There is a tension between how “publics” form spontaneously (for example 
in response to economic hardship, to create support groups, to protest 
about particular matters of concern) and how online users with similar 
consumption, browsing, movement patterns become grouped and acted upon 
as units of data, whether by organisations, researchers, or others. When 
people collectively and publicly self-organise to form a group, the 
identity of participants as well as the collective grouping itself may 
be apparent to all involved. However, with the rise, across a range of 
fields of digital and algorithmic technologies that work by segmenting 
people according to shared sets of interests, objectives, behavioural 
traits, and/or political persuasions, these processes as well as the 
identities of participants tends to be invisible to those involved. In 
the latter, it is only when these acts of ‘assigned’ collectivisation 
are exposed, perhaps deliberately (e.g. when confronting published 
research), perhaps unexpectedly (e.g. via data hacks/leaks), or perhaps 
when group self-recognition is achieved by users (e.g. via transparency 
apps/tools, social media, activism, freedom of information requests), 
that those involved begin to recognise their status as a “public”.

This conference will investigate the diverse ways in which publics are, 
and can be, constituted, provoked, threatened, understood, and 
represented. This includes examining the role played in the formation of 
publics by new on- and offline infrastructures, data visualisations, 
social and economic practices, research methods and creative practices, 
and emerging and future technologies. Specifically, the event will 
facilitate cross-cutting conversations between designers, social 
scientists and creative technologists to explore the new challenges and 
opportunities afforded by thinking and working with “Data Publics”.

This conference will be inherently interdisciplinary and as such we seek 
contributions from researchers within the areas of social science, 
design, new media art, data visualisation, and human-computer 
interaction. It will take place over three days, and will comprise a 
combination of hands-on workshops, paper presentations and an exhibition 
of work.

Day one will provide hands-on introductions to key methods for 
investigating data publics, involving two workshops running in parallel. 
One workshop – ‘Digital Methods/Data Visualisation’, led by David Moats 
– will introduce the digital methods and data visualisation approaches 
that can be used to conduct research in this field. The other – 
‘Strategies, Tools and Participatory Processes’, led by Clara Crivellaro 
– will explore the practicalities of using design strategies, tools and 
participatory socio-technical processes to support the emergence and 
formation of publics. The day will end with participants from the two 
workshops entering into dialogue.

Following the workshops, the next two days will feature a mixture of 
academic paper presentations and exhibits from participants, with a 
focus throughout on the way a diverse array of methods, analytical 
approaches, representational techniques and practical engagements might 
be related to one another, put in conversation and combined. 
Participants are warmly invited to presents digital artefacts, 
data-visualisations or performances alongside their academic work or as 
stand-alone pieces that explore the topic of data-publics.

For participation in the conference, we seek two forms of contributions: 
full papers and works to exhibit.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS AND EXHIBITS
We seek either (a) abstracts for papers or (b) descriptions of exhibits 
that each engage with the formation, relevance, and effects of “Data 
Publics”.

We invite contributions from professionals, scholars, designers, 
artists, activists, and those in other related fields, working in areas 
including but not limited to sociology, anthropology, geography, digital 
methods, interaction design, data visualisation, human-computer 
interaction, and art.

The deadline for submission is January 22nd, 2017.

Contributions should address at least one of the following three themes:

1. Digital Economies / The Effects of Data Publics
●     What are the social, economic, ethical (and other) implications of 
emerging and future data publics?
●     How are data-oriented publics constituted, including in relation 
to digital economies?
●     Through which registers of everyday experience (e.g. as associated 
with making financial decisions, seeking emotional support, campaigning 
for change) do individuals participate in such publics?

2. Emergence and Complexity / The Behaviours of Data Publics
●     How do different conditions (e.g. social, technological, 
affective) impact the emergence of data-oriented publics?
●     What new design paradigms are enabled with large-scale data publics?
●     How might we better conceptualise and work with complex data publics?
●     How are new technologies affecting the shape/direction of data 
publics?

3. Methods / Interactions and interventions with Data Publics
●     How can we intervene in the formation, stabilisation, 
destabilisation, and transformation of publics? What role might such 
methods/creative practices themselves play in the constitution of data 
publics?
●     What forms of creative practice/visualisation/interaction 
design/human-computer interaction are needed to engage with data publics 
and to either support the emergence of or sustain such publics?
●     What (new/existing/combination of) methods/tools are required to 
study/shape the emergence/fate of data publics?

HOW TO SUBMIT
Those interested in participating in the conference should submit either 
a paper abstract including 5-10 indicative references, or a description 
of the work to be exhibited including, if relevant, a maximum of 5 
illustrative images and an additional description of any 
technical/spatial requirements the exhibit has. Submissions of no more 
than 500 words should be sent to (datapublics /at/ lancaster.ac.uk) by January 
22nd (descriptions of technical/spatial requirements and references are 
not included in the word count). We encourage participants to attend 
both the conference and a workshop, but it is not a requirement. 
Therefore, please also indicate in the submission whether you wish to 
attend (a) the conference and a workshop, or (b) just the conference. If 
you wish to attend a workshop please also indicate (c) whether you are 
interested in the ‘Digital Methods/Data Visualisation’ workshop or the 
‘Strategies, Tools and Participatory Processes’ workshop.

Those interested in participating in just a workshop and not the 
conference, please email (datapublics /at/ lancaster.ac.uk) again by January 
22nd indicating whether you are interested in the ‘Digital Methods/Data 
Visualisation’ workshop or the ‘Strategies, Tools and Participatory 
Processes’ workshop. Please also, in no more than 100 words, state why 
you wish to attend. As places on the workshop are limited, this will 
help us select participants if necessary.
If applying for a reduced fee (see below), please also state your 
reasons for doing so (100 words maximum).

REGISTRATION FEES
Conference + workshop: £110 (Students/unwaged may apply for a reduced 
fee of £55).
Conference only: £90 (Students/unwaged may apply for a reduced fee of £45)
Workshop only: £60 (Students/unwaged may apply for a reduced fee of £30)
(Reduced fee places are limited and will be allocated first to those 
without recourse to external funding and then on a first come first 
served basis.)

PARTNERS & ORGANISERS
Partners: The conference is funded by the Digital Economy Network and 
the Data Science Institute (Lancaster University), with additional 
support from the Centre for Mobilities Research (Lancaster University), 
ImaginationLancaster, the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital 
Civics (Newcastle University), and the HighWire Centre for Doctoral 
Training (Lancaster University).
Organisers: Clara Crivellaro (Newcastle University), Joe Deville 
(Lancaster University), Daniel Richards (Lancaster University), 
Sebastian Weise (Newcastle University).

FOLLOW / CONTACT
Follow conference updates on Facebook 
[https://www.facebook.com/datapublics/], Twitter 
[https://twitter.com/datapublics], and datapublics.net. Queries can be 
sent to (datapublics /at/ lancaster.ac.uk).



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