[ecrea] Call for paper for Understanding the Social

The abstract submission deadline for Understanding the Social, a free 
one day interdisciplinary conference exploring media, technology, and 
the social, is quickly approaching. Abstracts of no more than 300 words 
and a short bio of 100 words should be submitted via email by 28th 
August 2018, with the event being held at the University of East Anglia 
on January 8th 2019.

Info about the call can be found below. For any enquires, or to submit 
your abstract, please email the team at: (UnderstandingTheSocial /at/ gmail.com).


The pervasiveness of social media has led to both the rise and erasure 
of ‘the social’. The social is increasingly evasive, at once found 
everywhere and nowhere. Social media are widely lauded for connecting 
people and enabling richer, more dynamic socialities yet many critique 
these processes as emptying out social connection in favour of data 
accumulation, self-promotion, and platform capitalism. Similarly, these 
new ways of experiencing, augmenting, and understanding the social are 
rife with their own socio-cultural and socio-economic biases, born out 
through designers and users, meaning not every user experiences these 
spaces and relates to these technologies in the same manner. It becomes 
apparent that ‘the social’ presumes a singular experience, when 
realities are far more diverse.

Current research on social media draws in an interdisciplinary manner 
from a wide range of thinking on what the social means, and is 
increasingly challenging extant theories and conceptions of the social. 
This poses a number of questions for how we consider, define, and 
explore the social, and crucially what our responsibilities are as 
researchers and educators. This also poses a number of opportunities to 
work across disciplinary boundaries to explore and reframe our 
understandings of media, technology, and the social.

Keynotes will be given by Professor Nick Couldry, London School of 
Economics and Professor Gina Neff, Oxford Internet Institute.

This event aims to critically examine not only the meanings of the 
social in contemporary digital practices across cultures, but also 
challenges underlying epistemologies of the social in research and 
popular cultures. Papers may approach the topic from theoretical, 
conceptual, and/or empirical positions.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Challenges of and negotiations around agency and structure
The relationship between technology, self, and society
Educational challenges and responsibilities in the digital age
Changing socialities in the face of platform capitalism, the sharing 
economy, the gig economy, the rise of mediation, & networked selves
The embedding and disembedding of socio-cultural resources online
Resistance and transgression on, in, with, and through technology
The role of designers, users, researchers and the public in the framing, 
conceptualisation, and representation of ‘the social’ online
Extant and emerging social structures in the digital age
Boundaries between online and offline social practices
Affordances and mediation of social practices
Alternative media and sub-altern communities
Technological mediation of public / private
Digital citizenships and the politics of belonging
Emerging technologies and digital futures
This list is merely suggestive of the range of topics of interest to the 
organisers and is not in any way restrictive of possible interpretations 
of the theme.  We encourage contributors to be imaginative in 
formulating ideas and paper proposals.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words and a short bio of 100 words should 
be submitted via email by 28th August 2018.

You will receive notification of the outcome of your submission by 
September 30. Submissions from early career researchers are highly 
encouraged. Final papers should be no longer than 8,000 words / 20 
minutes. All those who submit final papers by January 7th will also be 
invited to submit to a special edition of an international peer-reviewed 
journal.

The event is free to attend and present, and will be hosted at the 
School of Education and Lifelong Learning and the University of East 
Anglia, Norwich, UK, on the 8th January 2019.

Key dates:

Abstract submission: August 28th 2018

Notification of outcomes: September 30th 2018

Draft papers due: January 7th 2019

Conference: January 8th 2019, at UEA

Organisers:

Dr Zoetanya Sujon (University of Arts London)

Dr Harry Dyer (University of East Anglia)

Enquiries and abstract submission: (UnderstandingTheSocial /at/ gmail.com)


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