[ecrea] CfP: Sociotechnical constraints and opportunities in the production and dissemination of knowledge

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE WORKSHOP: Sociotechnical constraints and 
opportunities in the production and dissemination of knowledge

Congress of the Swiss Sociological Association 2015, 3-5 June, 
University of Lausanne


(Translated from the original call in French)
The advent of the public sphere is concomitant to the development of 
modern means of communication that bring together geographically 
separated individuals (Noiriel 2009, Farge 1992, Habermas 1962). Modern 
knowledge is inseparable from sociotechnical means acting as media, 
whose structures are part of their ideology (Hall 1982). If the public 
sphere has not been studied much as a place of knowledge production and 
dissemination, New Media has attracted attention to the public as being 
fully involved in the production and dissemination of knowledge. 
Criticism on public dynamics of knowledge often addresses stakeholders' 
access, their resources, and publicized information content, as well as 
their ways of seeing and doing. However, the medium in its materiality, 
a technical artefact produced within a social context, can be studied as 
also implying ways of seeing and doing (Gillespie et al. 2014). For 
instance, twentieth century media (press, radio, TV) have been analyzed 
both with respect to their content and its production/reception as well 
as their material role of 'gatekeepers' of knowledge. In turn, Internet 
with its decentralized structure is considered by some as an ideal 
public space welcoming collaborative knowledge, whereas others diagnose 
a perpetuation of capitalism and its logics of inequality because 
digitally produced and broadcast knowledge defies collective 
deliberation (Rouvroy & Berns, 2013).
Before and beyond the arrival of the Internet as a communication tool, 
this workshop encourages submissions with multiple temporalities, 
addressing the following questions: 1) How to articulate the 
opportunities and constraints of communication tools in the production 
and dissemination of knowledge as a public and collective dynamic? 2) 
How is knowledge entangled with sociotechnical means and what is the 
role of the material configuration of these means?

Keywords: media technologies, sociotechnical studies, argumentation 
studies, public sphere, sociology of knowledge, epistemology of media, 
visual studies


The workshop lasts approximately 90 minutes and comprises 3 to 4 
individual presentations that should not exceed 20 minutes. It is 
possible to submit and present in German, French or English.

Please submit your abstract (2000 characters max.) before March 13, 2015 
via the website of the congress: www.unil.ch/sss-congres2015/. Abstracts 
should provide information and context about research questions, 
methodology, and results. In addition, please include keywords and a 
maximum of 10 bibliographic references.

The workshop organizers are responsible for selecting the contributions 
to be included in the workshop. They also will notify the contributors 
about acceptance of their proposal before March 27, 2015. Unfortunately, 
no funding can be provided, which is why contributors must cover their 
expenses themselves.


Contact Natalie Schwarz ((natalie.schwarz /at/ unil.ch)) for more information 
about the workshop.








Natalie Schwarz
Assistante diplômée en sociologie de l'image

UNIL Université de Lausanne
Laboratoire de Sociologie (LabSo)
Bâtiment Géopolis - bureau 5521
Quartier Mouline
1015 Lausanne - Suisse
Téléphone bureau: +41 (0)21 692 36 46

http://www.unil.ch/unisciences/natalieschwarz






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