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 Œdatafied¹. 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 Œdatalogical turn¹ 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 ³Digital Culture meets data: Critical
approaches² 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: ŒThe ambitious
early-career scholar in an age of precarity: questions, challenges,
opportunities¹ (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.ŠŠ.... £65
Academic Employed Part Time Š..... £40
Students / Unwaged ŠŠŠŠ.ŠŠŠ £20
Organising committee: Ryan Burns, Aristea Fotopoulou, Leighton Evans,
Ysabel Gerrard, Ana Jorge, Theodore Koulouris, Sander De Ridder, Maria
Sourbati.
