[Commlist] CFP *Alt+F4: Rebooting Community after Gamergate*

*Call for Papers: "Alt+F4: Rebooting Community after Gamergate"*

*A Public Humanities Symposium Hosted by Lawrence Technological University*

In the decade following the #GamerGate controversy, the urgency for a 
nuanced understanding of both social conflicts and inclusive community 
within digital spaces has become increasingly apparent. Lawrence 
Technological University’s "Alt+F4: Rebooting Community after Gamergate" 
is an academic and community facing symposium that responds to this need 
by uniting diverse scholarly approaches that take up and challenge the 
racialized and gendered injustices prevalent across online spaces while 
foregrounding existing attempts to radically imagine–and produce–other 
digital worlds. Our gathering will convene a wealth of multidisciplinary 
and transdisciplinary scholars who will examine digital spaces as 
structured by histories of domination and exclusion, yet also 
opportunities for the expression of marginalized identities and experiences.

Our symposium addresses these complexities by acknowledging and 
investigating the uneven promise of technological spaces, where issues 
of democracy and social justice are debated, enacted, and contested. 
Recent scholarship in social media and streaming economies (Johnson, 
Carrigan, & Brock, 2019; Tran, 2022; Van Dijck & Poell, 2015), 
disinformation studies (Marwick et al., 2022; Pavliuc et al., 2023), 
Black technostudies (Benjamin, 2019; Gray, 2020) and democracy in the 
digital age (Berry & Fagerjord, 2017; Schwanholz, Graham, & Stoll, 2018) 
provide a scaffold for our examination of the state of digital 
democracy, historical and current modes of social media toxicity, and 
emerging models for inclusive and equitable community-building endeavors 
in gaming and digital culture. By reflecting on the nexus of social 
gaming, media ecologies, and political life participants will explore 
the broader ramifications of digital interactions that extend beyond the 
content of the games themselves.

As a transdisciplinary gathering, our symposium will bridge academic 
theorization and community practice. In addition to inviting scholars to 
consider the narrative of #GamerGate within a broader spectrum of social 
media and digital economies, we invite game developers, designers, 
coders, and players to consider the ways gaming as a praxis extend 
beyond the play space into community and world-building activities, 
including platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Discord, and Twitch. 
Ultimately, the goal of the symposium is to use critical analysis and 
play to explore the ways that contemporary gaming is a hybrid medium 
with complex politics that forge narratives and meanings with real-world 
impact.

*Call for Submissions:*

We invite scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including but not 
limited to game studies, digital humanities, critical code studies, game 
development, psychology, science and technology studies, critical media 
studies, and related fields to submit scholarly papers/presentations 
that engage with the following themes:

  * #GamerGate as historical, political, social, cultural, and 
technological
  * intersectional analyses of digital culture
  * the perpetuation of injustice within gaming communities
  * implications of gaming design/ industry practices for media literacy
    and democratic engagement
  * explorations of gaming/social media platforms and
    disinformation/reactionary politics
  * applications of humanistic frameworks such as intersectionality,
    critical play, and digimodernism
  * how to understand and reshape digital narratives post-GamerGate
  * critical play as methodology for exploring identity
  * Black studies and gaming
  * joy, care, and inclusivity collectivity in gaming
  * gaming as political world-making
  * subcultural and parasocial relationships on cultures around games
  * social media as sites of trauma, psychological development, and
    cognition

Contributions should be informed by, but not limited to, the 
aforementioned theoretical frameworks and should aim to further our 
understanding of the social, cultural, psychological, and political 
dynamics within techno-cultural spaces post-GamerGate.

We await your proposals with keen interest, anticipating a symposium 
that not only reflects on the past but actively shapes a more inclusive 
and ethical digital future. A comprehensive website with submission 
details and further information will be forthcoming. Join us in this 
essential dialogue that unites academic, industry, and public spheres to 
understand and promote a democratic and inclusive digital world.

*Symposium Details:*

  * *Dates:* September 26-28, 2024
  * *Location:* Southfield, Lawrence Technological University
  * *Organizers:* Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and
    Communication; Department of Art and Design; College of Arts and
    Sciences; College of Architecture and Design; Lawrence Technological
    University

*Submission Guidelines:*

Please submit an abstract of no more than *250 words* via the conference 
portal via the Conference EasyChair here 
<https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=altf42024> (opening January 
2024) by *February 28, 2024 *. Submissions should be aligned with the 
symposium's focus on inclusive digital cultures. Selected papers will be 
invited to contribute to an edited scholarly collection.

*Important Dates:*

  * *Abstract Submission Deadline:* February 28, 2024
  * *Notification of Acceptance:* April 15, 2024

*Contact the Organizing Committee* for more information here 
<mailto:(altf4conference /at/ ltu.edu)>.


https://www.ltu.edu/alt-f4 <https://www.ltu.edu/alt-f4>


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------