catac conferences

On behalf of the CATaC (Cultural Attitudes towards Technology and Communication) Organizing Committee, I am very pleased to pass on to you the first CFP for CATaC’12: Beyond the digital/cultural divide: in/visibility and new media (June 18-20, 2012, Aarhus, Denmark).

The biennial CATaC conference series, begun in 1998, has become a premier international forum for current research on the complex interactions between culturally-variable norms, practices, and communication preferences, and interaction with the design, implementation and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Our 2012 conference, as the title suggests, begins with the recognition that the ongoing issues and challenges clustering around digital divides – often involving mutually reinforcing cultural divides – extends beyond classic and stubborn problems of access to new media and communication technologies.

For example, matters of representation come into play, issuing in a cluster of questions:

• Whose images and words are seen/presented/promoted and whose aren’t? And why?
• If activists are using new media to represent realities of, say, oppressed indigenous people in a given country, is this better than no visibility at all, even if the people in question do not have access or skills to present themselves as subjects?

In particular:

• Local and indigenous HCI/ID is about making visible the semiotic scripts and political processes of meaning construction that shape the process of technology design and knowledge representation from a sociotechnical perspective. Making visible these scripts enables the assessment of the value of these tools and frameworks from indigenous and/or local perspectives. Key concerns here are (1) to examine the meaning and validity of democratic values that drive participatory design as a discipline, and (2) to question ‘exported’ representations of what constitutes good usability and user experience.

And:

• How do new practices of cloaking messages in otherwise public or semi-public media; for example, the strategies of online steganography work to create intentional invisibility in otherwise visible spaces? Are there important culturally-variable elements in these practices that, when brought to the foreground, help illuminate and clarify them in new ways?

Finally:

• What are the role(s) of (culturally) diverse understandings and representations of gender in structuring the frameworks and practices of design and implementation. How do these roles foster the visibility of some vis-à-vis the invisibility of “others” (in Levinas’ sense, in particular)?

Additional submissions are encouraged that address further conference points of emphasis:

• Theoretical and practical approaches to analyzing “culture”
• New layers of imaging and texting interactions fostering and/or threatening cultural diversity
• Impact of mobile technologies on privacy and surveillance
• Gender, sexuality and identity issues in social networks
• Cultural diversity in e-learning and/or m-learning
• Culturally-variable approaches to online identity management/creation, privacy, trust Copyright and intellectual property rights – recent developments, culturally-variable future directions?
• Culturally-variable responses to commodification in online environments

Both short (3-5 pages) and long (10-15 pages) original papers are sought for presentation. Panel proposals addressing a specific theme or topic are also encouraged.

Our provisional schedule

• Submission of papers (short or full), panel proposals: 17. February 2012
• Notification of acceptance: 16. March, 2012
• Final formatted papers (for conference proceedings): 19. April 2012

Further details regarding program (including keynote speakers and pre-conference activities), registration fees, travel and accommodations will be available soon on the conference website,.

We look forward to welcoming you to Aarhus next June!

Charles Ess (IMV, Aarhus University, Denmark), Chair
Fay Sudweeks (Professor Emerita, Murdoch University, Australia) – honorary chair
Herbert Hrachovec (University of Vienna, Austria)
Leah Macfadyen (The University of British Columbia, Canada)
José Abdelnour Nocera (University of West London, UK)
Kenneth Reeder (The University of British Columbia, Canada)
Ylva Hård af Segerstad (Göteborgs universitet, Göteborg, Sweden)
Michele M. Strano (Bridgewater College, USA)
Andra Siibak (University of Tartu, Estonia)
Maja van der Velden (University of Oslo, Norway)

AARHUS UNIVERSITY is ranked among the top 100 best universities in the world, and is noted for its fostering a wide range of interdisciplinary centres, institutes, and collaborative projects. It is thus an especially fitting venue for CATaC’12, our eight biennial conference fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.

Aarhus, the second-largest city in Denmark, enjoys the reputation of being the happiest city in the happiest country in the world. And for good reasons. Among them: there are many excellent opportunities for lovers of art (Aros Art Museum), Viking and Danish history (including Den Gamle By (the old village) and Moesgaard Museum), open-air markets (Ingerslev), fine food and drink, and nature (including extensive woods, parks, and swimming in Aarhus harbor and neighboring beaches). Additional tourist information can be found here.

As is custom at CATaC conferences, Permanent Chair Charles Ess opened the conference with a brief ‘First Looks’ presentation highlighting themes that were already visible in accepted papers, and making connections between some past and present work in the CATaC literature (and beyond).

Dr Ess later closed the conference with a ‘Second Looks’ session reflecting on debates and discussions from conference sessions.

Download his PowerPoint slides and notes here:

• First Looks (May 16th 2010)
• Second Looks (May 18th 2010)

Click on the following link to watch a live webcast of talks on Day 1 of CATaC 2010:

http://ubctelestudios.insinc.com/

Wednesday June 16th 2010

9:10am Pacific Standard Time (UTC -8):

Dr Charles Ess
First Looks, CATaC 2010

9:30am Pacific Standard Time (UTC -8):

Keynote Address by Dr Linc Kesler,
Director, First Nations Studies Program and
First Nations House of Learning

Mediating modalities: Emerging technologies, traditional cultures, and Indigenous agency in higher education