AoIR 2016 in Berlin: Call for Proposals
Internet Rules!
Workshop Day: 5 October 2016
Conference Dates: 6-8 October 2016
AoIR 2016 is the 17th annual conference of the Association of Internet
Researchers, a transdisciplinary gathering of scholars interested in the place
of networked technologies in social processes. It will take place at
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany from October 5-8, 2016.
AoIR 2016 will emphasize the relevance of the Internet in today’s culture and
politics. The conference theme addresses the significance of the codes and
rules that frame the Internet, as well as their playful circumvention, from
technical protocols and popular platforms to the emerging, established, and
contested conventions of online communities. Who are the actors both in
practices of rule-making and rule-breaking, what are their motivations and
resources, and how can their power relations and communicative figurations be
described? How does the Internet influence the proliferation of the values that
its platforms, services and infrastructures embody and what spaces of creative
resistance persist? How do various forms of technical, social, and cultural
hacking subvert these orders? In which ways do the affordances of platforms and
devices, the ubiquity of digital data and routine personal practices inform
each other?
The committee calls for proposals for papers, panels, workshops, roundtables,
and other events that engage with the conference theme or the field more
generally. Topics could include (but are not limited to):
• coordination and rule-making online
• media, culture and identity
• (h)activism and social justice
• critical approaches to algorithms, platform studies
• codes and practices of internet culture
• connected devices and the internet of things
• big data and predictive analytics
• techno-social interfaces
• digital labor, crowdsourcing and co-creation
• internet governance and regulation
• (global) social media
• communication, participation and polarization online
• philosophy of information and knowledge
We particularly invite submissions that engage with or challenge the conference
theme in new and exciting ways, are innovative, or present a novel approach to
the topic. We encourage “experimental sessions” that extend research in unusual
directions (via method, topic or presentation structure). We also welcome
submissions on topics that address social, cultural, political, legal,
aesthetic, economic, and/or philosophical aspects of the internet beyond the
conference theme. The committee extends a special invitation to students,
researchers, and practitioners who have previously not participated in an
Internet Research event to submit proposals.
PROPOSALS
We seek proposals for several different kinds of contributions to encompass the
breadth of relevant research. We welcome proposals for traditional academic
conference PAPERS, organized PANELS, ROUNDTABLES, FISHBOWLS, EXPERIMENTAL
SESSIONS, and PRE-
CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS. We invite proposals that will focus on discussion and
interaction among conference delegates. Finally, doctoral students are invited
to participate in the DOCTORAL COLLOQUIUM preceding the main conference.
SUBMISSION TYPES
Traditional papers: Paper submissions should articulate the issue or research
question to be discussed, the methodological or critical framework used, and
indicate the findings or conclusions to be presented and/or the relevance to
wider conference themes. Papers can present any kind of research or analysis,
but should be written so that the importance of the work can be understood by
reviewers working in different disciplines or using different approaches.
Cross- or trans-disciplinary work is especially encouraged. Paper submissions
should be approximately 1200 words long, including references. Please note that
paper submissions need not adhere to a pre-formatted template, but should give
an indication as to the consistency, rigor and relevance of the work.
Presentations at the IR conference are generally intended to be dynamic, and
provide a broad overview of the scholarship being engaged, with the hope of
generating useful conversation.
Preconstituted panels: Panels should present a coherent group of papers on a
single theme. Panel proposals should include 1200-word abstracts as above for
each of the constituent papers, as well as a brief statement articulating the
papers’ relationship to each other. It is recommended that panels include four
papers, although submissions of three to five papers will also be considered.
The organizer is responsible for compiling the proposal into a single document
for submission.
Preconference workshops: Workshops may be either half or full-day events that
occur on the first day of the conference and focus on a particular topic. They
may be a workshop of some kind (e.g., a publishing workshop), a methodological
“bootcamp” (e.g., on ethnography or statistical analysis), an exploration of a
theoretical tradition or topical area (e.g., symbolic interaction, political
economy, or GIS) or anything else that may be of interest to conference
delegates. Proposals for workshops should explain for a general scholarly
audience the goals of the workshop, the way it will operate, and an indication
of potential audience or attendees who may be interested in attending (such as
“early career scholars” or “researchers using statistical analysis”). Proposals
for workshops should be approximately 600-800 words in length, and should name
the workshop facilitators.
Roundtable Sessions: Roundtables encourage discussion and interaction among
delegates. They may involve brief introductory presentations by organizers.
Proposals should include details on the theme or topic of discussion and its
relevance, along with names of the organizers/initial participants. Roundtables
can include no more than 5 initial participants. Roundtable submissions should
be between 250-300 words long (to be included as the “abstract” in the
submissions process–no separate document need be uploaded).
Open Fishbowls: Fishbowl sessions should cover broad topics of interest to a
wide segment of the AoIR community, and create a space for dialogue across
different types of research. Submitted proposals should include a brief
statement as to the core idea or theme for the fishbowl, emphasizing its
relation to conference themes or relevance to the IR community. Fishbowls can
include no more than 5 initial participants (named fish).
Experimental Sessions: Experimental sessions are those that, while of interest
to members or engaging with conference themes, meaningfully “push the envelope”
beyond more traditional forms of conference engagement and participation and as
such do not fit into any of the other proposal formats. Examples may include
Ignite or pecha-kucha presentations, demonstrations, performances,
installations, short-form workshops, unsessions, maker or code-based projects,
or interactive experiences (such as the “Kissing Booth” that was presented at
AoIR 2011 in Seattle). Proposals for experimental sessions should describe for
a general scholarly audience the goal or idea of the session and how it will
operate, and discuss why the proposed format will be of interest to AoIR
delegates. Organizers of experimental sessions will be responsible for
supplying any necessary equipment beyond that usually provided for conference
presentations, and should be prepared to coordinate closely with the conference
committee as necessary to enable a successful presentation of the alternative
format. To encourage this kind of submission, we are again offering the
“Halavais Prize for Weirdness” this year for the most interesting and
successful submission in a non-traditional format.
Doctoral Colloquium: The Association of Internet Researchers believes that its
emerging researchers are the best in its disparate constituent fields. In
keeping with its commitment to students’ scholarship, we continue the tradition
of bringing emerging and established scholars together through the AoIR 2016
Doctoral Colloquium. The colloquium offers PhD students working in internet
research or a related field a special, day-long forum, to be convened on 5
October 2016. For many years, this pre-conference event has provided students
with the opportunity to a concentrated amount of time with senior scholars to
share research projects, address methodological and theoretical challenges, and
exchange informal advice on juggling the multiple pressures associated with job
searching, publishing, and finishing the dissertation
Interested students should prepare a) a two-page summary of your research. This
should provide a context for the research, describe the methods being used, the
progress to date, and primary concerns and issues; and b) A brief statement
indicating why you want to participate in this doctoral colloquium and what you
hope to get out of it. These are due on or before 15 June 2016.
CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIPS
In order to increase the diversity of participation in the AoIR conferences,
the Association of Internet Researchers makes available conference fee waivers
and partial travel stipends ($500) per year. The number of fee waivers and
travel stipends will depend first of all upon the ability of the conference
budget to sustain such waivers (a judgment to be made by the AoIR Executive
Committee upon the advice of the AoIR Treasurer and the local organizing
committee) as well as upon the quality of the applications for fee waivers.
Conference scholarships are made available only to participants who have had
papers accepted via the peer review process, and applications are due on 1 June
2016, after acceptances have been announced.
More information will be made available regarding the scholarship application
process at the conference website: www.aoir.org/aoir2016.
Submission dates and contact information forthcoming.
--
rohrpost - deutschsprachige Liste zur Kultur digitaler Medien und Netze
Archiv: http://www.nettime.org/rohrpost
http://post.in-mind.de/pipermail/rohrpost/
Ent/Subskribieren: http://post.in-mind.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/rohrpost/
