[Air-l] CFP: Labour History of the Information Revolution

[david silver]

This looks pretty cool -- crossposted from H-AMSTDY.

david silver

---------- Forwarded message ----------

>Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 09:48:32 -0600
>From: Greg Downey <gdowney at facstaff.wisc.edu>

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Labour History of the  Information Revolution

The Information Revolution is considered by many to be an epochal
shift in contemporary global economic, social, political and cultural
history, comparable with the previous major shift of the Industrial
Revolution. Scholars continue to explore and analyze the unparalleled
rapid development of information and communication network
technologies – most recently that of the Internet and World Wide Web.

Fundamental to such work is the underlying question: is global
society at large leaving the age of industrialism behind and entering
an age of post- industrialism?

The consequences of the Information Revolution for labour and labour
relations in particular have been studied by a broad range of social
scientists and analysts, especially within the realms of social
theory, political economy, geography, and cultural studies.  Yet in
many of these analyses, the historical perspective is often missing.
Therefore, it is from a distinct historical perspective that we
intend to devote Supplement 11 of the International Review of Social
History (IRSH), to be published in December 2003, to the labour
history aspects of the Information Revolution. The Supplement will
also be published by Cambridge University Press as a book issue in
the Spring of 2004.

The leading questions of the volume will be:
– what has been the role and position of human labour in the development
of the Information Revolution;
– how have technologies and practices of the Information Revolution in
turn influenced work and labour relations;
– how have spatial and temporal divisions of labor changed together with
new technology-enabled spatial and temporal flows of capital and
commodities; and
– just how new and unique is this Information Age, or stated
differently: just how revolutionary is the Information Revolution?

With this approach we hope to invoke explorations and analyses of the
historical origins of the information revolution, the historical
continuities that can be discerned in its development, and the role
and position of labour in it.

Our aim is to put together a volume with articles which can deal with
this theme in a number of ways. Sample topics might include:
– Comparisons between this informational revolution and earlier
revolutionary developments in technologies related to information and
knowledge, the related position of labour and labour relations, and
the broader societal consequences of these developments.  For
example: printing and typesetting; telegraph and telephone; radio and
television; etc.
– Historical linkages between changes in "virtual" information
infrastructures of networked communication (moving information
electronically, whether analog or digital, wired or wireless) and
changes in "physical" information infrastructures of networked
transport (moving information materially, in the form of paper and
film, optical and magnetic media, or humans themselves). For example:
postal systems and "next-day" courier services moving documents;
commuter railroads and inter- city air shuttles moving people and
their ideas.
– Geographical comparisons in terms of the changing temporal rhythms
and spatial boundaries of production facilities, labor markets,
places of capital accumulation, and sites for the reproduction of
labor power, as affected by networked information technologies. For
example: telephone- based work in skyscrapers; forms of putting out
system, such as PC-based telework in suburbs; shifts to "virtual
firms" and global corporations.
– Historical changes in identity, diversity, and equity as various
social groups characterized by gender, race/ethnicity, age,
education, and other factors are incorporated in the production of
information technologies, infrastructures, and commodities under
different sets of social relations in different times and places. For
example: the early twentieth century construction of the office
secretary; educating Cold War computer engineers; and historical
origins of present-day "digital divide" discourses.

Submission of abstracts and articles:

Please submit abstracts for proposed articles before 1 May 2002.
Confine the abstracts to 400 - 800 words, stating clearly the
definition of the problem(s) that will be dealt with, the sources to
be used, and an outline of the main argument to develop in the
article. You will receive a response by 31 May 2002. A first draft of
the article should be ready for the Editorial Committee by 1 October
2002; the final version must be completed by 1 December 2002. Please,
state clearly your name, postal address and e-mail address when
submitting your proposal.

Proposals should be sent to:

Aad Blok, International Institute of Social History, Cruquiusweg 31,
1019 AT Amsterdam, the Netherlands, fax + 31 20 6654181, e-mail
abl at iisg.nl
and
Greg Downey, Assistant Professor, School of Library & Information
Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 5115 Vilas Hall, 821
University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, fax + 1 (608) 263-4849, e-mail
gdowney at facstaff.wisc.edu