[Air-l] Fwd: Transparencies: Technology, Culture, Communication

Steve Jones sjones at uic.edu
Fri Mar 29 08:04:09 PST 2002


[Apologies for cross-posting.]

CALL FOR PAPERS:
Transparencies:  Technology, Culture, Communication
A graduate student conference

Friday, November 1 and Saturday November 2, 2002

Transparencies, a graduate student conference at the University of
Texas at Austin, is an invitation to explore the implications of both
historically significant and recently emergent technologies from a
critical and cultural perspective.  In the beginning of the 21st
century, our constant interactions with technology have become nearly
transparent and problematic in new ways.  New forms of transnational
and transcultural identity are supported by global flows of culture.
Provincialism and isolationism emerge in different guises.  Cultural
critique and journalism take on new paths and responsibilities.
Vital data flows and banal spam fill "superhighways" running
alongside persistent social and digital divides.  How do these
elements interact, and how are they contingent on each other?  How do
technologies participate in these "transparencies" that help us
negotiate the micro- and macro-conflicts and contradictions of
everyday life?

The conference is an opportunity for scholars in all disciplines
engaged with issues of technology and culture to come together and
share their ideas on these and other topics.  In addition to panels,
the conference will include a keynote address, a reception and other
unstructured time to facilitate the exchange of ideas.  As a regional
conference we invite our colleagues from across Texas and the
surrounding south-central US states, as well as from northern Mexico,
to participate.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
_ Communication technology and the formation of identity (gender,
ethnicity, nation)
_ Technologies on the border
_ Historiographic accounts of media technologies
_ Transcultural identity and uses of technology
_ Media, technology, citizenship
_ Communication technology and discourse
_ DIY Communication: Media sabotage and culture jamming
_ Television and Radio's future and their past
_ Failed technologies of culture and communication
_ "Non-traditional" technologies of communication
_ Popular music and technology
_ Personal computer culture
_ Cinema as cultural technology
_ Video games, computer games

Deadline for Abstracts: Friday, June 14.  Abstracts should be 300
words or less.  Abstracts may be emailed, or mailed if postmarked no
later than June 14.  Electronic submissions encouraged. Participants
will be notified of acceptance or rejection by July 19.  Panel
submissions cannot be considered.  A draft of the conference program
will be made available online.

Complete papers must be submitted by the September 15, 2002.  Papers
submitted by the September 15 deadline will be eligible to compete
for a "top paper" award of $500, sponsored by the Technology and
Information Policy Institute.

For more information or for paper submission, please contact
Coordinating Committee
Transparencies
Department of Radio-Television-Film
CMA 6.118
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX  78712
Email:  transpar at uts.cc.utexas.edu

Sponsored by the Department of Radio-TV-Film, Technology and
Information Policy Institute, and Graduate Students in Radio-TV-Film.





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