[Air-l] CfP: AoIR 2006 Panel on Social Networks of Urban Residents

[Marcus Foth]

Hi

I'm proposing the following panel for AoIR 7.0 in Brisbane. If you  
are interested to be a member of this panel, please send me an email  
with an abstract of your paper or presentation before 31st Jan 2006.  
Panels are given a 90 minute time slot and fit about 4 - 6 papers.

The general AoIR CfP can be found at http://conferences.aoir.org/ 
callforpapers.php?cf=5


Best Regards
Marcus Foth



Challenges and Opportunities of Internet Technologies to Support  
Social Networks of Urban Residents

Panel Proposal for AoIR 7.0 Brisbane

Developers and governments around the world are struggling to achieve  
socially sustainable neighbourhood communities in master-planned  
residential developments. This panel will bring together leading  
researchers from a variety of disciplines to debate the challenges  
and opportunities of internet technologies to facilitate and support  
meaningful social interaction between residents in urban  
neighbourhoods. Focusing on the network qualities of social  
interaction in communities of place, the panel will discuss the  
panelists’ research findings that have the potential to inform the  
design of innovative new media and ICT systems for use in master- 
planned residential developments: peer-to-peer publishing, tools for  
vernacular creative expression, social networking applications,  
ambient technologies and locative media. Some of these studies are  
informed by urban sociology, ethnographic work, rapid prototyping,  
evaluation cycles, participatory design and sociocultural animation.

Some of the key questions to be discussed include:

What are the implications of networked individualism on internet  
technologies? How do urban residents connect with each other to  
create and maintain social networks and how can new media and ICT  
systems better support the interaction in those networks?

How does private peer-to-peer interaction between urban residents  
differ from collective community interaction and what impacts does  
that have on new media and ICT design, social capital, local  
innovation and community efficacy?

How can new media and ICT systems, devices and applications be  
designed to negotiate a balance between the opportunities of  
interactive services and locative media on the one side and issues of  
access, trust and privacy on the other?

What is the role of locally relevant content (personal and community  
images and narratives) in the establishment and sustainability of  
meaningful social networks?

How can new media and ICT systems be designed to inform social spaces  
for residents – private and public, and online and offline – towards  
facilitating social networking as well as civic engagement and local  
socio-economic innovation?

Sustainability is pursued by working across community, business and  
government stakeholders to encourage social and economic innovation.  
The hypothesis to be tested by the panel is the claim that by careful  
attention to cultural and social assets in the community, innovations  
will be engendered which enhance economic and social development  
locally. This in turn will lead to greater social inclusion, fair  
access to and smart use of information and services, urban  
sustainability and healthier local economies. Understanding the  
opportunities afforded by digital augmentation of social networks  
will help urban residents negotiate the complex web of daily choices,  
access a greater social safety net and participate in the socio- 
cultural and socio-economic life of their neighbourhood and city.



--
Marcus Foth
MA(DigitalMedia) BCompSc(Hons) BMultimedia
m.foth at qut.edu.au - http://www.vrolik.de/

Research Fellow
Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation
Queensland University of Technology (CRICOS No. 00213J)
Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane QLD 4059, Australia
Mobile +61 407 745 021 - Fax +61 7 3864 3723
http://www.ici.qut.edu.au/