[Air-L] CFA: Facebook and Philosophy

Dylan Wittkower d.e.wittkower at gmail.com
Fri Jan 23 06:46:22 PST 2009


Although "philosophy" is in the title, we're looking for chapters from any
theoretically-oriented disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective.  Feb.
1st submission deadline.

Thanks!

  -- Dylan Wittkower



--------------------------------------------


Call for Abstracts

Facebook & Philosophy

Dylan Wittkower (ed.)
d.e.wittkower at gmail.com

Abstracts are sought for a new title in the Wiley-Blackwell series
Philosophy for Everyone, under the general editorship of Fritz Allhoff.
Never before has a single social forum played so central a role in so many
people's lives. Facebook is quickly taking on roles previously served by
telephones, town squares, televisions, student commons, board games, and
much more besides. How does Facebook change our social existence, community
activities, and self-identity? How does it add meaning to our lives?
Transform us? And, for the better, or for the worse?

Facebook is already an important part of our lives – but, even more
significantly, it represents a kind of social media that will have an
incredible impact on how we live. Facebook & Philosophy is an effort by
philosophers, academics, and technology experts to make sense of what
Facebook means for us; and to do so in an engaging and exciting way,
reaching a broad audience.

We solicit abstracts on the implications of Facebook from any philosophical
perspective (analytic, continental, pragmatist, non-Western), or from
theoretically-oriented interdisciplinary perspectives (especially but not
only from Communications, Media Studies, STS, Sociology, Psychology, and
Political Science). While any topic is welcome, we expect that primary
topics of interest may be:

Identity
including authenticity online; race/ethnicity/gender issues; religious
diversity and identity; relationship status; self-portraiture and profile
pictures; and autobiography via mini-feed and microblogging.

Friendship v. "Friending"
including virtual/real splits, overlaps, and transitions; the effect of
communications media on relationships; permanently online friends and the
debatable importance of "actually" meeting people; the ethics of friending
and unfriending; and the role of boredom and play in friendship.

Community Formation
including group identity; political affiliation; political debate; political
organizing; causes and fundraising; the rise and meaning of a "notification
society;" Facebook and the public sphere; and global friendship and
cosmopolitanism.


Facebook in Organizational Contexts
including Facebook in education; Facebook as a resource for business;
Facebook, employers, and privacy; Facebook as a business and free
content/free access as a business model.

Other elements of Facebook use that might be of interest include various
applications (e.g. Scrabulous, PackRat, Pirates/Zombies,
icanhascheezeburger); integration with mobile computing (inc. cellphones,
twitter, iPhones, etc.); the effects of Facebook on our civil and moral
rights (e.g. rights to privacy, property, speech, opportunity); and the role
of Facebook in political campaigns, especially the 2008 election.


Guidelines:
The book is intended for a general readership. This does not mean that you
can't say something serious or complicated; it does mean that you must be
interesting, engaging, and lively. This is a great opportunity to contribute
to an understanding of a new and emerging form of sociality, and the
importance of this understanding goes far beyond academia.

Please send abstracts (250-350 words) by Feb. 1, 2009.
Notice of acceptance by March 23rd, 2009.
Full chapters (4000-5000 words) due July 13th, 2009.

Submit abstracts to facebook.and.philosophy at gmail.com
To keep in touch with the volume, and for information about the book as it
develops, join its Facebook fan page, here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Facebook-and-Philosophy/40232732873

For more information about Wiley-Blackwell's Philosophy for Everyone Series,
or to propose a volume for the series, contact series editor Fritz Allhoff
at fritz.allhoff at wmich.edu.



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