[Air-L] Call for Participation: First Digital and Media and Learning Conference

[Dan Perkel]

Dear all,Please see the call for participation below.

Regards,
Dan

------------------------------------
Dan Perkel
PhD Candidate
School of Information, Berkeley Center for New Media
UC Berkeley
http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~dperkel

-----

ALL FOR SESSION PROPOSALS

FIRST ANNUAL DIGITAL MEDIA AND LEARNING CONFERENCE
CONFERENCE THEME: "DIVERSIFYING PARTICIPATION"

February 18 – 20, 2010

Cal IT2
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California

**SUBMISSION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 30, 2009**

**KEYNOTES ANNOUNCED**

We are pleased to announce the first Digital Media and Learning Conference,
an annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation. The conference is
meant to be an inclusive, international and annual gathering of scholars and
practitioners in the field, focused on fostering interdisciplinary and
participatory dialog and linking theory, empirical study, policy, and
practice.

For this inaugural year, the theme will be "Diversifying Participation".
Henry Jenkins is the Chair of the Digital Media and Learning Conference and
our Keynote Speakers will be Sonia
Livingstone<http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/whosWho/soniaLivingstone.htm>
 and S. Craig Watkins <http://rtf.utexas.edu/faculty/cswatkins.html>.

We invite submissions for session proposals that speak to the conference
theme as well as to the field of digital media and learning more broadly.
Those wishing to present work should look to propose or participate in a
panel topic (see submission process outlined below).

DIVERSIFYING PARTICIPATION

A growing body of research has identified how young people's digital media
use is tied to basic social and cultural competencies needed for full
participation in contemporary society. We continue to develop an
understanding of the impact of these experiences on learning, civic
engagement, professional development, and ethical comprehension of the
digital world.

Yet research has also suggested that young people's forms of participation
with new media are incredibly diverse, and that risks, opportunities, and
competencies are spread unevenly across the social and cultural landscape.
Young people have differential access to online experiences, practices, and
tools and this has a consequence in their developing sense of their own
identities and their place in the world. In some cases, different forms of
participation and access correspond with familiar cultural and social
divides. In other cases, however, new media have introduced novel and
unexpected kinds of social differences, subcultures, and identities.

It is far too simple to talk about this in terms of binaries such as
"information haves and have nots" or "digital divides". There are many
different kinds of obstacles to full participation, many different degrees
of access to information, technologies, and online communities, and many
different ways of processing those experiences. Participatory cultures
surrounding digital media are characterized by a diversity that does not
track automatically to high and low access or more or less sophisticated
use. Rather, multiple forms of expertise, connoisseurship, identity, and
practice are proliferating in online worlds, with complicated relationships
to pre-existing categories such as socioeconomic status, gender,
nationality, race, or ethnicity.

We encourage sessions that describe, document, and critically analyze
different forms of participation and how they relate to various forms of
social and cultural capital. We are interested in accounts of the challenges
and obstacles which block or inhibit engagement to different forms of online
participation. We also encourage session proposals that engage with
successful intervention strategies and pedagogical processes enabling once
marginalized groups to more fully exploit the opportunities for learning
with digital media. Conversely, we are interested in hearing more about how
marginal and subcultural communities find diverse uses of new and emerging
technologies, pushing them in new directions and navigating a complicated
relationship with "mainstream" forms of participation. Specifically, we seek
to understand the following:

   - What can research on more diverse communities contribute to our
   understanding of the learning ecologies surrounding new media?
   - What are the technologies, practices, economic, and cultural divides
   that lead to segregation, "gated" information communities, and differential
   access?
   - When and how do diversity and differentiation in participation promote
   social and cultural benefits and opportunities, and when do they create
   schisms that are less equitable or productive?
   - What strategies have proven successful at broadening opportunities for
   participation, overcoming the many different kinds of segregation or
   exclusion which impact the online world, and empowering more diverse
   presences throughout cyberspace?
   - Are there things occurring on the margins of the existing digital
   culture that might valuably be incorporated into more mainstream practices?

In addition to these questions directly addressing the conference theme, we
welcome submissions that address innovative new directions in research and
practice relating to digital media and participatory learning.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Submissions should be in the form of full session proposals. Proposed
sessions may range from 1 to 2 hours in length and may include traditional
paper presentations, hands-on workshops, design critiques, demos, pecha
kucha, or roundtable discussions. We welcome and encourage submissions of
innovative formats, but request that the proposals come in the form of
session proposals rather than individual papers or presentations.

The goal of the event is to foster dialog and build connections. To that
end, sessions should have at least three to four presenters and/or
discussants. Session organizers should reserve substantial amounts of time
for open discussion and exchange.

We have established an open wiki for potential participants to engage in
session organizing. The wiki can be used to call for contributions to a
briefly outlined session topic, to seek out partners to develop a topic
together, to brainstorm about co-presenters, and any other functions
potential participants find valuable. The wiki can be accessed at:
http://dmlconference2010.wikidot.com/forum:start

Session organizers should submit proposals that consist of a title and a
200-word abstract (including proposed presentation topics and formats and
the speakers and/or discussants). In addition, names and contact details for
the session organizers and participants will be required. The submission
system is available here <http://www.dmlcentral.net/conference/applicants/>

Each individual will be limited to participation on no more than two panels
at the conference. Participants will be expected to fund their own travel
and accommodation. Registration for the conference will be free.

Conference Website: http://dmlcentral.net/conference

Conference Wiki: http://dmlconference2010.wikidot.com/forum:start

Conference Submission System: http://www.dmlcentral.com/applicants/

Conference Committee: Henry Jenkins, David Theo Goldberg, Heather Horst,
Mimi Ito, Jabari Mahiri and Holly Willis

KEY DATES AND DEADLINES
Submission System Available: September 30, 2009
Deadline for Submissions: October 30, 2009
Notification of Acceptance: November 30, 2009
Registration System Opens: December 15, 2009
Conference Program Announced: December 15, 2009
Registration Deadline: February 1, 2010
Evening Reception: February 18, 2010

CONTACT INFORMATION
Digital Media and Learning Research Hub
UC Humanities Research Institute
University of California, Irvine
Email: dmlhub at hri.uci.edu