[Air-L] CfP: Information and Communication Technologies and the Current Crisis

[Christian Fuchs]

Please direct questions about potential contributions directly to the 
issue editors Marcus Breen m.breen at neu.edu and David Hakken 
dhakken at indiana.edu.

Christian Fuchs
Editor of tripleC

* * * * * * * *

Call For Papers - Special Issue of tripleC (http://www.triple-c.at): 
Information and Communication Technologies and the Current Crisis: How 
Are They Connected?

The Crisis that began in 2007 continues to convulse the world. Labelled 
by some as merely a recession, yet it is associated with dramatic 
changes in national and global power. Others frame the Crisis as merely 
a consequence of over-promoting a narrow range of financial transactions 
associated with subprime mortgage instruments. These were indeed overly 
aggressively oversold by deregulated bankers, but this was likely only 
an important trigger of the Crisis, not the primary cause.

In this special issue, we will explore the notion that much of the basis 
of the Crisis should be assigned to financial transactions not just made 
possible but also strongly afforded by use of computer technologies. 
Thus, those operating at the highest levels of algorithmic capacity bear 
substantial responsibility for the Crisis.

For students of technological innovation and diffusion, many questions 
emerge about the connection between the Crisis in general and 
computerization. Some of the questions involve the tight relationship 
between cultures of technological empowerment and financial elites. 
Others questions, while appearing initially to be purely economic, turn 
out on examination to articulate strongly with the public interest, 
civil society, policymaking, and public discourse more generally.

These in turn lead to further, perhaps quite new critical questions 
about the emerging relationships between capitalism, democracy and the 
data-information-knowledge-technology nexus. Thus, equally important for 
responsibility is specification of what is known within computer science 
about the technological dimensions of the Crisis of this crisis. 
Ultimately, a rethinking of the very notion of "crisis" itself may be 
needed.

Some specific questions authors may choose to address include:
* What kind of crisis is this, how is it different from previous ones, 
how are these differences related to automated ICTs and the changed 
practices they have afforded?
* What role do computer professionals have in the crisis?
* Does this crisis suggest a dystopian post-human future?
* What media theories best explain the crisis, or has the time arrived 
for newly radical approaches in this area?
* How does public policy fit in the private world of computerization?
* What historical guides are available as tools to foster better 
analyses of technological crisis?
* Will the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) be the "winners" 
of this crisis?
* Are there artistic innovations that help refine political and policy 
responses to this crisis?
* What new knowledge innovations are needed to understand the forces at 
work in this crisis and its implications for democracy?
* What new questions need to be addressed to orientate research about 
the crisis?
* How are the computing-, information-, and media-industries affected by 
this crisis? How will they develop in the future?

This special issue of tripleC is intended to feature research from both 
theoretical and practical perspectives. We seek contributions from any 
theoretical, professional, or disciplinary perspective that offers 
innovative analysis that promotes debate about technology and the Crisis.

Submission deadline: Full papers should be submitted until February 1st, 
2010. All papers will be peer reviewed. The special issue will be 
published in 2010.

tripleC -- Cognition, Communication, Co-operation: Open Access Journal 
for a Global Sustainable Information Society (http://www.triple-c.at) 
promotes contributions within an emerging science of the information age 
with a special interest in critical studies following the highest 
standards of peer review.

Submissions must be formatted according to tripleC's guidelines 
(http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/about/submissions#authorGuidelines), 
make use of APA style, and use the style template 
(http://triplec.at/files/journals/1/template-0.dot). Papers should be 
submitted online by making use of the electronic submission system 
(http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/user/register, 
http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/login). When submitting to the 
electronic system, please select "Special issue on crisis & 
communication" as the journal's section.

ISSUE CO-EDITORS: David Hakken (dhakken at indiana.edu) and Marcus Breen 
(m.breen at neu.edu)

David Hakken is professor of informatics at Indiana University. Marcus 
Breen is associate professor of communication studies at Northeastern 
University.