[Air-L] Theorizing the Web, April 14th

[nathan jurgenson]

Hello,

Just a friendly final reminder that the Theorizing the Web conference is
happening this Saturday, April 14th in College Park, MD (inside the DC
beltway). http://www.cyborgology.org/theorizingtheweb/


PJ Rey and myself, two graduate students, created the conference last year
to provide space for more critical and theoretical approaches when
researching the Web. The response has been overwhelming. We’ve built on the
success of last year’s conference to create a program we are very excited
about. 10 panels, a gallery filled with art installations, a film
screening, and an invited discussion on social media after revolution.


We’ll close the conference with a conversation between Andy Carvin of NPR
News and Zeynep Tufekci (UNC) on social media, protest and journalism. Andy
Carvin (@acarvin) is quite important for his innovative use of Twitter
within NPR News. Curating thousands of tweets often from areas where
Western journalists are not allowed, Carvin hints at a new mode of
journalism positioned somewhere between the noisy torrent of social media
content on the ground and the traditional news-gatekeepers we’ve grown
accustomed to. Tufekci (@techsoc), who has emerged as one of the strongest
academic voices on social movements and social media, will help us make
sense of this important new development.


The research panels take on a range of topics, including technology and
protest; self-concept, self-documentation and identity; logging off and
disconnection; art, code and design; augmented reality; mobile phones;
knowledge and power. A variety of perspectives often neglected at
technology conferences are woven throughout the program, including
critical, feminist, queer, art-centered and inter/non-disciplinary
perspectives on new technologies. Full schedule:
http://www.cyborgology.org/theorizingtheweb/2012/simple_program.html


The central goal is simply to create the event we’d want to attend; that
is, it should be smart and fun. The ideas are important and we want them to
be engaging to larger publics. We encourage presenting ideas so that they
are publicly accessible and using the #TtW12 backchannel. And we will
live-stream and archive audio and video of the whole event on our website.


Registration is pay-what-you-want. We are just graduate students and run
this on a very tight budget but want to provide things like food and print
programs at the event.
http://www.cyborgology.org/theorizingtheweb/2012/registration.html


Last, please share this however you’d like. Forward this email, post about
the conference on Twitter (#TtW12), spread the flier [pdf], anything helps!
http://www.cyborgology.org/theorizingtheweb/2012/Documents/ttw12_promo_flyer.pdf


Thanks,

Nathan Jurgenson, Co-Chair & the #TtW12 Committee

@TtW_conf