[Air-L] call for contributions: the unlike us reader--social media monopolies and their alternatives

[Geert Lovink]

http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/weblog/2012/06/01/call-for-contributions-unlike-us-reader/

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS:
Unlike Us Reader: Understanding Social Media Monopolies and their  
Alternatives

INTRODUCTION
Following the success of the previous INC readers we would like to  
propose to put together a reader with key texts (see under below for  
possible topics). Anthology (print, pdf, epub) produced by the  
Institute of Network Cultures in collaboration with the Unlike Us  
research network. Following the second Unlike Us conference in  
Amsterdam, the Institute of Network Cultures is devoted to produce a  
reader that bundles actual theories about the economic and cultural  
aspects of dominant social media platforms, such as Facebook and  
Twitter, and the development of alternative, decentralized social  
media software.

POSSIBLE TOPICS
Critical Twitter Studies // Artistic Responses to Social Media //  
Genealogies of Social Networking Sites // Biopolitics // Exploitation  
of Immaterial Labour // Social Media Activism and the Critique of  
Liberation Technology // Social What? Defining the Social // Software  
Matters: Sociotechnical and Algorithmic Cultures // The Private in the  
Public // Showcasing Alternatives in Social Media // Pitfalls of  
Building Alternatives

WE INVITE
Internet, visual culture and media scholars, researchers, artists,  
curators, producers, lawyers, engineers, open-source and open-content  
advocates, activists, Unlike Us conference participants, and others to  
submit materials and proposals.

FORMATS
We welcome interviews, dialogues, essays and articles, images (b/w),  
email exchanges, manifestos, with a max of 8,000 words. For scope and  
style, take a look at the previous INC readers and the style guide.

This publication is produced by the Institute of Network Cultures in  
Amsterdam and will be launched late 2012, ready in time for a possible  
Unlike Us #3 (no details known yet about the date and place).

DEADLINE: August 20, 2012

SEND CONTRITBUTIONS: miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org (Miriam Rasch)
____________

MORE INFORMATION
Unlike Us:
www.networkcultures.org/unlikeus
INC readers: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publications/inc-readers/
Or email: miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org (from 1st of June on you  
can expect a response)

ABOUT THE READER SERIES
The INC reader series are derived from conference contributions and  
produced by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam. They are  
available (for free) in print and pdf form onwww.networkcultures.org/ 
publications/readers.

Previously published in this series:

INC Reader #7: Geert Lovink and Nathaniel Tkacz (eds), Critical Point  
of View: A Wikpedia Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures,  
2011. For millions of internet users around the globe, the search for  
new knowledge begins with Wikipedia. The encyclopedia’s rapid rise,  
novel organization, and freely offered content have been marveled at  
and denounced by a host of commentators. Critical Point of View moves  
beyond unflagging praise, well-worn facts, and questions about its  
reliability and accuracy, to unveil the complex, messy, and  
controversial realities of a distributed knowledge platform.

INC Reader #6: Geert Lovink and Rachel Somers Miles (eds), Video  
Vortex Reader II: moving images beyond YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute  
of Network Cultures, 2011. Video Vortex Reader II is the second  
collection of texts that critically explore the rapidly changing  
landscape of online video and its use. With the success of YouTube and  
the rise of other online video sharing platforms, the moving image has  
become expansively more popular on the Web, significantly contributing  
to the culture and ecology of the internet and our everyday lives. In  
response, the Video Vortex project continues to examine critical  
issues of online video content.

INC Reader #5: Scott McQuire, Meredith Martin, and Sabine Niederer  
(eds.), Urban Screens Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network  
Cultures, 2009. The Urban Screens Reader is the first book to focus  
entirely on the topic of urban screens. A collection of texts from  
leading theorists, and a series of case studies that deal with  
artists’ projects, and screen operators’ and curators’ experiences,  
offering a rich resource at the intersections between digital media,  
cultural practices and urban space.

INC Reader #4: Geert Lovink and Sabine Niederer (eds.), Video Vortex  
Reader: Responses to YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network  
Cultures, 2008.
The Video Vortex Reader is the first collection of critical texts to  
deal with the rapidly emerging world of online video – from its  
explosive rise in 2005 with YouTube, to its future as a significant  
form of personal media.

INC Reader #3: Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter (eds.), MyCreativity  
Reader: A Critique of Creative Industries, Amsterdam: Institute of  
Network Cultures, 2007.
The MyCreativity Reader is a collection of critical research into the  
creative industries. The material develops out of the MyCreativity  
Convention on International Creative Industries Research held in  
Amsterdam, November 2006 (no longer available in print; pdf online).

INC Reader #2: Katrien Jacobs, Marije Janssen and Matteo Pasquinelli  
(eds.), C’Lick Me: A Netporn Studies Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of  
Network Cultures, 2007.
C’lick Me: A Netporn Studies Reader is an anthology that collects the  
best material from two years of debate from The Art and Politics of  
Netporn 2005 conference to the 2007 C’Lick Me festival (no longer  
available in print; pdf online).

INC Reader #1: Geert Lovink and Soenke Zehle (eds.), Incommunicado  
Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2005.
The Incommunicado Reader brings together papers written for the June  
2005 event, and includes a CD-ROM of interviews with speakers (no  
longer available in print; pdf online).

See also: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publications/inc-readers/

ABOUT UNLIKE US EVENTS

Unlike Us #1: The launch of the research network took place during a  
one day event took on November 24, 2011 in Liamassol, Cyprus. The  
conference was organized by the internet and communications department  
of the University of Limasol and focussed on the political economy of  
social media.

Unlike Us #2: The second event of the Unlike Us event took place in  
Amsterdam from March 8-10, 2012. The major themes of the workshops and  
two-day conference were alternatives in social media, software  
studies, artistic practices and the private and the public.
______

CONTACT
Miriam Rasch
Publications + Projects
Institute of Network Cultures
t: +31 (0)20 595 1865
miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org

HvA Interactive Media, room 05A07
Rhijnspoorplein 1
NL-1091 GC Amsterdam
www.networkcultures.org

Postal address:
PO BOX 1025
NL-1000 BA Amsterdam

t: +31 20 5951866
f: +31 20 5951840