[Air-L] CFP: Disability and Social Media (Edited collection, abstracts due 15 July 2014)

[Mike Kent]

Apologies for cross posting

Call for Papers


CFP: Disability and Social Media (Edited collection, abstracts due 15 July
2014) 



Disability and Social Media


edited by Dr Katie Ellis & Dr Mike Kent 

Internet Studies, Curtin University

 

Social media is popularly seen as an important media for people with
disability in terms of communication, exchange and activism. These sites
potentially increase both employment and leisure opportunities for one of
the most traditionally isolated groups in society. However, the offline
inaccessible environment has, to a certain degree, been replicated online
and particularly social networking sites. For example, despite recognized
benefits of social inclusion for people with disabilities, Scott Hollier
notes the continuation of inaccessibility in social media in his report
Sociability: Social Media for People with a Disability:

 

.all of the popular social media tools remain inaccessible to some degree.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, blogging websites and the emerging
Google+ all feature limited accessibly, denying many consumers with
disabilities the opportunity to participate in social media. Fortunately,
users have often found ways around the accessibility barriers such as
alternative website portals, mobile apps, additional keyboard navigation
shortcuts and online support groups. This is a rich source of expertise, and
social media users with disability continue to find creative ways to access
the most popular platforms. (Hollier 2012)

Although Hollier paints a dreary picture regarding accessibility in social
media, his report holds much scope for optimism, as do we. Social media is
becoming an increasingly important part of our lives yet the impact on
people with disabilities has gone largely unscrutinised. This collection
will explore the opportunities and challenges social media represents for
the social inclusion of people with disabilities. 

The book will be published as part of Ashgate's Interdisciplinary Disability
Studies series 

Some suggested topics (which are by no means exhaustive):

.         Activism

.         Communication

.         Community creation

.         Leisure/Entertainment/ Socialising

.         Creating new types of representation

.         Web/media literacy

.         Mashups

.         Education

.         Social Network specific case studies 

We are particularly interested in chapter proposals that explore social
networks popular outside the Anglosphere 

Submission procedure:

Potential authors are invited to submit chapter abstract of no more than 500
words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords, and a brief bio, by email to both
Dr Mike Kent <m.kent at curtin.edu.au> and Dr Katie Ellis
<katie.ellis at curtin.edu.au> by 15 July 2014. (Please indicate in your
proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you have or will
gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will receive a
response by 15 August 2014, with those provisionally accepted due as
chapters of no more than 6000 words (including references) by 15 November
2015.

 

About the editors:

The editors are from the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin
University. Dr Katie Ellis is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of
Internet Studies at Curtin University. Her research focuses on disability
and the media extending across both representation and active possibilities
for social inclusion. Her books include Disability and New Media (2011 with
Mike Kent), Disabling Diversity (2008), Disability, Ageing and Obesity:
Popular Media Identifications (2014; with Debbie Rodan & Pia Lebeck),
Disability and the Media (2015; with Gerard Goggin), and Disability and
Popular Culture (2015). Dr Mike Kent's research focus is on people with
disabilities and their use of, and access to, information technology and the
Internet. His other area of research interest is in higher education and
particularly online education, as well as online social networking
platforms. His edited collection An Education in Facebook? Higher Education
and the World's Largest Social Network was released in May 2014 through
Routledge.