[Air-L] 2015 SWPACA Conference CFP- Computer Culture Area

[natasha chuk]

*Call for Papers: Computer Culture Area*

36th Annual Southwest Popular / American Culture Association Conference

February 11-14, 2015

Hyatt Regency, Albuquerque, NM

www.southwestpca.org

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Saturday, November 1, 2014

Proposals for papers are now being accepted for the area of Computer
Culture, as one of the many areas within the 36th annual conference of the
Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA). Please consider
submitting.

This year’s conference theme is:

Many Faces, Many Voices: Intersecting Borders in Popular and American
Culture

COMPUTER is broadly defined as any computational device, whether smartphone
or abacus, and any form of information technology, including the origins of
concepts of interactive text which may predate computational devices as
traditionally conceived.

CULTURE is rooted in the concept of cultural meaning. We ask not just
operational questions such as, "How do people communicate using computers?"
but questions of meaning such as, "What does it mean when people
communicate using computers instead of using pre-computer approaches to
communication?" Along these lines, we are interested in communication as
well as creative practices/applications and how computer technologies shape
them.

"Computer Culture" can be understood in a variety of ways:

   -

   the culture of the computer, that is, as computers interact with each

  other, what culture do they have of their own?

   -

   the culture around the computer, that is, (sub)cultures associated with

  the production, maintenance, use, and destruction of computers

   -

   the culture through the computer, that is, explicit treatment of how

  computer mediation influences cultural phenomena that exist or has existed

  in forms that did not involve computer mediation, and what these
influences

  mean

   -

   the culture by the computer, that is, the ways in which new

  (sub)cultures or (sub)cultural phenomena have arisen because of computers
and understandings of these given awareness of the nature and/or workings
of computers

Example questions associated with Computer Culture would include, but not

be limited to:


   -

   What implications are there because of the powerfulness of
   (computer/information) technology; and are these implications beneficial,
   detrimental, inevitable, or avoidable?



   -

   What are the cultural origins of computers, computer/information
   technologies, and practices associated with them? What is the descriptive
   and prescriptive outlook for the conditions of those cultural forces
   associated with those cultural origins?



   -

   How do cultural forces (such as changes from one generation to the next,
   trends in education or society, or other cultural phenomena) impact (and
   are impacted by) computer/information technologies/market-forces, and what
   do these impacts (in either direction or both) mean?


Paper topics might include (but are not limited to) those that address:

   -

   issues of (re)presentation through computers (website analysis and
   design),
   -

   methods of discourse involving computers (blogging, Twitter, social
   networks, viral video, live feeds),
   -

   theories focused on the relationship between computers and culture, uses
   of computers in particular contexts and the impacts thereof (computers and
   pedagogy, online literary journals, etc.),
   -

   the relationship between computers and cultural forces (such as news,
   politics, and terrorism),
   -

   security/privacy/fraud/surveillance and computers (online security
   issues, spam, scams, and hoaxes),
   -

   creative practice, web art, generative and digital art, virtual
   performance,
   -

   the self, the “second self,” identity formation/negotiation, anonymity
   -

   “cyberkids,” internet youth cultures
   -

   data visualization and digital geographies
   -

   hashtag thinking, communities, data organization and archives


While we will consider any relevant paper, we have a preference for those
that involve transferable methodological approaches. This is an
interdisciplinary conference, and other conference attendees would benefit
from being able to adapt your research methods to their future research.

Scholars, teachers, professionals, artists, and others interested in
computer culture are encouraged to participate.

Graduate students are also particularly welcome with award opportunities
for the best graduate papers. More information about awards can be found at

http://southwestpca.org/conference/graduate-student-awards/

Specifically, we would like to highlight the following award opportunities:

   -

   The "Computer Culture and Game Studies Award"
   -

   The "Heldrich-Dvorak Travel Fellowships"


Given how papers may often fall into multiple categories, there may be
other award opportunities listed at

http://southwestpca.org/conference/graduate-student-awards/ which would be
appropriate for your paper.  (However, each presenter may only apply for
one – not including the Travel Fellowships, which can be in addition.)

If you wish to form your own panel, we would be glad to facilitate your
needs. This conference is a presentation opportunity.

Visit http://journaldialogue.org <http://www.journaldialogue.org/> for
information about the organization's new, peer-reviewed journal, Dialogue:
The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy.

Please pass along this call to friends and colleagues.

For consideration, submit 100-200 word abstracts and proposals for panels
before Saturday, November 1, 2014 to the conference’s electronic submission
system which can be found at:

http://conference2015.southwestpca.org/