[Air-L] Reminder: Deadline Sept 30 - CFP: Special Issue of First Monday on Technology Non-use

[Eric P. S. Baumer]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extended Abstracts Due *September 30*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Across the numerous disciplines that investigate the relationships between 
humans and technology, most research focuses on technology use and technology 
users. User studies, usability metrics, techno-determinism, socio-determinism, 
user-centered design, participatory design, end user programming, user 
appropriation, technology adoption, diffusion of innovations, technology and 
development: such research overwhelmingly focuses on people using technology.

We seek to problematize this focus by turning our attention to situations in 
which a particular individual or group of individuals are unable or choose not 
to use some specific technology or technological system. Focusing explicitly on 
non-use can function as a dialectic maneuver, an inversion that provides a novel 
perspective on, and potentially fuller understanding of, the complex, 
multifaceted relations among society and technology. We seek to explore these 
relationships and their broad ramifications rather than simply to transform 
non-users into users. Studying non-use in its many forms can highlight 
sociotechnical configurations that may be overlooked due to a singular focus on 
technology use.

To this end, we seek submissions from a broad array of disciplines representing 
a diverse collection of methodological approaches to the topic of technology 
non-use. Studying non-use may require novel empirical investigations, 
methodological approaches, conceptual tools, and theoretical developments. Many 
and varied technologies may be relevant to consider: digital and analog, modern 
and ancient, computational and mechanical, popular and obscure, etc. Through 
this special issue, we also seek to avoid reifying a binary distinction between 
use and non-use. The point is not to draw ever clearer lines that help us 
understand what distinguishes non-use(rs) from use(rs). Rather, this special 
issue aims to explore the complex sociotechnical situations where various forms 
and degrees of non-use arise. We hope to provide a foundational repository for 
the topic of non-use through which scholars from many diverse fields can be in 
conversation with one another.

Topics for submissions might include:
- case studies of unique or notable instances of non-use
- conspicuous or performative non-use
- development, ICT4D, and the “digital imperative”
- digital divide(s) and/or disenfranchisement
- diverse reasons for or causes of non-use (or use): choice, compulsion, 
structural limitation, etc.
- identity management
- media and/or technology refusal
- methodological innovations for studying non-use
- organizational or institutional contexts
- partial or situational non-use
- social, political, or cultural dimensions of non-use
- surveillance avoidance
- modifications of existing theories or new theoretical contributions
- typologies, taxonomies, categories, or degrees of non-use (and/or use)
- any other topics that can be a touchstone for scholars interested in non-use

Timeline:
- Extended Abstracts Due - *September 30*
- Feedback from Editors on Abstracts - October 31
- Full Submissions Due - January 15, 2015
- Issue Appears - August 3, 2015

Authors are requested to submit an extended abstract of 400-500 words to 
nonuse2014[at]gmail[dot]com. Selected authors will be invited to submit a full 
paper for the special issue and will receive feedback to help craft final 
submissions.

Editors:
Eric P. S. Baumer
Morgan G. Ames
Jed R. Brubaker
Jenna Burrell
Paul Dourish