[Air-L] CfP: Media and networks from below: amateurs, users, and marginal groups - Padua 14-16 June 2018

[Paolo Bory]

CfP:  Media and networks from below: amateurs, users, and marginal
groups - Padova 24-26 June 18




Call for papers

MEDIA AND NETWORKS FROM BELOW: AMATEURS, USERS, AND MARGINAL GROUPS

Deadline: 10.02.2018



Track of the 7th STS Italia Conference to be hosted at the University of
Padova, Italy, June 14 - 16, 2018, by the Italian Society of Science and
Technology Studies, in collaboration with the FISPPA Department and the
University of Padova.


Networks play an essential role in media development. To counter the
semantic and theoretical dominance of the histories of particular
technologies and include them in a broader social context, the historian
Andrew Russell has recently raised the need for a deeper understanding
of the plural histories of networking. Notably, the term network, far
from being just confined to digital media, refers to a variety of media
and communication technologies in their convergence and
interdependencies, such as telegraphy, wireless, radio, telephony,
broadcasting, and ITs.

Besides the leading role of private companies and national monopolies,
various local, national and transnational networks from below
participated and are still contributing to the development and the
cultural representation of media and communication technologies.
Amateurs, activists, hackers, hobbyists are just some examples of how a
variety of networks from below have played a key role in shaping the
past and present of media. These networks developed in different forms,
from ones around particular political institutions to the local clubs in
the garages. Different motivations drove them: to share the knowledge
and joy of using the technology, to serve the nation by spreading the
information, to suggest an alternative way of media governance, etc.
Besides technical networks, different forms of social networks
contributed to the development, the appropriation and the dissemination
of media and communication technologies over time.

This track session aims at gathering and putting into dialogue scholars
and specialists coming from different experiences and case studies
dealing with networks from below. Relevant topics for the track may
include, but are in no way limited to:


  - Networks of amateurs and the emergence of radio, television, and
digital media

  - Countercultural networks: hacker movements, TV, and pirate radio
stations

  - Hobbyists’ networks, politics, and propaganda

  - Whistleblowing, programmers, and journalistic networks

  - Case studies on civic networks and advocacy networks

  - Gaming communities and technological innovations

  - The geography of networks from below on local, national, and
transnational scale


Abstracts (written in English or in Italian, max. 300 words all included) should be submitted by
February, 10 to the conference email address
(7thstsitaliaconf at gmail.com) and to the emails of convenors' selected track.

Convenors:

Paolo, Bory, USI – Università della Svizzera italiana,
paolo.bory at usi.ch<mailto:paolo.bory at usi.ch>

Maria, Rikitianskaia, USI – Università della Svizzera italiana,
maria.rikitianskaia at usi.ch<mailto:maria.rikitianskaia at usi.ch>



The call:
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/8486e6_c25e53e71476441c9a906f535073b7e8.pdf

The full call of the conference
https://www.frombelow-stsitaliaconf.org/call-for-abstracts