[Air-L] Call for book chapter contributions for book: "In excess: data boundaries and overflow in digital media research"

[Natalie Hendry]

RMIT Classification: Trusted


Hello all,


Inspired by conversations about "excess in research" with colleagues at RMIT's Digital Ethnography Research Centre<https://digital-ethnography.com/>, Ingrid and I are working on an edited book collection that explores excess and would love to hear if you're interested in contributing a book chapter (~5000 words).


We welcome short abstracts of about 200-500 words that respond to our current blurb below - due by Friday 27 August 2021.



Please get in touch if you'd like to talk about your ideas as well. We will compile a book proposal from proposed chapter contributions and confirm a publisher as soon as possible.



Cheers

Natalie and Ingrid


Proposed title:  In excess: data boundaries and overflow in digital media research

Editors: Natalie Hendry and Ingrid Richardson



Excess emerges in the research process: the “debris” and “leftovers” from planning, fieldwork and writing; the words cut from drafts and copied to untouched and forgotten files; the data analyses never published. This may be inherent to research as we create boundaries on the world to manage or confine our research questions and interests. It may also be a problem of increasing academic pressures to publish and discard data that doesn’t neatly fit a project or topic, or perhaps it is an ethical problem as we actively or even unintentionally collect “too much” data. Much of the work we do, including the experience and affects of research, sits beyond the boundaries of academic books, journal articles and reports. Even as creative and innovative ways of doing and communicating research strive to better incorporate complex, experiential, and iterative approaches, such methods also face significant challenges in addressing the complexity and excess of scholarship.



Media, internet and technology researchers know the possibilities and problems of “excess” and “TMI”—too much information—intimately. While the challenge of excess and too much data is familiar to qualitative and quantitative scholars alike, it is especially critical for digital media researchers. Not only do the (unrealised) promises of big data to capture “everything” haunt our projects, our media interests and digital fields are expansive and perpetually being made and remade as content and data are retweeted, shared and circulated through devices, apps and platforms. Our research projects and sites may end, but our research histories continue to follow us on social media through algorithmic and archival functions.



For Clay Shirky (2008<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mascontext.com%2Fissues%2F7-information-fall-10%2Fits-not-information-overload-its-filter-failure%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cnatalie.hendry%40rmit.edu.au%7C37d67156afb04b595fcb08d92be0ef59%7Cd1323671cdbe4417b4d4bdb24b51316b%7C0%7C0%7C637589067398472563%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=QYaHL4UYFOQdN%2FdqvamjV5Ov0FHwcxOxtADQYN2iVls%3D&reserved=0>) this broader problem is “not information overload. It’s filter failure.” For researchers, is data excess merely a filter problem? How then do we imagine and enact filters and boundaries for research to manage material, theoretical and pragmatic overload? How can and do other researchers or projects embrace excess, even if only in the early brainstorming stages of project development? What opportunities might excess offer us?



This book is a dedicated collection that explores excess as a conceptual, methodological, ethical and pragmatic challenge and opportunity in media research. It examines what happens when media researchers return to their surplus knowledge, labour and feelings about data overflow.



We invite contributions from researchers and scholars to explore “excess” as it emerges in digital technology and media research. While not exhaustive, we offer these suggestions as starting points:

  *   Theories of excess, overwhelm, attention, overload and “TMI” in relation to research methods
  *   Research methodologies and methods that actively engage with excess, boundaries, and scope
  *   Creative practice and innovative methods that engage with media excess and/or address problems or opportunities of excess in participants’ and communities’ lives
  *   Theoretical, ethical, or methodological discussions of conceptual, material and/or digital boundaries in media studies research
  *   Practical recommendations to support new and post graduate researchers manage the challenges of too much data
  *   Processes and methods of knowledge translation and how they may simplify or modify complex, boundless or extravagant projects
  *   Analyses of the breadth, depth, and scope of big data or large digital ethnography projects (among others)
  *   Reflections on the “leftovers” and surplus in research
  *   Metaphors and concepts of excess as a means of critiquing research processes and methods
  *   Excess as an ethical challenge and the ethical implications of “too much” data
  *   Affective experiences and approaches to “excessive feelings” including overwhelm, shame, confusion, and other intensities
  *   Negotiating excess through and after project development with stakeholders, funders, institutions, and other bodies outside of academia






Natalie Hendry (PhD)
Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow
natalie.hendry at rmit.edu.au<mailto:natalie.hendry at rmit.edu.au>
+61 3 9925 8119

Design and Creative Practice Enabling Capability Platform<https://www.rmit.edu.au/research/research-expertise/our-focus/enabling-capability-platforms/design-creative-practice>
School of Media and Communication
RMIT University, Melbourne
she / her

Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AAqyUnMAAAAJ&hl=en> | DCP Impact Observatory<https://dcp-ecp.com/> | HASH Network<https://www.hashnetwork.org/experts/natalie-hendry>