Dear GKD Members,
See in particular the 2 special topics that have been added to the
earlier call.
Michel
***
CALL FOR PAPERS
Fourth International Conference on
CULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION
(CATaC'04)
27 June-1 July 2004
Karlstad University, Sweden
www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac/
Conference theme:
Off the shelf or from the ground up?
ICTs and cultural marginalization, homogenization or hybridization
The biennial CATaC conference series provides a continuously expanding
international forum for the presentation and discussion of current
research on how diverse cultural attitudes shape the implementation and
use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The conference
series brings together scholars from around the globe who provide
diverse perspectives, both in terms of the specific culture(s) they
highlight in their presentations and discussions, and in terms of the
discipline(s) through which they approach the conference theme. The
first conference in the series was held in London in 1998, the second in
Perth in 2000, and the third in Montreal in 2002.
Beginning with our first conference in 1998, the CATaC conferences have
highlighted theoretical and praxis-oriented scholarship and research
from all parts of the globe, including Asia, Africa, and the
Middle-East. The conferences focus especially on people and communities
at the developing edges of ICT diffusion, including indigenous peoples
and those outside the English-speaking world.
Understanding the role of culture in how far minority and/or indigenous
cultural groups may succeed - or fail - in taking up ICTs designed for a
majority culture is obviously crucial to the moral and political
imperative of designing ICTs in ways that will not simply reinforce such
groups' marginalization. What is the role of culture in the development
of ICTs from the ground up - beginning with the local culture and
conditions - rather than assuming dominant off the shelf technologies
are appropriate? Are the empowering potentials of ICTs successfully
exploited among minority and indigenous groups, and/or do they rather
engender cultural marginalization, cultural homogenization or cultural
hybridization?
Original full papers (especially those which connect theoretical
frameworks with specific examples of cultural values, practices, etc.)
and short papers (e.g. describing current research projects and
preliminary results) are invited.
Topics of particular interest include but are not limited to:
- Culture: theory and praxis
- Culture and economy
- Alternative models for ICT diffusion
- Role of governments and activists in culture, technology and
communication
- ICTs and cultural hybridity
- ICTs and intercultural communication
- Culture, communication and e-learning
Our conference themes provide a range of approaches to the questions
raised.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Nina Wakeford, Foundation Fund Lecturer in Sociology and Social
Methodology. For her DPhil at Nuffield College, Oxford, Dr Wakeford
studied the experiences of mature students using a sociological
conception of risk. Before coming to the University of Surrey in
September of 1998, she spent three years studying Women's Experiences
of Virtual Communities, funded by an ESRC Post-Doctoral grant. The last
two years of this Fellowship she conducted fieldwork in and around
Silicon Valley while based at the University of California, Berkeley.
CATaCí04 will also feature two particular foci, each chaired by a
distinguished colleague who will oversee paper review and development of
the final panels.
PANEL 1: The Multilingual Internet
Panel Chairs: Susan Herring and Brenda Danet
Expanding on their collective work, including a special issue of the
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (Vol. 9 (1), November, 2003
- see http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/, this thread invites papers with a
specific focus on how the Internet impacts language choice and
linguistic practices in traditionally non-English speaking cultural
contexts. Of particular interest are situations that respond in various
ways to the tension between global English dominance and local
linguistic diversity, e.g., through use of English as an online lingua
franca, the localization of global or regional linguistic influences,
translation or code-switching between different languages, and strategic
uses of the Internet to maintain and invigorate minority languages.
Susan Herring is Professor of Information Science and Linguistics,
Indiana University Bloomington
Brenda Danet is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Communication at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
PANEL 2: Utopian Dreams vs. Real-World Conditions: Under what conditions
can ICTs really help worse off communities?
Panel Chair: Michel Menou.
CATaC'04 will likely feature some examples of best practices in using
ICTs to aid culturally-appropriate development, especially as pursued
through governmental or NGOs' projects,
