[csaa-forum] disability + ICTs special issue

[Gerard Goggin]

'Disability, Identity, and Interdependence: ICTs and New Social Forms'

A call for papers for a special Spring 2006 issue of
Information, Communication & Society edited by

Dr Gerard Goggin, University of Queensland, Australia
Associate Christopher Newell, University of Tasmania, Australia

Our ideas of identity, the body, dependence and independence, 
welfare, and ability are undergoing rapid transformation; new social 
forms are emerging in which information and communications 
technologies (ICTs) take a central but yet little examined role.

With the growing importance of new movements - such as the disability 
movement, the online welfare movement, or those concerned with 
independent living - ICTs have become an important part of 
envisioning and realizing change to daily life for individuals, as 
well as the architecture and systems of community and society. At the 
present time also there are nascent associated fields of academic 
inquiry and policy interest, such as disability studies, theories of 
identity, work on social exclusion, and reconsideration of the 
meanings of independence.

Disability, for example, poses rich, complex questions and 
perspectives for thinking about identity, ICTs, and society. With 
greater awareness of disability and the protection given to the 
rights of people with disability through national legislation and 
international instruments, increasing attention is being given to 
researching and understanding the social implications of technology 
and disability. As governments and regulators enact new requirements 
for accessible technology, corporations and the 'third' sector are 
also grappling with how to incorporate disability and accessibility 
in their visions of ICTs.

At stake in these developments are important questions about identity 
and ICTs. Concepts of welfare have been much debated, especially 
under pressure from global economic and political trends. ICTs now 
play an indispensable role in social and political organisation 
online around welfare issues, in state and private administration of 
welfare, in processes of identity-formation concerning welfare. While 
independent living is still to be achieved for many, there is now 
growing recognition of the balance between dependence and 
independence - and that all in society are engaged in understanding 
their interdependence and connectedness, something in which ICTs are 
offering innovative ways to understand such new social forms.

In this light, we welcome submissions on topics such as (but not 
restricted to):

* how thinking about disability, identity, and interdependence opens 
up new perspectives on understanding ICTs
* case studies of particular technologies, accessibility, & disability
* the implications of disability for ICT policy and design
* new conceptions of welfare, online welfare movements and ICTs
* independent living and ICTs
* what are the implications of ICTs for the lives of people with a 
diverse range of disabilities and impairments, identities, and lives?

Deadline for final submissions is Monday 12 December 2005.

Potential contributors are encouraged to discuss their ideas with the editors:

Dr Gerard Goggin, Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, 
University of Queensland (g.goggin at uq.edu.au)

Associate Professor Christopher Newell, School of Medicine, 
University of Tasmania (christopher.newell at utas.edu.au).

-- 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dr Gerard Goggin
ARC Australian Research Fellow
Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies
University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072 Qld Australia
e: g.goggin at uq.edu.au   m: 0428 66 88 24
www.gerardgoggin.net.au // www.cccs.uq.edu.au
research blog: http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/~blogs/gerardgoggin/