[csaa-forum] CfP: Information and Communication Technologies and the Current Crisis

[Melissa Gregg]

Apologies for cross-posting, M
 
Please direct questions about potential contributions directly to the
issue editors Marcus Breen m.breen at neu.edu and David Hakken
dhakken at indiana.edu.

Christian Fuchs
Editor of tripleC

* * * * * * * *

Call For Papers - Special Issue of tripleC (http://www.triple-c.at):
Information and Communication Technologies and the Current Crisis: How
Are They Connected?

The Crisis that began in 2007 continues to convulse the world. Labelled
by some as merely a recession, yet it is associated with dramatic
changes in national and global power. Others frame the Crisis as merely
a consequence of over-promoting a narrow range of financial transactions
associated with subprime mortgage instruments. These were indeed overly
aggressively oversold by deregulated bankers, but this was likely only
an important trigger of the Crisis, not the primary cause.

In this special issue, we will explore the notion that much of the basis
of the Crisis should be assigned to financial transactions not just made
possible but also strongly afforded by use of computer technologies.
Thus, those operating at the highest levels of algorithmic capacity bear
substantial responsibility for the Crisis.

For students of technological innovation and diffusion, many questions
emerge about the connection between the Crisis in general and
computerization. Some of the questions involve the tight relationship
between cultures of technological empowerment and financial elites.
Others questions, while appearing initially to be purely economic, turn
out on examination to articulate strongly with the public interest,
civil society, policymaking, and public discourse more generally.

These in turn lead to further, perhaps quite new critical questions
about the emerging relationships between capitalism, democracy and the
data-information-knowledge-technology nexus. Thus, equally important for
responsibility is specification of what is known within computer science
about the technological dimensions of the Crisis of this crisis.
Ultimately, a rethinking of the very notion of ³crisis² itself may be
needed.

Some specific questions authors may choose to address include:
* What kind of crisis is this, how is it different from previous ones,
how are these differences related to automated ICTs and the changed
practices they have afforded?
* What role do computer professionals have in the crisis?
* Does this crisis suggest a dystopian post-human future?
* What media theories best explain the crisis, or has the time arrived
for newly radical approaches in this area?
* How does public policy fit in the private world of computerization?
* What historical guides are available as tools to foster better
analyses of technological crisis?
* Will the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) be the ³winners²
of this crisis?
* Are there artistic innovations that help refine political and policy
responses to this crisis?
* What new knowledge innovations are needed to understand the forces at
work in this crisis and its implications for democracy?
* What new questions need to be addressed to orientate research about
the crisis?
* How are the computing-, information-, and media-industries affected by
this crisis? How will they develop in the future?

This special issue of tripleC is intended to feature research from both
theoretical and practical perspectives. We seek contributions from any
theoretical, professional, or disciplinary perspective that offers
innovative analysis that promotes debate about technology and the Crisis.

Submission deadline: Full papers should be submitted until February 1st,
2010. All papers will be peer reviewed. The special issue will be
published in 2010.

tripleC ­ Cognition, Communication, Co-operation: Open Access Journal
for a Global Sustainable Information Society (http://www.triple-c.at)
promotes contributions within an emerging science of the information age
with a special interest in critical studies following the highest
standards of peer review.

Submissions must be formatted according to tripleC¹s guidelines
(http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/about/submissions#authorGuidelines),
make use of APA style, and use the style template
(http://triplec.at/files/journals/1/template-0.dot). Papers should be
submitted online by making use of the electronic submission system
(http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/user/register,
http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/login). When submitting to the
electronic system, please select ³Special issue on crisis &
communication³ as the journal¹s section.

ISSUE CO-EDITORS: David Hakken (dhakken at indiana.edu) and Marcus Breen
(m.breen at neu.edu)

David Hakken is professor of informatics at Indiana University. Marcus
Breen is associate professor of communication studies at Northeastern
University.

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