<div dir="ltr"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"></p><div style="text-align:left"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:small;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><span></span></p></div><p></p><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left">Dear colleagues, some of us who work in areas of digital media, representation, queer studies, migration studies, sociology and Indigenous studies may be interested in the below small, intimate symposium being held in December in Perth. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left"><span><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left">Short, informal proposals needed 30 October; there will be publication opportunities arising from this event. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left">More info, see below or download the CFP as a PDF from: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/m75i0j2wrz8j12d/CFP%20-%20Digital%20Stereotypes%20Symposium%204-5%20December.pdf?dl=0">https://www.dropbox.com/s/m75i0j2wrz8j12d/CFP%20-%20Digital%20Stereotypes%20Symposium%204-5%20December.pdf?dl=0</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left">Cheers,</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left">Rob :)</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left">==============</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0px;text-align:left"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:25pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans",sans-serif">Symposium Invitation: </span></b><br></p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:23pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans",sans-serif">Minority Stereotypes in Digital Culture<span></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Lucida Sans",sans-serif">The University of Western Australia; 4-5 December 2017.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><b><br></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left"><b>Stereotypes</b> have been—and continue to be—the most common and
recognised form of visual
representation of minorities (especially Indigenous, gender and
sexually-diverse persons, and ethnic/migrant minorities) in film, television,
advertising and online media. Stereotypes
are a common ‘byte’ of visual communication
that link a visual representation of an identity group with a set of—usually
narrow and non-representative—attributes, behaviours, tastes and expectations
into an easily-recognisable package. Although stereotypes develop and change
over time, their restrictive identity information remain in circulation and are
very difficult to get rid of; indeed, critiquing them often puts them into
further circulation. </p></div><div style="text-align:left"><p class="MsoNormal"><span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9pt"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Vulnerability and
Wellbeing: </b>Minorities in general
are particularly vulnerable to stereotyping which can impact by affecting the
ability of members of minority groups to participate as genuine, complex and
diverse subjects in social, labour, community, neighbourhood of family
relations; they create pressures on younger persons to conform to narrow
stereotypes in order to participate as coherent subjects, adding stresses that
have negative physiological and mental health consequences; and they reduce the
capabilities of minority groups to seek positive inclusion and full acceptance. Stereotypes can also be a weapon of
harassment and cyberbullying and are often deployed as an impediment to
progressive political change. Indeed,
the contemporary inequitable distribution of vulnerability rests significantly
on the continued circulation and believability of minority visual
stereotypes. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9pt"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Digital stereotypes
today: </b>Although since the 1990s
digital, online, networked and mobile media has often been celebrated as a site
of potential diversity in representation, much online activity arguably
reproduces and re-circulates stereotypes.
<b>Search engines</b> depend on
algorithms which, in the case of minorities, can produce stereotyped <i>commonality</i> rather than <i>diversity of image</i>; <b>Public relations and marketing</b> rely on easily-recognisable images,
often pulled from stock image databases using searchable tags which link an
identity with a ‘visual expectation’; <b>Minority
media and health communication</b> rely on recognisability, which can sometimes
be stereotypical rather than outreaching; <b>Self-representation</b>
such as in social networking can sometimes also encourage the reliance on
visual stereotypes to communicate quickly, rather than the slower activity of
demonstrating complexity and diversity. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9pt;color:rgb(83,129,53)"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(83,129,53)">Symposium December 2017</span><span style="color:rgb(83,129,53)"> </span></i></b><i><span style="color:rgb(83,129,53)">–
The Digital Stereotypes Collaboration team <b>invite
proposals for presentations</b> which address any aspect of Minorities, Media
and Stereotypes. We are particularly
interested in interdisciplinary postgraduate and early-career research where
questions around stereotypes, visual or digital images might intersect with
that work in productive ways. Some </span><b><span style="color:rgb(168,208,141)">intersections</span></b><span style="color:rgb(83,129,53)"> might include:<span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(196,89,17)">- Gender- and sexually-diverse representations, lgbtiq+
communities<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(196,89,17)">- Indigenous persons and communities<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(196,89,17)">- Migrants, temporary migrants, international students,
refugees and asylum seekers<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(196,89,17)">- Political, social, health and educational implications of
stereotypes<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(196,89,17)">- Digital practices, media practitioners <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:rgb(196,89,17)">- …Any other areas that are of some relevant to
stereotypes, visual images, vulnerabilities.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color:rgb(112,48,160)">Media practitioners, service providers, public relations
professionals, digital media experts and community advocates are very welcome
to participate. <span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9pt"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>About the symposium<span></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- Will be held on the University of Western Australia
campus, 4-5 December.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- For those attending TASA in Perth, the symposium is held
the week following the TASA conference. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- Lunch will be provided at no cost on both days.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">- Selected papers may be invited for publication in an
anthology or special issue.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:6pt"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(196,89,17)">How to submit a proposal</span></i></b><i><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(196,89,17)"><span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(196,89,17)">P</span></i><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(196,89,17)">lease send a 150-300 word abstract plus a short 20-50 word bio to the Digital
Stereotypes Collaboration team at </span><a href="mailto:digital.stereotypes@gmail.com"><b><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(3,73,144)">digital.stereotypes@gmail.com</span></b></a><span style="font-size:14pt;color:rgb(196,89,17)"> by <b><u>Monday 30 October</u></b>. (Rob or Kirsty will respond by Friday 3
November).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p></div><div style="text-align:left"><br></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>____________________________________________</div><div><br></div><div>Rob Cover</div><div>Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences<br></div><div><br></div><div>The University of Western Australia</div><div>Crawley WA 6009</div><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size:12.7273px">+61 8 6488 4305 wk</span><br></div><div>0437 902 967 sms</div><div><br></div><div><a href="mailto:robcover@gmail.com" target="_blank">r</a><a href="mailto:ob.cover@uwa.edu.au">ob.cover@uwa.edu.au</a></div><div>Profile: <a href="http://www.uwa.edu.au/people/rob.cover" target="_blank">http://www.uwa.edu.au/people/rob.cover</a></div><div>____________________________________________</div></div></div></div>
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