<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><u><span lang="EN-AU">‘OPEN
LITERACY’ Symposium: Social Responsibility, Social Innovation and Digital Games</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><i><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><i><span lang="EN-AU">An
international Research Symposium at Curtin University, Western Australia</span></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-AU">Background</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><i><span lang="EN-AU">“We cannot stress highly enough the importance
of greater public understanding of digital information—its use, scale,
importance and influence ... Digital literacy should be a fourth pillar of
education, alongside reading, writing and maths.” [1] </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-AU">Curtin
University’s Centre for Culture & Technology (CCAT) and Tencent are proud
to launch the Curtin-Tencent Research Centre</span></b><span lang="EN-AU"> at this international
research symposium, focusing on digital media and the creative economy, with a
special emphasis on digital online games. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">The event also marks the 20<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of <b>Internet Studies at
Curtin University</b>. We invite you to join our researchers, including <b>John Hartley,</b> <b>Katie Ellis, Eleanor Sandry, Tama Leaver, Crystal Abidin</b> and
others, to share your work with visitors from China and the world.
Alternatively, save the date and simply attend to participate on the day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-AU">International
Keynote Speakers</span></b><span lang="EN-AU">: </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><b><span lang="EN-AU">Henry
Jenkins</span></b><span lang="EN-AU"> (University of Southern California); </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><b><span lang="EN-AU">Tencent
</span></b><span lang="EN-AU">games executive/developer VP (tba); </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><b><span lang="EN-AU">Mathew
Allen<i> </i></span></b><span lang="EN-AU">(Deakin
University)––Matt launched Internet Studies at Curtin in 1999 – the first
Internet Studies undergraduate degree program in the world.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">Date: <b>September
30-October 1, 2019</b>, prior to the Annual Conference of the Association of
Internet Researchers (AoIR). We are offering this event as a <b>‘satellite conference’ of AoIR</b>.
Scholars will be able to break their journey in Perth before heading to
Brisbane in time for AoIR’s pre-conference day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">With Tencent’s support, we can offer a limited
number of <b>bursaries to international and
Australian doctoral students and early career researchers</b>. Selected
applicants will be offered $500 towards their travel costs, and we will waive
our Registration fee for presenters.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-AU">We invite
proposals for papers and presentations on what we are calling ‘Open Literacy’.</span></b><span lang="EN-AU">
‘Open’ literacy links the domain of digital popular culture, play, and entertainment,
including video and online games, with that of formal knowledge. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">At a time when there is increasing tension
between large-scale, global connectivity on the one hand, and a population
marked by division, difference and asymmetries of access on the other, it is
more urgent than ever to extend participation in knowledge and social
responsibility––science and civics––beyond exclusive institutions and
restricted professions. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">Recent developments in ‘open access’
scholarship, ‘open science’ initiatives and ‘open source’ software offer new
ways to update Karl Popper’s vision of ‘the open society’ for the connected
age. Focusing on the extension of digital capabilities among a broad global
population via smart devices, apps and digital entertainment to smart users,
groups and enterprises, we want to explore how opening digital knowledge
systems to popular participation may boost innovation and social inclusion and
responsibility. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">Many media scholars are sceptical of the ‘mass
media effects’ tradition of research, inherited from anxiety about earlier
forms of popular media, from print to broadcasting. At the same time they are
mindful that public debate about this topic still depends on outmoded
industrial and individualist theories. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">We want to go beyond that paradigm, to
understand the challenges of digital, online media and the possibilities for
renewing knowledge systems and social groups in times of technological change
and geopolitical uncertainty. In short, what do entertainment systems and
knowledge systems––and their users––have in common?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-AU">Open
Literacy</span></b><span lang="EN-AU"> refers to the dynamic combination of: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">(i) individual skills, capabilities and
creative imagination (developed through ‘purposeless’ play-practice) with</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">(ii) the social networks, teamwork,
conflict management and difference needed in public/media environments, to </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">(iii) build new social groups––‘knowledge
clubs’ and ‘knowledge commons’––for social innovation under uncertainty. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">Open literacy is user-centred and system-wide,
producing unforeseen network effects that in turn change the rules of the game.
Navigating ‘newness’ (not just novelty but transformational change) raises new
questions:</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">Of what does ‘open literacy’ comprise
in the global-digital-connected era? </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">How do citizens in different contexts,
places and opportunity-spaces learn and practice it? Where is it encouraged;
where impeded?</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">How does Open Literacy intersect with
other ‘open’ systems and initiatives: open society, open knowledge, open
science, open access?</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">Given that Open Literacy is cultural
and informal, not institutional and disciplinary, what should policymakers,
educators, arts/literature agencies, sport/exercise bodies and commercial
entertainment/ leisure providers do to nurture it?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">To reflect on these developments and to report
on cutting edge research linking games, social innovation and social
responsibility, the ‘Open Literacy’ Research Symposium will be held over two
days. Papers and presentations––including work by postgraduate and early-career
researchers––may address (but is not confined to) the following themes. In the
context of pervasive computational and communicational literacy in the digital
age, presenters will think through the relationships among <i>social innovation, social responsibility and games,:</i></span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><b><span lang="EN-AU">Responsibility
</span></b><span lang="EN-AU">includes corporate and individual. </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><i><span lang="EN-AU">Corporate</span></i><span lang="EN-AU">:
what are the social responsibilities of games developers and publishers? What
are they doing right or wrong, according to whose criteria? </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><i><span lang="EN-AU">Individual</span></i><span lang="EN-AU">:
rights and duties of players and gamers themselves; how parents and young
people achieve and maintain social responsibility through play.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">Responsibility and <b>control</b>: </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">how games work in the production of
what Curtin researcher Michele Willson calls “the ideal child” (<i>Media Culture Society</i>, 2018); </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">how can games and other online changes
be historicised meaningfully;</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">political, moral, religious, authoritarian
crackdowns on games/popular media.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">•<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><b><span lang="EN-AU">‘Games’</span></b><span lang="EN-AU">
include digital games and analogue play; </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">main focus is on video games, internet
and online games; </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">but also branded play (Lego/Barbie);</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">competitive games (sport/health); </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 72pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family:"Courier New"">o<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">
</span></span><span lang="EN-AU">childhood games (indoor/outdoor play).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">The event will include presentations from scholars
and practitioners from the USA, Australia, China and elsewhere. Selected
postgraduate students will be eligible for financial assistance (bursaries) for
travel and for the preparation of their papers and presentations. The intention
is to produce a <b>published</b> <b>report from the proceedings</b> of the day,
including selected keynote, specialist and early-career (HDR+ECR)
contributions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">Potential presenters, please send your </span><b><span lang="EN-AU" style="color:black">abstract, of between
250-500 words, </span></b><b><span lang="EN-AU">to
Dr Huan WU,</span></b><span lang="EN-AU"> <b>by July
5, 2019</b> (<a href="mailto:huan.wu@curtin.edu.au" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">huan.wu@curtin.edu.au</a>).
We will confirm acceptance during July. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">For those with institutional support for their
research outreach, there will be a registration fee to cover venue costs and
catering. If you wish to attend without presenting a paper, just let Huan know.</span><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">“See you in September!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-AU">[1]
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (14 February 2019)
Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Final Report. UK Parliament: House of Commons,
pp. 85; 87: <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/1791/1791.pdf">https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/1791/1791.pdf</a>.</span><span lang="EN-AU"></span></p></div>