CFP: The Storm of Progress: New Horizons, New Narratives, New Codes , HASTAC 2013 Conference

Posted novembre 13, 2012

Call for Papers: HASTAC 2013 — The Decennial

The Storm of Progress: New Horizons, New Narratives, New Codes

Submissions Deadline: November 15, 2012

April 25-28, 2013 York University, Toronto, Canada

This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past.

Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe that keeps
piling ruin upon ruin and hurls it in front of his feet.

The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed.

But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings
with such violence that the angel can no longer close them.

The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned,
while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.

– Walter Benjamin

What’s next? 2013 marks the 10th anniversary of HASTAC’s founding. In that spirit we invite work that is either reflective or prescient, that evaluates our history and seeks to construct our future(s). We invite you to take this opportunity to look back, theorize and archive. We invite you to engage in the creative, if impossible, attempt to glimpse the digital future. We challenge you to shape it. We invite you to share how you, your team, your research lab, your classroom, or your students are building the technologies and subjects of the future right now or imagining new horizons of possibility for the ways in which we will make, teach, learn and find community in the coming decade(s).

– HASTAC histories

– historical roots of current practices; cautionary tales

– libraries and preservation in 2023; digital traces and archives

– new publics, movements going global and communities of the future

– manifestos for the next generation

– new stories for new screens: e-literatures, immersive/augmented worlds, future cinema, games

– ways of working
– methodologies, code, communities, funding

– future classrooms, curricula, and pedagogies

– maker movements;

– tools we haven’t built yet, but that we desperately need

– visualization and data-driven futures

– mobility, future city spaces, built and liquid architectures

– crowdsourcing (and/in) the future

– teleologies and their discontents

– new and imagined creative practices

HASTAC 2013 will be composed of keynote addresses, structured conversations, a curated exhibition, participant presentations, performances and tech demos, spontaneous disruptions, and a Scholars’ Space.

We will accept proposals for participant presentations in the following categories: 5-8 minute lightning talks; 15-20 minute talks; curated panels (lightning talks, longer talks, curated conversation); project demos; digital and/or print posters; creative performances; post conference workshops (April 28th). Submission portal will be open soon.

We are now accepting proposals for participant presentations in the following categories:

5-8 Minute Lightning Talks. We seek focused, inspiring talks that can serve as both provocation and an introduction to your work in progress or your wider interests. We require:
1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation, if any;
2) brief (200-250 word) bio;
3) a half-page abstract of the work you would like to present that must discuss its relationship to the conference theme;
4) any technical requirements or other support that may be required for you presentation.

15-20 Minute Talks. We also seek more traditional papers that really require more time to develop a sustained argument than a lightning talk would allow. Please let us know in your submission if you would allow us to simultaneously consider your presentation submission for a lighting talk instead of a full talk. We require:
1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation, if any;
2) brief (200-250 word) bio;
3) a one-page abstract of the work you would like to present that must discuss its relationship to the conference theme;
4) any technical requirements or other support that may be required for your presentation.

Curated Panels. If you would like to curate a panel of 3- 5 lightning talks, a traditional panel of 3 papers or a conduct structured conversation among key thinkers, we require:
1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation, if any, for all participants;
2) brief (200-250 word) bio for all participants;
3) a one-page abstract of the panel’s theme that must discuss its relationship to the larger conference theme, clearly identifying how each panelist will contribute;
4) identification of the panel/group organizer who will be required to facilitate the panel/group involvement;
5) any technical requirements or other support that may be required for the presentation.

Project Demos. Designed to showcase well-developed digital projects or tools. Demos will be grouped in a single room and will, ideally, remain up for an entire conference day. You will have a dedicated 2 hour slot to engage with conference participants without competing with other events. You will have wireless access and a table. While we endeavor to provide projectors or other equipment for participants who make a request at the time of submission, presenters will be responsible for bringing all required technology with them. We require:
1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation, if any;
2) brief (200-250 word) bio;
3) a half-page abstract of the work you would like to present and a link to a project url with images or video documentation;
4) any technical requirements or other support (including any space requirements beyond a table) that may be required for the presentation. Please indicate any equipment that is absolutely required and that you cannot bring with you. In the event that we cannot guarantee access to the equipment, we regret that we may not be able to accept your demo.

Digital and/or Print Posters. Print posters (4 x 3’) and electronic posters (to be projected) are solicited for emerging projects, ideas, and scholars. In presenting your research with a poster, you should aim to use the poster as a means for generating active discussion of your research. Limit the text to about one-fourth of the poster space, and use visuals (graphs, photographs, schematics, maps, etc.) to tell your story. Required:
1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation;
2) brief (200-250 word) bio;
3) a half-page abstract of your work that must discuss its relationship to the conference theme;
4) statement clearly identifying whether your poster will be hard-copy or digitally projected;
5) a digital draft of your poster.

Creative Performances. We are soliciting creative interventions, too – e-lit readings, ARGs and mobile cinema, talks that cross boundaries between the academic and the poetic, tech wearables, etc.. We see these as being integrated into conference sessions (ie if you have a five minute piece, we might schedule it as a lighting talk), as potentially being part of scheduled evening entertainment (a 30 minute interactive dance performance or epoetry reading), or as taking place outside of/alongside scheduled time (ie a mobile game that conference participants can download).
1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation, if any;
2) brief (200-250 word) bio;
3) a one-page abstract of the work you would like to present that clearly identifies the genre your are working in and how, ideally, you would like it to be scheduled during the conference (including time and space requirements). Your abstract must discuss its relationship to the conference theme;
4) any technical requirements or other support (including any space requirements). Please indicate any equipment that is absolutely required and that you cannot bring with you. In the event that we cannot guarantee access to the equipment, we regret that may not be able to accept your creative submission.

Post-conference Workshops to take place April 28th. Full day or half day workshops will be considered. If you have new tools, new approaches or seek a new community of collaborators we can provide an opportunity for you to offer full and half workshops. For consideration we require:
1) complete contact information including valid phone, e-mail, and institutional affiliation, if any;
2) brief (200-250 word) bio;
3) a one or two page abstract of the workshop that clearly describes the goals of the workshop, its relationship to the conference theme; its target audience (and any specialized background required for participation) and whether the proposal is for a full day or half-day workshop;
4) a brief explanation of the space and technical resources required to run the workshop.

All proposals will be reviewed, but we regret that we cannot provide reviewer feedback. We welcome applications from scholars at all stages of their careers from all disciplines and fields, from private sector companies and public sector organizations, from artists and public intellectuals, and from you.