September 2011 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Boston area: Shava Nerad on "What's in a name? Google+ and the #nymwars."
by Deborah Elizabeth Finn 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

Dear AIR Colleagues, The Ethos Roundtable is an informal group of people who are interested in 1) measuring and extending ethos, and 2) using technology for positive social change. We meet once a month in Harvard Square (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) for discussions and presentations. Please join us for our September session: Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 4:30 - 6:00 pm Charles Hotel 1 Bennett Street Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Featured guest: Shava Nerad We are delighted to be back after our summer hiatus, and grateful to Shava Nerad for stepping up to be the first featured guest of the season. This will be a return engagement for her; in 2007, she joined us to talk about how tools for online anonymity can facilitate civic engagement. The topic on September 20th is "What's in a name? Google+ and the #nymwars." Here's how Shava describes the issue: "Google recently raised the hopes of many online privacy and social media watchers with the launch of the beta of Google+, their social network and answer to Facebook. Praised as a match to the collegiality and depth of early 1980s Usenet by old Internet hands, and embraced by many Internet natives, Google+ ran into one major snag with a good many of the early adopters who'd hoped to see one of their favorite Internet companies show a "do no evil" social network could leave Facebook in the dust. "Google+ insisted on every user register under their name on their wallet ID. That wasn't exactly their stated policy, but that did end up being their policy as it was enforced. Within a week, the EFF and a small crew of the oldest and youngest of the articulate bloggers on G+ were speaking out for the "nyms," the people who wished to use pseudonyms on Google+. Some wanted privacy, some wanted to be known by the names they were known on other services. Some needed to segregate their blogging identity from their professional life for various reasons. Women and others were concerned about stalkers. "Come to the Ethos Roundtable to hear how online and on the streets and in the press, the nymwars have played out -- and why Google has seemingly abandoned their long vaunted motto of "Don't be evil" and may be shedding young engineers over the issue of pseudonymity on their most recent social media effort on the rocks." After the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down the hall to enjoy the good company, charming venue, and free food at the 501 Tech Club, which is generously underwritten by TechFoundation. The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals who work with nonprofit organizations. All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech Club, and vice versa. Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501 Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since TechFoundation is providing the free food, it's both courteous and prudent to let her know how much to order. For more information about the Ethos Roundtable, please go to <http://ethosroundtable.blogspot.com>. For more information about the Boston 501 Tech Club, please go to <http://groups.nten.org/501TechBoston>. For more information about TechFoundation, please go to <http://www.techfoundation.org>. See you on the 20th! Best regards from Deborah Deborah Elizabeth Finn Strategist and Consultant Technology for the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector Boston, Massachusetts, USA Email: deborah_elizabeth_finn(a)post.harvard.edu Blog: www.deborahelizabethfinn.com Skype: Deborah909 Twitter: Deborah909 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah909 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Deborah.Elizabeth.Finn Mobile phone: 1-617-504-8188 Voicemail: 1-617-958-1959 I bring resources and needs together for nonprofits and philanthropies, mostly through strategic use of information and communication technologies.

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Socially-Mediated Publicness, a CFP
by Nancy Baym 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

Greetings everyone. danah boyd and I are co-editing a special (open access) issue of the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media (JOBEM), edited by Zizi Papacharissi. We hope those of you doing work that fits this call will consider submitting it to this issue. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about appropriateness of fit. And please distribute widely! _________ CALL FOR PAPERS Special Theme Issue of the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media “Socially Mediated Publicness” Guest Editors: - Nancy Baym (University of Kansas) - danah boyd (Microsoft Research) Editor: Zizi Papacharissi Social media call into question conventional understandings of what it means to “be public,” what it means to be “in a public,” and even the meaning of “public” itself. New types of publics are emerging because of the technological affordances of social media and individuals may be more visible than ever before, whether they seek this or not. This special issue will explore these issues. We seek scholarship from an array of theoretical and methodological perspectives that critically examines how public life is reconfigured because of or in relation to social media. We welcome articles from diverse fields, including media studies, communication, anthropology, sociology, political theory, critical theory, etc. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: · Processes and practices of building and living in online publics · How new technologies of publicness affect celebrities, artists, musicians, and other creators · How mediated publics challenge social, political, and economic assumptions · The meaning of concepts such as “audience” and “listening” in mediated public spaces · How counterpublics and intimate publics are reshaped by technology · The relationships between being public and being part of a public · Degrees, boundaries, and scales of technologically-mediated publicness · How new types of publicness reconfigure identity and race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and/or nationality In order to be more public, this special issue of JOBEM will be published as an open-access issue. All articles will be available online at the point of publication. The anticipated publication date for this issue is September 2012. Manuscripts should conform to the guidelines of the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (www.beaweb.org/jobem/info.html) By December 12, 2011, you should send a title, abstract, and list of 5 potential reviewers to jobem.publicness(a)gmail.com to help us streamline the peer review process. Articles should be submitted no later than January 6, 2011 at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hbem (select “Special Issue: Socially Mediated Publicness” as a manuscript type).

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CFP: edited collection on Invisibility
by Ravindra N. Mohabeer 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

Hi, I'm new to the list. I'm not sure if there's a formal introduction encouraged on this list, and if there is, I'd be happy to do so later on. For now, you'll find below a CFP for an edited collection I'm undertaking. As written, this CFP is aimed at a wide audience, but I'm hoping for a number of contributions that relate to digital culture and Internet issues - perhaps from members of this list. In particular, if anyone is working on the double edged idea of anonymity on the Internet or passive activism (e.g. 'liking' things without follow-up), etc. I'd be very interested in hearing about it along with anything else you think might be a good fit. All the best, Ravi ------------ Ravindra N. Mohabeer, PhD Vancouver Island University ------------------------------------------------- Link: download Call for Papers as a PDF file: http://ideacraft.tumblr.com/cfp ------------------------------------------------- Working title: Dancing with Shadows: Explorations in Invisibility Editor: Ravindra N. Mohabeer, PhD Media Studies, Vancouver Island University shadows.invisibility @ gmail.com The word invisibility represents a little understood categorical figure in the shadows that surround all research and practice. As a central theme, this collection represents an opportunity to question invisibility as a theoretical construct. How can some things be seen but also remain invisible, purposefully or by accident? How does invisibility allow other things that can rarely be seen to be profoundly influential? The word invisible appears in a wide range of literature, spanning multiple disciplines, time periods, geographies and constituencies. When it is used, it typically acts as a placeholder for future intervention in, or deferred explication of a phenomenon. It is important to remember that being ‘invisible’ is an outcome of the process of invisibility. Despite its wide application in research and practice, without deeper deliberation of how invisibility works, the concept will remain imprecise and less helpful than it ought to be. Consider this call for participation as an invitation to share research related to the area of invisibility, perhaps using a new lens to discuss subjects that occupy an outcome of ‘invisible,’ and also as an opportunity to co-construct a theory of one of the most ubiquitous yet under explored aspects of academic thought and active praxis. As a process and state generally relegated to the shadows, uncontested and taken for granted, invisibility is not only a form of absence, as is typical of its grammatical binary as the absence of the visible/known. It can also be thought of as a strategic form of presence. Contributors are encouraged to consider invisibility as the context of research and practice where the visible, the knowable, is plucked out of the shadows, transformed and made known. Conversely, one may wish to consider the ways in which some things operate in a state of invisibility, purposefully among the shadows in whole or in part, and might address how invisibility is used as a formal or informal strategy, either theoretically or in practice. In so doing, prospective authors are asked to consider a present working theoretical model of invisibility as an intersection of corporeality (seeing), ephemerality (hearing), agency (power), and affect (emotion) as played out through time and expanded by experience. While there are limited discussions of invisibility as a theoretical ground in the available literature, this preliminary model offers a chance to think about invisibility as a multidimensional construct where at least three of these dimensions play out in the arena of the fourth, and then travel through and are changed by time and experience. Proposals should attempt to interact with, expand, and question this model wherever possible. For further details please visit: http://ideacraft.tumblr.com/theory While the proposed collection will be decidedly multidisciplinary, it is recognized that most contributors will be rooted in a specific discipline. Rather than focusing on disciplinary boundaries, it is hoped that chapters in this volume can work together to identify the categorical significance of invisibility as a construct and can speak across disciplines. Participation is requested from established and emerging scholars and practitioners, and is especially encouraged from authors working at the junction of theory and practice. Critical case studies, re-evaluations of existing data/theory, and proposals that identify opportunities for experimentation with invisibility (e.g. in art, science, or activism, etc.) are most welcome. Your proposal should consist of about 500 to 1000 words and must address how your subject can be thought of from a perspective of invisibility. Final papers will be approximately 4000 to 6000 words. Proposals will be adjudicated on how well they attempt to explore and/or help develop invisibility as a construct, and for their potential to contribute to an accessible conversation aimed at a wide audience. Please structure your proposal as follows (subheadings are encouraged): • Working Title of proposed chapter • Details of Authors(s) including affiliation(s) and email address(es) (please also send a brief or detailed c.v. for all authors in addition to the proposal) • Description of the subject / object of inquiry that also includes its geographic location, time period, constituencies, etc. • Objective or purpose of the paper including potential links to a theory of invisibility Where contributions are based on original research please also include: • Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry (descriptive, experimental, empirical and theoretical papers are welcome) • Data sources, evidence, or materials and/or theoretical/methodological perspective • Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view • Any potential figures/illustrations that may be included (preliminary estimate) TIMELINE: Initial Proposals due: October 15, 2011 or earlier (email .doc, .docx, or .rtf preferred) Notification of acceptance: December 15, 2011 Final Chapter drafts due: March 30, 2012 As a guide, the following is a list of possible topics. Though diverse, it is by no means exhaustive. You are welcome to pursue one of these areas or propose another area of inquiry not represented in this list and are encouraged to send an informal inquiry in advance of preparing a full proposal. Corporeal invisibility (seeing) • Failures/successes of representation, e.g. affirmative action; ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’; glass ceilings; media representation practices; etc. • Masks as hiding to aid/mitigate power • ‘Untouchables’ and ‘unseeables’ (poverty, homeless, weight, age, gender, race, etc.) • ‘The price of fame’ • Unseen infrastructures (physical, e.g. architecture/planning; and otherwise) • Microscopy and/or telescopes / ‘Seeing is believing’ / visual evidence and/as proof • ‘In plain sight’: magic / subversive labour / camouflage / stealth / ‘black ops,’ etc. • Anonymity in/and the digital age Ephemeral invisibility (hearing) • The work of the translator • Free labour (commodity audience; volunteerism, etc.) • Professional boundaries or silos • Ableisms • The semantic web / code / Web 2.0/3.0, filter bubbles • The role of the editor (books, newspapers, etc.) • Participatory / autonomous media practices • Pressures from funders / conflicts of interest Agential invisibility (power) • Bentham/Foucault and the panopticon • Citizenship / migration / exile (activism) • The life of the adjunct academic / temp worker • Surveillance/sousveillance, CCTV, hacktivism, culture jamming, pranks, etc. • Social inclusion/exclusion • The hidden development process of public policy • Political economy and/as invisibility Affectual invisibility (emotion) • Historical shifts in advertising from detailed description to commodity fetishisms • Belief systems, moral compasses, ‘the Hand of God’ • Being/going nowhere/no place • The proverbial ‘elephant in the room’ or ‘fly on the wall’ • Political correctness and/or paralysis in/through fear of upset • The lottery/gambling/greed/confidence schemes • Consumer confidence / stock markets and the emotional economy Please send informal inquiries (encouraged) and completed proposals to: Ravindra N. Mohabeer, PhD Media Studies Vancouver Island University email: shadows.invisibility @ gmail.com (alt email: ravindra.mohabeer @ viu.ca ) Proposals DUE: October 15, 2011 (.doc, .docx, or .rtf formats preferred) Please also send a brief or full c.v. of all participating authors Further information: http://ideacraft.tumblr.com Download CFP: http://ideacraft.tumblr.com/cfp

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Fwd: University of Colorado Boulder job ad
by danah boyd 13 Sep '11

13 Sep '11

This may be of interest to some of you. (Please don't contact me; I know nothing about this job.) Begin forwarded message: > From: Alena Ruggerio <ruggeria(a)sou.edu> > Date: September 12, 2011 11:18:48 PM EDT > To: NCAWOST-L(a)LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU > Subject: University of Colorado Boulder job ad > > Assistant Professor of Communication and Community Engagement at University of Colorado - Boulder > The Communication Department at the University of Colorado - Boulder invites applicants for a tenure track position as an Assistant Professor whose research focuses on community engagement. An excellent record of teaching and research is required. The Ph.D. is required at the time of appointment. Appointment will begin Fall 2012. The Department seeks a teacher/scholar whose areas of specialization complement and contribute to its existing strengths in Discourse and Society, Organizational Communication, and Rhetoric. The Department's research agenda focuses on communication-based problems arising out of recent social and technological changes. This agenda includes problems associated with processes of interaction, participation, collaboration, deliberation, and decision-making. We are especially interested in candidates whose research focuses on such areas as civic engagement, participation in the community, or social media and community action. > For full consideration, applications should be received by Friday, October 7th, 2011. Review of applications will continue until the position is filled. Applicants must provide electronic copies of the following materials: letter of application, curriculum vitae, a copy of a published article (or an equivalent sample of research), evidence of teaching excellence, and three letters of recommendation. To submit materials, applicants must log in to https://www.jobsatcu.com, posting #814624, and provide the information requested. Additional questions may be e-mailed to the Search Committee Chair, Bryan C. Taylor, Professor and Chair, at: commsearchcmte(a)colorado.edu > The University of Colorado is an Equal Opportunity Employer. See www.colorado.edu/ArtsSciences/Jobs/ for full job description. > ------ "taken out of context, i must seem so strange" -- ani http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/ http://www.danah.org/ @zephoria

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Computers and Popular Culture
by Paul Booth 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

Hi all, I thought I'd mine the valuable expertise of the list. I'm writing a piece on the relationship between computers and popular culture and I want to make sure I'm covering all my bases, literature-wise. If you know of any critical or germinal works in this field, can you send titles to me, off-list? I'd be happy to compile and post a summary for others. Thanks! Paul -- Paul Booth, PhD Assistant Professor of Media and Cinema Studies and Communication Technology College of Communication DePaul University 14 E. Jackson Chicago, IL 60604

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New book published on digital divides in Europe
by Tsatsou P. 11 Sep '11

11 Sep '11

APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTING Panayiota Tsatsou DIGITAL DIVIDES IN EUROPE Culture, Politics and the Western-Southern Divide Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Wien, 2011. XII, 285 pp., num. tables and graphs Interdisciplinary Communication Studies. Vol. 6 Edited by Colin B. Grant ISBN 978-3-0343-0189-3 pb. sFr. 65.00 / EUR* 44.60 / EUR** 45.90 / EUR 41.70 / £ 37.50 / US-$ 64.95 * includes VAT - only valid for Germany / ** includes VAT - only valid for Austria / EUR does not include VAT This book examines the hotly debated subject of digital divides and specifically addresses the Western-Southern divide in Europe. It offers insights into selected countries of Southern and Western Europe - Greece, Portugal and the UK - and assesses the role of socio-cultural and decision-making parameters in the Western-Southern divide. It explores ordinary people's insights into the digital divide and links them to the role policymakers and regulators play in the development of the information society. Thus, it offers an innovative approach that crosses disciplines and brings new media studies closer to cultural studies and the study of politics. The study identifies the role of decision-making and socio-cultural parameters in the Western-Southern divide in Europe and concludes that this divide should be seen as a ladder of divides influenced by a complex set of socio-cultural and policy/regulatory factors. The book reaches significant case-specific conclusions for the Western-Southern divide and argues that it is its profoundly socio-cultural and political/regulatory nature, while highlighting the implications for the European information society as a whole. Contents: Introduction Theory and Conceptual Foundations The Western-Southern divide in Europe Greece Portugal The UK Empirical Analysis Association between Internet use and social culture in the West and South of Europe Association between Internet use and policy and regulation in the West and South of Europe Internet adoption influenced by social culture and decision-making: an inferential analysis Concluding remarks. Panayiota Tsatsou was born in 1976 in Greece. She is a lecturer in Media and Communication at Swansea University, United Kingdom. Her research lies in the areas of information society, media policy and regulation, political communication, media and gender, and new media and children. Her research work examines various phenomena in relation to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), with an emphasis on regulation and policy creation, as well as on the role of ordinary people as ICT users and actors in the information society. Her publications aim to report on innovative and evidence-based solutions to issues arising in the information society. She currently holds an AHRC award to study digital inclusion among minority communities in Wales. --------------------------------------------------------------- You can order this book online. Please click on the link below: --------------------------------------------------------------- Direct order: http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?vLang=E&vID=430189

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Pew Internet invites you to illuminate potential Internet evolution
by Janna Anderson 11 Sep '11

11 Sep '11

2011 Pew Internet Expert Survey Invitation (Please excuse cross-posts; if you have already participated, thank you and please consider sharing the following link with savvy friends and colleagues.) The Pew Internet Project and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center are implementing regular surveys to carry on an ongoing conversation about the likely future evolution of the Internet. Among the issues being addressed in our new questions are: the impact of ICTs on higher education, the future of money, the influence of gamification, apps vs. the Web and which will dominate, the influence of Big Data, the fate of "smart systems," the influence of corporate responsibility on our future, and teens-tech-human potential. The results will be made public online in free reports aimed at helping inform our future. You will find the survey here: http://survey.fs.elon.edu/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.cgi?9JREK7 You must complete it in one sitting, so don't begin until you have at least 15 to 25 minutes to think it through. The survey will remain open until the end of October. The Pew Internet Project and Imagining the Internet will issue a series of reports based on this survey starting around the turn of the year. The survey is confidential unless you opt in to sharing your name. We will not use your personal information for any purpose other than this project. This year's new survey question set is the fifth in a series. To see previous results, please go to http://bit.ly/yrgc1 Thank you for your participation! Lee Rainie, lrainie(a)pewinternet.org Director, Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Janna Anderson, andersj(a)elon.edu Director, Imagining the Internet, Elon University

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Call for Papers on Social Media, ESS 2012
by PJ Rey 10 Sep '11

10 Sep '11

Dr. Christopher Donoghue, PJ Rey and Nathan Jurgenson are proud to announce a new Call for Papers on the topic of Social Media to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, February 23-26, 2012 in New York City. Submissions may include papers on, but not limited to, social media as applied to the intersection of the physical and digital, bodies and technology, self-presentation and identity, sex and bodies, political mobilization and uprisings, anonymity and surveillance, electoral politics, publishing, etc. Submissions may also address considerations of power and inequalities at the intersection of race, class, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, etc. Depending upon the number of quality submissions, we will be proposing one or more thematic sessions, or a mini-conference. If interested, send a paper title and a 200-250 word abstract. Submissions longer than 250 words will not be considered. Note that papers will be be competitively selected. If not accepted, authors may still submit via the general ESS submission process. Follow this link to submit by SEPTEMBER 30, 2011: http://tinyurl.com/3hz7e79 More information can be found at: http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/ess-2012-thematic-session/ Christopher Donoghue, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Sociology and Anthropology at Kean University. Nathan Jurgenson and PJ Rey are Ph.D. students in Sociology at the University of Maryland and, together, run the Theorizing the Web conference. PJ Rey Department of Sociology University of Maryland @pjrey www.pjrey.net 2112 Art-Sociology Building University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742

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PLEASE POST : Subjects needed for Fantasy Project
by June Luchjenbroers 10 Sep '11

10 Sep '11

Hi all, We hope that members of this list will consider (i) participating in this study, and/or (ii) posting details of this study where possible to help advertise the project? Michelle Aldridge (Communication, Cardiff Univ) and I (June Luchjenbroers, Linguistics Bangor Univ) are running a new Survey, and we aim to capture an International, discourse corpus of people's fantasies as communicated online. The full title of this project is: "A cross-cultural study of people's fantasies : The linguistic structure of fantasies across social groups." Participation is accomplished through the Survey Monkey link offered below. To begin, roughly 6 unidentifying questions about the submitter are asked (eg country, age group, gender, English ability) and then after the fantasy is offered (in complete anonymity) we ask another 5-6 questions that relate to that fantasy. The entire process is completely anonymous and this project has University ethical approval. Also of importance is that we are not targeting any particular type of fantasy and All types of fantasy will be welcome contributions. The link is now LIVE and will be open until 1 October 2011 _https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FantasyResearch2011_ cheers, June & Michelle

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DML2012 CFP: "Beyond Educational Technology: Learning Innovations in a Connected World"
by danah boyd 10 Sep '11

10 Sep '11

** Please Circulate Widely ** CALL FOR PROPOSALS - BEYOND EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY: LEARNING INNOVATIONS IN A CONNECTED WORLD Digital Media and Learning Conference Website: http://dml2012.dmlcentral.net/ San Francisco, California March 1-3, 2012 Conference Chair: Diana Rhoten (News Corp.) Conference Committee: Tracy Fullerton (USC) Antero Garcia (UCLA) Mitch Resnick (MIT) Mark Surman (Mozilla Foundation) Technology will revolutionize education. That was the shout heard around the world as early as the 1970s when “microcomputers” first appeared on the scene. In the last forty years, the exponentially increasing powers and dramatically decreasing costs of computer technologies have surpassed even the wildest dreams of those early days. Yet, there is still little evidence of any major technology-enabled disruptions to the structure and culture of mainstream education. Today, technology has once again become the rallying call for education innovation. Whether as efforts to establish new institutions, experiment with mobile devices, develop learning applications, or incorporate personalized and distance education platforms, information technologies and digital media are at the center of the education innovation conversation. In 20th Century United States, schools were seen as the primary locus of education, where teachers are transmitters and students are receivers of information and knowledge. As a result, education reform movements focused on promoting school-based practices and processes that would maximize institutional efficiencies. In that context, the then emerging “education technology” community (as it has since come to be known) drew from the “best practice” of their time and focused mainly on the development of instructional hardware to increase standardized test scores, administrative technology to facilitate record keeping, or content management systems to deliver traditional curriculum online. More recently, however, cutting-edge research from the social and behavioral sciences has begun to show that an individual’s learning can be accelerated by tapping into personal interests that span different social experiences including but beyond schooling. Evidence also suggests that individuals may learn more efficaciously and more equitably, without gaps between rich and poor, when they learn in specialty domains and practice areas that they choose and for which they are motivated. Compared to older education paradigms, this 21st Century pedagogical view reframes learning as the creation and acquisition of knowledge through observing, interacting and collaborating with others anywhere, anytime. As a result, we are now seeing new technologies and digital media designed not to deliver a faster, cheaper schooling but rather to enable richer, deeper learning. As this new “digital media and learning” movement (as it is becoming known) expands, we are seeing the emergence of Web-enabled, mobile-based platforms that promote new models of peer-to-peer learning, anywhere / anytime learning, blended learning and game-based learning. The “education technology” and “digital media and learning” views on education innovation represent differences in thinking not just about technologies for but also – more importantly – pedagogies and epistemologies of learning. While there are fundamental differences between these perspectives, we do not think these two visions need be or should be in conflict with one another. In fact, we believe they are complements to one another, with critical and necessary synergies between their approaches. For example, there is great evidence to suggest that "basic skills" and “core competencies” may be best learned in classroom environments but then augmented and advanced with the type of independent, interactive learner-centered experiences that new technologies can provide outside of the classroom. Building a new future for education and learning in a connected world not only allows but actually requires bridging in-school and out-of-school learning practices and philosophies through networks of learning institutions and alliances. Inspired by Silicon Valley’s culture of technology-led innovation, the 2012 Digital Media and Learning Conference will explore ongoing questions and debates around the role of technology and the future of education and learning. What are the primary purposes and practices of education, and how can technology accelerate or decelerate them? When we talk about disruptive technologies, what systems and players are we really seeking to change and to what end? What sectors, institutions and populations are we mobilizing for innovation and for whom are we mobilizing them? How do we design, build and fund infrastructures around new connections across and configurations of learning? How do we cultivate a healthy, symbiotic ecosystem of innovation that leads to a future of Connected Learning? In answering these and other questions, we hope attendees will challenge their assumptions and share their visions about what education and learning could or should look like in a connected world. To that end, we invite provocative sessions that address the intersections and tensions inherent in different approaches to innovation, and we strongly encourage interactive discussions that push panelists and participants alike to ask themselves where they are in the innovation conversation and how they plan to translate that conversation into action. ABOUT THE WORKSHOP, PAPER AND PANEL PROPOSALS We welcome workshops, panels and papers along five themes: Making, Tinkering and Remixing; Re-imagining Media for Learning; Democratizing Learning Innovation; Innovations for Public Education and Digital Media and Learning. Making, Tinkering and Remixing. To become full and active participants in 21st century society, young people must learn to design, create, and invent with new technologies, not simply interact with them. What are the pathways for becoming a maker and not just a user in a world of Connected Learning? What social and technical infrastructures provide the best support for young people as they learn to tinker with materials, remix one another’s work, and iteratively refine their creations? Re-imagining Media for Learning. What does it mean to think of media and games in the service of diverse educational goals and within a broad ecology of learning? In particular, how can we balance the needs of multi-stakeholder alliances against the challenges of designing engaging, playful and truly innovative media experiences? Especially those that go beyond implementations of technologies and platforms to create real communities of playful learning and rich opportunities for individual discovery and growth. Democratizing Learning Innovation. Looking to the groundswell for massively collaborative innovation and change, what does it take to pull from a participatory and networked ecology to push innovation from the bottom up and from the outside in versus top down and inside out? Innovations for Public Education. Too often cutting edge technology innovations serve the interests of the already privileged “creative class.” What can we do to ensure that the most innovative forms of learning are accessible to all educators and young people relying on public education infrastructures? How can digital innovation directly impact disparities in achievement of students based on race and class? Digital Media and Learning. We also welcome submissions that address innovative research and practice in the field of digital media and learning. Presentation Formats This year we will be accepting proposals in three formats: panels, workshops and short talks. Panels bring together in discussion four participants or presentations representing a range of ideas and projects. Panels are scheduled for 90 minutes and should include a mix of individuals working in areas of research, theory, and practice. We also encourage the use of discussants. Workshops provide an opportunity for hands-on exploration and/or problem solving. They can be organized around a core challenge that participants come together to work on or around a tool, platform, or concept. Workshops are scheduled for 90 minutes and should be highly participatory. Finally, we welcome short, ten minute talks where presenters speak for ten minutes on their work, research or a subject relevant to the conference theme and/or subthemes. Note: Proposals for ignite sessions will be announced in January 2012. Submitting Your Proposal The DML2012 Conference proposal system is now open and full proposals will be due on October 19, 2011 (11:59 pm PST). To propose a panel, participants will be required to register with Fastapps http://fastapps.dmlcentral.org, our submission system at the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. Participants will be able to edit their proposals up until the final deadline. Panel and Workshop proposal abstracts should cover the theme, format (e.g. discussion, interactive, presentations), how the session addresses the theme of the conference and/or subtheme in up to 500 words. Short talk abstracts should cover the theme, format (e.g. discussion, interactive, presentations), how the talk addresses the theme of the conference and/or subtheme in up to 250 words. List of participants, affiliations, emails and titles of talks/presentations (if applicable) should also be included. We will not be soliciting full papers or publishing conference proceedings. Please note that each participant will be limited to participation on no more than two panels at the conference. Participants will be expected to fund their own travel and accommodation. About the Conference The Digital Media and Learning Conference is an annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub located at the UC Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine. The conference is meant to be an inclusive, international and annual gathering of scholars and practitioners in the field, focused on fostering interdisciplinary and participatory dialog and linking theory, empirical study, policy, and practice. The third annual conference – DML2012 – is organized around the theme “Beyond Educational Technology: Learning Innovations in a Connected World” and will be held between March 1-3, 2012 in San Francisco, California. ------ "taken out of context, i must seem so strange" -- ani http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/ http://www.danah.org/ @zephoria

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