Dear AOIR list, We are pleased to share below a call for papers for a special issue of the *Journal of Social Digital Research* on Blockchain Scenes. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at nathalie.casemajor@inrs.ca and william.straw@mcgill.ca Best, Nathalie Casemajor and Will Straw Nathalie Casemajor Professeure-chercheure INRS - Institut national de la recherche scientifique Centre Urbanisation Culture Société Codirectrice de l’Observatoire des médiations culturelles (OMEC) 385 Sherbrooke Est, Montréal H2X 1E3 T 514 499-8278 – Bureau 5124 http://www.inrs.ca/nathalie-casemajor ……………………………………………………………………………………………. *# CALL FOR PAPERS - BLOCKCHAIN SCENES #Special issue of the Journal of Social Digital Research* https://www.jdsr.io/call-for-papers Deadline: October 15th Guest editors: Nathalie Casemajor (Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Canada) and Will Straw (McGill University, Canada) BACKGROUND TO THIS SPECIAL ISSUE Since it first appearance in the form of Bitcoin in 2008, blockchain technology has expanded far beyond cryptocurrency to inspire novel applications in the fields of law, energy trading, healthcare or art. Its rise has spawned a community (or diverse communities) of developers, investors and enthusiasts around the world. This issue of JDSR proposes to consider these communities as scenes, in the sense of collectivities who create or gravitate around specific workplaces and spaces of assembly (including digital environments), engaging in practices of visibility and invisibility. Originally theorized in popular music studies, the notion of scene has been taken up in urban studies to analyze the ways in which sociability in its public forms may settle around particular kinds of work or diverse objects of cultural, social and economic interest. In the case of what we are calling blockchain scenes, this perspective might offer insight into the spatial inscriptions and local specificities of the tech industries (through a study of such phenomena as the Berlin blockchain scene). More broadly, the notion of scene invites to consider the cultural and material shaping of blockchain networks. It suggests new ways of understanding the diverse ethical worlds, behavioural protocols and regimes of attention that compose the blockchain sphere. WHAT WE SEEK This JDSR special issue has two goals. First, it aims to bring together empirical research on the social composition, organizational forms and material settings of blockchain scenes through various research methods (onsite ethnography, web ethnography, social network analysis; etc.). Second, it seeks innovative theoretical, analytical, and critical approaches to blockchain through the lens of scene studies. We specifically encourage submissions which will engage with the notion and theory of scenes as analytical tools. The special issue welcomes contributions on the following themes, but is not limited to them: # Geographies of blockchain scenes: the cultural, social, political, urban characteristics of local and national scenes, and their transnational connections. # Sociality and organization: online and offline spaces of assembly and conviviality; workspaces and networking spaces (co-working spaces, online code repositories, conferences). # News media and information channels dedicated to blockchain, such as news websites, magazines, podcasts, social networking services or messaging apps. # Diversities in blockchain scenes: women in blockchain, BIPOC & LGBTQ+ voices, explicit and implicit structures of exclusion or inequity # Blockchain art scenes: studies of NFTs, art-related DAOs, and cultural intermediaries (e.g. galleries) dedicated to blockchain-based art. # The ethics and aesthetics of blockchain projects: the affective, performative and speculative dimensions of projects and their relationship to ideas of anonymity, strategies of visibility/invisibility and techniques of publicity or promotion. WHAT AND HOW TO SUBMIT We invite researchers to submit an English-language abstract of no more than 500 words (without references). The author(s) should email their abstract proposal as a Word file to nathalie.casemajor@inrs.ca and william.straw@mcgill.ca PROCESS AND TIMELINE September 1, 2021: Abstract submission opens. October 15, 2021: Abstract submission deadline. November 15, 2021: Notification of the decision to submit the full manuscript to JDSR. Please note that the initial acceptance of an abstract does not guarantee acceptance of the full manuscript. May 1, 2022: Full manuscript submission deadline. May 1, 2022 to August 1, 2022: Review process (1-2 rounds). August 2022: Decision on manuscripts.