Dear colleagues, We are seeking presenters for the panel, Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future, at the next 4S conference (September 3-7, 2025, Seattle, WA, USA). We welcome papers of varying approaches that consider the origins, mobilizations, endurances, and evolutions of the network imaginaries underlying technologies and systems from the 19th Century through to contemporary transformations and promises. (See below for the full call and submission details.) Proposals consisting of a short abstract (up to 250 words) will be accepted until January 31 via the official website of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S). Charles Corval Sciences Po Paris / Institut d'études politiques de Paris - CEVIP — 4S Open Panel 239: Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future Decades after the introduction of the consumer internet, society now anticipates profound transformations in computing and networking driven by innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, the internet-of-things (IoT), robotics, data mining, and cloud computing. As these developments promise—or threaten—to reshape public and private networks and technologies, it is vital to investigate the network imaginaries that motivate, constrain, and enable their development, adoption, regulation, and exploitation. Network imaginaries have long been central to modernity, from their origins in symbolic practices like weaving to their influence on technical and organizational thought. In fact, as Pierre Musso (2003) has argued, the concept of the network is foundational to our collective imaginations, even shaping both the philosophies and social sciences that critique them. Information and communication technologies, in particular, have become unimaginable without the language and imagery of networks, and they remain effective and powerful as innovations periodically promise to repair, reinforce, and reconfigure existing systems, practices, and economies (De Filippi, 2019). According to Castoriadis (1975), social imaginaries are the shared meanings, symbols, and institutions a society creates and sustains to define itself, guide its practices, and provide coherence to its social order. Similarly, sociotechnical imaginaries, as articulated by Jasanoff and Kim (2015), offer a critical framework for understanding the cultural and ideological contexts of technological adoption and innovation. This panel on network imaginaries, then, seeks to explore these inspirations, contexts, and intersections while reexamining -- or preexamining -- the utopias, anxieties, and ideologies embedded in contemporary networks and networked technologies, as well as their intended and unintended consequences. We welcome proposals representing a variety of perspectives and approaches to addressing the enduring network imaginaries of existing and emerging technologies and techniques. Potential topics include but are not limited to historic networks, information economics, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, decentralization narratives, surveillance regimes, digital sovereignty, IoT, blockchain, and the future role of new technologies toward repairing or reinforcing preexisting network functions and goals. Open Panel: Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future (Panel 239) Proposal Format: Short Abstract (250 words max) Proposal Deadline: January 31, 2025 Notice of Acceptance: March 15, 2025 Proposal Submission: https://www.4sonline.org/accepted_open_panels_seattle.php Panel Organizers: Charles Corval, charles.corval@sciencespo.fr Daniel Kim, ddaniel.kim@utoronto.ca