Looking for panelists for a CSA Panel on Representations of the Internet in Popular Culture. If interested, please email me off list. Representations of the Internet in Popular Culture, Canadian Sociological Association Annual Conference 2012, Wilfrid Laurier University / University of Waterloo, May 29, 2012 June 2, 2012 Topic Area: Sociology of Technology Session Description: This session seeks to explore the different discourses through which the internet is being constructed as a space of possibilities, creativity, as well as danger in popular culture. The internet is approached here as a socio-technical assemblage where different actors are involved in a struggle over its meaning, future articulations and social functions. Stepping away from an interest in simply defining the internet in terms of its technical aspects, this session is interested in recuperating the internet as both a social space and a tool for social action. From showcasing the 'World of Warcraft' on the TV series The Big Bang Theory to personifying 'the Net' as a conscious being in Robert Sawyer's Wake trilogy, popular constructions of the internet as a space for social action or as an actor pushing for a particular future for human beings should be understood as sites where contemporary ideologies, social forces and material capabilities become articulated together. This session invites papers dealing with the discourses through which the internet is being understood, discussed and popularized in movies, novels, TV shows, music videoclips, commercials, biographies, exhibitions etc. Abstracts (100 200 words) must be submitted using the CSA online conference system http://www.csa-scs.ca/submissions by January 30, 2012. Presentations will be confirmed by February 15, 2012 For further inquiries about the panel, please contact Dr. Delia Dumitrica, University of Calgary, dddumitr@ucalgary.ca Delia Dumitrica, PhD Instructor Department of Communication and Culture University of Calgary