[esocialaction] Fwd: Call for Papers: Constructing and Sharing Memory: Community Informatics, Ide

[Leonie Ramondt]

from a colleague in an aligned community of practice, leonie

Constructing and Sharing Memory: Community Informatics, Identity and
Empowerment: 3rd Prato International Community Informatics
Conference.CIRN 2006. 9 - 11 October 2006.

Please forward to colleagues (and apologies for cross-posting).

 Contact: prato2006 AT fastmail.fm. Website:
http://www.ccnr.net/prato2006. A brochure for distribution and
noticeboards can also be downloaded from the website.

CALL FOR PAPERS

We are seeking abstracts from academics, practitioners and PhD students
for a conference and workshop event at the Monash University Centre,
Prato Italy, 9-11 October 2006. The Centre for Community Networking
Research, Monash, in conjunction with the Community Informatics Research
Network, has held highly successful events in 2003 and 2004 in Prato.
The Prato campus is an exceptional environment in which to exchange
ideas. The Centre is just off the main piazza of a small Tuscan city. It
is close to Italian transport hubs.

There are also a limited number of workshop slots available. If you
believe that you can offer an engaging and relevant workshop, please
submit a short proposal as soon as possible.  If you have other
innovative ideas for events at the conference, please don't hesitate to
contact us!

** Because of the likely strong demand for acceptance, your early
submission is strongly encouraged. You are also encouraged to submit
early to meet your accommodation needs.


IMPORTANT DATES/PROCESSES:

1 February 2006: all abstracts due for consideration - the earlier the
better
1 March 2006: acceptance/rejection of abstracts
1 June 2006: papers due
1 August 2006: final version of papers after refereeing for publication
in
the official conference proceedings.

Abstracts must be in the following format and submitted to prato2006 AT
fastmail.fm:

1)Name/s of Authors
2) Affiliation/contact details [university/organisation, email of first
author]
3) Title of Abstract
5) 250 word abstract or summary in English.

Please submit the abstract in the body of an email, NOT as an attached
document. Do not submit a paper at this time.

Papers (up to 5,000 words) in the peer-reviewed stream will be
blind-reviewed by at least two referees and only accepted upon the
recommendation of referees and the review committee.  Practitioners are
encouraged to submit papers or reports, but please indicate if you wish
this to be in the reviewed or non-reviewed stream.   A style guide will
be made available.  Abstracts must be written in English, though papers
can be written in English, French, Spanish or Italian. DO NOT submit a
paper until your abstract is accepted. Papers will be published in the
conference proceedings.

DRAFT PROGRAM (subject to alteration)

1) Ph.D. colloquium with feedback from academics and students. Students
to make a short presentation and submit a 1000-2000 word position paper
or report.
2) Refereed paper stream & conference proceedings
3) Research/Practitioner workshops (proposed workshops so far included
indigenous memory and ICTs; communities of practice; research
methodologies; digital memories; social networks and community
communcation)
4) Keynote address by Alex Byrne, President, International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
5) Intensive 1/2-day workshop for all participants on community-based
research and community memory with Randy Stoecker, author of 'Research
Methods for Community Change' (Sage 2005)
6) Innovative practitioner/research workshops
7) Social program

The use of blogs/wikis and video/audio multimedia will lead to a
real-time conversation as well as online documentation for the
conference as issues are debated, and explored. The Monash Centre at
Prato is wireless networked.

RATIONALE

Community informatics research and practice engages in the conscious and
unconscious creation and transmission of memory. The Oxford English
Dictionary refers to memory as a function, as an abstract form of
knowledge, as a process, as a thing, and as a concrete representation of
an abstract recollection or remembrance.

>From Durkheim on, sociologists have analysed collective memory, and have
had an interest in the role of technology in the storage of information.
Anthony Giddens has argued that social and institutional structures
(such as community networks) are best conceptualised as memory traces or
cultures that draw upon stored information. He does not look to the
minutiae of information or evidence directly, but does recognise the
importance of new technologies in being a means to transmit memory
across time and space in particular in ways that have never previously
existed.

The characteristics of particular technologies have a role in shaping
the ways in which memories are reproduced (consider the growth of blogs
and wikis as 'instant history'). How do we constitute memory? Is it
linked to institutions and structures, or is community informatics
supporting a separate public sphere (Habermas)? What is the place and
role of community informatics in the development of new means to capture
private and public memory?

This conference will focus on how information and communications
technologies assist communities to use memory for the purposes of
bridging and bonding, over time and space. The construction of personal
and social memory can be facilitated or hindered by modern technologies,
and in turn the technologies themselves help to shape memory, and the
loss of it.

POTENTIAL THEMES FOR PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS.

* The documentation of oral community memory through innovativecommunity
technologies.
* Whose memory resides in community technology projects?
* Memory in disputed communities.
* Participatory research, techniques and community memory.
* Who has the responsibility for public memory?
* Intellectual property rights and community memory.
* Community history and community informatics.
* Community organisations: electronic memory?
* Theorising community memory.
* Public libraries, archives, museums, community memory, and community
technology.
* Local identity, regional space, and community memory.
* Community amnesia and community technology.
* Multilingual and multicultural memory as minorities in dominant
cultures.
* Qualitative and Quantitative Dimensions of Memory.
* Memory ethics.



REGISTRATION

We anticipate that full registrations will be in the region of
$AU500(=€310), excluding the fabulous hilltop conference banquet (~€50).
Concessions will be available for students.

Registrations will be taken from early in the New Year, and is separate
from your accommodation booking. You will be able to also register for
social events and tours.

We are unable to offer any bursaries or scholarships for attendance.
Delegates must seek their own funds, and secure appropriate visas to
attend.

ACCOMMODATION.

Hotel space in Prato is limited, and your early reservation is strongly
encouraged via our official agency.  Detailed accommodation information
will be made available shortly.   Hostel accommmodation will also be
available for students via ASA Tours.

A conference rate has been negotiated with the hotels via ASA Tours, a
licenced agency and a link information will become available via
the conference website.  This is the best way to ensure that your needs
are met as either a presenter or delegate. Options are available for
families.  Cars and other services can be booked through ASA.   In the
new year you will be able to separately electronically register for the
conference online.

TRAVEL/SOCIAL

Prato is close to Italian rail, air, and other transport hubs. See
www.ccnr.net/prato2006/ for details of social activities, local cultural
hightlights etc. The website also contains local cultural and tourism
information.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Chair: Prof. Don Schauder, Monash University; Ann Bishop, Ann Bishop,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Gunilla Bradley, Kungliga
Tekniska Högskolan,Sweden; Fiorella de Cindio, Rete Civica de Milano/
University of Milan; Barbara Craig, Victoria University of Wellington;
NZ; Peter Day, University of Brighton, UK ; John Fung, Hong Kong Council
of Social Service; Mike Gurstein, NJIT; Graeme Johanson, Monash
University; Sarai Lastra, Turabo University,Puerto Rico; Michel Menou,
Somos@ Telecentros, Ecuador; Aldo de Moor, Vrije Universiteit Brussels;
Yeslam al-Saggaf, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics,
Australia; Lyn Simpson, Queensland
University of Technology; Wal Taylor, The Information Society Institute
(TISI) South Africa; Beverly Trayner, Escola Superior de Ciências
Empresariais (ESCE), Portugal; Larry Stillman, Conference Organiser.

SPONSORS

Monash University, Australia; University of Brighton, UK; Kungliga
Tekniska Högskolan (KTH),Sweden; Queensland University of Technology;
Turabo University, Puerto Rico; Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand; Community Informatics Program, Graduate School of Library and
Information Science, University of Illinois.

Larry Stillman
for the Conference
**********************
Larry Stillman
Centre for Community Networking Research, Monash University 
www.ccnr.net    www.webstylus.net
03 9903 1801 fax 9903 2564
reply to larrys at fastmail.fm

¿Qué gigantes? dijo Sancho Panza