Constructing and sharing memory: Community
informatics, identity and empowerment
3rd Prato International Community Informatics Conference; CIRN 2006.
9 - 11 October 2006, Prato, Italy.
Contact: prato2006@fastmail.fm.
Website: http://www.ccnr.net/
We are seeking feedback and early expressions of interest (250 word abstracts)
for a conference and workshop event at the Monash 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 there in 2003 and 2004. The Prato campus is an
exceptional environment in which to exchange ideas and enjoy Tuscan culture.
It is close to Italian transport hubs.
Program
We propose that ‘Constructing and sharing memory: community informatics,
identity and empowerment’, 3rd Prato International Community Informatics
Conference; CIRN 2006, will include the following components:
- Ph.D. colloquium.
- Refereed paper stream, for publication.
- Research/Practitioner workshops.
- Intensive one-day workshop on community-based research with Prof
Randy Stoecker, author of 'Research Methods for Community Change' (Sage
2005).
- Social program, including a conference banquet on a Tuscan hill-top.
- Meeting of the Community Informatics Research Network.
- The use of blogs/wikis and video/audio multimedia will lead to a real-time
conversation as well as online documentation for the conference.
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 innovative
community 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.
Important Dates/Processes
1 February: all abstracts due for consideration
1 March: acceptance/rejection of abstracts
1 June: papers due
1 August: final version of papers after refereeing.
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. Abstracts must be written in English, though papers can be written
in English, French, Spanish or Italian.
Related event
This conference will be held after another in Prato, the ‘Memories,
Communities and Technologies Conference’, scheduled for 4-6 October.
It is already fully subscribed. Monash University and Kings College London
have organised it, with archivists and public historians concerned with
understanding the role of E-research in documentation of public knowledge.
The objectives of this conference are:
• To explore the nexus between the humanities, sciences and information
technology by focussing on E-Research relating to the interplay between
memories, communities and technologies;
• To build an international community of researchers, industry partners
and community stakeholders interested in trans-disciplinary research and
development initiatives;
• To develop a research agenda to identify possible research projects
and funding;
• To explore E-Research issues, design, methods and techniques.
It is hoped that the two conferences will open an opportunity for a new
discourse about the relationship of the worlds of E-research and the worlds
of community informatics and community technologies.
Registration/Accommodation/Travel
We anticipate that full registrations will be in the region of €270,
including the conference banquet. Concessions will be available for students.
We suggest that you book promptly through our agent to ensure local accommodation.
Information will be made available on the conference website at www.ccnr.net.
At this time, we are unable to offer any bursaries or scholarships for
attendance. Delegates must seek their own funds, and secure appropriate
visas to attend.
Some preliminary information is available on the website.
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