CFP - Special Issue on Virtual Ethnography

Forum Qualitative Social Research (FQS, http://www.qualitative-research.net) is preparing an Special Issue on Virtual Ethnography.

All the details here:
http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-e/CfP_07-3-e.htm

Important dates:

- 15 february 2007: Deadline for submission of papers

- 15 april 2007: Deadline for paper reviews. Information about the results of the selection process

- September 2007: Publication of the FQS Special Issue: Virtual Ethnography

1. Introduction

This special issue aims to gather different scientific work that deal with some of the theoretical, empirical and methodological topics currently faced by virtual ethnography.

Ethnography is a fundamental methodology in social and cultural research.  Ethnography allows the researcher to reconstruct the meanings and materials that shape the cultural collectives he or she analyzes. Ethnography is also a qualitative approach in social and cultural studies of the Internet and digital technologies such as mobile phones, videogames, etc. Though it has been used for more than a decade for studying Internet phenomena, there still remain many methodological difficulties when developing ethnographies on/of/through the Internet.

This special FQS issue will contribute to the current debate that ethnography faces when the Internet and digital technologies are a fundamental part of its object of study and fieldwork.

The main topics of interest are 1. the alteration of both the epistemology and interpretation frameworks and 2. methodological, empirical and theoretical challenges raised by the ethnographies on/of/through the Internet.

Methodological, theoretical and empirical papers will be accepted. We are especially interested in studies that address the following topics:

* Fieldwork construction: How do ethnographers develop their notion of "field" in ethnographies of the Internet?

* How does the virtual/digital change the epistemological framework for ethnography?

* What is the role of the ethnographer's experience with technologies, and how can it be managed in the research process?

* How should technological artefacts (software and digital devices) be treated in virtual ethnographies?

* Is it necessary to introduce the material dimension and not only the symbolic issues of technical artefacts in virtual ethnographies

* How handles ethnography the observation of communicative activities supported by digital technologies?

2. Submission

* Papers must be sent to Daniel Domínguez (ddominguez@edu.uned.es) or Adolfo Estalella (jestalellaf@uoc.edu).

* Papers for review. Abstracts could be presented for review at least in the English language, additionally in German and Spanish, as far as available.  Full papers should be presented in English, German or Spanish.

* Original texts only. Papers should be original and unpublished.

* Format. The electronic format allows FQS to include long papers and different options for linking data and interpretation. Please contact the editors for further information about innovative presentation formats.

* Peer Review. Contributions will be reviewed directly by the editors of the special issue (open peer review); if necessary, the FQS editors will draw on external reviewers.

* General publication guidelines. Before sending in your contribution, please ensure that FQS guidelines for submissions are followed, see http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-e/manuskript-e.htm. Please also
take a look at contributions published so far in FQS, see
http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-e/rubriken-e.htm.

3. Additional Information

More information about the publishing process, see
http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/fqs-e/publishing-e.htm.

For any questions or suggestions, please feel free to send an e-mail to any of the editors: Daniel Domínguez, Anne Beaulieu, Adolfo Estalella, Edgar Gómez, Rosie Read and Bernt Schnettler.

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CFP - Auditory Internet Cultures/ Podcasting

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CFP - Walter Benjamin and the Virtual: Politics, Art, and Mediation in the Age of Global Culture

Transformations is seeking abstracts for the following issue:

Walter Benjamin and the Virtual: Politics, Art, and Mediation in the Age of Global Culture

What does Walter Benjamin offer for critical thinking and creative practice in an age increasingly mediated by virtual technologies?

Much Benjaminian scholarship proposes a Benjamin at best ambivalent to, and at worst, in recoil from modernity. Yet, recent critical thinkers such as Giorgio Agamben and Jean-Luc Nancy provide new possibilities in approaching the analysis of contemporary culture inspired by Benjamin's insights and arguments. These suggest innovative ways of reading and incorporating Benjamin, ways that re-engage an active configuration between politics, art, and representation in response to the shift from mass to global culture.

Increasingly it seems possible to reconsider the role art can, and may be already playing, in such a configuration. This issue of Transformations seeks submissions that address these ideas. In the light of Benjamin's thought, and those who take that thought further, we want to look at what the concept of virtuality- the tendency in mediated contexts towards disembodied interactions and ways of being human-- does to Benjamin's ideas of politics, art, and media?

Call for abstracts: abstracts of 500 words due end of November 2006

Papers due: March 2007

Publication: mid 2007

Submissions: Submissions should be sent to the
Issue editor: John Grech, at
John.M.Grech@alumni.uts.edu.au
Or alternatively, to the
General editor: Warwick Mules at
w.mules@cqu.edu.au

For full details please visit the Transformations website at
<http://transformations.cqu.edu.au>http://transformations.cqu.edu.au

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CFP - Third International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry

We are delighted invite you to submit paper and panel proposals for the Third International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry at http://www.qi2007.org. Please just follow the link at our frontpage and make your submissions at http://www.qi2007.org/submission.html

Please note that you would be able to submit a paper as in a poster session.  An unmoderated poster session is tentatively scheduled to be organized at one of our conference venues. No full text deposit and/or registration is required at this time. The online submission will end on December 1 2006. On this date, you will also be able to register for workshops and conference sessions at qi2007.org

We are updating our website constantly with information on conference sessions, workshops, and travel information. You are also encouraged to discuss your work, submissions and other travel information at our community http://qi2007.org/community. Please direct all inquiries at info@qi2007.org.

Thank you. We look forward to seeing you in QI2007.

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CFP - Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award 2007

The Carl Couch Center (http://www.cccsir.org/)  issues an annual call for student-authored papers to be considered for Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award.  The Couch Center welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers that (1) apply symbolic interactionist approaches to Internet studies, (2) demonstrate interactive relationships between social interaction and communication technologies as advocated by Couch, and/or (3) develop symbolic interactionist concepts in new directions.  Papers will be evaluated based on the quality of (1) mastery of Symbolic Interactionist approaches and concepts and Couch?s theses, (2) originality, (3) organization, (4) presentation, and (5) advancement of knowledge. Evaluation will be administered by a Review Committee of four:

        Dr. Mark D. Johns, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
        Dr. Katherine M. Clegg Smith, Johns Hopkins University
        Dr. Lori Kendall, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
        Dr. Dennis Waskul, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students of all disciplines. Works that are published or accepted for publication are not eligible for award consideration. Entries should not exceed 30 pages (approximately 7500 words) in length, including references and appendices. Limit of one entry per student per year.

The top three papers will receive Couch Awards to be presented at the 2007 meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers (aoir.org) in Vancouver, BC. The top paper will be awarded a certificate and a cash
prize of $300 US, runner up will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $200 US, and a third paper will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $100 US. All three authors will be invited to present their work at a session of the AoIR conference, October 18-20, 2007.

Those interested should send a copy of their paper, with a 100-word abstract, electronically to Mark D. Johns at mjohns@luther.edu . Application deadline is April 30, 2007. Notification of award will be sent by June 15.

Those with questions or comments about Couch Award application, please contact:

Mark D. Johns
Dept. of Communication Studies
Luther College, Decorah, IA 52101
E-mail: mjohns@luther.edu

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CFP - Computer Culture Area, 2007 Southwest/Texas Popular Culture

Computer Culture Area,
Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Meeting
Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 14-17, 2007
http://www.h-net.org/~swpca/

We are seeking paper and panel proposals on a wide range of blog-related topics, including blogging and pedagogy; blogging and political campaigns; blogging and the news media; and personal blogs. A paper may analyze an existing blog or assess the value or usefulness of blogs for particular purposes. We are especially interested in the relationship and conflict between blog culture and the mainstream news media, and the ways in which the media have represented blogging.

For Paper Proposals:

Please submit a brief abstract embedded in the body of an email.  Include contact information (your postal and preferred email address, phone and fax numbers, etc.) and a biographical note about your connection to the topic.

For Panel and Other Proposals, such as Performances:

Feel free to query first.  Panel, roundtable, and other proposals should include all of the information requested for individual paper proposals, as well as a 100-word statement of the panel's rationale and any noteworthy organizational features.

Proposals are welcome from any and all scholars, including graduate students, independent scholars, and tenured, tenure-track, and emeritus faculty.  Also, unusual formats, technologies, and the like are
encouraged.

Professor Joseph Chaney
jchaney_at_iusb.edu
Department of English
Indiana University South Bend
South Bend IN 46634-7111

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Another BROG paper accepted

Herring, Susan C., Paolillo, John, Ramos-Vielba, Irene, Kouper, Inna, Wright, Elijah, Stoerger, Sharon, Scheidt, Lois Ann, & Clark, Benjamin (2007). Language Networks on LiveJournal. In Proceedings of the Forty Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-40). Los Alamitos: IEEE Press. Retrieved from http://www.blogninja.com/hicss07.pdf.

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CFP - Biography Area: Popular Culture Association

Annual NationalPopular Culture/American Culture Associations Conference
Boston, Massachusetts
4-7 April 2007

Boston Marriott Copley Place
110 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02116

Biography Area: Popular Culture Association

UPDATED Deadline for proposal submissions is:  3 November 2006. http://www.popularculture.org

The Biography section of the Popular Culture Association announces a call for papers on Biography and Popular Culture. Panels run 90 minutes; each panelist has 20 minutes for presentation with questions and answers.  Proposals must not be more than one page, include a one page curriculum vitae, make sure to include name, mailing address, institutional affiliation, phone number, and email address.

Do not send proposals via electronic mail. Send a paper copy of proposals to:

Jean-Paul Benowitz
ACA Local Culture of Boston, Chair
Elizabethtown College
Department of History
1 Alpha Drive
Elizabethtown, PA 17022

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CFP - Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language, and Media (MCLLM)

The Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language, and Media (MCLLM) is hosting its annual conference on March 30 and 31, 2007.   The conference will be held at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.  We would like to solicit proposals for 20 minute papers from scholars at all career stages, from beginning graduate students to established and senior scholars.

The confirmed keynote speaker for this year's conference is Toril Moi, James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, author of *Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory* (1985)*,** Simone de Beauvoir: The Making of an Intellectual Woman *(1994), and* What Is a Woman? And Other Essays* (1999)*. * Her latest book, *Henrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theater, Philosophy *, will be published in September 2006.

MCLLM invites papers on all areas of literary, language, and media studies, ranging from Medieval and Renaissance studies to popular culture and technology studies.   We especially welcome proposals for papers that innovatively treat the study of feminist theory and women's writing, the interconnections between literature and philosophy, and 19 th and 20thcentury European literature.  Individual or panel (3-4 people) proposals are welcome.

The deadline for submissions is December 1st, 2006.  Please include a cover page with your name, affiliation, mailing address, and email address.  Accepted contributors will be notified via email by January 1st, 2007.

Please submit your 250-word (1 page) abstracts as an attachment to:

mcllm2007@gmail.com

Additional information can be found at the conference website http://www.engl.niu.edu/mcllm/.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding the conference.

Cortney Barko, Angela Grimaldi, and Kathleen Turner
Co-Chairs, MCLLM 2007
Department of English
Northern Illinois University
mcllm2007@gmail.com

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