[EDLING:1115] CFP: Internationalizing Internet Studies

Francis M Hult fmhult at DOLPHIN.UPENN.EDU
Tue Dec 13 16:12:38 UTC 2005


> 'Internationalizing Internet Studies'
> 
> Call for papers for a edited collection by
> 
> Gerard Goggin (University of Sydney) & Mark McLelland (University of =
> Wollongong)
> 
> >From the mid-1990s onwards, the Internet has shifted fundamentally from =
> its co-ordinates in English-speaking countries, especially North =
> America, to become an essential medium in a wide range of countries, =
> cultures, and languages. According to October 2005 statistics, Chinese =
> language now represents 14% of all Internet communication and media use, =
> Spanish 9% and Japanese 9%. At 35% and falling, English use is now a =
> minority in terms of overall online language use. However, =
> communications and media scholarship, especially in the Anglophone =
> world, has not registered the deep ramifications of this shift - and the =
> challenges it poses to the concepts, methods, assumptions, and =
> frameworks used to study the Internet.
> 
> The vast body of Anglophone scholarship into 'the Internet' is =
> predicated on research on and about English-language websites by =
> academics and other researchers working and publishing in English. =
> Despite the fact that there is also a large body of work being produced =
> by scholars in non-English-speaking cultures and locales, hardly any of =
> this work is being translated and it has had little impact on =
> theorization of the developing fields of Internet and web studies.
> 
> The purpose of this anthology, 'Internationalizing Internet Studies', is =
> to acknowledge that Internet use and Internet studies take place =
> 'elsewhere' in various national and international contexts. We seek to =
> uncover how non-Anglophone uses of the Internet might challenge certain =
> preconceived notions about the technology and its social impacts as well =
> as the manner in which Internet studies is taken up, valued and taught =
> outside the circuits of understanding prevalent in Anglophone academia. =
> Through bringing together researchers whose daily experience of the =
> Internet is mediated through non-Anglophone languages and cultures as =
> well as researchers situated within the Anglophone academy whose work =
> focuses on cultures outside North America and Europe, we hope to promote =
> the visibility of work already being done outside the Anglophone world. =
> We also aim to encourage new work that critically engages with =
> Anglophone Internet scholarship that is based on research into diverse =
> locales and draws upon a range of intellectual traditions.
> 
> Accordingly, we wish to gather together a distinctive collection of =
> contributors who can illuminate the key features of the Internet's =
> internationalization, surveying exemplary Internet language groups and =
> cultures. We hope to encourage explorations of the distinctive features =
> of the consumption and use of the Internet by various language groups, =
> and how this expands and questions taken-for-granted notions of Internet =
> studies.
> 
> We are also interested in contributions that reflect upon this =
> cosmopolitan turn in the Internet, and what it signifies for our =
> methods, tools, and concepts of Internet studies - and for media, =
> communication, and cultural theory themselves. Here we are concerned =
> with the debate - yet to emerge - on the internationalization of =
> 'Internet studies'.
> 
> Contributions would be welcomed, but are not restricted to, the =
> following topics:
> 
> * non-anglophone language communities use of the Internet
> 
> * Asian countries and communities use of the Internet (especially =
> Chinese, Japanese, and Korean)
> 
> * mobility and the Internet:  how the Internet is deployed by people on =
> the move across borders
> * use of the Internet by diasporic communities
> * Internet use by minority language speakers in majority Anglophone and =
> other language contexts
> * Indigenous use of the Internet
> * how particular Internet technologies (websites, peer-to-peer =
> technologies, blogs, social software, mobile Internet)  have been shaped =
> and are used by different language and cultural groups
> * cell phone, mobile and wireless technologies and the =
> internationalizing of the Internet
> 
> * how does this change our understanding of Internet cultures and =
> cultural histories?
> * what the implications of internationalizing of the Internet for =
> debates concerning cultural citizenship and media diversity? (not least =
> Internet governance, open source and commons debates)
> * what are the implications of increasing 'global governance' of the =
> Internet for local and countercultural communities?
> * how is Internet studies responding to the internationalizing of the =
> Internet - what new concepts, methods, locations and relationships does =
> it need?
> 
>  Timeframe:
> 
>  Please send abstracts of no more than 500 words to both editors =
> outlining your proposed contribution to the edited collection by 31 =
> January 2006. We will advise acceptance by 1 April 2006.
> 
> We will be holding a workshop on 'Internationalizing Internet Studies' =
> in Brisbane on 27 September 2006 immediately before the Association of =
> Internet Researchers (AoIR) Annual Conference 7.0, and hope that we will =
> be able to invite some contributors to attend and present drafts of =
> their full papers. (We expect limited travel bursaries will be available =
> for those attending from outside Australia).
> 
> About the Editors:
> 
>  From January 2006, Dr Gerard Goggin (g.goggin at uq.edu.au) will be an ARC =
> Australian Research Fellow in the Department of Media and Communication, =
> the University of Sydney. He has published widely on Internet and new =
> media, including Digital Disability (2003), Virtual Nation: The Internet =
> in Australia (2004) and Cell Phone Culture (forthcoming 2006).
> 
> 
> Dr Mark McLelland (m.mclelland at uq.edu.au) is a Lecturer in the School of =
> Social Sciences, Media and Communication at the University of =
> Wollongong. Recent Internet-related publications include Japanese =
> Cybercultures (2003) and Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the =
> Internet Age (2005).



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