[SIGCIS-Members] CFP--CBI Symposium: "Just Code: Power, Inequality, and the Global Political Economy of IT"

[Jeffrey Yost]

Dear Colleagues,

Below is a Call for Papers (deadline Oct. 15th 2019) and registration
information for a Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) Symposium/Workshop I am
co-leading with Univ. of California-Davis' Gerardo Con Diaz (Friday and
Saturday, May 8-9, 2020).  We hope many of you will consider proposing a
paper (or otherwise attending). We encourage (and would appreciate) your
forwarding this to anyone you think might be interested.

*Just Code: Power, Inequality, and the Global Political Economy of IT*
Just Code is a one and a half day CBI symposium/workshop on how
code—construed broadly, from software routines to bodies of law and
policy—structures and reinforces power relations. It will explore the often
invisible ways that individuals and institutions use software, algorithms,
and computerized systems to establish, legitimize, and reinforce widespread
social, material, commercial, and cultural inequalities and power
imbalances. The event will also examine how individuals, unions, political
organizations, and other institutions use code to fight for equality and
justice. Other major themes include the (pre-)history of code/algorithmic
thinking; code as means of concealment or secret communications; codes of
conduct in business, governance, and culture related to IT and its
institutions (local and global exploitation through imperialism, human
rights violations, and environmental degradation); and codes of ethics in
information technology. The papers will draw from across the humanities and
qualitative social sciences, including disciplines such as anthropology,
sociology, science and technology studies, geography, and communications.
We anticipate that papers (collectively) will examine a wide range of
themes in the global business, cultural, social, legal, and environmental
history of the political economy of information technology. Papers will be
pre-circulated (among presenters) and we have plans to publish revised
papers (after editorial and peer review) as an edited volume in the
Springer History of Computing Book Series.

Proposals should include a two-page curriculum vitae and a 300 to 450 word
abstract (as a single PDF) that highlights the key argument(s), connection
of the paper to the symposium's topic/themes, and a description of core
methods/sources.  This should be sent to cbi at umn.edu (please have your last
name in the file name and use the subject line "Just Code Symposium
Proposal").

Deadline for Paper Proposals is Oct. 15, 2019 (notifications will be made
within 30 days)

Deadline for Submission of Papers (for those offered and accepting a place
on the program) is March 31, 2020 (papers will only be pre-circulated to
fellow presenters/panelists on the program, not to all registrants).

Those offered and accepting a spot on the program will have to commit to
participating in the entire workshop, revising their work based on feedback
from peers at the event and the organizers/editors, and submitting it for
consideration to the planned edited volume.

For those offered and accepting a place on the symposium's program
(presenters/panelists), CBI will cover the cost of 2 nights lodging at a
nearby hotel (walking distance to CBI), lunch, and an event dinner. Early
career presenters on the program (graduate students, postdocs, and junior
faculty) can apply for CBI travel grants of $300 to partially offset
their travel
costs (done as a reimbursement/partial reimbursement). Please indicate if
you would like to be considered for one of these travel grants at the
bottom of your abstract.  The program will commence at 8:30 AM on Friday
and conclude at 12:30 PM on Saturday. Registration is automatic for
everyone on the program.

For those wanting to attend who are not presenting, the symposium's
registration is free and open to CBI Friends (and those who become CBI
Friends), and to students, academic staff, and faculty of the Univ. of
Minnesota.  Lunch is provided for all who register. The event dinner is
only for those on the program. Information on becoming a CBI Friend is at
http://www.cbi.umn.edu/about/friends.html

Registration form for those attending but not presenting. The size will be
capped, so we encourage registering far in advance.
https://forms.gle/KK5n37jhN1Mdnyxp9

The event will be at CBI--Andersen Library at the University of Minnesota

["Just Code" is sponsored in major part by a very generous gift/bequest
events endowment to CBI from IT industry veteran Michael J. Samek]

Best,
Jeff and Con

Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D., CBI Director & Research Prof. HSTM, Univ. of Minn.
Gerardo Con Diaz, Ph.D., Asst. Prof., Science and Technology Studies, Univ.
of Cal.-Davis

Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D.
Director, Charles Babbage Institute
Research Professor, Program in the History of Science, Technology, and
Medicine

222  21st Avenue South
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455

612 624 5050 Phone
612 625 8054 Fax
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