Via Lane DeNicola

A ONE DAY INTERDISCIPLINARY POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE

Saturday 11th February 2011, Chadwick Lecture Theatre, University College London

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Stefana Broadbent, UCL Digital Anthropology, TED Fellow

How much time do we spend online or using digital communications? Yet how much time do we spend seriously discussing or exploring their impact? Despite their universal use, there is little conversation across academic disciplines to understand their cultural, political or sociological implications. Looking at the internet and digital communications from a gender perspective immediately opens up questions which urgently demand interdisciplinary discussion. Should we be worried, for example, about how young girls and boys are representing themselves online? Why are 75% of Wikipedia entries written by men? What are the repercussions of increased access to pornography? How do digital communications impact upon the spheres of public and private? Does the internet have potential for implementing social change along gendered lines?

This one day conference aims to facilitate a crucial conversation into gender online from all possible academic angles. Bringing together academics and students from across London, and across disciplines, the event will open a cross-cultural debate with a global focus, essential for discussing the internet.

Students from all academic backgrounds are encouraged to give papers. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

    Representations of gender online.
    Social and/or political change/movements online, using digital communications to coordinate social change and/or political demonstration.
    Sexuality and the internet/digital communications.
    The internet as site of information/advice.
    Online gaming, fan sites
    ‘Gendered’ interactions: how we use technology.
    Gendered violence online.
    Site constructions: e.g. computer coding, language use, layouts, search engines, accessibility.
    Online art, music and literature, and digital art.


Full papers (given in English) should be 20 minutes long.

Deadline for Abstracts: Friday 16th December 2011
Word limit for Abstracts: 500 words.

Please send all abstracts and any queries to: elizabeth.noble.10@ucl.ac.uk

When submitting your abstract, please include your name, title of paper, department and university affiliation, phone number and e-mail address as a separate attachment.

Notitication for acceptance will be sent by late January 2012.
This conference is generously funded by UCL FIGS - http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ah/figs/homepage