Hello all,
We invite papers for this PYGYWG-sponsored session at the 2007 RGS-IBG
meeting (28-31 August):
"The role of technology in participatory practice"
Over the last decade, new technologies have become more widespread and
affordable, and in the process they have opened up new possibilities for
participatory practice in research and activism. Independent media
organisations broadcast via the internet, mobile phones are used to
convene political demonstrations and marginalized groups use video cameras
to document their concerns. In academia, participatory blended online and
offline teaching, collectively-authored websites and online discussion-
groups reflect practices of shared knowledge-building. Researchers ask
participants to photograph their everyday environments cameras, and video-
conferencing is being explored as a way to extend participation at
academic conferences. These technological options do not only open new
possibilities for participatory practice, they also invite theoretical
questions about the blending of offline and online space and the way
technologies can be used to exclude or include people from these spaces.
For this session, we invite papers from academics and practitioners using
technologies in innovative ways in their research, teaching, or activism
roles. We will then take time to reflect and debate on the spaces created,
discussing the opportunities and risks for participatory practice these
technologies represent. Finally, we intend to explore ways in which
practitioners, including geographers committed to participation, can
contribute to the inclusive use of such technologies.
Session convenors: Sarah Elwood (University of Washington), Duncan Fuller
(Northumbria University), Chris High (Open University), Dorothea Kleine
(Cambridge University).
Please email abstracts (200 words) to Sarah Elwood,
[log in to unmask] , by 1 February 2007.
|