CfP: Call for Chapter Abstracts for the Book "The Internet & Surveillance"
PDF version of CfP:
http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/CfP_Internet_Surveillance.pdf
Editors: Christian Fuchs, Kees Boersma, Anders Albrechtslund, Marisol
Sandoval
Supported by COST: European Cooperation in Science and Technology, COST
Action Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS, IS0807), Working Group 2:
Surveillance Technologies in Practice
Abstract submissions until October 15, 2009 (deadline) to
[log in to unmask]
The overall aim of this collected volume is to bring together
contributions that show how surveillance works on the Internet and which
risks are connected to Internet surveillance in general and surveillance
connected to "web 2.0" and "social software" in particular.
The publication and publishing process is part of the COST Action
"Living in Surveillance Societies" (LiSS) that is funded by the European
Science Foundation (2009-2012, see
http://w3.cost.esf.org/index.php?id=233&action_number=IS0807 for further
information and details) and is a project by the LiSS working group
"Surveillance Technologies in Practice". The editors are members of this
working group.
Routledge has expressed interest in publishing this volume.
The collection of data for organizing bureaucratic and economic life is
inherent in modern society. At the same time that privacy has been
postulated as important value of modern society, privacy-threatening
surveillance mechanisms have been structurally implemented and
institutionalized in modern society. This collected volume explores
perspectives on privacy, surveillance, and the
privacy-surveillance-paradox in relation to the Internet.
Background
Many observers claim that the Internet has been transformed in the past
years from a system that is primarily oriented on information provision
into a system that is more oriented on communication and community
building. The notions of "web 2.0", "social Software", and "social
network(ing) sites" have emerged in this context. Web platforms such as
Wikipedia, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Blogger, Rapidshare,
Wordpress, Hi5, Flickr, Photobucket, Orkut, Skyrock, Twitter, YouPorn,
PornHub, Youku, Orkut, Redtube, Friendster, Adultfriendfinder,
Megavideo, Tagged, Tube8, Mediafire, Megaupload, Mixi, Livejournal,
LinkedIn, Netlog, ThePirateBay, Orkut, XVideos, Metacafe, Digg, StudiVZ,
etc are said to be typical for this transformation of the Internet. No
matter if we agree that important transformations of the Internet have
taken place or not, it is clear that a principle that underlies such
platforms is the massive provision and storage of
personal data that are systematically evaluated, marketed, and used for
targeting users with advertising. In a world of global economic
competition, economic crisis, and fear of terrorism after 9/11,
especially two kinds of actors are interested in accessing such personal
data: corporations on the one hand and state institutions on the other
hand. Will the Internet under the current societal conditions advance
the intensification and extension of surveillance so that a coercive and
totalitarian surveillance society that George Orwell would have only
thought about in his worst dreams will emerge or not? Are there
counter-tendencies? The contributions in this book deal with these
topics by elaborating theoretical concepts and presenting the results of
empirical case studies.
We are especially interested in papers that do not primarily discuss
single examples, but attempt to discuss Internet surveillance from a
broad perspective that takes into account societal contexts or that
embed examples or case studies into the discussion of societal contexts.
Research Questions
Chapters could for example relate to one or more of the following questions:
* What is electronic surveillance? What are specific qualities of
electronic surveillance on the Internet? How does Internet surveillance
differ from other forms of surveillance?
* Which theories do we need for thinking about Internet & surveillance?
How important (or how outdated) are the thoughts by Michel Foucault and
George Orwell for studying surveillance on the Internet? How suitable
are the theories of thinkers like Max Weber, Karl Marx, Anthony Giddens,
and others for the analysis and conceptualization of Internet surveillance?
* What is the relationship of privacy and surveillance in respect to the
Internet?
* What is privacy, how should it be defined, and how does it change in
the age of the Internet?
* Is Internet surveillance a form of "new surveillance" (Gary Marx)?
What are the differences and commonalities between Internet surveillance
and concepts such as computer surveillance, dataveillance (Roger
Clarke), the electronic panopticon (Mark Poster), electronic
surveillance (David Lyon), the panoptic sort (Oscar H. Gandy), social
Taylorism of surveillance (Frank Webster, Kevin Robins), or the
synopticon (Thomas Mathiesen)?
* What are the normative and ethical implications of Internet &
surveillance?
* What is a surveillance society and what is the role of the Internet in
surveillance society? Should the notions of surveillance and
surveillance society be used as general, neutral terms or as negative
terms? What are the implications of certain definitions of surveillance
and surveillance society for studying the Internet?
* What does it mean to study Internet & surveillance critically? What is
a critical theory of Internet surveillance, what are critical studies of
Internet & surveillance? What are the ontological, epistemological,
methodological, and axiological dimensions of such studies?
* What are central aspects of the political economy of surveillance on
the Internet?
* What is the role of surveillance for "web 2.0" and "social software"?
How is surveillance connected with mass self-communication and
communication power/counter-power (Manuel Castells) in web 2.0?
* What is the role of surveillance on social networking sites such as
MySpace and Facebook?
* How is surveillance used in the Internet economy? What problems are
connected to surveillance in the Internet economy? What is the role of
surveillance for Internet business models?
* How does targeted advertising work as economic mechanism for
generating profit? What are the problems that are connected to it?
* Presentation and generalization of case studies about how specific
Internet platforms (Google, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc) or
applications use surveillance and about the connected problems and threats.
* How are terms of use and privacy terms designed by Internet
corporations in order to enable surveillance? What are the problems and
societal implications connected to such practices?
* How has surveillance on the Internet changed after 9/11?
* Which different legal frameworks for surveillance on the Internet are
there (international comparison) and how have they changed after 9/11?
* What are the major threats and problems of surveillance on the Internet?
* What is to be done in order to solve the problems that are connected
to surveillance on the Internet? What is the role of information
policies, data protection, governments, governance, civil society, and
social movements in this respect?
* How do social movements and groups that struggle against the
establishment of a "maximum surveillance society" (Clive Norris and Gary
Armstrong) make use of the Internet for cyberprotest and cyberactivism?
* How do Internet & society have to be designed in order to avoid the
emergence of a total surveillance society? Which alternative design
principles for Internet & society are needed in this context? What is
the role of privacy-enhancing Internet technologies in this context?
* Which Internet surveillance technologies are there and how can they be
systematically classified?
* What is the role of surveillance and surveillance technologies in
Internet-based eGovernment and eGovernance?
Submission of Structured Abstracts:
Please submit structured abstracts for chapter proposals, short author
biography/biographies, and your contact details (in a word document)
until October 15th, 2009 to Christian Fuchs by email:
[log in to unmask] The editors are interested in abstracts for
original, unpublished contributions that have not been submitted for
consideration in journals or other publications.
The abstracts should adhere to the following structured format and
should have approximately 650-900 words.
(1) Purpose
What are the reasons for writing this chapter? Why is the topic
important? What are the aims of research? What are the research questions?
(2) Approach/Theoretical framework/Design/Methodology
How are the objectives achieved? Include the main method(s) used for the
research [theory construction is also considered as a method in this
context]. What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical
or subject scope of the paper?
(3) Findings
What was found in the course of the work? What are the main results
presented in the chapter? This will refer to analysis, discussion, or
results.
(4) Research limitations/implications (if applicable)
Suggestions for future research and any identified limitations in the
research process. Implications for academic fields, disciplines, state
of the art.
(4) Practical and societal implications (if applicable)
What outcomes and implications for practice, applications and
consequences are identified? How will the research impact upon society?
How will it influence public attitudes? How could it inform civil
society or public or industry policy? What changes to human practices
should be made as a result of this research? How might it affect quality
of life? Not all chapters must necessarily have practical and societal
implications.
(5) Originality/value
What is new in the paper? How does it differ from and go beyond the
state of the art in respective research fields? State the value of the
paper and for whom it is relevant.
Author short biographies should be approximately 200-300 words and
contain information on academic position, institutional affiliation,
research interests and topics, major publications, projects, networks,
affiliations, roles, etc.
Time Schedule
October 15, 2009: deadline for the submission of structured abstracts of
chapter proposals
End of October 2009: notification of authors on acceptance/decline of
proposals; submission of the overall proposal, abstracts, author data to
Routledge
End of November 2009: decision on publication by the publisher
End of September 2010: deadline for the submission of full chapters
(further details will be announced)
End of November 2010: feedback of review comments to the authors
End of December 2010: submission of final versions of chapters
January 2011: submission of final manuscript to the publisher
About the Editors
Christian Fuchs is associate professor for ICTs and society at the
University of Salzburg, Austria. He is management committee member of
the ESF COST Action "Living in Surveillance Society" (LiSS) and member
of the LiSS working group "Surveillance Technologies in Practice". Kees
Boersma is associate professor for science and technology studies at
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He is leader of the
working group "Surveillance Technologies in Practice" and management
committee member of the ESF Cost Action "Living in Surveillance
Societies". Anders Albrechtslund is assistant professor for surveillance
and ethics at Aalborg University, Denmark. He is management committee
member of the ESF Cost Action "Living in Surveillance Societies" and
member of the LiSS working group "Surveillance Technologies in
Practice". Marisol Sandoval is research associate at the University of
Salzburg, Austria. She
is member of the working group "Surveillance Technologies in Practice"
of the ESF Cost Action "Living in Surveillance Societies".
- - -
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Christian Fuchs
Associate Professor
Unified Theory of Information Research Group
ICT&S Center
University of Salzburg
Sigmund Haffner Gasse 18
5020 Salzburg
Austria
[log in to unmask]
Phone +43 662 8044 4823
Personal Website: http://fuchs.uti.at
Research Group: http;//www.uti.at
Editor of
tripleC - Cognition, Communication, Co-Operation | Open Access Journal
for a Global Sustainable Information Society
http://www.triple-c.at
Fuchs, Christian. 2008. Internet and Society: Social Theory in the
Information Age. New York: Routledge.
http://fuchs.uti.at/?page_id=40
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