Date:    Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:06:06 +0100

From:    Mark Graham <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: CFP. Urban Food Futures: ICTs and Opportunities



CFP. URBAN FOOD FUTURES: ICTS AND OPPORTUNITIES



Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK

December 14, 2011

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=472



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Food is a vital foundation of all human life. It is essential to a myriad of

political, socio-cultural, economic and environmental practices throughout

history. However, those practices of food production, consumption, and

distribution have the potential to now go through immensely transformative

shifts as network technologies become increasingly embedded in every domain

of contemporary life. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are

one of the key foundations of global functionality and sustenance today and

undoubtedly will continue to present new challenges and opportunities for

the future. As such, this one-day symposium will bring together leading

scholars across disciplines to address challenges and opportunities at the

intersection of food and ICTs in everyday urban environment. In particular,

the discussion will revolve around the question: What are the key roles that

network technologies play in re-shaping the food systems at micro- to

macroscopic level?



The symposium will contribute a unique perspective on urban food futures

through the lens of network society paradigm where ICTs enable innovations

in production, organisation, and communication within society. Some of the

topics addressed will include encouraging transparency in food commodity

chains; value of cultural understanding and communication in global food

sustainability; and technologies to social inclusion; all of which evoke and

examine the question surrounding networked individuals as changes catalysts

for urban food futures. The event will provide an avenue for new discussions

and speculations on key issues surrounding urban food futures in the network

era, with a particular focus on bottom-up micro actions that challenge the

existing food systems towards a broader sociocultural, political,

technological, and environmental transformations.



One central area of concern is that current systems of food production,

distribution, and consumption do not ensure food security for the future,

but rather seriously threaten it. With the recent unprecedented scale of

urban growth and rise of middle-class, the problem continues to intensify.

This situation requires extensive distribution networks to feed urban

residents, and therefore poses significant infrastructural challenges to

both the public and private sectors. The symposium will also address the

transferability of citizen empowerment that network technologies enable as

demonstrated in various significant global political transformations from

the bottom-up, such as the recent Egyptian Youth Revolution. Another key

theme of the discussion will be the role of ICTs (and the practices that

they mediate) in fostering transparency in commodity chains. The symposium

will ask what differences these technologies can make on the practices of

food consumption and production.



After discussions, we will initiate an international network of

food-thinkers and actors that will function as a platform for knowledge

sharing and collaborations. The participants will be invited to engage in

planning for the on-going future development of the network.



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PARTICIPATION



In order to keep the symposium interactive and focused, it will be limited

to invited participants. Papers will be selected for presentation at the

symposium based on peer review of abstracts. We welcome submissions of

original work from diverse disciplinary backgrounds including, but not

limited to, urban informatics, human-computer interaction, sustainability,

design, humanities and future studies.



Interested participants should submit a 500 word abstract, and 250 word

biography, by 28 October 2011 to Dr. Jaz Hee-jeong Choi ([log in to unmask]).



The authors of successful abstracts will be notified by 7 November 2011.



We are currently in the process of ensuring that post-workshop publication

of selected papers will follow in a special journal issue.



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PARTNERS



This symposium is a collaboration with the Institute for Creative Industries

and Innovation (QUT), the Creative Industries Faculty (QUT), and the Urban

Informatics Research Lab (QUT).





We hope to see you there!





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dr. jaz hee-jeong choi

urban informatics lab

institute for creative industries and innovation

// e: [log in to unmask]

// w: www.nicemustard.com

// p: +617 3138 8190

// m: +61 433 167 151





------------------------------------------

Mark Graham, Ph.D.

Research Fellow



Oxford Internet Institute

University of Oxford

1 St Giles

Oxford OX1 3JS

United Kingdom



Telephone +44 (0) 1865 287 203

Fax +44 (0) 1865 287 211

www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/graham

www.geospace.co.uk

www.wikichains.org

twitter.com/geoplace



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